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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_GTEU_09.16.2021Minutes of the Meeting for the Georgetown Electric Utility Board Thursday, September 16th at 4:00 PM at the Community Room at City Hall, 808 Matin Luther King Jr. St. Georgetown, TX 78626 Board Members Present: Robert Case - Chairman, Rick Woodruff- Vice-Chairman, Sam Jones–Secretary, Ben Butler *Rick Woodruff attending virtually via Zoom* Board Member Absent: None Staff Present: Daniel Bethapudi, Mike Westbrook, Danny McReynolds, Cindy Pospisil, Jose Torres, Leigh Wallace, David Morgan, Jennifer Flor, Aaron St. Pierre, Daniel Potter, and Kress Carson Public Attendees: None 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 Chairman • Meeting called to order at 4:00 pm by Case. B. Roll Call of Board Members -- Robert Case, Board Chairman. • All board members present • Woodruff attending virtually C. Introduction of Visitors -- Robert Case, Board Chairman D. Public Wishing to Address the Board • None present Legislative Session E. Review and Approval of Minutes- Kress Carson, Board Liaison • August 19th Meeting- Motion to approve by Jones, seconded by Butler • Minutes approved as read 5-0 F. 3 Wheel Turret Trailer and Underground Puller Trailer- Mike Westbrook, Electric Operations Manager • Consideration and possible recommendation to purchase a 3 Reel Turret Trailer and an Underground Puller for a total cost of $337,882.00 • Currently the Utility has one 3-reel turret trailer and one underground puller. With the amount of new development and maintenance work it is starting to effect productivity trying to schedule this equipment's use between multiple projects and crews. • Motion to approve the purchase of the 3 Wheel Turret Trailer and Underground Puller- Motion by Woodruff, seconded by Butler. Vote passes 5-0 G. Pedro Services Renewal- Mike Westbrook, Electric Operations Manager • Consideration and possible recommendation to renew the Annual Electric System Underground Construction and Maintenance Bid for labor services to Pedro S.S. Services, Inc. of Austin, Texas, in the not to exceed amount of $2,000,000.00. • The Electric System Underground Construction and Maintenance bid is an annual contract for labor only contract services with optional annual extensions. Bids were received and awarded in year (FY19) and this proposed item would be the third annual renewal. • As in years past, if approved, the contractor will bill for labor services rendered based on unit pricing as outlined with the agreement not to exceed the amount of $2,000,000.00. Work will be based on new development service demand, the approved Capital Improvement Plan, and various maintenance projects to be constructed in the term of this agreement. • Motion to approve the renewal of Pedro S.S. Services contract- Motion by Butler, seconded by Woodruff. Vote passes 5-0 H. Partner’s Software Suite Contract- Daniel McReynolds • By implementing a replacement of the design software, the Utility anticipates substantially reducing costs while reducing or eliminate the lag between field construction and model updates, improving in the fixed asset update process, improving the material procurement process and providing better maps for our field crews • Staff recommendation is to execute the contract with Partners Software of Athens, Georgia, in the quoted amount of $98,500. • Case asks for clarification that the quoted amount is only intended for the first year of the contract. o McReynolds confirms, and adds that the contract is to be renewed annually for the next five year in which we implement $28,250 in annual expenses related to maintaining the software. o Case follows and asks if there is going to be support to follow up after implementation of the project. o McReynolds confirms there is support staff intended to work with the utility throughout the term of services provided by the vendor. • Woodruff asks if in the event the Utility decides to move away from the software, would the data be able to be transferred to another system, or would it remain with the proprietor. o McReynolds confirms that the data would be able to be transferred, and the data is in fact, owned by the Utility. • Butler asks if there is a way to track in implementing this system to identify if we meet anticipated savings. o McReynolds answers the general cost savings come in the form of reduced engineering costs as far as spending more time updating the GIS system. o Bethapudi adds there are two forms of cost savings. One is bringing engineering functions in-house rather than paying an outside firm to perform the job performed by the software, the other being savings in time to duplicate and transfer the data to the electric distribution model. There are also other benefits that are harder to quantify such as faster turnover from contraction or addition to the distribution system to the model. Ultimately, the largest form of savings come from time taken to perform tasks by improving processes. • Motion to approve the contract with Partners Software- Motion by Woodruff, seconded by Butler. Vote passes 5-0. Regular Session (cont.) I. General Managers Monthly Report- Daniel Bethapudi- General Manager of Electric Utility • Customer Service and Billing- Cindy Pospisil -Customer Care Manager o 30,552 Available Services o 29,665 Electric customers/accounts, 43 estimated “bad meter reads” ▪ Jones intercedes and explains that the presented total of customers presented on the slides does not total correctly according to the given numbers. Pospisil confirms and claims this will be rectified. o Overall Average August 2021 bills nearly $50 cheaper than August 2020 ▪ Billing numbers lower than last year due to a combination of lower average monthly temperatures and reduced PCA o Electric Revenue Breakdown and Receivables presented- roughly 88% of yearly budgeted amount collected. o Roughly $65,000 collected in outstanding bills since the collection agency commenced collections in May. • Finance and Budgeting Report- Leigh Wallace- Finance Director o Third Quarter Background ▪ Due to the timing of COVID-19 pandemic timing, yearly comparisons from 2020 to 2021 show large variances in revenues and expenses. This was expected going into FY 2021. ▪ Includes February Winter Storm and January PCA adjustment • The City has applied for FEMA reimbursement, however the timing of which reimbursement can be applied is unknown. ▪ The budget in the report reflects the CIP Rollforward, the Operational Amendment, and the Mid-Year Budget Amendment o Electric Fund Revenue ▪ The Electric revenue budget is set at $141.3 million ▪ 56% of the electric revenue comes from charges from service ▪ Bond proceeds are worth 39% of the budget ▪ While electric sales and consumption is down, revenues are still up. This is aided by developer contributions and non-operating revenues such as renewable energy credit sales ▪ Revenues are on target to still meet the budgeted amount ▪ 72% of electric sales revenue was received through the quarter ▪ Sales revenue is down 5% due to mild summer weather and rate adjustments o Electric Fund Expenses ▪ Transmission and Distribution numbers currently are projected to go over budget, however, many of the labor expenses for projects are to be brought in to capital expenses rather than operating expenses and should offset the current budget projection ▪ Net purchased power takes up about 72% of the operating expenses ▪ Purchased power is up 126% compared to FY 2020 due to the Winter Storm in February in addition to congestion and transmission issues in the first quarter. o The overall electric fund is expected to end the year near budget with fully funded reserves. o Woodruff asks for clarification on the electric fund projects, as some cost centers are over budget and some are not. ▪ Wallace answers that much of this is due winter storm expenses as well as the labor that is currently being reporting as operating expenses rather than capital projects. These events have affected cost centers in different ways that allows for variance than what is projected. Many of these budgets are expected to be normalized by the end of the year. o Case asks if there has been update regarding a potential convenience fee being charged to customers for credit card use for bill payments. ▪ Wallace answers that this is still under internal review. ▪ David Morgan, City Manager, adds that the City will give a presentation to the board about this in the future. The City is extensively studying this as this and how it can affect current operations and contracts that the City is currently in. o Triggs asks how is the reserve budget is targeted. ▪ Wallace answers that they perform a year review of reserves as apart of the budgeting process. For Electric there is a 90 day operational contingency and a rate stabilization reserve that is targeted for 10 percent of purchase power expenses. After the winter storm, this number was changed from 10 percent to the average of the 3 most expensive months for purchased power. • Electric Engineering and Operations Report- Mike Westbrook- Electric Operations Manager o Electric Reliability (SAIFI)- .57 (Good Metric) o Electric Outage Duration (CAIDI)-88.816(Good Metric) o Training- 98% (Good metric) o Safety, 100% attendance o Service Order Completion, 100% o Preventative Maintenance, 100% o Corrective Maintenance, 100% o Top 5 Outages Report ▪ The most major outages occurred due to customer related instances such as hit poles or transformers and blown fuses. • Electric Business Plan Presentation- Kress Carson, Electric Utility Analyst o Quarterly updates for the Electric Business Plan o Action Item Updates o SG1- Software Upgrades ▪ ANB Systems- DER processing platform- to go live October 1st, 2021 ▪ Partners- line design and field staking software- to get approval on the next City Council meeting; expected go live in December or January o SG2-Employee Training and Development ▪ Northwest Line College- New facilitator for the apprentice program- in legal review phase ▪ Development of Safety Committee- currently being utilized by the Utility ▪ Danny Potter hired as Electric Safety and Training Manager o SG3- Fleet and Equipment Rentals ▪ No updates yet o SG4- Operation Improvements ▪ Emergency Restoration Plan to be updated by the end of the month ▪ Warehouse Outsourcing- RFP is currently out for vendors and will close in October and to be implemented in December ▪ Electric Line Extension Policy Updated in August o SG5- Energy Risk Management Updates ▪ To procure energy portfolio support and management services- to be instituted in the coming month o Case asks what particular safety programs are in place for various hypothetical situations concerning the electric group. ▪ Daniel Potter, Electric Safety Manager, explains the program reaches out to more than just the lineman, but to all of the Utility. There are some procedures in place to address many hypotheticals. ▪ Bethapudi answers that the safety group is a work in progress and some robust systems are not in place, but will be looking into in the future. He adds there are some procedures in place city-wide that also attribute to the new safety group. MOTION by Butler, second by Jones to adjourn the Regular Session and move into Executive Session. APPROVED 5-0 at 4:58 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. J. Section 551.086: Competitive Matters • Purchased Power Update MOTION by Butler; second by Jones to adjourn Executive Session. APPROVED 5-0 at 5:58 PM. Adjournment MOTION by Butler, second by Jones to adjourn the Board Meeting APPROVED 5-0 Electric Board Meeting Adjourned at 5:58 PM.