Idaho Falls Utility Board Meetings

September 7, 2022 The Idaho Falls Power Board of the City of Idaho Falls met Wednesday, September 7, 2022, at the Idaho Falls Power Energy Center, 140 S. Capital, Idaho Falls, Idaho at 7:45 a.m. Call to Order, Roll Call, and Announcements: There were present: Mayor Rebecca L. Noah Casper Board Member Michelle Ziel-Dingman Board Member Tom Hally Board Member Jim Francis Board Member Jim Freeman Board Member John Radford Absent: Board Member Lisa Burtenshaw Also present: Bear Prairie, Idaho Falls Power (IFP) General Manager Stephen Boorman, IFP Assistant General Manager Jace Yancey, Operations Technology Manager Wid Ritchie, Energy Services Manager Kelly Aldinger, Fiber Lead Communications Technician Darrin Blaisdell, GIS Supervisor Brayden Auten, GIS Specialist Colter Tucker, Business Analyst T.J. Rowe, Network & Security Specialist Richard Malloy, Hydropower & Utility Regulatory Compliance Manager Michael Kirkham, Assistant City Attorney Linda Lundquist, IFP Board Secretary Mayor Casper called the meeting to order at 7:52 a.m. Calendar, Announcements, Events and Updates General Manager (GM) Prairie introduced the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) agreement for ratification that will be on the next City Council agenda. He explained that the confirmation agreement will obligate BPA to deliver 10 megawatts (MW) of energy to Idaho Falls Power’s system under terms and conditions outlined in the Power Sales contract IFP currently has and added that IFP will need to enter into a corresponding futures contract that is financially settled to lock in a fixed price to limit price exposure since the purchase from BPA was at index market price. He said once the futures agreement is transacted that it will also come before City Council for ratification. GM Prairie stated that IFP sold off surplus energy the day before at about $1000 per megawatt hour (MWh) and Board Member Radford asked if that money goes into the rate stabilization fund and GM Prairie said yes, that it would go in as a power cost adjustment (PCA) and once the fund is back up to $20 million, he would like to take necessary steps to build up a more appropriate balance of $25 million in his view, but would require a change to the credit and risk management policy by the Board. He speculated that September should be a better energy month as the peaks are expected to come way down with cooler overnights. Mayor Casper talked about scheduling conflicts with the October Board meeting and mentioned a hydrogen conference in Denver for early October and wondered if it was worth attending and GM Prairie said the Board has likely been exposed to most of the information on their agenda at other prior events. He went on 1  September 7, 2022 to explain that he is still working with the only vendor that has come forward that he is aware of on creating a hydrogen hub here, with IFP collaboration with. Mayor Casper said that Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is building an electrolyzer, which is expected to produce hydrogen after 18-months’ time. GM Prairie said he would like to see more focus for demonstrating the success of a hydrogen plant, only on a smaller scale. Board Member Radford mentioned the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that recently passed through the U.S. Congress and said the American Public Power Association (APPA) is encouraged about the resulting energy tax credits, which is expected to include more than just wind and solar. He mentioned that Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) of California’s conservations efforts included direct texting and offering gift cards to its customers over the last week of extreme heat in their region that resulted in no calls for blackouts. He added that the heat wave extends to other countries, including China where reportedly 36 major rivers went dry this summer, which also affects their hydro systems. Fiber Network, Marketing & Sales and Construction Update Fiber Network & Construction Update - Assistant General Manager (AGM) Boorman introduced the information technology team and pointed out the deep bench of employees resulting from careful succession planning. Mr. Yancy reviewed the progress of the fiber buildout and noted the utility has over 4100 fiber customers and averages roughly 2000 new customers per year. He reviewed the interactive map showing all the residential service locations and AGM Boorman said the contractor has gotten very good at completing sections of neighborhoods so that subscription can be released prior to the complete neighborhood buildouts and Board Member Francis asked if it is the same contractor as used prior and AGM Boorman said yes and added they are contracted to complete the fiber buildout. Mr. Yancey added that as contract labor continues to be an issue, the goal is to have the pass-by buildout complete by the end of September so that drops can be the focus until Thanksgiving. Mayor Casper inquired about the progress at the Village and Mr. Yancey gave a report about the current construction phase and outlook for that neighborhood. He reviewed the take rates in various neighborhoods and showed how valuable the maps could be in helping to focus advertising in areas with smaller take rates. Board Member Radford offered that he feels low-income neighborhoods struggle more with the cost of changing services with limited dollars. Mr. Yancey explained how the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) works with Idaho Falls Fiber (IFF) and through internet service providers (ISP) to offer lower rates to lower-income customers who qualify. Board Member Hally asked if there will be direct advertising in Highland and Board Member Francis asked if the ISPs would get reimbursed from the federal government for the ACP and Mr. Yancey answered yes to both questions. Mayor Casper said she thought the program was great news and would support the utility spending extra advertising dollars toward promoting it. Board Member Hally asked if IFF works with area realtors and Mr. Yancey said there are several fiber promotional programs advertised at the utility department. Board Member Francis asked about installation timelines and Mr. Yancey said it’s running from two to three weeks out. Board Member Ziel-Dingman commented on demographics and mentioned that senior testimonials might help educate potential mature customers, and also pointed out that she noticed some sidewalks and driveways being torn out in the Meadows. Mr. Yancey explained that the contractors are having boring issues in some areas where there is a lot of cobble and said that sidewalks and driveways would be replaced at no charge to the customer. Marketing & Sales - Mr. Ritchie pointed out that IFF went from four to six service providers this year and reviewed the marketing strategy that includes improved website pages and videos, give aways, staff and fiber buggy presence at various community related events, cash referral programs and door-to-door fiber marketing and promotion in low signup areas. Mayor Casper asked if there was targeted advertising to residents who have not yet signed up and Mr. Ritchie spoke about the areas with smaller take rates and indicated that the maps will prove useful in targeting those areas and Mr. Aldinger cautioned that some 2  September 7, 2022 apartment owners discourage drilling holes in walls etc. Mr. Yancey added that Century Link has contracted with groups of apartment owners enticing group enrollment bonuses. Fiber Software, Signup, Customer Installation Management Software and Process Automation Update Software - Mr. Yancey said the Geographic Information System (GIS) system has been a successful buildout and emphasized that the next steps are how to go about managing the data. Mr. Blaisdell said he is exploring ways to change and automate processes to provide more appropriate analytics. He showed how several different software systems including; customer information and billing, relational database management, access software, outage management system, advanced meter information, GIS, and finance and workorder data, must work together for optimal reporting. Board Member Radford asked how the GIS and AS400 systems integrate and Mr. Blaisdell explained that while the AS400 is still a functioning software, he noted that it is not modern and therefore has extremely limited expansion capabilities. Board Member Radford said he agreed that automation is the way forward. Mayor Casper said the software review provides a good background and noted that a consultant will be meeting with all city departments to further discuss and evaluate software packages that better integrate with other crucial systems and city departments. Mr. Blaisdell shared how the maps obtained from a recent city annexation and subsequent buyout of assets proved useless, as the prior electric service provider didn’t keep up to date maps on their transformers. He demonstrated how the maps had been recreated in the GIS system for over 850 transformers. Process Automation and Improvement - Mr. Auten reviewed the forms he’d been working on for field crews to perform daily digital tailboards and also access and update the GIS system in real time as they’re on the job making repairs or preparing new installations. He explained how pictures can be taken with iPads and phones and easily uploaded to the database. He gave examples of how helpful the real time information is for safety and in the case of staff filing accident and damage reports. Board Member Freeman said he felt that data would prove rock solid if ever needed in court because of the time and date stamp in the system. Mr. Tucker reviewed the fiber signup and installation process he has been working to improve and automate. Mr. Yancey explained that scheduling is one of the biggest time constraints and with automation, he hopes to cut the signed contract to installation time down significantly. Mr. Tucker showed some meter analysis, which helps to identify peak loads and explained how the engineers can perform modeling tests. Board Member Francis asked if this could lend itself to time of day billing and Mr. Tucker said yes, this was a first step in that direction. Board Member Freeman asked if there were concerns for confidentiality and how the utility is protecting data. Mr. Blaisdell explained that all customer data is considered sensitive by the federal government and pointed out that fiber construction contractors can only access/modify sections of data that aren’t tied to any customer information. Mr. Kirkham offered if someone were to request another customer’s bill, that due to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) the bill would have to be provided but added that the requestor has to be specific in what they are asking for. Mr. Yancey clarified that customer names are not tied to the current analytic studies. Cybersecurity Briefing Mr. Rowe displayed a snapshot of a cybersecurity firewall log and explained that it is mostly coming from automated systems trying to infiltrate other systems. He pointed out that targeted attacks identified over long-term patterns is what he watches for. He explained how the city networks are setup and showed that IFP, while in the city network is on an isolated network and that information which controls plants, power distribution, meters and traffic signaling are all isolated and blocked. Mr. Rowe explained that the utility is very careful about which machines are connected where and added that a two-factor identification system is in place. He explained that social engineering is extremely sophisticated and very good at obtaining information from people. He reviewed the two key North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) compliance standards that IFP must comply with. Board Member Radford said he thought the Board should consider having a ransom policy. Mr. Rowe said if a machine does get infected with 3  September 7, 2022 ransomware that the machine is destroyed and backups are what is relied on moving forward. Mayor Casper pointed out that the NERC compliance regulations are for IFP and not the entire city. Dam Breach Analysis and High Hazard Designation Mr. Malloy explained that Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Portland Regional Office (PRO) requested that IFP perform a breach analysis on the upper dam dike. Gannet Fleming was contracted September 2021 to perform the analysis and submitted the results to PRO. He said based on their conclusions, PRO stipulated several requirements to be taken by IFP, which includes a breach analysis of the entire project and a new emergency plan by March 2023. Other comprehensive assessments, studies and technical reporting will also be required and will likely cost upward of $310,000 plus 140-160 hours of staff time. Mr. Malloy said that IFP is taking another look at all of the hydro projects and conducting five- year inspections. There was a discussion on purchasing available property in the flood zones of IFP’s hydro projects, but was determined it likely wouldn’t alter the outcome of a high hazard designation status at the upper plant and Mr. Malloy concluded that FERC PRO just wants to understand the catastrophic risks. Board Member Francis asked how often the dikes are inspected or looked at and Mr. Malloy said almost daily during working days. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 11:45 a.m. s/ Linda Lundquist s/ Rebecca L. Noah Casper Linda Lundquist, BOARD SECRETARY Rebecca L. Noah Casper, MAYOR 4