October 26, 2022 SDCEA Board Meeting notes

 

Public Comment:

  • Deb Hannigan asked the board to take advantage of wildfire mitigation funds from the Inflation Reduction Act so that the wildfire mitigation rider could be retired. Joe Redetzke said they would look into it.

  • Mark Boyle asked that when an opening occurs on the board, a notice be sent to all the members and the application period be extended so more people could apply.

  • Rich Shoemaker told the board that AVEF is not an adversarial group, contrary to what has been spread around. He said the goal of AVEF is to help SDCEA. Rich said that SDCEA is moving to slowly toward a clean energy transition. He pointed out that Holy Cross Energy has a battery program where the utility can harness individual’s battery storage in times of need and can help with the purchase of customers’ batteries. He asked if SDCEA would consider such an idea to help save the coop money.

  • Sandy Long pointed out that the Inflation Reduction Act includes direct payments to coops to help them capitalize on the 30% tax credit for renewable energy purchases. She also asked if they could maximize their 5% allotment for generating their own energy. The board said they would take a look and see if they are using their full 5% of self-generation potential.

 

Main Meeting:

Charlie Abel mentioned the need to fix the May expense report

Paul Erickson spoke at length about the coop’s construction work: it won’t be transparent. There will only be communication with people affected by construction work. Dan Daly and Suzy Kelly questioned why the board can’t get more information about construction work so that they can respond appropriately to questions they receive about it.

Fire Mitigation: SDCEA is trying to get a grant from the Colorado State Forest Service for tree cutting. They are also looking for more funding. The IRA is a source of funding they can look into. Paul Erickson said they can’t afford to wait for grants because fire mitigation is an immediate and urgent need. That is why the fire mitigation rider exists. There was no clarity on whether grant funding could replace or shorten the duration of the fire mitigation rider. SDCEA plans to increase rider to $8 for 2023 and have projected that the rider (increasing to $9 and then $10?) will need to be in effect until the end of 2025. Nick thought someone should go after the infrastructure money; Paul Erickson says because the of ratio of consumers to employees, they don’t have any money (“you need money to go after money and SDCEA doesn’t need any more mouths to feed”). He suggests that they don’t freeze or eliminate the rider because they need the money now to get the job done quickly.

Dan Daly led the 6-person team that interviewed for the replacement for Suzy Kelly’s position, which has been switched with Joe Redetzke’s position so that it can be an At-Large position. He reported that they interviewed four applicants for the position and chose Michael Robinson, who is an executive with Central Colorado Telecom. Mr. Robinson has many years of telecom and business experience, but seems to have no experience with electricity. His views on renewable energy are not yet clear. Suzy Kelly’s last board meeting will be the November 29 meeting. Mr. Robinson will be seated after that.

The next agenda item was a discussion of a contract between SDCEA and Central Colorado Telecom. It was also mentioned that Paul Erickson sits on the Central Colorado Telecom board.

Wording of SDCEA Net Metering rules was discussed. At issue was the use of the words “energy” vs. “electricity”. It was not clear why a distinction between the two words is necessary or which word is more accurate in the context of the document. Sarah McMahon explained it as “energy” is electrons delivered and “electricity” is energy bundled with other services. When Nick Hellbusch asked what changing the word usage would accomplish, Sarah McMahon said that nothing about the Net Metering policy would change. Nick asked “then why do it?” But wasn’t given an answer. Everyone on the board voted for the wording change except Nick.

·       June 15, 2023 was chosen as the date for the 20232 SDCEA annual meeting. SDCEA board election procedures were discussed. Points brought up:

  • Separating the Annual Meeting announcement mailing from the election mailing would allow more notice for the election, but it would cost an extra $10,000 for extra mailing.

  • There are no rules requiring the election date be set at the same time as the annual meeting.

  • Blake Bennetts questioned the need to have limitations on when to send out ballots (reportedly 30 and 15 days before the election?). He said he looked at the bylaws and thinks the bylaws could be changed to allow more time to vote.

  • Dan Daly said it would be worth spending money to allow people more time to vote.

  • Further discussion was tabled until the bylaws are checked.

 

A lot of time was spent on employee anniversaries.

A lot of time was spent wordsmithing various policies, including the parameters of the CEO’s job.

The board voted to send money to the Mesa Hot Line School, which trains linesmen. ($500? $5000?)

Delegate to the NRECA meeting were chosen: Joe Redetzke, with Dan Daly as alternate

Midwest Electric Consumers Association Delegate was chosen: Dan Daly

Directors Round Table:

  • Nick Hellbush would like to dig deeper on the rates. He wants to see more of the cost of service numbers, because that is a big part of the rationale for the rate change.

  • Blake Bennetts asked that SDCEA do a member survey soon as a way of engaging with members, and not just before they roll out the new rates, which he mentioned were 6 months to 1 year away.

  • Suzy Kelly asked that SDCEA make a concerted effort to explain the next rate structure to people. She also indicated that the rate structure will not be announced for another 6 months.

  • Dan Daly talked about a program at Xcel(?) that explains Time of Use rates through a very good brochure, and suggested that SDCEA should do something similar.

  • Sandra Attebery said that Custer County members seem happy with continuity of service and are expecting rates to go up. They just want an explanation if they do.

Attorney Report:

            Casey Martin talked about contracts and tower leases

Chief Executive Officer Report:

            Paul Erickson said that he didn’t have much to add to comments he already made. He then began talking about NRECA where more attention is being paid to illegal grow operations as they function in a legal environment. He commented that “waters have calmed down” “external forces are challenging our work” “challenges of turnover” but nothing was particularly clear about his comments.

Chief Administrative Officer Report:

            No report from Sarah McMahon

Manager of Finance Report:

            Sarah Crites brought up project to help communication and to clean up email, move people to paperless billing. Discussed budget numbers and completion of Chateau Chaparral, which Paul said was SDCEA’s most ambitious project. There have been quite a few new service installations, led by the new services in Chateau Chaparral, but also by the grown in the valley. (2020: 165 new meters; 2021: 217 new meters; 2022: 488 new meters).

Other information Updates:

There was a discussion about Western United, the coop we buy wires etc. from. Their sales are increasing and there is an order backlog. Transformers have been a problem because there aren’t enough workers in the factories.

Net-metering and avoided cost of energy will be on the December agenda.