Massena Electric Department

Approved by the MEUB 2/22/2022 Page |1 MASSENA ELECTRIC UTILITY BOARD MINUTES of Thursday, January 20, 2022 Town of Massena Electric Department – 71 East Hatfield Street Present: James Shaw Andrew McMahon, Superintendent Rene Hart-via Zoom Jeffrey Dobbins, Treasurer Richard Maginn Margo Rochefort, Deputy Treasurer-via Zoom John Bogosian-via Zoom Matt Gray, Deputy Superintendent-via Zoom Charles Raiti-via Zoom Debra Willer, Town Liaison Eric Gustafson, Attorney-via Zoom Patrick Facteau, Town Liaison Chairman Shaw opened the meeting at 1:03 p.m. 1) OPERATIONS UPDATE: by Matt Gray, Deputy Superintendent A. Safety: MED experienced no lost time accidents in the month of December. The number of consecutive days without a lost time injury now stands at 522 days. There were also no reportable injuries in December. As of December 31st, MED has been 204 days without a reportable injury. B. Customer Impact Chart: MED experienced 24,866 Customer Impact Minutes in the month of December. The majority of December’s CIM can be attributed to a hit pole on Grove St. that affected 55 Customers for roughly five hours. Even though there was an uptick in the monthly CIM, the 12-month average has decreased slightly and now stands at 22,421. C. Reliability: MED crews had an active month as they responded to 15 calls throughout the month of December. The majority of the calls received were the result of high winds that occurred on the 11th and 12th. In summary, MED responded to two calls affecting no customers, six calls affecting only one customer and seven calls affecting more than one customer. MED also experienced six momentary outages in the month of December. The largest Customer Impact was due to a hit pole on Grove Street that affected 55 customers for 5 hours. The Windstorm on the 11th resulted in approximately 12 calls of varying degrees of impact. In total, the windstorm involved 3,878 Customer Impact Minutes. The third significant Customer impact, which did not involve high winds, was the result of a downed tree on Kingsley Rd that affected 44 customers for 45 minutes. Reliability Metrics Review o SAIDI – (2021) 32.59 o SAIFI – (2021) 0.898 o CAIDI – (2021) 38.43 o ASAI – (2021) 99.9937 o Sustained Interruptions – (2021) 65 2021 Statistics CIM Total – 293,919 Fourteen hit poles in the last 13 months, 12 of which required repair or replacement. Approved by the MEUB 2/22/2022 Page |2 D. Work Schedule: Crews continue to change-out conventional polymer insulators to vise-top polymer insulators with a focus on wind prone areas. The porcelain cutout change-out initiative is ongoing with crews focusing on this type of work when in- between jobs. Crews are also moving forward with our Private Area Light LED change-out with a focus on 400W floodlights in the village. 2) APPROVAL OF MINUTES: RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the minutes of the regular meeting of December 17, 2021 as presented. Moved by Charles Raiti - Seconded by John Bogosian - All in Favor 3) FINANCIAL REPORTS: by Jeffrey Dobbins, Treasurer A. Write-Offs: None for January B. Power Comparison Graph: Power cost totaled $658,950 for the month, higher than Dec. 2019 & 2020. Increase in Kwh purchased, higher prices in Zone D compared to previous years. - Included over 10,400 MWh of supplemental energy. Price of supplemental energy was $30.50/MWh in Dec. 2021. Zone D Rates in Dec. 2019 & 2020 were both under 18.50/MWh. Cost of power included Counter Congestion Revenue from Nov. of $46,460. Impact to customers PPAC for February 2022 will be just over (.07¢). MWh purchased, over 24,000 MWh, very high for December, last time over 24,000 was Dec. 2017. Peak Demand for December was 41,700 kW, set Dec. 23rd, a cold stretch during Christmas week, low of 5°. C. Cash Flow: The Operating Fund decreased by $368,085 during December.. The Operating Fund at year end was over 5.9 MM, decrease of $895,000 for the year. December receipts were over $886,100, which were more than budgeted for December. YTD receipts were over $11 million. Receipts for 2021 were over $803,576 less than budgeted due to few kWh sold during the 1st half of 2021. Expenditures for December totaled over $1.25 million, $89,980 more than budgeted for the month. Expenditures for 2021 totaled $11.9 million. D. Approval of Bills: RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the bills as audited by Mr. Rene Hart totaling $1,089,670.48 Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by John Bogosian - All in Favor Approved by the MEUB 2/22/2022 Page |3 4) COMMITTEE REPORTS: by Andrew McMahon, Superintendent A. Personnel: 1. Staff Update: Mr. McMahon noted that there have been no severe cases of covid and the operational impacts from covid have been limited thus far. The staff is presently completely healthy. B. Finance & Economic Development: 1. Payment and Delinquency: Treasurer Dobbins noted that receivables continued to decrease and amounts greater than 90 days were under $100,000. Most customers continue to pay on time and those with arrears have continued to seek help through LI-HEAP, the Regular Arrears Supplement (RAS) Program and the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). 2. Energy Efficiency Programs: RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby authorizes extending the Residential, Commercial and Landlord Energy Makeover Programs through December 31, 2022. Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by John Bogosian - All in Favor 3. 2021 YE Energy Efficiency Summary: Treasurer Dobbins provided a summary of the energy efficiency/smart grid expenditures since 2017. The summary showed that the Department has spent between $196,000 and $269,000 annually during that time frame. The requirements of the Long-Term Agreement (LTA) with NYPA indicate that utilities spend the equivalent of 1 mil ($0.001) for each kWh sold on these types of investment. Historically the Departments annual kWh sold have been around 200,000,000 kWh, requiring the Department to spend roughly $200,000 each year. Since 2017 the average spent has been well above the expected investment of $200,000. 4. Arconic Business Park (ABP) Study: Mr. McMahon advised the board that the key point of contact at Arconic on this project, Kevin Kitzman, is retiring at the end of the month and Arconic is not replacing him. It is unclear who, if anyone, from Arconic will step in to lead the project. As Arconic is the central player in this grant if they are not engaged and invested in its success the prospects for success are limited. 5. Utility Poles: Margo discussed number of hit poles. In the past 14 months MED has had 13 utility poles damaged from motor vehicle accidents. Seven are currently waiting on insurance payment. C. Engineering & Energy: 1. Cybersecurity: Treasurer Dobbins noted the Department had transitioned from the testing phase of the IronNet monitoring program to the production phase. This next phase will include some additional training on the IronNet platform and threat detection. Even though the Department is in the production phase the program is still at no cost. The first year is considered part of the pilot and during the pilot period NYPA is paying for the service. As the end of the pilot gets closer Treasurer Dobbins will discuss next steps with the committee, which may include remaining in the program and paying for the service on a monthly basis Approved by the MEUB 2/22/2022 Page |4 2. NYPA iSOC: Is operational and we will be working with NYPA to fully optimize the information we receive from system. Our key point contact is out on family medical leave. 3. Forward Energy Procurement: Eric is working with DWGP to finalize a structure with NextEra. 4. Smart Water Heaters: We are looking to install a few more within the next couple of months. 5. Arbor Issues: We are still collecting grant money from certain projects completed last year. We are also trying to determine if Alcoa will continue to support our Arbor projects in 2022. 6. Grasse River close out: The last of the spare parts have been shipped. When they arrive in the next few days the project will be completed. 5) LEGAL ISSUES: by Eric Gustafson, Attorney: No update 6) UNFINISHED BUSINESS: - Annual Policy Review Treasurer Dobbins discussed the small changes to the Cyber Security Citizen’s Notification Policy that included updating the state offices coordinating these types of incidents. Since the policy was last updated the offices, contact numbers and methods for contacting these entities had changed. No other changes to the policies were made and once approved Treasurer Dobbins will also update the table of contents and cover sheet to reflect the effective date of the changes. The Policy Handbook is available upon request. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the Massena Electric Department’s updated polices as presented. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Rene Hart - All in Favor 7) NEW BUSINESS: Mr. McMahon noted that he has historically gone to the APPA Legislative rally in Washington in late February. However, due to the State of the Union falling during the rally and covid concerns he is leaning towards not going this year. He will discuss again with the board at the February meeting. Mr. McMahon pointed out that the price of energy in zone D has gone up significantly over the past few weeks. Last year, our supplemental power was approximately 3 cents per kWh. This past week the price has been routinely above 10 cents per kWh. This is related to the cold weather and the significant rise in natural gas prices that were identified in the fall. 8) ARTICLES OF INTEREST: Mr. McMahon discussed the NYS Climate Action Council and the NYS goal to eliminate natural gas. He explained that the public service commission had called MED to understand our rates better as they are working on a rate case for St. Lawrence Gas/Liberty Utilities. It was clear through the phone call that they are looking for ways to lessen the role of Gas in the North Country.  Approved by the MEUB 2/22/2022 Page |5 Mr. Shaw discussed that he is concerned that the infrastructure investment that is required to meet some of the states mandates, like the elimination of natural gas, will be daunting for all utilities. He noted that the electrical infrastructure will need to grow by approximately 3x. Mr. Shaw also discussed that there are significant impacts from many of the renewable resources. The amount of environmental damage from mining minerals required for Batteries and other required green resources is more significant than one might think. Mr. Bogosian discussed the challenge of the future grid from his background with Solar. Specifically, that the sun did not necessarily shine when his load was greatest. Mr. McMahon had also included an article on the APPA website dedicated to information on the Infrastructure Bill. He noted that he expects that any grants we would receive would likely have to be for a project led by NYPA. 9) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Next regular meeting, February 22, 2022 at 1:00 pm. 10) PUBLIC COMMENT: 11) EXECUTIVE SESSION: Motion to move into executive session at 2:15 p.m. for contract negotiations. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by John Bogosian, All in Favor Motion to move out of executive session at 2:37 p.m. Moved by Rene Hart– Seconded by, Richard Maginn All in Favor Motion to adjourn at 2:38 p.m. Moved by John Bogosian – Seconded by Richard Maginn, All in Favor