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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_GTEU_03.18.2021Minutes of the Meeting for the Georgetown Electric Utility Advisory Board Thursday, March 18th, 2021 at 4:00 PM at: Virtual Meeting (Zoom) Board Members Present: Via Teleconference (Zoom): Robert Case -Vice-Chairman, Sam Jones – Secretary, Mike Triggs, Rick Woodruff Board Members Absent: Bill Sattler – Chairman Staff Present: Via Teleconference (Zoom): Laurie Brewer, Daniel Bethapudi, Mike Westbrook, Michael Weisner, Leigh Wallace, Jennifer Flor, Cindy Pospisil, Kress Carson, Jose Torres, Karen Frost No Others Present Regular Session (This Regular Session may, at any time, be recessed to convene an Executive Session for any purpose authorized by the Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code 551.) A. Call to Order -- Robert Case, Board Vice-Chairman • Meeting called to order at 4:00 pm by Case. B. Roll Call of Board Members -- Robert Case, Board Vice-Chairman Case, Jones, Triggs, Woodruff were present; Sattler was absent. C. Introduction of Visitors -- Robert Case, Board Vice-Chairman • No visitors present. D. Public Wishing to Address the Board. -- Robert Case, Vice-Chairman • No one signed up to speak to the Board. E. Review of City Council’s Boards and Commissions Attendance Policy- Robert Cast, Board Vice-Chairman • Members must attend at least 9 out of the 12 meetings. Legislative Session F. Review and Approval of Minutes • January 21st Meeting-Motion to Approve- Woodruff; Seconded by Jones. • March 4th Meeting- Motion to Approve- Jones; Seconded by Woodruff • Both meeting with minor adjustments approved as read 4-1 (Sattler Absent) G. Discussion of Possible Meeting Times and Date • Times and dates scheduled for every 3rd Thursday of every month at 4:00 PM as usual. • Motion to Approve- Triggs; Seconded by Woodruff. Approved 4-1 (Sattler absent) H. Review of Board Purpose and Bylaws • Motion to approve- Jones; seconded by Woodruff. Approved 4-1 (Sattler absent) I. Election of Georgetown Electric Utility Board Officer- Robert Case- Vice-Chairman • Robert Case nominated for Vice-Chairman by Jones; No others nominated; Seconded by Triggs. Robert Case approved as Vice Chair by board 4-1 (Sattler absemt). • Sam Jones nominated for Secretary by Case; No others nominated; Seconded by Triggs. Sam Jones approved as Secretary by board 4-1 (Sattler absent) J. Possible Action on Collection Agency Item- Cindy Pospisil- Customer Care Operations Manager • Need for Collection Agency due to a backlog of past due accounts that range to approximately 4,000 account costing nearly 1.6 million in backlogs; Age ranges from 90 days to 4 years. • RFP released in November of 2020; 5 received and scored; top 2 were asked to give presentations and provide references. Recommendation to board is Credit Systems International. They request a $100,000 fee estimated at 25% of the outstanding delinquent account collections. If rate is higher than estimated, matte will return to the board. o Case asks for clarification if $100,000 figure is an actual figure or a budgeted one. Cindy clarifies that this is the case. • Vote to approve recommendation of Credit System International, Inc, as 3rd Party Collection Agency for Utility Customer Care delinquent accounts through 9/30/2022 in the amount of $100,000. Motion by Woodruff; seconded by Triggs. Approved 4-1 (Sattler Absent) Regular Session (cont.) K. General Managers Monthly Report- Daniel Bethapudi- General Manager of Electric Utility • Customer Service and Billing- Cindy Pospisil-Customer Care Operations Manager o 78 new connections; total of 433 new connections of this year o 30651 of available services, 28964 total customers o Average usage is higher in 2021 compared to 2020 during time beginning of February o Electric Revenue Breakdown and Receivables given • Finance and Budgeting Report- Leigh Wallace-Finance Director o Annual audit report-clean report opinion received-including electric fund o City’s overall net position increased by $111 Million; total net position is $983 million o Electric fund highlights: net position increased $17.8 million to a total of $113 million; including a net operating income of $8.9 million and capital contributions of $6.5 million o Case asks if there is a target net position for the fund. Leigh answers that there is no real target, generally assets should be greater than liabilities; Daniel elaborates that the optimal number is achieved by saving enough to follow reserves and to acquire favorable coverage ratios to debt agencies. o Triggs asks for comparison of net position between public and private sectors. Bethapudi answers that the statement of net position is similar to a balance sheet. Wallace adds that statement of revenues and expenses is similar to an income statement. o Debt Portfolio Update- bids due March 22nd for $48 million tax backed instrument from unbudgeted energy due to winter storm; to be awarded by council March 23rd o Council approved selling $6.6 million of debt for electric capital projects o Case asks if there is any update on uplift charges in relation to the debt instrument. Bethapudi answers that uplift charges are not approved to be covered by the bond. It covers the exposure to the market, and not the uplift charges. • Electric Engineering and Operations Report- Mike Westbrook- Electric Operations Manager o Electric Reliability (SAIFI)- .496 (Good Metric) o Electric Outage Duration (CAIDI)-89.785 (Good Metric)- Outages do no not reflect rolling blackouts, only regular distribution related outages. o Operations have resumed back to normal operations- various projects in place-including intersection I-35 and Ronald Reagan (4 miles of wire installed), TXDOT job across I-35 (reimbursable by TXDOT) o Daniel adds that the department is currently working on identifying the weather event costs through FEMA reimbursement process. o Woodruff asks if there has been discussion of infrastructure improvement to better handle events such that occurred in February. Daniel answers that design related changes are being discussed including further underground electric system. Discussion between current grid improvement will be discussed more on the state and national level as time goes on. o Group consensus is that Georgetown handled the event favorably. • Winter Weather Event Update- Daniel Bethapudi- General Manager of Electric Utility o Legislative update- Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick asks the Governor to take executive action to correct the price of electricity given or require ERCOT of pricing review o ERCOT Activity- potential repricing for Feb. 15ht due to software errors. Average increase of $58.36/MWh ranging from $0.01.MWh to $1241.68/MW/h o Current estimated cumulative aggregate short pay amount is $2.9 billion o Georgetown Impacts-Spinning Spur 3 and EDF Renewables claimed Force Majeure (force of nature) for the event in order protect from legal action. Wind performed, but faced icing issues during event. o February invoice received from Shell; currently working on deadlines to be extended in order to make sure ERCOT short pays and payment adjustments are getting processed accordingly. o Jones comments on the arbitrary response of event by ERCOT. Woodruff asks what the financial exposure if ancillary services and energy market concerns are not addresses by state powers. Bethapudi answers that if there is implantation there should be benefits of a decrease in ancillary services due to repricing but an increase of energy exposure of approximately $5 million. Hopefully, an offset will occur in expenses- best case scenario. Adjournment MOTION by Woodruff, second by Triggs to adjourn the Board Meeting. APPROVED 4-1 (Sattler absent) Electric Board Meeting Adjourned at 5:26 PM.