Loading...
Public Utilities 1996/03/07 ' r PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD ? I : = ._ MINUTES MARCH 7, 1996 '- Id The agenda having been posted on Friday, March 1, 1996, the Regular Meetuig of the PubU Utilities Board was called to order by Chairperson Dale Stanton at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 7, 1996, in the City Hall West, 1 lth Floor Conference Room, 201 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim, California. Board Members Present: D. Stanton, T. Kirker, J. White, R. Lawson, P. Lem, Board Members Absent: D. McMillan,W. Wiseman. Staff Present: E. Aghjayan, M. Bell, H. Pepper, L. Moses, L. Topaz, M. Long, G. Broeking, J. Hills, S. Lien, S. Albright, G. DeHart, K. Welch, R. Howell. Guests Present: None 1. PUBLIC COMMENTS Chairperson D. Stanton asked for public comments. There being none, the Public Comments portion of the meeting was closed. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 1, 1996 J. White moved approval of the minutes of February 1, 1996. P. Lem seconded the motion. MOTION CARRIED 5 -0. 2 ABSENT. 3. APPROVAL OF PILOT PHOTOVOLTAIC PROJECT J. Hills gave a presentation on the proposed Pilot Photovoltaic Project for the City Hall West parking structure. The recent restructuring order from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) indicates its commitment to establishing restructuring policies which maintain California's resource diversity for existing resources as well as encourage development of new resources. The CPUC order also stated that California's current base of renewables should be supported and that mechanisms have to be developed to bring new generations of renewable technologies to market. With this in mind, staff proposes implementing renewable energy sources such as the photovoltaic projects. Utilities that are experienced with new technologies such as PVs, fuel cells, cogeneration and distributed generation will have a significant advantage over utilities and independent power producers that do not have an established track record with these technologies. Eventually, renewable resources will increase the diversity of the Department's resource mix which will ultimately improve system reliability. There are a number of other financial benefits for the Department associated with the project including: reduction in on -peak purchases; a $.015 per kWh credit under the DOE's Renewable Energy Production Incentive Program; and air emission credits through a proposed South Coast Air Quality Management District program. In addition to the installation of the pilot photovoltaic system on the City Hall West parking structure, another PV project will include the installation 320 41q of three 4kW systems located on either residential units or on small commercial buildings in Anaheim. The three 4kW projects will be removed from the sites at the conclusion of the evaluation period and remain the property of the City. The Department has been awarded $205,000 through a grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to pay a portion of the project's costs. The City Hall West parking structure project has an estimated cost of $547,000, of which the DOE grant pays $177,000 and the Department will fund the remaining $370,000 with proceeds from the existing Financing Authority for Resource Efficiency of California (FARECa1) financing. The three small residential roof top PV projects will cost approximately $92,000, of which the Department will receive $28,000 from the DOE grant and the Department will fund the remaining amount of $64,000 with proceeds from the FARECal financing. Most importantly, through the pilot project the Department will gain knowledge and experience that it will need in order to remain competitive in the future in the restructured electric industry. T. Kirker added that he felt another advantage for having photovoltaic renewable energy sources is its use for alternative power in the event of outages. The separate circuit for the photovoltaic power can provide critical backup power. J. White moved approval of the pilot project and asked for a quarterly status report on the project. P. Lem seconded the motion. MOTION CARRIED 5 -0. 2 ABSENT. 4. CUSTOMER BILL DISPUTE AND APPEAL PROCESS L. Moses distributed copies of the current Electric Rates, Rules and Regulations that apply to the customer bill dispute and appeal processes (Rule No. 5 and Rule No. 10 attached) in response to questions from P. Lem at recent Public Utility Board Meetings. A copy of the customer bill was also distributed to show the Board Members the explanation of the disputed bill process that is printed on the back of the bill. The majority of the disputes are handled within the Customer Services Division, but if a customer does not agree with the Customer Services Division staff's explanation, the customer can present a written letter disputing the explanation to the Public Utilities General Manager. If the customer still does not feel the issue is sufficiently resolved at the General Manager level, then he or she can request a hearing before the Public Utilities Hearing Board. There has only been one customer so far that has brought a dispute before the Hearing Board. The decision of the Public Utilities Hearing Board is final. A ny citizen can go to the City Council meeting and state they have been through the Department's process and are still unhappy and then the City Council would instruct the City Manager to investigate the issue. 5. UPDATE ON ELECTRIC INDUSTRY DEREGULATION AND RESTRUCTURING This agenda item was moved from the February 1, 1996 Public Utilities Board Meeting to the March 7, 1996 meeting due to a time constraint at the last meeting. The presentation was given to the City Council at a workshop on February 13, 1996. D. Stanton stated that the Board had a copy of the presentation from the last PUB meeting and had reviewed it over the last month so the Board agreed that it was not necessary to give a formal presentation at this meeting. E. Aghjayan said that the $1.9 million dollars in power cost savings for this year previously quoted in the presentation has been updated to $2.6 million in power cost savings to date this year. Current IPA refinancings have contributed a lot to the Department's cost savings which will be passed on to our customers in lower rates. T. Kirker distributed a copy of a vision paper he wrote on restructuring (copy attached) suggesting that the Department look into providing lower cost service to the fringe accounts in Anaheim that are currently served 321 by Southern California Edison (approximately 300 -500 residential and commercial customers). E. Aghjayan advised T. Kirker that staff will review the suggestion and report back at a future PUB meeting. 6. UPDATE ON ELECTRIC MAINTENANCE PLAN S. Albright gave a presentation on the revised Electric Maintenance Plan explaining the three different maintenance areas: the meter shop, the electric substation test and maintenance, and the electric transmission and distribution systems. The transmission and distribution staff allocation plan includes 20 positions (36,368 hours) for routine maintenance, seven positions (12,000 hours) for reactive maintenance, and 10 positions (16,641 hours) for capital work projects. A total of 37 positions and 65,009 man hours have been devoted to maintenance of the system. The five year proposed staffing and man hours allocated for the maintenance of the system begins with base year 1994/95 at 44 positions and 77,308 man hours. After completion of the review of the maintenance plan, it was determined that the work force could be reduced from 44 to 37 positions. The staff levels for FY 95/96, 96/97, and 97/98 will be maintained at 37 positions through transfer of man hours from the capital work to the maintenance areas. Through the reorganization and maintenance plan savings, it is projected that by June 30, 2001, the Electric Systems Division will have a net savings of $2,135 million. D. Stanton asked what the reactive maintenance crew does when there are no catastrophes to respond to. S. Albright explained that staff from this crew is used in the maintenance areas during those times. During times of high reactive response requirements (such as storms, etc.) the maintenance crews will be used in the reactive response areas. It balances out at the end of the year. T. Kirker asked if some of the division's obsolete equipment would be replaced. S. Albright replied that the purchase of updated equipment has already begun. Wire pullers were recently purchased and core boring equipment will be purchased also this year. J. White asked how the division can continue to eliminate positions and man hours each year and still be able to maintain the system in good order. S. Albright replied that in the past, the crews were kept constantly busy on the capital projects and were not able to spend sufficient time on maintenance. Now that the capital projects have been frozen, the workforce has been moved to maintenance areas. system. P. Lem asked if the meters are set at zero when the Department replaces them or were set fast or slow. T. Kirker stated that P. Lem had asked this question at a previous Board meeting and that P. Lem had been asked to visit the meter shop to resolve any questions he had about the testing policies. 7. TELECOMMUNICATIONS UPDATE E. Aghjayan updated the Board on the due diligence process with SpectraNet. A comprehensive financial analysis and business plan is being conducted to make sure the telecommunications project makes good business sense. An RFP was sent out to hire a consultant to do the feasibility analysis and has been narrowed down to two finalists. Nortel has agreed to ship equipment in advance that will allow the construction of a pilot telecommunications project in the Anaheim Canyon industrial area. An agreement will be negotiated with SpectraNet concerning the pilot project. The Department has experienced an extreme interest by the community in the telecommunications project. 322 D. Stanton advised the Board that he and two staff members from the Telecommunications group attended a conference in Atlanta on the telecommunications industry opportunities for utilities. They were given a tour of the Nortel Research and Development Plant while in Atlanta and were very impressed with Nortel's operation. Nortel showed them the underground and above ground node installations. A key point made at the conference was that a utility's assets should be moved from power plants to the customer and if utilities service their customers correctly, then the utilities will sell more electricity. The many ways that telecommunications services can be used for this purpose were outlined at the conference. 8. AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING E. Aghjayan stated that the next meeting will include a State and Federal Legislative Regulatory Update and presentation of a proposed program "In Concert With the Environment ". 9. ITEMS BY SECRETARY E. Aghjayan reminded the Board that the Lenain rededication ceremony is March 27 at 10:30 a.m. and Mrs. Lenain will be attending the ceremonies. The Sundor Corporation will have its groundbreaking ceremonies March 8 at 9:00. Sundor will be doubling the size of its operation in Anaheim. The Resource Efficiency Division recently received two CMUA conservation awards for the second year in a row for the Drip Program (Developing Responsible Irrigation Practices) and the Efficiency Menus for Schools Program. Anaheim Public Utilities has now won six of these awards from CMUA out of 20 granted, representing about 100 different utilities. Anaheim has been selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to receive the first nationwide award for participation in its Project E.X.C.E.L. for Communities Program. This program was created by the EPA to encourage unique and creative ways for cities to improve the environment. J. Hills and his staff applied for the program and offered to conduct three other projects including: a chlorinated solvent reduction project for groundwater protection; an abandoned well identification and destruction project for groundwater protection; and an electro- technologies project to help Anaheim businesses comply with environmental regulations and reduce air emissions associated with the business' operations. The total costs of implementing these projects was estimated at $30,500 over an 18 month period and funding has been committed by the Orange County Water District and the EPA. The City of Anaheim is the first municipality to be selected for the award and a tape of the presentation of the award in Washington, D.C. by Carol Browner of the EPA was played for the Board. 10. ITEMS BY BOARD MEMBERS R. Lawson thanked star for the great tour given to the Board members of the new Lenain Filtration Plant and also commended the Department on the quality staff at the plant. P. Lem reiterated R. Lawson's comments on the tour of the Lenain Filtration Plant. J. White also felt the filtration plant was very impressive. He also asked for an explanation of the unbundling of rates and services in regard to the undergrounding costs. E. Aghjayan explained that the major reason for unbundling of the rates is to characterize it as a distribution charge which applies to any potential supplier under a deregulated environment. If the Department were to allow a customer to buy from an outside supplier, the only way it could collect the money from them is to put that into the distribution charge as an unbundled charge and they would have to pay that. If the Department did not unbundle the charges, then the Department might not be able to collect that money. It also presents the rates as 4% lower 323 than they actually are so that when the utility goes before a rating agency, the Department's rates compare more favorably to others. J. White asked how Disney would accept the charges for the unbundled undergrounding when they are already undergrounded. E. Aghjayan replied that Disney has been very understanding of the City's efforts to underground. The dramatic difference in the appearance of areas that have• been undergrounded is so positive that the Department's customers have never made negative comments about the costs of undergrounding. J. White felt that when the charges are unbundled on the new bills, that the customers will react negatively. T. Kirker stated that the area between Ball Road and Cerritos looks fantastic after undergrounding. He also asked how the Department's water supply was affected by the current snow pack and H. Pepper replied that it is above normal at this time. Staff will give another update report on the snow pack at the next PUB meeting. 11. ADJOURNMENT (NEXT REGULAR MEETING: April 4, 1996) R. Lawson moved adjournment of the meeting at 5:20.m. T. Kirker seconded the motion. MOTION CARRIED 5 -0. 2 ABSENT. Respectfully submitte • Edward K. A_. jay.. Secretary, Pudic tilities Board 324 Ci r /rte ft 6 7 -9 "VISION" Much concern has been expressed on the topic of "RESTRUCTURING" of the Electrical Utility Industry. Some questions asked are: What is going to happen to our Utility? Are ve going to serve our large Industrial customers vhen "RESTRUCTURING" TAKES PLACE? The City of Anaheim Public Utilities Department has already taken steps to lover rates by unbundling those portions of the Utility Bill pertaining to "UNDERGROUND DISTRICTS" and offering lover rates to Industrial and Commerical customers. Nov comes the "VISION PORTION" of this paper As discussed above vhen ve indulge ourselves with negative thinking ve loose focus on what we wish to accomplish. We have lowered rates, but have ve done the necessary MARKETING to our customers as yell as those served by other Utilities in the surrounding area? Within the City limits and just outside the City Limits (County Area) are approximately 300 -500 Residencial and Commerical Customers. served by others. We can offer OUR SERVICES TO THOSE CUSTOMERS AT A REDUCED RATE. Sound strange? I do not think so. Haven't we been trying to get these customers in the past. Lets MARKET what's good about us. Lets give to those customers a chance for better rates from an agressive, foreword looking Utility. Along vith other TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENTS, ve can reduce CAPACITY and ENERGY REQUIREMENTS from others that should allow us to extend our service area. SUBMITTED BY THOMAS KIRKER ANAHEIN PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD MEMBER