If the PUC agrees to the proposals set forth by City Administrator Mike Roth at the board’s Wednesday, November 14 meeting, the only rate increase Grand Marais utility users will see next year is a 2 percent bump in their sewer bill.
Roth recommended no rate increase for the Water fund budget or for the Electric fund budget.
The Public Utilities Commission of Tim Kennedy, George Wilkes and board chair Karl Hanson spent an hour and a half discussing possible rates after listening to Roth outline his reasons for the 2019 proposals. They will meet in three weeks and make a decision that will be forwarded to the city council for a vote.
When it came to the electric fund, Roth said that Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (SMMPA), was proposing to lower wholesale rates by 4 percent for 2019. Couple that with a reduction in health insurance premiums for the city and staffing levels that are lower then they were two years ago, and Roth said, “We are doing quite well financially in the electric fund.”
When he was discussing the water fund, Roth pointed to a graph that showed that water sales, which fell every year from the year 2000 to 2014, were starting not only to level off but slightly increase.
“Our current revenues are insulated from potential declining water sales, allowing the water fund to cover system repairs and improvements, and position the fund to contribute to city projects,” he said.
Wilkes suggested raising PUC rates one percent and use the funds collected for potential solar projects. Roth said that would generate about $25,000 per year, not a game changer for the city nor the cities customers, but he also said there was enough money in the budgets now to pay for a smaller solar project.
That led to a discussion by the board to schedule a workshop to discuss future plans for not only solar projects but future staffing needs for the electrical department, as well as other projects that need to be funded that are on the horizon.
In other news, Roth told the board that the first Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) meter had been installed that day. It is part of a pilot project to install 100 AMI meters in the city, and then potentially install the meters to all Grand Marais electric users.
Each meter costs $120 and will save the city about 100 hours of labor per month because meter readers won’t have to manually read the meters. Instead, the meters will allow the city to read the meters remotely and give the town better tools to understand energy usage, costs and ensure better customer service. Price is 25 cents per customer per month for the company to provide that service to the city, said Roth.
“Arrowhead Electric already did this a couple of years ago,” noted Hansen.
A couple of people have warned that there are health concerns with the installation of these meters, said Wilkes. Those concerns will be discussed further at future meetings when the other board members have had time to look at what those concerns are.
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