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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_GTEU_11.17.2021Minutes of the Meeting for the Georgetown Electric Utility Board Thursday, November 17th at 4:00 PM at the Friends Room at Georgetown Public Library, 402 W. 8th St. Georgetown, TX 78626 Board Members Present: Robert Case - Chairman, Rick Woodruff- Vice-Chairman, Sam Jones- Secretary, Ben Butler Board Members Absent: Mike Triggs Staff Present: Daniel Bethapudi, Mike Westbrook, Leigh Wallace, Aaron St. Pierre, Leticia Zavala, 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. • Mike Triggs absent 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 • Kress Carson addresses Board regarding questions due to Board absences and minute corrections • August 19th Meeting- Motion to approve by Jones; seconded by Butler • Minutes approved as read 4-1 (Triggs absent) F. Consideration and possible recommendation to continue utilizing the annual agreement for LCRA Material Acquisition to purchase electric distribution, fiber, water, safety, and substation materials, hardware, and tools for Fiscal Year 2022 from Techline Ltd. under their contract with the Lower Colorado River Authority ("LCRA") Electric Material Acquisition Program, not to exceed amount of $4,000,000.00 – Mike Westbrook, Electric Operations Manager- Mike Westbrook, Electric Operations Manager • Westbrook gives background on the agreement. Points out that there is a termination clause in which the agreement can be cancelled at anytime without penalty. • This agreement is intended as a placeholder until as the Utility scopes outsourcing the electric function of the warehouse in which material would be purchased through the entity chosen to serve the function. • This agreement will allow the City of Georgetown to continue to utilize this agreement in to order to purchase material at a competitively bid price through the LCRA. • Motion to approve LCRA Material Acquisition Contract- Motion by Woodruff, seconded by Jones, vote passes 4-1 (Triggs absent) G. Consideration and possible recommendation to continue utilizing the Electric Just- In-Time Supplier Agreement with Techline for the Fiscal Year 2022, for the first renewal of a three-year agreement, not to exceed amount of $2,500,000.00 – Mike Westbrook, Electric Operations Manager • Jones asks if this contract has provisions in it that provides for emergency response. o Westbrook confirms. • Butler asks if in the event of a storm, would other utilities be able to order emergency material and leave Georgetown without the ability to purchase emergency material if resources are limited. o Westbrook answers that the firm is obligated to hold onto the emergency material, and not release such material unless given permission by the Georgetown. • Motion to approve Just-In-Time Agreement- Motion by Jones, seconded by Butler, vote passes 4-1 (Triggs absent) H. Consideration and Possible Action to approve the new standard Licensing Agreement for Communications Attachments to Utility Facilities- Kress Carson- Electric Utility Analyst and Danny McReynolds- Electric Engineering Manager • Carson gives background that there was not a current standard Pole Attachment agreement and the ones used in prior years currently offer a standard that requires upgrades. • Upgrades include mechanisms of cost recovery, details on processes- including unauthorized attachments, pole transfers, and permitting process. • Bethapudi adds that this was also vetted by outside counsel firm, Lloyd Gosselink and that agreement will ensure that telecom companies will pay their share of the risk of attachment and that all costs of maintenance and updates are passed to the telecom companies. • Case asks for verification that these companies attach fiberoptics to the poles. o Carson confirms • Woodruff asks for clarification if this is strictly only for poles and not underground. o Westbrook confirms that this is the case, and won’t be much of a factor in areas that have underground service. • Carson adds that a company known as Ubiquity has shown interest in attaching to the Georgetown poles, and that they have seen the agreement and have agreed to sign upon Council approval. • Motion to approve the standard agreement- Motion by Woodruff, seconded by Jones- vote passes 4-1 (Triggs absent) I. Consideration and possible action to approve of a two-year consultation agreement with the Alliance for Cooperative Energy Services Power Marketing LLC. (ACES) from Carmel, IN for energy risk management support services for a total cost not to exceed $342,446.00 over the two-year term -- Daniel Bethapudi - General Manager of Electric Utility • Carson gives presentation. Provides background on ACES qualification and services provided under the pending agreement. • Case asks how long we have been working with ACES. o Bethapudi answers for nearly a year • Bethapudi that ACES played an integral part to the portfolio during the Winter Storm. • Motion to approve the consultation agreement with ACES- Motion by Butler, seconded by Woodruff- vote passes 4-1 (Triggs absent) Regular Session (cont.) J. General Managers Monthly Report- Daniel Bethapudi- General Manager of Electric Utility • Customer Service and Billing- Leticia Zavala-Customer Care Director o 30,697 Available Services o 29,799 Electric customers/accounts, 62 estimated “bad meter reads” o Overall Average September 2021 bills nearly $15 cheaper than September 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 102% of yearly budgeted amount collected- end of the fiscal year and collectables came in above budget- about 3% into the new fiscal year o Roughly $84,000 collected in outstanding bills since the collection agency commenced collections in May to collect the bad debt o Woodruff asks that he thought the budget was originally coming under budget and is curious how the 102% figure came to be. ▪ Bethapudi answered there are multiple factors that included budget adjustments, higher energy sales than expected in the fall, and customer growth that contributed to this. • Electric Engineering and Operations Report- Mike Westbrook- Electric Operations Manager o Electric Reliability (SAIFI)- .433 (Good Metric) o Electric Outage Duration (CAIDI)-92.77(Good Metric) o Training- 100% (Good metric) o Safety, 100% attendance o Service Order Completion, 100% o Preventative Maintenance, 100% o Corrective Maintenance, 100% o Top 5 Outages Report ▪ Outages include a switchgear that opened up in which a the outage was isolated to a failed transformer and damaged primary and secondary wire ▪ Another outage included high winds n which a pole came down and 8 cross arms were damaged in which 88 customers were affected. There were also 10 other outages recorded that day. o Case asks about the procedures for linemen on call. Westbrook answers they have always have 2 linemen on call who will respond to outage straight from their homes with the supplies in hand ready to face an outage. K. Consideration and possible action to approve of a two-year consultation agreement with Crescent Power Inc. from Austin, TX, for energy portfolio support services for a total cost not to exceed $330,000.00 over the two-year term -- Daniel Bethapudi, General Manager of Electric Utility • This is item has already been approved by City Council but was brought before the Board for discussion. • Case asks what the difference betweenthe services between Crescent Power and ACES are. o Bethapudi answers that ACES provides a financial credit services point of view, developing of stochastic modeling, negotiating contract terms, and review the city Energy Risk Management Policy. o Crescent Power helps optimize the performance of the portfolio, develop hedge strategies, and cover positions. They also have assisted with ongoing litigation with Buckthorn. Board moves into Executive Session at 5:02 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. L. Section 551.086: Competitive Matters • Purchased Power Update Board moves back into Regular Session at 5:16 PM. Adjournment MOTION by Jones, second by Woodruff to adjourn the Board Meeting APPROVED 4-1 (Triggs absent) Electric Board Meeting Adjourned at 5:17 PM.