Emerald People s Utility District Board Work Session A G E N D A Seavey Loop 5:30 pm - meeting Tuesday, January 23, 2018 Eugene, OR 97405

Transcription

1 Emerald People s Utility District Board Work Session A G E N D A Seavey Loop 5:30 pm - meeting Tuesday, January 23, 2018 Eugene, OR CONVENE WORK SESSION CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL INTRODUCTIONS 2. AGENDA TIMELINE Requests for Additions or Deletions 3. PUBLIC COMMENT Statements from the public are limited to 5 minutes per speaker and are a comment period only on utility business, time permitting. The Board will not engage or respond to comments unless it is to correct inaccurate information or statements from the public. Interaction with the Board will be allowed if a member of the public has previously submitted a request to be added to the Agenda. 4. STORM PAY EXAMPLES 5. ELECTRIC VEHICLE S - OVERVIEW 6. LIGHTING RATE SCHEDULE CHANGES 7. SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM CHANGES 8. METER INSTALL CONTRACT - PREVIEW 9. BOARD DIRECTOR COMMENTS 10. PUBLIC COMMENT Open comment period (if time permits) 11. ADJOURN M:\BOARD & POLICIES\Agendas\2018\01-23\ Board Meeting Agenda - Final.Doc

2 Lighting Rate Schedules Updates and Overview Presented January 23 rd, 2018

3 Background Lighting customers are currently spread across 4 rate schedules Schedule 14 Schedule 25F Schedule 51 Schedule 54 Outdoor area lighting (Emerald-owned facilities) Miscellaneous devices Street lighting (Emerald and customer-owned facilities) Recreational field lighting (schools/non-profits) Most lighting customers are currently non-metered Charges are fixed per device or based on estimated annual usage Total lighting revenue is approximately $74K per year Equates to roughly 0.18% of total revenue 2

4 Issues to Address Co-mingling of customer types Confusing to setup and track Lack of incentive for efficient usage Current rate schedules offer little incentive for efficient use of energy Most devices are non-metered and based on estimated usage Fixed charges do not reflect current lighting technology (ie. LED) Inventory management Staff is currently forced to stock multiple fixture types, specific to customers Cost of Services Imbalances Lighting customers were 36% below cost of service as of

5 Proposed Actions Merge lighting customers into three rate classes: Schedule 52 (new) Schedule 53 (new) Schedule 54 Emerald-owned and maintained lighting facilities Customer-owned and maintained lighting/other facilities Recreational field lighting (schools/non-profits) Adjust charges and fees to incentivize efficiency For Emerald owned facilities, rate will be based solely on fixture wattage A non-compliant charge may be assessed if devices operate outside normal hours Standardize inventory for Emerald owned facilities Shift toward offering only one light fixture per wattage level Receive the fixture in use at the time of replacement Any specialty/decorative lamps shall be furnished by customers 4

6 Rate Schedule 52 Preview 5

7 Rate Schedule 53 Preview 6

8 Next Steps Staff will ask the Board to approve the new rates on 02/13/18 Changes to be effective with other rate changes on 04/01/18 7

9 2018 Scholarship Program Overview and Timeline Presented January 23 rd, 2018

10 Background The scholarship program was unchanged from Five scholarships of $1,250 each ($6,250 total) The 2018 budget has been increased to $15,000 Accounts for increased costs of tuition over this time period Staff analyzed options for restructuring the 2018 program Recommendation is to maintain a simplified and flexible structure 2

11 Tuition Cost Benchmarking (2017) Category Estimated Annual Tuition Line Worker 1 $5,350 - $12,950 Community College 2 $4,928 University 3 $11,931 1 The low end is VOLTA (includes tuition/books); the high end is NWLC (tuition only) 2 Based on Lane Community College annual tuition and fees 3 Based on University of Oregon annual tuition and fees 3

12 2018 Program Recommendation Staff recommends maintaining 5 total scholarship awards Budget to be divided equally ($3,000 for each award) Number of awards per category to be determined based on merit and may change year-to-year Eligibility requirements to be clarified Recipients must have attended high school in Lane County Recipients must have a parent or grandparent that is an Emerald customer Multi-year students can re-apply for scholarship funding each year 4

13 Timeline and Next Steps Press release announcing new Scholarship Program this week Scholarship applications due by April 17 th Application review by internal Staff committee April 18 th 26 th Awards announced on May 1 st Award presentation at the Board meeting on June 12 th 5

14 Scholarship Program Authority Emerald legal counsel has recommended formally establishing the program through Board Resolution Research was performed for another Oregon PUD to determine legal authority to spend public funds in this area Legal opinion supports this authority on the basis of workforce development, economic growth, and community goodwill Staff proposes to present resolution for Board approval at the February 13 th meeting 6

15 Proposed Resolution Language 7