HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda_GTEU_05.20.2021Notice of Meeting for the
Georgetown Electric Utility Board
of the City of Georgetown
May 20, 2021 at 4:15 P M
at Virtual
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Topic: Georgetown E lec tric U tility B oard
Time : M ay 20, 2021 04:00 P M C entr al Time (U S and Canada)
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Regular Session
(T his R egular S ession may, at any time, be recess ed to convene an Executive S ession for any purpose autho rized b y the O pen Meetings Act, Texas
G overnment C o de 551.)
A Call to Order- R obert C ase- Board C hairman
B Public Wishing to Address the Board- R obert C as e- Board C hairman
C Roll Call of Board Members- R obert C as e- Board C hairman
D Explanation of Recent Board Membership Changes- Daniel Bethapud i- G eneral Manager of Electric Utility
E Election of Vice Chairman- R obert C as e- Board C hairman
F Review and Approval of Minutes of 04/15/2021 Meeting - Kress C arson- Board Liaison
Page 1 of 20
G Introduction of Visitors- R obert C ase- Board C hairman
H General Manager's Monthly Report- Daniel Bethapudi- G eneral Manager of Electric Utility
I Distributed Energy Resource Application and Interconnection F ee Review – Daniel Bethapudi/ S chneider Engineering
Executiv e Session
In compliance with the O pen Meetings Act, C hap ter 551, G o vernment C ode, Vernon's Texas C odes, Annotated, the items listed below will be
d iscussed in closed session and are subject to action in the regular sessio n.
J Section 551.086: Competitive Matters- Daniel Bethapudi- G eneral Manager of Electric Utility
-P urc hased P o wer Update
Adjournment
Certificate of Posting
I, R obyn Dens more, C ity S ecretary for the C ity of G eorgetown, Texas, do hereby certify that this Notice of Meeting was p osted at C ity Hall, 808
Martin Luther King Jr. S treet, G eorgetown, T X 78626, a place readily ac ces s ible to the general public as required by law, on the _____ day of
_________________, 2021, at __________, and remained s o po s ted for at least 72 continuous hours prec ed ing the scheduled time of said
meeting.
__________________________________
R obyn Dens more, C ity S ecretary
Page 2 of 20
City of Georgetown, Texas
Electric Utility Board
May 20, 2021
S UB J E C T:
E xplanation of Recent Board Membership C hanges- Daniel Bethapudi- G eneral Manager of Electric
Utility
IT E M S UMMARY:
Benjamin Butler to be intro d uc ed as new board member
F IN AN C IAL IMPAC T:
N./A
S UB MIT T E D B Y:
Daniel Bethap udi-G eneral Manager o f Elec tric Utility
Page 3 of 20
City of Georgetown, Texas
Electric Utility Board
May 20, 2021
S UB J E C T:
Review and Approval of Minutes of 04/15/2021 Meeting - Kres s C arso n- Board Liais o n
IT E M S UMMARY:
F IN AN C IAL IMPAC T:
N/A
S UB MIT T E D B Y:
Kres s C arson- Board Liais o n
AT TAC H ME N T S:
D escription Type
04/15/20 Minutes Backup Material
Page 4 of 20
Minutes 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 Page 5 of 20
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 Page 6 of 20
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.
Page 7 of 20
Page 8 of 20
City of Georgetown, Texas
Electric Utility Board
May 20, 2021
S UB J E C T:
Introduction of Visitors- R obert C ase- Bo ard C hairman
IT E M S UMMARY:
F IN AN C IAL IMPAC T:
N/A
S UB MIT T E D B Y:
R o b ert C as e- Board C hairman
Page 9 of 20
City of Georgetown, Texas
Electric Utility Board
May 20, 2021
S UB J E C T:
General Manager's Monthly Report- Daniel Bethap udi- G eneral Manager o f Elec tric Utility
IT E M S UMMARY:
A. C usto mer S ervic e and Billing- Leticia Zavala- C us tomer C are Direc tor
B. F inanc e and Bud geting- Daniel Bethap ud i- G eneral Manager o f Elec tric Utility
C , Electric Engineering and O p erations - Mike Wes tbrook- Elec tric Engineering and O peratio ns Manager
F IN AN C IAL IMPAC T:
N/A
S UB MIT T E D B Y:
Daniel Bethap udi-G eneral Manager o f Elec tric Utility
Page 10 of 20
City of Georgetown, Texas
Electric Utility Board
May 20, 2021
S UB J E C T:
Distributed E nergy Resource Application and Interconnection Fee R eview – Daniel Bethap udi/
S chneider Engineering
IT E M S UMMARY:
T he purp o s e o f this s tud y was to d evelop new rec ommend ed fees relating to the ins pec tion and
interconnec tio n p ro ces s o f c usto mer-o wned Dis tributed Energy R es o urc e (DER ) s ys tems in the C ity o f
G eorgetown Elec tric Utility’s territory. T he Utility c urrently autho rizes the ins tallatio n and interconnec tion
o f DER s ystems up to 10 kW-DC by R esid ential and S mall C o mmercial C us tomers . In o rd er to ens ure
that all DER interc o nnectio ns are safe fo r bo th Utility staff and the general p ublic , the Utility requires that
all DER interc o nnectio n req uests go through the interc o nnectio n ap p lication review and installation
inspec tion pro c es s to ensure c o mp lianc e with the Utility’s interc o nnectio n s tandards . T he p ro cess invo lves
two distinc t s tep s : a review of the C us tomer ’s DER s ys tem p lans b efo re c ons tructio n (interconnec tion
ap p licatio n review), and an ins p ectio n o f the ins talled D E R sys tem (installatio n ins pec tion) before
interconnec ting it with the Utility’s grid. T he Utility incurs c o s ts in p erfo rming thes e two s teps, and the
s tud y was ins tituted to quantify thes e c o s ts and develo p a fee struc ture for c o s t recovery.
F IN AN C IAL IMPAC T:
T he study res ulted in the creatio n o f two s eparate but related fees : A No n-R efund ab le DER Applic ation
F ee and a Non-R efund ab le Interconnec tion Ins p ectio n and Metering fee. T he purp o s e of each fee is to
cover the d irec t and indirec t costs , without s ub s id ization, inc urred b y the Utility fo r provid ing services
relating to reviewing DER plans of p ro p o s ed fac ilities , inspec ting the ins talled fac ilities, and ins talling b i-
d irectio nal meters to allow DER cus tomers to interc o nnect their s ystems with the grid . T he to tal cost to
the Utility for performing each service was determined b y d eveloping a list rep lic able activities required to
complete eac h s ervice. F or each replic ab le ac tivity, S chneider Engineering (S E) id entified the res p o nsible
emp lo yee, their es timated time to complete the ac tivity, and the emp lo yee’s to tal cos t per hour (inclus ive of
d irect and indirec t c os ts to sup p o rt the emplo yee).
S chneider Engineering rec o mmends the follo wing fees for each service:
Ap p licatio n Ins pec tion and Ap p ro val- $250.00
Ins tallatio n Ins pec tion and Meter Ins tallation- $450.00
Ad d itional Ins p ec tio n Ins tance- $150.00
S UB MIT T E D B Y:
Daniel Bethap udi-G eneral Manager
AT TAC H ME N T S:
D escription Type
Interconnection Fee Review Pres entation
Page 11 of 20
Prepared for: City of Georgetown| Prepared by:Schneider Engineering, Ltd. |May 20, 2021
Elect ric Utility Distributed Energy
Resource Interconnection Fee Review
Page 12 of 20
Slide 2
OVERVIEW
Background
Fee Study Methodology
Results
Recommended Fees
Fee Comparison
Page 13 of 20
Slide 3
BACKGROUND
Residential and Small Commercial Customers authorized to install/interconnect Distributed Energy Resource (DER) systems up to 10 kW DC
To ensure safety to Utility employees and general public, Utility requires:
o Pre-construction installation/interconnection plan review
o Post-construction installation inspection and meter installation
Purpose:
o Cover direct and indirect costs of performing each service
o Avoid rate-payers subsidizing Utility’s cost of performing each service
Interconnection process and related fees are in addition to and DO NOT replace the City of Georgetown’s existing permitting process, including construction and electric permits
Page 14 of 20
Slide 4
FEE STUDY METHODOLOGY
Costs determined by developing list of replicable activities required to complete services
Identified:
o Employee responsible for performing each activity
o Employee’s estimated time to complete activity
o Employee’s total cost per hour:
o Direct costs, e.g., salary, supplies
o Indirect costs, e.g., benefits, support staff
Developed list of activities required and their total costs
Three services identified:
o Application Inspection and Approval
o Installation Inspection and Meter Installation
o Additional Inspection Instance (for Failed Inspections)
Page 15 of 20
Slide 5
APPLICATION INSPECTION AND APPROVAL
Before construction, Customer submits application to online system
Utility staff review application and plans to ensure system meets Utility standards
Application Inspection and Approval
Step Sub Step Activity Staff Total Cost
1 1.3 Technology Fee Electric Project Coordinator $ 10.00
2 2.1 Application (Internal) Review Electric Project Coordinator $ 178.75
2 2.2 Installation approval generated Electric Project Coordinator $ 33.13
Total $ 221.88
Page 16 of 20
Slide 6
INSTALLATION INSPECTION AND METER INSTALLATION
After construction, Customer requests inspection
Utility ensures final construction matches plans submitted, meets Utility requirements
If approved, meter installed, and system interconnected to grid
Installation Inspection and Meter Installation
Step Sub Step Activity Staff Total Cost
3 3.1 DER Installation Authorization Issued Electric Project Coordinator $ 28.13
3 3.2 Preliminary Installation Inspection Electric Project Coordinator $ 28.13
3 3.3 Generate Interconnection Agreement Electric Project Coordinator $ 28.13
4 4 Bi-Directional Meter Meter Technician $ 105.00
4 4.1 Drive time to site Meter Technician $ 55.13
4 4.2 Final Inspection Meter Technician $ 55.13
4 4.3 Meter Installation Meter Technician $ 27.56
5 5 Interconnection Agreement Execution Electric Project Coordinator $ 16.88
6 6 Input Information in GIS and Enterprise
Systems Engineering Analyst $ 74.63
6 6 Meter Data Integration in AMI/MDM/Billing AMI Tech $ 18.25
Total $ 436.94
Page 17 of 20
Slide 7
ADDITIONAL INSPECTION INSTANCE
If Customer fails initial inspection, must request second inspection for
interconnection
Additional Inspection Instance
Step Sub Step Activity Staff Total Cost
4 4.1 Drive time to site Meter Technician $ 55.13
4 4.2 Final Inspection Meter Technician $ 55.13
4 4.3 Meter Installation Meter Technician $ 27.56
Total $ 137.81
Page 18 of 20
Slide 8
RECOMMENDED FEES
Fees set above current actual cost
to ensure:
o Longevity
o Flexibility
o Ease of Understanding
Fees must be reviewed every few
years to ensure continual cost
recovery
Service Fee
Application Inspection and
Approval $ 250.00
Installation Inspection and
Meter Installation $ 450.00
Additional Inspection
Instance $ 150.00
Page 19 of 20
City of Georgetown, Texas
Electric Utility Board
May 20, 2021
S UB J E C T:
IT E M S UMMARY:
F IN AN C IAL IMPAC T:
N/A
S UB MIT T E D B Y:
R o b ert C as e- Board C hairman
Page 20 of 20