HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_GTEU_06.16.2022Minutes of the Meeting for the
Georgetown Electric Utility Board
Thursday, June 16th at 4:00 PM
at the Community Room at Georgetown City Hall, 402 W. 8th St.
Georgetown, TX 78626
Board Members Present:
Robert Case - Chairman, Rick Woodruff- Vice-Chairman, Sam Jones- Secretary, Ben Butler,
Mike Triggs
Board Members Absent: None
Staff Present:
David Morgan, Daniel Bethapudi, Laurie Brewer, Leigh Wallace, Daniel McReynolds, Mike
Westbrook, Elaine Wilson, Leticia Zavala, Cindy Pospisil, Richard Pajestka, Daniel Potter,
Kress Carson and Noah Fry
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 Present
C. Introduction of Visitors -- Robert Case, Board Chairman
• Introduction of Noah Fry – New Electric Staff Member
D. Public Wishing to Address the Board
• None present
E. Review and Approval of Minutes- Robert Case, Board Chairman
• Minutes from 5/19/22 Meeting to reflect Jones and Woodruff as absent, not Butler
and Woodruff on Voting Items E, F & G.
• Triggs motions to amend May 19th Minutes
• Jones Seconds
• Passes unanimously – 5/19 Minutes Amended
• Jones moves to Approve Minutes, Butler Seconds from 5/19 Meeting
• Passes unanimously – Minutes from 5/19 Meeting approved
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 30,871 Available Services
o 30,533 Electric customers/accounts, 125 estimated “bad meter reads”
o 30,058 Billed Electric Meters
o Compared billed meters from May ‘21 to May ‘22. Roughly the same.
▪ Bills reflect usage through April.
o YTD electric bills for May ‘22 compared to May ‘21.
▪ Billing numbers slightly lower than last year due to a more mild
Winter season.
o Residential Customers Average 742kWh in May ’22 compared to 730kWh
in May of ’21.
▪ Case adds that City of Georgetown is $.04-.07 below market for
price per kWh.
▪ Bethapudi adds that March ’22 sales are about 7% higher than
March of ’21 and we haven’t gotten into the hottest parts of the year
yet.
o Electric Revenue Breakdown and Receivables presented- roughly 61% of
yearly budgeted amount collected
o 44% of 3rd Quarter (Apr, May, June) billings collected
o Aged receivables increased slightly.
o Summer Disconnects for Non-Payment stopped around June 7th
o COG has collected $283,537.47. Collection Agency has charged COG
$55,234.72.
Electric Operations Report- Mike Westbrook- Electric Operations Manager
o Electric Reliability (SAIFI)- .281
o Electric Outage Duration (CAIDI)-67.467 minutes
o Top 5 Outages Report
▪ Largest outage, affecting 174 customers, was a guy wire
clipped by vehicle, guy wire got into primary wire, blowing
fuse.
o Storm/lightning on 5/5 affected 14 customers with avg duration of 99
minutes per customer in Gabriel/Rivery service area.
o 2 significant outages on Monday, 6/13 and Tuesday, 6/14.
▪ 6/13 outage: 4:24pm, Rivery 90 locked out. 2300 customers out.
Crews were dispatched and all 2300 customers were picked
back up in 45 minutes.
• Zavala adds this outage served as a test for new
outage notification system and it worked very
well, preventing COG from being inundated
with customer calls.
• 6/14 outage: Rivery 90 was isolated and Pedro Construction
began work on feeder. Pedro Construction accidentally cut
into Rivery 80 (the good circuit), causing flash, injury to crew
member, and 2900 customers out of power. Switching was
done successfully. Westbrook comments on the quality of our
air-break switches and capacity of our conductor to be able to
maintain load.
• Investigations will be completed.
• Electric Employee Safety and Development Report- Danny Potter –
Electric Safety and Employee Development Manager
o 6/8 – Safety Down Day
o Weekly safety meetings
o Zero Safety Incidents for COG Personnel
o Meter Apprentice Program Development – Northwest Lineman College,
Certification through VA and DOL.
o KPA Software – 100% Electric Safety Documentation has been moved to
software.
• Quarterly Financial Report- Leigh Wallace- Finance Director
o FY22 revenue budget is $124 million, 69% is from electric sales charges, 16% is
bond proceeds, 10% is developer contributions, 5% is other charges for
services, and 1% is from non-rate fees and Renewable Energy Credits
▪ Operating and Non-Operating: revenues FY22 Q2 revenues
compared to Q2 of FY21.
▪ Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) are not being reported under Fees
within Operating Revenues.
▪ Electric Sales Charges at 42% for halfway through the fiscal year.
▪ Developer Contributions are at 222% of Budget.
▪ Sale of Property line is where RECs used to be located.
• Transition of Fiber asset has progressed quicker than anticipated with
IT being able to purchase from Electric using savings.
• Bonds were sold in April and closed on in May. Proceeds to be
reflected in 3rd quarter report.
• Woodruff asks if Misc. Revenue is partly due to the sale
of excess solar or wind. Westbrook answers with an
example of billing contractors that damage our
equipment or services. Wallace adds that Misc.
Revenue is usually one-off items that do not fit
anywhere else.
• Electric Sales Charges through March ’22: 43% of budget, down 1%
compared to same timeframe last FY.
o FY22 expense budget is $115 million.
▪ T&D Services and Electric Engineering labor expenses are capitalized
at year end.
▪ Purchase Power is within Resource Management – 54% variance
from Q2 of FY21 due to Winter Storm Uri.
▪ Net Purchased Power – 66% of operating expenses. Net Purchase
Power is down 63% from same period as last FY due to Winter Storm
Uri.
▪ For FY22, the Electric Fund is at 53% of Net Purchase Power budget.
• TEC Warehouse Update – Mike Westbrook
o Material transfer to take place last week in June.
o Project is moving along as anticipated
• Partner Software Implementation – Danny McReynolds
o Map Viewer portion rolled out
o Design/Staking portion – 3-day training completed. Anticipate roll out 1st
week of August.
o Workflow portion being tested over next several weeks.
• Joint Use/Pole Attachment Updates – Kress Carson
o Schneider Engineering is administering as of 5/6.
o Updated Pole Attachment Fees being presented to Council on June 28th.
o Exploring a live tracking system with which entities can track their pole
attachments.
G. Legislative Item: NewGen Amendment – Cost of Service Study – Daniel Bethapudi
o Bethapudi provides updates to Cost of Service study. Notifies of Contract
that will require a change order for an additional $35,615 from original
$45,275.
▪ Butler requests clarification on if the scope of work was documented
properly and if it was notated that the consultant would require a
change order. Bethapudi advises that the scope of work was given to
legal and was approved.
▪ Morgan adds that the Electric Board is an advisory board and that the
change order consideration was provided as an informative update.
▪ Butler adds that, in the future, he’d like to see some sort of
parameters set for how much a consultant can request in a change
order, percentage wise.
o Butler and Triggs move to approve NewGen Change Order, Vote Passes.
o Bethapudi provides update on Net Metering Policy
▪ Many customers pursuing renewables, DERs, and battery storage. All
of which are avenues with which the Utility cannot recover costs.
▪ There are (2) rate constructs that exist to address these issues.
• Demand Charge for customers who use Utility as a
backup during peak demand.
• Fixed Charge – Example of New Braunfels charges
DER customers $10 per kW.
Board moves into Executive Session at 5:04 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.
H. Section 551.086: Competitive Matters
• Purchased Power Update
• Cyber Security Updates
• Butler excuses himself during Executive Session
Board moves back into Regular Session at 5:30 PM.
Adjournment
MOTION by Triggs, seconded by Jones to adjourn the Board Meeting APPROVED 4-1 (Butler
absent before adjournment)
Electric Board Meeting Adjourned at 5:32 PM.