The January 19, 2012 meeting of the Grand Marais Public Utilities Commission began with the installation of new board member Adam Harju. He replaced Hal Greenwood, whose term had expired. The new board chair will be Karl Hansen, and vice-chair will be Tim Kennedy.
SMMPA board representation
With the expiration of Hal Greenwood’s term, the PUC was required to name a new representative to the Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (SMMPA) board of directors. Most of the monthly meetings are in southern Minnesota, as far away as Worthington in the southwest corner of the state.
SMMPA meetings are on the same day as city council meetings, so City Councilor Tim Kennedy did not volunteer to be the PUC’s SMMPA representative. The board talked about whether a representative and an alternate could switch off attending the meetings. “Some of these issues are really complex and ongoing,” City Administrator Mike Roth said, making understanding the issues and participating in discussions difficult.
Karl Hansen and Adam Harju both said making a commitment to travel to the meetings every month would be difficult because of their work. They start first thing in the morning and would require an overnight stay.
Electric Superintendent Mike Taylor has been the alternate but said he would be willing to attend more regularly, so the board passed a motion designating him the representative and Harju the alternate.
SMMPA is an “outstanding organization,” Mike Roth said. He indicated it operates very professionally and employs a highly qualified staff.
Emission standards
With a new Minnesota ruling requiring all power plants to meet certain emission standards by 2013, the PUC Electric Department will be getting advice on what its power plant emissions are and what it might need to do to get into compliance. The requirement is called being “RICE compliant.” RICE stands for “reciprocating internal combustion engine.”
The city would be responsible for any improvements that would need to be made.
High winds
Electric Superintendent Mike Taylor told the board that even with all the high winds of the past month, the utility had experienced only one power outage.
New billing format
The PUC has decided to change the format of its billing. Starting around May when the postcards the utility has been using have been used up, customers will be receiving full-page bills on paper inserted into envelopes. This will allow more information to be provided to customers each month.
Utility Administrative Specialist Jan Smith showed the PUC board numerous examples of utility bill formats. Options include charts comparing an individual customer’s energy use against the average and against a certain percentile of lower energy users. The PUC is considering separating the flat fee from usage charges on the new bills. The current bills separate out water service (“WS”), sewer service (“SS”), and residential or commercial electric service (“RS” or “CS).
Twelve hundred sixty bills go out each month right now, Smith said, and 223 of those customers pay their bills through automatic deductions taken from their bank accounts.
Having to stuff envelopes will take a bit more staff time, City Administrator Mike Roth said, but that is insignificant compared to the staff time it takes to read meters each month.
The board discussed the process of determining how much to charge in fixed rates versus how much to charge in usage fees. “We’ve had very few complaints about what our fixed rate is,” Roth said. He pointed out that making power available costs money no matter how much an individual user consumes in a given month.
Water/Wastewater Superintendent Tom Nelson said the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is going to start requiring utilities to charge higher rates at various higher use thresholds. This will hit businesses the hardest, he said.
Low income program
The PUC is required to spend a certain amount of its budget on helping low income customers become more energy efficient and save on energy costs. The utility spends about $1,200 a year for things like rebates on energy efficiency light bulbs and replacing energy-gobbling appliances owned by low income customers.
PUC board member Tim Kennedy has expressed concern for the needs of renters as well and asked Keith Butcher of Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (SMMPA), the city’s energy cooperative, to look into extending the low income program to renters. “I don’t think we should be distinguishing between owner occupied and rental if there’s a need out there,” Kennedy said.
One problem with including rental units is that if an appliance is replaced, it might benefit the property owner rather than the renter if the cost of utilities is included in the rent. Another issue is that if a low income renter moves out of a unit after a new appliance has been installed, the benefit to that renter ceases.
SMMPA currently covers the cost of the low income program, but it would not cover the cost if the program were extended to renters. Tim Kennedy said investing a little money into increasing efficiency might be worth it if it makes a big enough difference in energy consumption.
These issues will be discussed at the February 1 PUC meeting Keith Butcher is planning to attend.
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