6.1a ERMUSR 02-13-2018 Elk River
Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
ERMU Commission Troy Adams, P.E.—General Manager
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
February 13, 2018 6.1a
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
ACTION REQUESTED:
None
DISCUSSION:
• The Board of Directors of the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency(MMPA)met on
January 23, 2018 at the offices of Shakopee Public Utilities in Shakopee, Minnesota.
Commissioner Al Nadeau and I were both able to attend.
Participation in MMPA's residential Clean Energy Choice program increased 4.5% over
December,with 60 new customers signing up for the program. Customer penetration of
MMPA's Clean Energy Choice program for residential customers increased to 2.6%,
with a range of market penetration by member of 1.5%to 5.6%.
The Board approved Eagle Creek Elementary School in Shakopee as a recipient of a
Hometown Solar grant as part of the Agency's 2018 Energy Education program.
The Buffalo Solar project is now in service and producing energy. MMPA has a long-
term purchased power agreement for all of the output of the 7 MW facility.
The Board discussed the status of a renewable project that the Agency is pursuing.
• I have continued to work with Great River Energy(GRE) and MMPA on wholesale
power transition action items. At the front of those conversations is the Landfill Gas to
Electric Generation Plant(LFG Plant) contract. Because the LFG Plant contract covers
energy and capacity in the GRE Midcontinent Independent System Operator(MISO)
zone and ERMU is transitioning to MMPA,this issues resolution also plays in the timing
of how ERMU's load is registered in MISO. Basically,there are a number of moving
parts that are all interconnected. Discussion between all parties currently appears to be
amiable with aligned goals being completed within the required schedule. ERMU, GRE,
and MMPA have another conference call regarding these action items on Monday
February 12.
• On January 16, I attended the first ever joint meeting of the board of directors for the
Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association (MMUA) and the board of directors of the
Minnesota Rural Electric Association (MREA). This historic event has been in the make
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since my term as MMUA President and was directly associated with the hiring a new
MREA CEO, Darrick Moe. The meeting was without agenda, and held as an opportunity
to develop better awareness of common ground and identify aligned goals. The primary
objective of this meeting was a huge success. Additionally, I established connections with
cooperatives utilizing Nation Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) software,
discussed legislative advocacy,talked metering and billing, and discussed leadership
development.
• On January 19, I was elected by a vote of my peers as the MMUA Government Relations
Committee Chair. The Committee holds conference calls preceding and during the
legislative session to organize positions on critical topics. I've succeeded Bill Schwandt,
General Manager from Moorhead Public Service.
• On January 26, I sat in on an interview panel for the MMUA Government Relations
Director. The panel also included Jack Kegel (MMUA Executive Director), John Crooks
(Shakopee Public Utilities GM and MMUA President), and Doug Carnival (Attorney at
McGrannShea Carnival Straughn &Lamb, MMUA's legal counsel). Kent Sulem has
accepted an offer for the position and has already started working. Kent worked with the
League of Minnesota Cities and the Minnesota Association of Townships during the past
25 years. And this will be his 20th session of lobbying at the Capitol.
• Last year Minnesota Representative Cal Bahr of District 31B had authored a bill that
would allow large electrical customers to purchase electricity from any supplier. The
intent is basically third party sales under the cover of customer choice. This did not pass.
In a proactive effort to provide Rep Bahr and others with"main street" examples of how
this type of legislation would impact communities and Minnesota, representatives from
Xcel, Connexus,Minnesota Power, GRE, MREA, MMUA, MMPA, and ERMU met with
Rep Bahr on February 5. It was intentionally a small and informal meeting with few than
a dozen people in attendance. The meeting was successful in delivering our concerns with
the past bill language. I feel that our message was well received by Rep Bahr.
• The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission filing for the electric service territory
boundary change resulting from the September 2017 Connexus Areas 3& 4 transfer has
been completed. I'll bring back the formal response letter from the MPUC for the
Commission to receive at a future meeting. It is expected to be approved without question
as this is non-controversial, mutually filed by ERMU and Connexus, and similar to the
past boundary changes for Areas 1 &2 previously approved.
• I have completed annual Performance Evaluations for my direct reports.
• Mark Fuchs and I conducted interviews for the Inventory&Procurement Foreperson
position on February 7, five interviews in total. The position is expected to be filled
before the March Commission meeting.
• I have worked with staff on the final distribution vs transmission allocations for costs
associated with the Waco 2 Substation project. This allocation plays a significant part in
future revenues associated with our MISO Attachment 0 filing. Theresa Slominski, our
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accountants, Mark Fuchs, and Mike Tietz put in many hours with this allocation as well
as our recent entire MISO Attachment 0 initiative.
• Mike Tietz,Jennie Nelson, and I have held our initial internal meeting to review the
Cyber and Physical Security report from FRSecure. The information was analyzed for
needs as we develop the IT position job description in addition to developing next steps
for resolving identified issues. Yet in 1Q2018 the Information Security Committee will
schedule a meeting to review the report and develop action items preceding the beginning
of the budget process for 2019.
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