6.1i ERMUSR 11-09-2021UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO:FROM:
ERMU Commission Mike Tietz –Technical Services Superintendent
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
November9, 2021 6.1i
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
ACTION REQUESTED:
None
DISCUSSION:
• In October, the locators processed527 locate tickets. These consistedof 3 emergency
tickets, 419 normal tickets, 6 non-excavation tickets, 2 boundary surveys, 75 updated
tickets, 11 cancellations, and 11 locate meets. This resulted in a 22.7% decrease in
tickets from the previous month and a 4.8% increase from the prior year.
• Electrical technicians completed 238 service order tasks, updated the power bill,
attended to customer meter/power qualityissues and off-peak concerns.
• On October 20, staff ran generators #1, #2, #3 & #4. Staff noticed a water leak on engine
#4 and tightened some connectors immediately. We will continue to monitor this over
the next few months. Staff assisted with the annual insurance audit of our generation
facilities, conducted by the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, at the power
plant and landfill gas plant, and everything went well.
• Mapping department has been busy GPSing splices and conduit locations along with
getting caught up on mapping changes/new construction from throughout the year.
Staff attended the mPower users conference in Minneapolis, October 13-15.
• The substation apparatus technician has been working with staff to draw oil samples
and perform infrared inspections of our oil filled switchgear on the system. We have
several fall projects that are awaiting delivery of miscellaneous parts due to delays from
the suppliers.
at River Energy (GRE) experienced momentary blinks of thetransmissionsystem on
• Gre
October 7, 27, and 30. Connexus utilized their feeder out of our Waco Bank 1 substation
on October 7 after experiencing a fault at their Big Lake substation. This was also the
cause of GRE’s momentary blink on October 7.
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• My attention has been focused on the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)project.
The leadership team evaluated proposalsfor consultantsand determined that we would
interview the top two candidates. Interviews were conducted by sixmembers of the
leadership team on November 4. I anticipate extending an offer soon and hopefully to
have a contract in place by the end of November. We will report any budgetary impacts
associated with the AMI Project next month.
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