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6.1 ERMUSR 03-13-2018 Elk River Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: ERMU Commission Troy Adams, P.E.—General Manager MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: March 13, 2018 6.l a SUBJECT: Staff Update ACTION REQUESTED: None DISCUSSION: • The Board of Directors of the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA)met on February 20, 2018 at the offices of Shakopee Public Utilities in Shakopee, Minnesota. Commissioner Al Nadeau was not able to attend. The Board reviewed responses to MMPA's request for proposals for capacity purchases. The Board discussed the need to implement distributed generation tariffs and rate schedules at the local governing body(city council or utility commission) level. MMPA has worked with the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association to prepare documents for each member to approve. Participation in MMPA's residential Clean Energy Choice program increased over January. Customer penetration of MMPA's Clean Energy Choice program for residential customers is at 2.6%, with a range of market penetration by member of 1.4%to 5.6%. Additional customers have also signed up for MMPA's Clean Energy Choice for Business program. The Board discussed the status of renewable projects that the Agency is pursuing • Our Power Provider Migration Plan is one of our highest priority initiatives and there is a firm deadline of October 1, 2018. Tom Sagstetter and I have continued to work with Great River Energy(GRE) and MMPA on wholesale power transition action items. We are currently working on the load node transfers that must occur with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator(MISO). The details and sequence of events for this transaction are critical. These conversations with GRE and MMPA include discussion regarding the Landfill Gas to Electric Generation Plant(LFG Plant) contract. GRE has agreed to a process and sequence of events optimal for the LFG Plant contract. Discussion between all parties currently appears to be amiable with aligned goals being completed within the required schedule. The node transfers are scheduled to occur on by Page 1 of 2 220 March 15. ERMU, GRE, and MMPA have another conference call regarding these action items on Monday April 2. • The City, ERMU, and the County held an annual fiber communication ring operational meeting of the owners as specified by agreement. These annual meetings have been expanded to include ISD728 for coordination and partnership opportunity discussion. The meeting was held on Friday March 9. • MMUA has invited me to participate in joint meetings between MMUA and Minnesota Rural Electric Association (MREA)regarding industry policy, operational considerations, and policy position. In addition to staff from both associations,the workgroup is made of approximately five municipal managers and five cooperative managers. The first meeting I will be attending is scheduled for April 16, 2018. Page 2 of 2 221 Elk River .M Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: ERMU Commission Theresa Slominski—Finance & Office Manager MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: March 13, 2018 6.1b SUBJECT: Staff Update ACTION REQUESTED: None DISCUSSION: • Per commission request, an update on Elk River Municipal Utilities' Experience Modification Rate (EMR) follows. With the Workers' Compensation Insurance Plan renewal effective 10/01/2017 to 10/01/2018, ERMU's EMR is .75. The 2016/2017 EMR was .74, 2015/2016 was .69, and 2014/2015 was .76. • Our auditors, Abdo, Eick, &Meyers, were onsite for fieldwork Thursday and Friday, March 1st and 2nd. Everything went well and staff was able to answer questions and provide documentation requested. They still have to complete the proposed entry for the GASB 68 accrual related to the pension at PERA. The City's onsite fieldwork with their auditors will be the week of March 12th. We are anticipating presentation of the audit at the April commission meeting. • There are several reports due this time of year for the Energy Information Association (EIA) and MISO (Midwest Independent System Operator). The EIA reports are informational and relate to our engines at the plant and the landfill, our system infrastructure and performance, sales results, and some energy conservation information for the prior 2017 year. The MISO reports are based on 2016 information for determining our transmission rebates we will receive as being a part owner of the transmission systems with Midwest Municipal Transmission Group (MMTG). Page 1 of 1 222 Elk River Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: ERMU Commission Mark Fuchs—Electric Superintendent MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: March 13, 2018 6.1c SUBJECT: Staff Update ACTION REQUESTED: None DISCUSSION: • Had nine new house services. • Continue working on collecting data with the GPS for our ArcView maps as time permits. • Continue rebuilding the overhead line south of 197th Avenue to 190 %2 Lane on the east side of Highway 169. • Carr's tree trimming service continues helping out with tree trimming this year to help get caught up with the areas we acquired from Connexus. We are also tree trimming. • A car heading north bound on Highway 169 hit a street light pole. • Helped the city change out six light fixtures to LED's at the Lion's Park parking lot. • Replaced a street light pole at the fairgrounds parking lot that was stuck by a city vehicle dumping snow there. • We are moving some poles by the new Casey's gas station at 171st Avenue and Yale Street; once these poles are moved we will be installing their service. • We're in the process of installing rear view cameras in our bucket, digger and F550 trucks. This helps seeing obstacles when backing as well as helping when hooking up to trailers. We have been installing these ourselves as time permits. • Overhead wires were torn down at the location of Metro Truck on Jarvis Street,when a truck driver driving thorough their lot with the box up on one of their trucks made contact with the wires; this resulted in feeder 46 opening up and customers being out of power down Highway 10, Jarvis Street and 165th Avenue. Page l of 1 223 Elk River Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: ERMU Commission Mike Tietz—Technical Services Superintendent MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: March 13, 2018 6.1d SUBJECT: Staff Update ACTION REQUESTED: None DISCUSSION: • In February, The locating department had a total of 103 locate tickets consisting of two emergency tickets, 1 cancellation, 3 meetings, 76 normal tickets and 19 updated tickets. This is a 0%increase in volume of tickets from the previous month. The locators continue to gather GPS points daily. • Electric Technicians continue with updating power bill, substation checks, disconnects, reconnects, dealing with meter and off-peak issues, as well as installing new meters for commercial customers. • Jeff Murray attended the Upper Midwest Metering Association(UMMA) Winter Meeting February 7-9, 2018 in Redwing, MN. Tony Hubbard attended the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association (MMUA) Meter School February 14-16 in Marshall, MN. • The weekly meter reads continue to go well. Staff continues to perform meter audits around the system as time allows. • Staff performed the monthly generator runs on February 22. All engines ran well and staff made mention of the amount of smoke that is being produced on startup of engine #3. We are investigating the cause of the smoke but would also like to explore the installation of a roof fan above engine#3. It does appear that the roof is already configured to accommodate this improvement. • Mapping department continues to enter GPS points and attribute points for all of our systems assets within the ESRI ArcView GIS system. The ArcGIS Server software has been purchased and we are looking to have it installed and in production by the end of March. USG will be doing the install and configuration along with staff. Page 1 of 1 224 Elk River Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: ERMU Commission Eric Volk—Water Superintendent MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: March 13, 2018 6.l e SUBJECT: Staff Update ACTION REQUESTED: None DISCUSSION: • Delivered two new water meters. • Sealed the water meter, and took curb stop ties from four water services. • Completed 25 BACTI/Total Chlorine Residual Samples o All confirmed negative for Coliform Bacteria o Bacteriological/Disinfectant Residual Monthly Report submitted to the MDH • Completed 20 routine fluoride samples o All samples met MDH standards o Submitted MDH Fluoride Report • Submitted MPCA Discharge Monitoring Report(DMR) for the Diesel Generation Plant. • Completed the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Water Conservation Report. • The filter reconditioning is nearly complete for WTP#5. In the next month the water operators will work on putting the well back together and getting it ready for the upcoming pumping season. • The water operators have also spent the last month working on various projects in the wells. ATTACHMENTS: • February 2018 Pumping by Well • February 2018 Accumulated Precipitation Graph • February 2018 Daily Temperature Graph Page 1 of 1 225 on c .Q E a 4- 0 CU a, oo ro c a M U W CO d O d Q Q E E .- d c CL ° >MOM 4,§ G - c 40 Tu N 0 *k a N a o ro e 00 Q1 C7 Ln 4- O o ° CV LA CAL CO ItO LncoLL r-1 1":: 4J n rI1 n Ql L LA 1* Q f o N O O i • rte IdI Lii"............1.4 . 4., l NI - 1 ad 11 4 Cn 78 rt. ifi ad 0 W qd w N. Ce CO al J W to 0 C J 4 5.i r..... N 4 maw 8 cv z 0 E L rd Q iN l • IN; r"'° Q (s pui) uow ud 13aJc1 V.) Te nape ratur e CC) 0 -ix Li 2 Li:; it; .3. IX; IN1 wt I:1 0 , 11111.11111.1111111111 1 Li 11J CI rt. 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The groups attending these meetings include but are not limited to: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Great Plains Institute, Drive Electric Minnesota, Xcel Energy, Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTS), American Lung Association, and the Minnesota Department of Commerce and Public Utilities Commission. • The 2018 Chevy Bolt has been ordered and should arrive in Elk River by the end of April. • As a result of the previous months cold weather there have been numerous customer concerns about their energy use and associated bills. • Staff is working with MMPA on the transition of Conservation Improvement Programs (CIP). MMPA does offer members some limited efficiency programs and does provide for filing that information with the MN Department of Commerce (MN DOC). At this time, staff believes the best option would be to continue offering the efficiency programs that ERMU has in the past, and to file as an individual utility. • Staff is working with ChargePoint to purchase a second level two charging station to support the new Chevy Bolt(all electric)that ERMU purchased, and the Mitsubishi Outlander(plugin hybrid) the City leased. Staff is also working with ChargePoint to get the DC fast charger repaired; one of the charging connectors (combo) is not communicating with the EV and as a result is not able to establish a charging session. ChargePoint was onsite to repair the unit on March 5th but was not able to complete due to precipitation. • In the past 90 Days the level two charger downtown has had 9 charging sessions, and provided customers with 31 kWh of green energy. The DC fast charger at the Coborn's fuel station has had 60 sessions and provided 410 kWh of green energy to customers. Page 1 of 1 229