6.3. ERMUSR 03-09-2021UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
ERMU Commission Tom Sagstetter – Conservation and Key Accounts Manager
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
March 9, 2020 6.3
SUBJECT:
Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association 2021 Legislative Conference
ACTION REQUESTED:
No action requested
BACKGROUND:
Annually the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association (MMUA) holds alegislativerally at the
State Capitol to provide municipal utilities an opportunity to engage with members of the
legislature and agency leaders about issues impacting their communities. Due to continued
concerns with the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that the State Capitol complex remains
locked down, MMUA's Legislative Conference was held via Zoom on February 10, 2021.
DISCUSSION:
General Manager Slominski, Conservation & Key Accounts Manager Sagstetter, and
Commissioner Stewart attended the meeting. The conference included a presentation by Laura
Bishop, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency commissioner, who represented the Climate
Change Subcabinet (CCS). The CCS is composed of 15 state agencies, departments, and boards
working to identify policies and strategies that will put Minnesota back on track to meet or
exceed its greenhouse gas reduction goals and achieve 100% clean energy by 2050. The
legislative panel consisted of Representative Jamie Long, House Climate & Energy Committee
Chair, and Senator David Senjem, Senate Energy & Utilities Committee Chair. Both discussed
their thoughts on current bills pertaining to the items listed below. Finally, Jessica Burdette,
Manager of the Department of Commerce Energy Regulation & Planning provided some of her
insights on disconnections during the pandemic.
Modernizing Conservation Improvement Program (Energy Conservation and Optimization)
In the 2021session, MMUA is attempting to push theEnergy Conservation and Optimization
(ECO) Act through as it was before priorities changed due the pandemic unfolding in early 2020.
The current Conservation Improvement Programlegislation has exhausted much of the
efficiency benefits in many communities and needsto increase the flexibility of the planning
process and expand the efficiency tools to reach the required energy savings. The ECO Act
would allow for multi-year planning processes, incorporate new technologies, and allow for
efficient electrification.
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Renewable/CleanEnergy Legislation
Flexibility and education arethe keys this year. The position of MMUA is that flexibilityin the
type of generation and the timeline for addingnew resources to the grid is critically important
to affordable energy for customers. Whenlegislation mandates types of generation and the
timeline for installation electric utilities become price takers and lose all competitive
advantages for adding newrenewable generation resources. MMUA is also working to educate
policy makers about the differences between renewable energy, carbon-free, clean energy, and
carbon-neutral. Each of these terms has its own definition, but the important distinctions
between them is lost when they get used interchangeably.
Summary
In this unique, pandemic 2021 legislative session, the MMUA Legislative Rally was a valuable
tool to reach out to policy makers and make the collective voice of public powerheardat the
Capitol. Keeping decisions local is always a focus and through short events participants were
able to reinforce the point that local governments and commissions can respond best to the
needs of their communities. This is demonstrated in electric generation portfolios, achieving
energy efficiency requirements, decreasing carbon emissions ahead of schedules, or managing
disconnects during these trying pandemic times.
ATTACHMENTS:
Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association 2021 State Position Statements
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2021 Position Statement
Bonding
BACKGROUND
Bonding is the primary way many major infrastructure projects are funded, either through a direct
earmark, or indirectly through grant and loan programs financed through state-issued bonds.
Municipal utilities, particularly those with water and/or wastewater facilities can benefit from either
or both. Bonding can also assist border to border broadband efforts, and may prove useful for
some new carbon reduction efforts expected to be introduced during the 2021 session. While a
bonding bill was passed during the fifth special session of 2020, that bill barely made a dent in the
total amount of needed funds.
CURRENT STATUS
Ώ Over $5 billion worth of requests were received during the 2019-2020 legislative
biennium and only $1.9 billion worth of new bonding was authorized.
Ώ
legislative biennium.
Ώ Interest rates remain low making it a better time to borrow.
Ώ Bonding bills are generally viewed as assisting in the creation of jobs. An advanced
job market would generate enhanced tax revenues collected by the state, which in turn
would help addresses the forecasted budget deficit
Ώ Many municipal water and wastewater utilities will be facing the need to upgrade their
wastewater and drinking water facilities to address ever-increasing regulatory
requirements as well as to replace aging infrastructure. These projects will not be
affordable without state financial assistance from a bonding bill.
REQUESTED ACTION
MMUA encourages the State Legislature to maximize the investment in infrastructure projects and
supports funding to the PFA for grants and loans to municipal utilities.
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2021 Position Statement
Funding for Border-to-Border Broadband
BACKGROUND
Efforts to spur the placing of necessary infrastructure to ensure access to high-speed internet
service in all parts of the State has been a long-term but underfunded undertaking. This has
hampered the ability to maximize shared public-private opportunities to expand high-speed
broadband service to unserved and underserved communities across the State. It is time to
provide on-going and reliable funding for the Border-to-Border Broadband program.
CURRENT STATUS
Border-to-Border Broadband is essential for economic viability, particularly in rural
communities.
Access to reliable high-
technologies that can foster conservation efforts.
REQUESTED ACTION
MMUA supports efforts to allocate sufficient funding in the FY 2022 2023 biennial state budget
for implementing border-to-border broadband expansion efforts identified by the Office of
Broadband Services and the Minnesota Rural Broadband Coalition.
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2021 Position Statement
Clean Energy First (CEF) / Energy Optimization (CIP) /
100% Standard
BACKGROUND
MMUA recognizes that energy issues will play a central role in the 2021 legislative session, with
an emphasis likely being placed on Clean Energy First, Energy Optimization (CIP Reform), and
increased Renewable Energy Standards.
In recent years, these issues have been bundled together by the Governor and the Department
MMUA recognizes the interaction and common
goal of these issues, but believes that each of these three measures need to be discussed
separately with individual bills standing or falling on their own respective merits.
The interchangeable use of terms like clean energy, renewable energy, carbon-free
energy, carbon-neutral energy, etc. has created a lot of confusion as each term has its own
definition, but their important distinctions get easily lost and the terms erroneously used
interchangeably. Further, few people understand the difference between meeting such a
versus
Mi cleaner and renewable
energy and have substantially reduced their greenhouse gas emissions in recent years, are
already meeting or exceeding current mandated standards, and are no longer the leading
source of greenhouse gas emissions. This success will accelerate over the next decade with
planned coal plant closures and new lower carbon energy projects coming online.
CURRENT STATUS
Clean Energy First (CEF) Based on bills introduced to date, CEF legislation seeks to
increase non-carbon-in
the Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) process. Municipal utilities primarily rely on Joint
Action Agencies to address this issue and MMUA has been and will continue to work
with the JAAs on any CEF legislation introduced during the 2021 legislative session.
MMUA believes a well-designed CEF approach will steer utilities towards the continued
increase in the use of clean energy without artificial deadlines that fail to recognize both
the technological limits and physical obstacles (such as large transmission investments)
that must be overcome to continue to reduce the overall carbon footprint of utilities.
Again, it is critical to note that Minnesota utilities have already made changes that have
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2021 Position Statement
resulted in significant reductions in CO emissions below 2005 levels and are no longer
2
the leader in CO emissions.
2
CIP Reform Whether referred to as Energy Conservation and Optimization (ECO) or
Conservation Improvement Program (CIP) modernization, MMUA believes it is time to
modernize the current CIP statutes to protect energy efficiency efforts while allowing
utilities flexibility at the local level to develop plans that incorporate new technologies and
efficient electrification. Current law requires annual plans. MMUA believes municipal
utilities should have the option of developing multi-year plans.
The current CIP has exhausted much of its benefit in many communities and needs to be
re-energized to enable utilities to help the State achieve conservation goals, enhance
low--saving resources, and foster the development
of emerging and evolving technologies.
100% Renewable Standard MMUA opposes any effort to impose the mandated use of
100% renewable sources of energy, or any similar legislation that creates an artificial
threshold without addressing the need to maintain local and system-wide reliability. As
representatives of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) recently
testified, massive improvements to the transmission system, and substantial advances in
storage technology will be necessary before Minnesota can approach a 100% renewable
electric system.
on a balanced transition to clean energy, but increased mandates only serve to drive up
costs.
REQUESTED ACTION
MMUA urges the legislature to forego additional mandates on municipal utilities. The legislature
should expand its focus on achieving greenhouse gas reductions across all sectors of the
economy.
Uniformity in terminology should be implemented.
Legislation needs to acknowledge the difference between energy and capacity.
Legislation needs to assure reliability and cost-consciousness for customers.
MMUA could support the CEF efforts that came out of the 2020 Senate Energy and Utilities
Finance and Policy Committee. The Senate bill sought to codify the work of a wide array of
interested parties - including municipal, cooperative, and investor-owned utilities - into a
workable bill that promoted the long-term transition to clean and renewable sources of energy,
recognized the full spectrum of carbon-
to reliable and affordable electricity.
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2021 Position Statement
MMUA strongly requests passage of legislation that implements the proposed ECO Act of 2020,
a bill negotiated and supported by a diverse coalition of dozens of interested parties.
MMUA encourages the rejection of artificial standards and deadlines that do not address
technological and physical infrastructure challenges that currently exist.
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2021 Position Statement
Seek Industry Consensus on 216D (One-call) Changes
BACKGROUND
lines or
other utility facilities in the construction area. Utilities then mark the location of their respective
infrastructure to prevent it from being damaged from digging or excavating. The Gopher State
One-call Center (GSOC) takes all such calls to 811 and coordinates communications among
utility facility operators, their locating personnel or contract locators, and excavation contractors.
One-call procedures also apply to homeowners digging for gardening, landscaping, or any other
reason. GSOC is overseen by the Minnesota Office of Pipeline Safety (MNOPS). Minnesota
Statutes Chapter 216D and the GSOC system were created in 1987. The vision for 216D was a
public safety-focused collaboration between the operators, excavators, and a new
MNOPS. Since that time only a few modest changes have been made to the law. These
changes came about primarily as the result of discussions between all interested parties.
CURRENT STATUS
In 2019, MNOPS, without having held the traditional stakeholder meetings, had legislation
introduced that raised numerous concerns for utility providers. Ultimately the bill did not
become law, and subsequently there have been some targeted stakeholder meetings. To date,
however, no agreement has been reached on changes to Chapter 261D, or even the need for
the reforms proposed by GSOC.
Meanwhile, over the past several years, the volume of tickets submitted to the GSOC system
has steadily grown. For operators, it has become increasingly challenging to meet the strict
requirement under Minnesota Statutes §216D.04 of completing locates within 48 hours after a
ticket is issued. Repeated suggestions to restore statutory authorization for operators to arrange
alternate locate arrangements with excavators have been resisted. As originally enacted,
Chapter 216D allowed this, but the language was inexplicably removed from the statute in 2004.
Restoring this language would go a long way toward releasing the pressure that has been
caused by the ever-increasing volume of tickets the GSOC system is handling.
Operators have concerns about MNprevious calls for more reporting. It is not clear what
safety, reliability or efficiency problem MNOPS seeks to solve by enacting additional reporting
requirements. Operators are not aware of any patterns or trends, other than the increasing
volume of tickets submitted to the GSOC system, which point to any systemic problem with
GSOC. The current enforcement model, in which MNOPS can investigate complaints, and
crafts unique regulatory remedies for companies that have not complied with the statute, is
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2021 Position Statement
working well. More data for MNOPS would not make the system safer, and in fact the time and
cost of collecting additional information could be counterproductive to improving
safety. MNown data establishes that excavator damage to facilities is on the rise and
poses the greatest danger to public safety.
REQUESTED ACTION
MMUA continues to participate in the MNOPS/GSOC stakeholder process. MMUA asks that the
Legislature allow the stakeholder discussions on amending Chapter 216D to continue and not
adopt s proposed changes unless fully supported by the parties involved with these
conversations.
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2021 Position Statement
Load Control Receiver Change-outs
BACKGROUND
Load control switches allow utilities to remotely control end-use loads and control levels of
electrical flow to economize electric use during peak times, saving both the utility and the
customer money while promoting efficient electricity use. In Minnesota, much of this equipment
has reached its usable end of life. Utilities replace load controller receiver technology routinely
as equipment becomes obsolete. A typical replacement installation only takes about 15 minutes
and is usually completed by an electrician. The decades-long practice had been to consider
replacements that do not require new circuit wiring as a minor repair of equipment; thus,
exempting the installation from the permitting and inspection process. Unfortunately, this long-
term practice of exempting load switch replacements from the permit process has recently seen
a reversal in Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) practice.
CURRENT STATUS
Currently, there is a lot of inconsistency. Some inspection departments are providing guidance
that no permits are required, while other utilities/contractors have been informed by DLI and
local inspection departments that they are violating state law by not drawing a permit and having
the new switch inspected. Some have even been told that their license could be revoked. This
new and inconsistent interpretation causes difficulties and questions for both utilities and
electrical contractors alike.
This change from past business practices serves little, if any, purpose while increasing costs and
paperwork; creating delays awaiting inspections; and causing confusion as to when the
equipment must be sealed and when it can be used prior to inspection. The situation is
beginning to cause some utilities to rethink the value of such equipment, which may lead them
to forego installation. The lack of this new equipment could have the adverse effect of
increasing peak time use, as well as potentially increasing the need for additional generation,
transmission, and distribution infrastructure.
REQUESTED ACTION
Ideally DLI will reverse permit and
and revert back to the commonly accepted practice of allowing the replacement of load
management switches without the need to have a permit drawn and an inspection
made. However, if the issue is not resolved administratively, MMUA will work with the Minnesota
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2021 Position Statement
Rural Electric Association to seek clarification in statutes that such replacement installations are
considered minor repairs and are thus exempt from the need for new permits and inspections.
Similar clarification may be needed to address permitting and inspection requirements related to
the use of CFIs.
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UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO:FROM:
ERMU Commission Theresa Slominski –General Manager
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
March 9, 2021 6.3
SUBJECT:
American Public Power Association Legislative Rally Update
ACTION REQUESTED:
No action requested
BACKGROUND:
Every year the American Public Power Association (APPA) holds a legislative rally where public
power representatives from around the nation travel to Washington D.C. to share their Main
Street stories with congressional members and to advocate for the best interests of their
consumer-owners. This year the rally was held virtually due to COVID-19. During this rally, the
APPA Legislation & Resolutions (L&R) Committee also held meetings to vote on APPA regulatory
policy.
DISCUSSION:
This year’s rally occurred on March 1 and 2, 2021. Commissioner Stewart, Conservation & Key
Accounts Manager Sagstetter, and I attended. Virtual meetings with Legislators are being
scheduled for subsequent weeksand are being coordinated by MMUA(see below).
The Legislative & Resolutions Committee met virtually as well and considered these seven
resolutions:
1. Resolution 21-01: In Support of Energy Storage
2. Resolution 21-02: Regarding Federal Involvement in ServiceTerritoryDisputes
3.Resolution 21-03: In Supportof Broadband Deploymentand Local Control of Pole
Attachments
4. Resolution 21-04: The Need for a Strong Federal Response to the Economic Crisis
Caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic
5. Resolution 21-05: In Opposition to the Sequestration of Direct Bond Payments
6. Resolutions 21-06: In Support of Federal Incentives for Utility-Scale Hydrogen Energy
Storage Projects
7. Resolution 21-07: In Support of Facilitating the Removal and Relocation of Sediment
from Hydropower Reservoirs Impacted by the Effects of Climate Change
All seven resolutions passed.
The APPA legislative priorities included, but were not limited to, the following: increased
funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and other funding
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programs, providingconstructivefeedbackoncomprehensiveclimatechangelegislation,
pushingforcomparableincentives thatallowpublicpowerutilitiestobenefitfromenergy-
relatedtaxincentives,restoringadvancerefundingbonds,supportingpoliciestopromotethe
adoptionofelectricvehicles (EV)and theabilityofpublic powerutilitiestoprovideEV-related
services to their customers.
More information is available on APPA’s website here
Minnesota typically supports all the APPA priorities, but not always. Regardless, Minnesota
Municipal Utilities Association’s (MMUA) Government Relations Committee develops federal
position statements every year which are specific to the MMUA membership’s concerns. These
position statements are published and distributed to our congressional members and their
staff. The MMUA membership who will be meeting with representatives will speak on afew
focus issues from these position statements. This year’s key MMUA legislative talkingpoints
are:
1.Responseto Gas Surge Price
2. COVID-19 Relief
3. Climate Change Regulation
4. Comparable Incentives for Renewables
5.Tax-Exempt Financing
More information is available on MMUA’s website here
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2021 GOVERNANCE AGENDA
Tuesday, January 12:Tuesday, February 9:
Annual Review of Committee ChartersReview Strategic Plan and 2020Annual
Business Plan results
Tuesday, March 9:Tuesday, April 13:
Oath of OfficeAudit of 2020Financial Report
Election of OfficersFinancial Reserves Allocations
Annual Commissioner Orientation and Review Review 2020Performance Metrics
Governance Responsibilities and Role
Tuesday, May 11:Tuesday, June 8:
Annual General Manager Performance
Evaluation and Goal Setting
Tuesday, July 13:Tuesday, August 10:
Annual Commission Performance Evaluation Annual Business Plan Review Proposed 2022
Travel, Training, Dues, Subscriptions, and Fees
Review and Update Strategic Plan
Budget
Tuesday, September 14:Tuesday, October 12:
Annual Business Plan Review Proposed 2022Annual Business Plan Review Proposed 2022
Capital ProjectsBudgetExpensesBudget
Tuesday, November 9:Tuesday, December 14:
Annual Business Plan -Review Proposed 2022Adopt 2022Official Depository,Newspaper,
Rates and Other Revenueand Regular Meeting Schedule
Adopt 2022Fee ScheduleAdopt 2022Governance Agenda
2022Stakeholder Communication PlanAdopt 2022Annual Business Plan
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