HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda_GTEU_10.15.2020Notice of Meeting for the
Georgetown Electric Utility B oard
of the City of Georgetown
October 15, 2020 at 4:00 P M
at VI RT U AL
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ide ntify you when you ar e c alled upon). To spe ak on an item, clic k on the
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Regular Session
(T his R egular S es s ion may, at any time, be rec es s ed to c onvene an Exec utive S es s ion for any purpose
authorized by the O pen Meetings Act, Texas G overnment C ode 551.)
A C all to O rder - Bill S attler, Electric Board C hairman
B P ublic Wis hing to Address the Board - Bill S attler, Elec tric Board C hairman
C G eneral Manager's Monthly R eport - Daniel Bethapudi, G eneral Manager of the Electric Utility
- C ustomer C are R eport
- Monthly O perations R eport
Regular Agenda
D R eview and pos s ible approval of the minutes from the meeting of S eptember 17, 2020. -- Laura Wilkins ,
Executive As s is tant
E Ac tion from Exec utive S es s ion
E xecutiv e Session
In c omplianc e with the O pen Meetings Ac t, C hapter 551, G overnment C ode, Vernon's Texas C odes,
Annotated, the items listed below will be dis cus s ed in c los ed session and are s ubjec t to action in the regular
s es s ion.
F EXEC UT I VE S ES S I O N:
S ec tion 551.086: C ompetitive Matters
- P urchas ed P ower Update
- R isk Management Update
Adjournment
Ce rtificate of Posting
I, R obyn Densmore, C ity S ecretary for the C ity of G eorgetown, Texas, do hereby c ertify that this Notic e of
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Meeting was posted at C ity Hall, 808 Martin Luther King Jr. S treet, G eorgetown, T X 78626, a plac e readily
acc es s ible to the general public as required by law, on the _____ day of _________________, 2020, at
__________, and remained s o posted for at leas t 72 c ontinuous hours prec eding the s cheduled time of said
meeting.
__________________________________
R obyn Dens more, C ity S ec retary
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City of Georgetown, Texas
Electric Utility Board
October 15, 2020
S UB J E C T:
R eview and possible approval of the minutes from the meeting of S eptember 17, 2020. -- Laura Wilkins,
Exec utive Assistant
IT E M S UMMARY:
F IN AN C IAL IMPAC T:
N/A
S UB MIT T E D B Y:
Laura Wilkins - Exec utive Assistant
AT TAC H ME N T S:
Description Type
Minutes from September 17, 2020 Backup Material
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Minutes of the Meeting for the
Georgetown Electric Utility Advisory Board
Thursday, September 17, 2020 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 – Board Chairman
Staff Present:
Via Teleconference (Zoom): David Morgan, Daniel Bethapudi, Mike Westbrook, Michael
Weisner, Leticia Zavala, Cindy Pospisil, Leigh Wallace, Laurie Brewer, Mike Maldonado, Laura
Wilkins, Karen Frost
Others Present: NONE
REGULAR SESSION:
A. Call to Order – Robert Case, Board Vice-Chairman
Meeting was called to order at 4:01 PM by Robert Case.
B. Public Wishing to Address the Board – Robert Case - Electric Board Vice-Chairman
No one signed up to speak to the Board.
C. General Manager’s Monthly Report – Daniel Bethapudi, General Manager of the Electric
Utility
- Quarterly Financial Report
- Monthly Operations Report
Zavala gave Customer Service and Billing Report. Added some additional information to
refine the reports: 105 NEW connections for August with a total of 28,532 electric
accounts.
Pospisil presented update on preliminary Request for Proposal (RFP) for a Collection
Agency. Gathering requirements right now. Looked at the possibility of us piggy-
backing on an existing City contract but felt like the types of collections were too different
and therefore it was not appropriate to do that. Also researching different buy boards to
see if we could do something through that options. Will give another update next month.
Question by Woodruff – of the delinquent accounts can we assume none of those are on
auto-pay with credit cards? Answered by Pospisil that is correct the late payments are not
from credit cards. Question from Case – are we charging an NSF fee? Answered by
Pospisil – yes, we are.
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Georgetown Electric Utility Advisory Board
Agenda for Thursday, September 17, 2020
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Wallace gave the Financial report for the 3rd Quarter of FY 2020 (April, May, and
June). Hot days in June increased sales revenues – helped us catch up. Changing
the process so developers are now making payments up front have helped cash
flows. Vacant positions that remain unfilled for the moment have helped hold
expenses down some. Plus we implemented the budget contingency plan, due to
COVID-19, to help hold off on unnecessary expenses where possible.
Fund performing well through June – revenues and purchased power tracking
closely to budget. Changes to Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) last year, changes in
managing power portfolio, and pulling back on some operating expenses have
helped improve the fund’s stability.
Bond proceeds in 3rd quarter - worked with engineering to plan out spending
schedule in invest the funds where it makes sense to do a shorter or medium term
investment.
Bethapudi asked if any questions about the Financial Report? Question from
Woodruff – do we project a time when PCA will be pulled back? Answered by
Bethapudi – made rapid strides to improve our financial position – review the PCA
and what changes we can make - after we go through year-end process and the
year-end audit. We want to be strategic in how we handle the PCA. Woodruff -
What is that time frame? Answered by Bethapudi – financials will be available in
January 2021. Question from Jones – do other departments such as Recreation,
Police, and Fire – do they budget and pay their utility bills in a transfer to electric
and water? Answered by Bethapudi – yes, they do. Also, streetlights, etc. –
anywhere energy is being used - pays their fair share.
Bethapudi explained the last finance slide. Budget vs. Actual on Sales Revenue,
Purchased Power Expense, and Net Sales Revenue. Question by Case – what were
the positive factors for July? Answered by Bethapudi - A lot of resources in the
portfolio with solar unit based BPA (which performed very well in July) helped
shave off some costs for July. Woodruff – question on July: in the third box of the
slide is the difference in the Purchased power expense is that essentially the net we
had to pay between the PPA and the excess that Buckthorn produced that we were
able to sell? Is that the net number or is that strictly what we had to pay? Answered
by Bethapudi – it is the net number between the interplay of what we paid for our
load, what we paid for our resources, how our hedges performed; all of those things.
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Georgetown Electric Utility Advisory Board
Agenda for Thursday, September 17, 2020
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Additional general discussion followed.
Westbrook gave the Monthly Operations Report. Performance Metrics trending
well. Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI) numbers went up a
bit. Sun City had an outage a couple of weeks ago. A 75kVA transformer
catastrophically failed, caught fire and locked a breaker out at the substation.
Total outage around 35 minutes. Still, good reliability numbers for the City.
General Manger’s Update: September 1st sold 11 power transformers to LCRA.
Identifying activities that are not our core competence and focusing on electric
distribution. Moving forward we will still use the transformers, but we will pay for
the use of the transformers. Even so, we will still see annual cost savings. This year,
we will see a savings of $226,732.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION:
D. Review and possible approval of the minutes from the meeting of August 20, 2020 –
Laura Wilkins – Executive Assistant No questions/comments. MOTION by Jones,
second by Woodruff to approve the minutes as presented. APPROVED 4-1 (Sattler
absent)
E. Discussion and possible recommendation to approve a 3rd Renewal with Wesco
Distribution, Inc.to provide Honeywell electric meters and related items for the
Advanced Metering Infrastructure system in an amount not to exceed $420,000 and to
ratify $35,700 of previous expenditures for similar purchases from Wesco Distribution
on Contract No.17-0074-GC. - Michael Maldonado, Meter Services Manager
Item presented by Maldonado. Initial contract, June 2017 with four 1-year renewal
options. This is the 3rd 1-Year renewal. This is a sole source in the State of Texas. The
Not to Exceed amount of $420,000 remains unchanged from prior renewals.
In 2019 we spend $335,000. This number is up this year due to anticipated growth
and using a different style meter for residential customers.
Question by Woodruff – what are these meters for? Answered by Maldonado they
are for new growth and to replace old or inoperable meters. Question by Jones –
how does the reliability of the new meters compare to the older meters? Answered by
Maldonado – older mechanical meters lasted longer but they had more things that
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Georgetown Electric Utility Advisory Board
Agenda for Thursday, September 17, 2020
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went wrong with them. The meter would slow down and we were unable to see that
so we would actually lose money because of a slow meter. Older meters were also
more susceptible to theft (because they were made of metal – people would put magnets
on them). New meters are cheaper to manufacture and they give much more data
even though they do not last quite as long.
Case would like to make this two issues: One to recommend approval of the contract
and then to ratify the other part.
MOTION by Woodruff, second by Triggs to recommend approval of the 3rd
Renewal with Wesco Distribution, Inc. to provide Honeywell electric meters and
related items for the Advanced Metering Infrastructure system in an amount not t o
exceed $420,000.00. APPROVED 4-1 (Sattler absent)
MOTION by Woodruff, second by Triggs to ratify the amount of $35,700.00 of
previous expenditures for similar purchases from Wesco Distribution on Contract No.
17-0074-GC. APPROVED 4-1 (Sattler absent)
MOTION by Woodruff, second by Triggs to adjourn Regular Session and move into Executive
Session. APPROVED 4-1 (Sattler absent)
Board moved to Executive Session at 4:46 PM.
Executive Session called to order at 4:47 PM by Robert Case
F. EXECUTIVE SESSION:
Section 551.086: Competitive Matters
- Purchased Power Update
- Risk Management Update
Executive Session Adjourned:
MOTION by Woodruff, second by Triggs to adjourn Executive Session and reconvene in Regular
Session. APPROVED 4-1 (Sattler absent)
Executive Session Adjourned at 5:15 PM
Regular Session reconvened at 5:15 PM
G. Action from Executive Session: NO ACTION
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Georgetown Electric Utility Advisory Board
Agenda for Thursday, September 17, 2020
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ADJOURNMENT:
MOTION by Woodruff, second by Triggs to adjourn the Electric Board meeting.
APPROVED 4-1 (Sattler absent)
ELECTRIC BOARD MEETING ADJOURNED at: 5:16 PM
Bill Sattler – Chairman Sam Jones – Secretary
Laura Wilkins – Board Liaison
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