HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_GTEU_04.15.2021Minutes of the Meeting for the
Georgetown Electric Utility Advisory Board
Thursday, April 15th, 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, Christi Rawls, Jennifer Flor, David Morgan, Leticia Zavala
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.
Legislative Session
E. Review and Approval of Minutes
• March 18th Meeting- Motion to Approve- Jones; Seconded by Woodruff
• Minutes approved as read 4-1 (Sattler Absent)
Regular Session (cont.)
F. General Managers Monthly Report- Daniel Bethapudi- General Manager of Electric Utility
• Customer Service and Billing- Leticia Zavala-Customer Care Director
o Available Service: 34 new connections; total of 513 new connections of this
fiscal year
o 30,002 available services total
o 29,119 Electric customers/accounts
o 35 estimated “not good” or “any” meter reads; work orders put in to
investigate
o Overall Average March 2021 bills $25 lower than March 2020
o Electric Revenue Breakdown and Receivables presented
• Finance and Budgeting Report- Leigh Wallace-Finance Director
o Debt update
▪ Award of $48 million tax backed debt instrument to Wells Fargo on
March 23rd, of which provides the best interest rate of 1.73%, to pay for
February Winter Weather Event Expenses
▪ Subordinate lien on utility revenue that can be repaid with the current
PCA (power cost adjustment) rate
▪ To be paid over 9.5 years with a 5 year call option to refund or
refinance
▪ Payments estimated at $5.3 million including principal and interest
▪ Bethapudi asks when the first payment of debt is due. Wallace
answers in Fiscal Year 2022 and explains that payments begin the year
after issuance of debt. Bethapudi subsequently asks if the principal
and interest are paid separately or not. Wallace responds that
generally interest is paid in February and principal and interest is paid
in August.
o FY 2021 1st Quarter Performance- Wallace explains due to COVID-19
pandemic timing, comparisons of financial from 2020 to 2021 show general
decreases in revenues and expenses respectfully, which was expected
▪ Total Electric Budget Revenue is 93.1 million. 89% attributed to
services and sales revenue, the rest attributes from bond proceeds
and transfers from other departments
▪ 24.1 % of budgeted revenue received in 1st quarter
▪ Electric Sales Revenue is 3.3% less than 1st quarter of 2020 due
to weather, COVID, and rate adjustments
▪ Electric Budgeted Expenses- more spending in 1st quarter 2021
compared to 1st Quarter FY 2020
▪ Wallace explains personnel expenses are currently inflated,
because they are typically capitalized, and is done at the end
of the year. Therefore 1st quarter numbers show inflated
personnel numbers and deflated capital amounts at the
moment. Work is being done to make reporting such
expenses more accurately.
▪ Net Purchased Power makes up 72% of Electric operating
expenses.
▪ 29% of purchased power expensed through the 1st quarter
▪ Purchase power is up 23% compared to last year’s quarter
due to primarily congestion and transmission issues
▪ Comparisons of purchase power expenses from FY 2020 to
2021 given
o Woodruff asks if Utility was aware of congestion and transmission issues in
the 1st quarter. Bethapudi answers that it was expected and explains that they
are typically performed after the peak, generally in September, and
scheduled outages were taken place on these transmission lines, thus causing
the congestion.
• Electric Engineering and Operations Report- Mike Westbrook- Electric Operations
Manager
o Electric Reliability (SAIFI)- .496 (Good Metric)
o Electric Outage Duration (CAIDI)-94.398 (Good Metric
o Training- 98%- Currently have 7 apprentices who are moving through stages
of the training process. 1 apprentice moved up to Journeyman status.
o Safety, 100% attendance
o Service Order Completion, 100%
o Preventative Maintenance, 100%
o Corrective Maintenance, 100%
o Recent outage at Glasscock substation due to a bird flying into the overhead
bus; LCRA is looking into opportunities to apply more bird protection and
insulation to prevent such outages
MOTION by Woodruff, second by Jones to adjourn the Regular Session and move into Executive
Session. APPROVED 4-1 (Sattler absent) at 5:01 PM
Executive Session
In compliance with the Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551, Government Code, Vernon's Texas
Codes, Annotated, the items listed below will be discussed in closed session and are subject to
action in the regular session.
G. Section 551.086: Competitive Matters
• Purchased Power Update
MOTION by Woodruff, second by Triggs to adjourn Executive Session. APPROVED 4-1 (Sattler
absent)
No further discussion in Board Meeting
Adjournment
MOTION by Triggs, second by Jones to adjourn the Board Meeting. APPROVED 4-1
(Sattler absent)
Electric Board Meeting Adjourned at 5:17 PM.