Public Utility Commission

BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION The regular meeting of the CITY OF FARMINGTON BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSIONERS was held Wednesday, Januaiy 10, 2024 at 3:00 p.m., in the Executive Conference Room, City Hall, 800 Municipal Dr., Farmington, New Mexico in full conformity with the laws and ordinances of the Municipality. Upon roll call, the following were found to be present, constituting a quorum: Commission members present: Tory N. Larsen Nathan Thompson Linda Corwin Stewatt Logan George Sharpe Drew Degner Commission members absent: Patricio Sanchez Connie Dinning John Buffington Diane Schmidt Council Liaison: Janis Jakino constituting all members of said Advisory Commission. Also present were: Electric Utility Director Hank Adair Electric Engineering John Armenta Electric Field Operations Luke Lugenbeel Electric Business Operations Sheree Wilson Community Works Mark Hathcock Community Works Benedikte Webb Community Works David Sypher Administrative Services Nalincc Jose City Attorney Jennifer Breakell PUC Secretary Amy McKinley Guests: David Fosdeck, N. Locke, Farmington, NM The meeting was convened by the Chair. The Chair called for a motion to approve the Minutes of the December 13, 2023 Regular meeting. Commissioner Corwin offered a motion to approve the Minutes and Commissioner Logan provided a second. By voice vote the motioned passed. BUSINESS Water/Wastewater O&M Report Utilizing a PowerPoint presentation, Ms. Benedikte Webb, Water/Wastewater Operations Manager/Environment Administrator provided information regarding water/wastewater operations activities for December. The rep01ted data indicated water production for December 2023 was 236.85 million gallons. Farmington Lake levels are very near capacity at 99%. Seven new residential meters were installed inside city limits in December. There were six black poly service line breaks and five main line breaks in December. Regarding Wastewater treatment, effluent flow for December was 4.44 MGD. The report noted the Effluent BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) was 5.53 mg/L; effluent TSS (Total Suspended Solids) was 7.61 mg/L; Effluent TDS Net Increase was 35 mg30.96/L; Effluent e.Coli continued to be very low at 1.39 MPN/100ml.  The COF Community Works department is negotiating with San Juan County to allow COF to accept the maintenance duties of the McGee Park Lift Station. CIP Water/Wastewater Report Mr. Mark Hathcock, Water/Wastewater CIP Administrator, provided an update regarding capital projects planned and under way throughout the city. For Renewal and Replacement projects, work continues on the 2019 Polyline Replacement project. As of January 4, 1,489 polylines have been replaced and the project is approximately 60% complete. Work continues on the Valve Rehabilitation Project. Contractor, TRC, has replaced, adjusted or repaired 158 valves/valve boxes. The original project detailed 120 valves. As the project continued the number of valves/valve boxes has increased to a count of 162. The Auburn Avenue 6" Water main Loop project was completed December 22, 2023. Regarding the federally funded Water Treatment Plant #1 project, designs plans are l 00% complete and have been submitted to NMED and NMFA for review. The tentative schedule is to go for bid by the end of .January 2024. Regarding the Feasibility Study for the Fannington Lake Dam Raising, the firm AECOM was selected to perform the Feasibility Study. Negotiations regarding cost proposal is pending and will tentatively go before the Council on January 23, 2024. Upcoming New Projects include the 30-inch Reinforced Concrete Pipe (RCP) slip-line with fused PVC on English Road (from WTP#2 to Main Street) is in the design process. The 16" PVC transmission line replacement on 30th Street (Marquette to Hutton) is scheduled to begin May 28, 2024. The Main/30th/Gila Loop project will reduce pressure zones by combining them. This project is set to go out to bid the end of January. Electric Utility Report Ms. Sheree Wilson provided a PowerPoint presentation to detail FEUS financial information for November and December 2023. Ms. Wilson noted Customer Consumption Year to Date is 4% under budget. Consumption is down slightly for all classes compared to FY2023. A review of the utility's Cash Balance demonstrated a continued upward trend with a Total of $51 million. Regarding Revenue, Total Revenue Year to Date through December was $54 million compared to a Budget of $82 million. The $82 million was calculated using a PCA of $0.06/kWh. The PCA has been steadily decreased and in December was $0.0225/kWh. FY2024 Expenses are 30% under the Budgeted $68.6 million. Year to Date Capital Improvement Expenses was under budget by 50%; Year to Date Budgeted was $19.7 million and Actuals were $9.8 million. Regarding the PCA, FEUS recouped $229,769 through December 2023. Ms. Wilson noted the PCA will be reduced to $0.012/kWh in January, 2024. Total Generation Cost per mWh for November 2023 was $56.40 per mWh. Director's Report Mr. Hank Adair, Electric Utility Director, provided a review of the activities of the utility for December, 2023. Regarding AMI meter billing within Farmington city limits where both electric and water use AMI billing, staff is working with the software platfonn consultants and the city's IT department to ensure the cycle billing is accurate. The LiHEAP Moratorium for service disconnects began November 15 and ends March 15. LiHEAP assistance for December was $29,960 for 119 payments. LiHWAP assistance was $3,227 for 15 payments. The FEUS Utility Assistance program supp01ied 80 families for $15,811. There were 9,483 customer contacts in the month of December. Mr. Adair highlighted the utility's Gift of Light program which offers the oppo1iunity to pay a person's utility bill, or a p01iion of a utility bill. Mr. Adair noted that if you would like to help someone but you don't know a specific person to assist, area senior centers have provided the Customer Service team with names of those who could benefit from such a gift. Your gift can be anonymous if you so choose.  Regarding Substation/Distribution/Transmission, Animas Substation overall is 80% complete. The Contractor is expected to complete their work in February. Bergin Substation relay protection testing is complete. Personnel worked at three substations to ensure the meter data has 5 minute accuracy to support joining the Energy Imbalance Market. Within Distribution, eight transformer upgrades system wide were completed. 416 AMI meters were installed in December. Crews performed maintenance on 86 street light locations. Regarding Transmission activities, Pole to Pole maintenance on the West Loop transmission line was complete. Eight arms and six X braces were replaced. In total 19 structures were worked. Regarding Generation sources, the Navajo Plant is in Winter mode and saw no change. The Bluffview Plant continued to have great petformance through December. Regarding new generation, the design review drawings were received on schedule from Wartsila. The Sound Study was completed and the information is being incorporated into design. The utility's Resources Recap for December noted total MWh System Energy was 81,470 MWh, a 4.55% decrease from December 2022. Regarding residential solar, nine customers for 47 kW was installed in December. 670 kW of residential solar has been installed in calendar year 2023. The utility is waiting to receive bids for purchase power agreements to meet the utility's needs in relation to both customers and energy imbalance markets. The utility is evaluating the Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) which is associated with the energy imbalance market. The Southwest Power Pool (SPP) is asking FEUS to make a decision by April 2024. The "go live" date for the RTO related to SPP is 2026. Personnel continue to research independent power producers (IPPs) to find the right fit for the utility for both the combined cycle and the 30MW of solar. Commodity pricing continues to be lower in relation to budget in support of continued lowering of the PCA. Mr. Adair noted the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has said the cost for natural gas has been 63% lower year over year for the entire year and FEUS has - experienced these low costs. The state legislative session will begin January 16. There are various bills that will be presented and staff will be monitoring for any positive/negative affects related to the utility. BUSINESS FROM THE FLOOR Mr. David Fosdeck, 209 N. Locke, Farmington, provided some handouts detailing information regarding a bill before the legislature, the Inflation Reduction Act, and AMI meters. The bill going before the New Mexico Legislature may provide grant opportunities to communities for solar. The Inflation Reduction Act handout detailed the funding opportunities the Act provides for things other than solar related items. The final handout offered information regarding the AMI meters and Mr. Fosdeck expressed interest in the usage information, especially suited to solar customers, these AMI meters can provide. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Commission the meeting was adjourned at 4:02 p.m. Approved this 14th day of February, 2024.