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Moris Bell
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138 Draft December 14, 2017 Middleborough Gas & Electric Commission Meeting Middleborough Town Hall, Selectmen Meeting Room Wednesday, November 15, 2017 In attendance: Chairman Dan Farley, Commissioner John Healey, Commissioner Tom Murphy, Commissioner Ellen Farley and General Manager Jacqueline Crowley. Absent: Commissioner Lincoln Andrews Others present: Dave Shaw, Gas Division Manager-Operations, William Taylor, Electric Division Manager, Sandy Richter, Public Communications Manager and Jeannette Mello, Secretary. Chair Farley opened the meeting at 6:00 PM with a welcome and the Pledge of Allegiance. Chairman Dan Farley announced that the Gas & Electric Commission Meeting of November 15, 2017, is being recorded by Middleborough Community Cable Access Media (MCCAM), Verizon and Comcast. Announcements and Recognitions There was no announcements or recognitions. Unanticipated There was nothing unanticipated. Public Comment There was no public comment. New Business: A. Gas Division Bid Award One (1) Heavy Duty Truck with Utility Body Dave Shaw, Gas Division Manager of Operations, reviewed the two bids that were received for the bid opening on November 9, Mr. Shaw recommended awarding the bid to the lowest responsible bidder, Grieco Ford for their bid proposal on a 2018 Ford F-550 in the amount of $49,999 which includes a trade in of $6,000. Comm. Healey made a motion to approve the bid award to Grieco Ford of Raynham, MA. Comm. Murphy seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The 2001 Chevy 3500 construction truck with a utility body was traded in due to the condition of the body. Old Business: A. Discussion and Possible Vote on GM/MGED Goals for GM Crowley previously met with Comm. Andrews and Comm. Ellen Farley to review the draft goals. The new revised goals combines the status of the goals for along with goals. Some of the big projects require multi-year planning procedures. GM Crowley reviewed the goals in the three following categories: MGED facilities including buildings, distribution infrastructure and capital equipment; Personnel and Human Resources; and Improve Company performance and energy efficiency. GM Crowley asked the 1

139 Draft December 14, 2017 Commissioners for feedback on the goals and noted that they are a significant part of the Budget for Comm. Healey discussed the goal for an additional new management position that would administer smart energy programs and provide backup to help GM Crowley in the energy supply department. Comm. Healey asked for further information on the succession planning scheduled in the goals for the first half of Comm. Murphy commended GM Crowley for the way the goals were put together. GM Crowley said that Comm. Andrews wanted the Board to know that he approves of the goals. Comm. Healey made a motion that the Board vote to adopt the amendments in addition to the MGED s General Manager s goals as the goals of the Commission as well. Comm. Murphy seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Review and Possible Vote to Accept and Release Open Session Minutes: a. October 18, 2017, Open Session Minutes New Business (Cont d): B. Storm Event Comm. Healey made a motion to accept and release the October 18, 2017 open session minutes. Comm. Ellen Farley seconded the motion. The motion passed. Comm. Murphy abstained. Bill Taylor, Electric Division Manager, discussed the storm that caused severe damage in the Northeast, starting on Sunday night, October 29, 2017 with a display on the overview. He noted that two circuits and two reclosers were lost by Monday morning when the call for Mutual Aid was made by the GM. Five crews arrived from municipals of Shrewsbury, Princeton and Villages of Greene and Solvay, New York. The outages occurred due to large trees that had fallen from the opposite side of the street that is trimmed. He noted that twenty four poles were replaced, thirteen transformers were damaged by falling trees, and fourteen hundred calls were logged into OMS (Outage Management System) system. By late Wednesday afternoon the majority of the outages on the system were repaired excluding individual services that needed an electrician for repairs. Bill Taylor credited the Hendrix cable tree wire as a deterrent in preventing more outages. Comm. Murphy discussed MGED s Storm Guide that gives helpful information regarding the electric service responsibility of the customer. Bill Taylor said that he would review the Storm Guide handbook electric service information and update it if further information is needed. Bill Taylor estimated the costs for the storm to be approximately $240,000. Sandy Richter, Public Communications Manager, discussed using MGED s website and Facebook for customers reporting outage messages during the storm. She also updates MGED customers on the recovery through MGED s website and Facebook. General Manager s Report A. Financials Luis Chukiu, Business Manager, reviewed MGED s draft financials for the month of September. On the Electric side, the Gross Operating Margin is behind budgeted amounts primarily due to weather. The RSA (Rate Stabilization Account) will be decreased by $708,000 due to weather affected lower revenues. On the Gas side, the current Gross Operating Margin is up from the budgeted amount. On the combined, there is $12.5 million Gross Operating Margin over the budgeted amount of $11.9 million. There will be a reduction of approximately $8 million to the $41 million in cash next year with two large bid projects scheduled for the reconducting of the E-1 transmission line and the installation of smarter meters. The RSA will be lowered at the end of the year to $5 million dollars. GM Crowley stated that the monthly costs for transmission and capacity charges have increased greatly and those costs will continue until

140 Draft December 14, 2017 B. Rate Comparisons The residential natural gas rates chart, based on the average use in November, shows other utilities except Middleboro and Wakefield with seasonal winter rate increases based on an average residential customer usage level. MGED s natural gas rate is $1.37 per ccf (hundred cubic feet) which is the lowest in the region. The residential electric rates chart, based on the average use in November, shows MGED to be slightly higher than Mansfield Municipal Light Plant. The municipal rates are dramatically lower than the IOUs (Investor Owned Utilities), private companies that are showing seasonal increases rates. The combined natural gas and electric rate bill shows MGED to be the lowest in the region. An MGED customer saved $62 compared to Bridgewater and $56 a month compared to Wareham and Carver. C. Projects 1. Smarter Meter Conversion Project GM Crowley updated the Commission on the progress of the bid proposal for the smarter meter conversion. The meters will be converted from the current AMR to an AMI enabling readings directly into the computer system at the main office. There will be presentations provided to the Commission in Budget 2018 The management is working on their budgets. An additional meeting will be held on December 6 th to discuss the draft budget. The final Budget would be presented for approval at the December 20, 2017 meeting. 3. Solar Installations GM Crowley said that a meeting was held with the engineers to evaluate solar installations on MGED s system. The consensus was that by March, MGED will be at 20% of peak. A recommendation from the meeting was that a soft-cap of 25% would be viable and then at that time another thorough study would need to be done to make sure that it does not impact reliability or create an unsafe situation for the line crew. Correspondence Chair Farley received an anonymous letter from an MGED natural gas customer who stated their dissatisfaction that MGED is discontinuing the natural gas appliance repair service and thought that the Commission was not aware of it. GM Crowley stated that they have discussed discontinuing the natural gas appliance repair service at several meetings with an approval of the phased in withdrawal in September. GM Crowley reminded everyone that the Gas Division is on call 24/7 and will still provide emergency call services for gas odor calls or carbon monoxide (CO). Chair Farley stated that he did hear from customers and that it is a great convenience to them but he did vote to phase out the gas appliance repair service because of the costs of the inventory, and stated that if MGED continued with the service there would need to be an increase in costs. GM Crowley stated that she thought the decision was made for the right reasons which Comm. Healey agreed. Presentation on Smart Energy and Technology Survey provided by Sandra Richter, Public Communications Manager Sandra Richter discussed the Smart Energy and Technology Survey by Great Blue Research that took place in September along with slides. One thousand MGED customers responded by telephone, cell phone, and digitally. Some of the information from the survey is as follows: 70% of the respondents agreed that MGED is currently an environmentally responsible utility and that 66.5% of MGED customers responded that they favor laws and policies that set targets to reduce greenhouse gases and renewable energy expansion; 92% take frequent intentional steps to increase energy conservation. When the question was asked if they favor of raising energy bills on all customers by $10 per month to reduce greenhouse gases, 49.6 % were in favor and 52.8% favor raising energy bills for local businesses and large employers by 10% per month. When asked if in favor of adding a small charge to all bills to fund smart energy incentives and projects 72.2% were in favor. 3

141 Draft December 14, 2017 Customers interested in more advanced meter technology options are 55.5% and has less interest if it raises the utility bill. Adjourn Comm. Ellen Farley made a motion to adjourn the November 15, 2017 Meeting of the Middleborough Gas & Electric Board of Commissioners. Comm. Murphy seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Open session adjourned at 7:30 PM. The next scheduled meeting of the Middleborough Board of Gas & Electric Commissioners will be on Wednesday, December 6, 2017, at 5:30 PM, Selectmen Meeting Room, 10 Nickerson Avenue, in Middleborough. The Gas & Electric Commission Meeting of November 15, 2017 was videotaped and broadcast by Middleboro Community Cable Access Media (Comcast and Verizon) and recorded by the Secretary. Respectfully submitted, Jeannette Mello Secretary 4

142 Draft December 14, 2017 Middleborough Gas & Electric Commission Meeting Middleborough Town Hall, Selectmen Meeting Room Wednesday, December 6, 2017 In attendance: Chairman Dan Farley, Commissioner John Healey, Commissioner Tom Murphy, and General Manager Jacqueline Crowley. Absent: Commissioner Lincoln Andrews and Commissioner Ellen Farley Others present: Dave Shaw, Gas Division Manager-Operations, Rick Labossiere, Gas Division Manager- Engineering & Planning, William Taylor, Electric Division Manager, Luis Chukiu, Business Manager, Sandy Richter, Public Communications Manager and Jeannette Mello, Secretary. Chair Farley opened the meeting at 5:30 PM with a welcome and the Pledge of Allegiance. Chairman Dan Farley announced that the Gas & Electric Commission Meeting of December 6, 2017, is being recorded by Middleborough Community Cable Access Media (MCCAM), Verizon and Comcast. Announcements and Recognitions Comm. Murphy congratulated the Middleborough High School Sachem football team and the cheerleading squad on the State Championship at Gillette Stadium Super Bowl on December 1, Unanticipated There was nothing unanticipated. Public Comment There was no public comment. New Business: A. Draft Budget 2018 GM Crowley reviewed the 2018 budgeted electric Power Supply costs projected at $25 million. ISO has increased transmission costs due to big projects. Forward Capacity costs have increased tremendously and are to continue until June The 2018 budgeted Gas Supply cost is $4.5 million. Bill Taylor, Electric Division Manager, reviewed the 2018 budgeted Operations and Maintenance Expenses for the Electric Division by each account which reflects a 2% increase from Rick Labossiere, Gas Division Manager, Engineering and Planning, reviewed the budgeted Operation and Maintenance Expenses for the Gas Division by each account reflecting a 1.3% from Luis Chukiu, Business Manager, reviewed the budgeted General and Administrative Expenses. Comm. Healey requested more clarification on the Account No that shows an increase in costs for writing off uncollectable amounts. The increase reflects a provision in an allowance amount of $80,000 plus losses that were written off from previous years. Sandy Richter, Public Communications Manager, reviewed the Energy Conservation Services accounts that shows an increase due to new technology and the changes in standards on energy efficiency for appliances.

143 Draft December 14, 2017 New programs for rebates are being developed and the home energy audit will be enhanced for the customer to receive more information. The Energy Services Program for the Commercial and Municipal will increase to provide enhanced energy audits that will help the customer applying for grant funding and for LED lighting rebates. The Marketing and Communications budgets increased slightly to accommodate the new programs that are going to be developed under the Energy Services Program. The Capital Additions Budget 2018 for the Electric Division in the amount of $8.7 million increased greatly due to the E-1 Transmission line re-conducting, the new substation land purchase and rights off of Pine Street, and the electric meters for the smarter meter conversion project. The Capital Additions Budget for the Gas Division increased significantly in part due to the new gas meters for the smarter meter conversion project. GM Crowley announced that due to the increase costs in transmission and capacity costs, there will be an increase in the Purchase Power Adjustment of 1 cent effective January 1st, to prevent continuation of the of the RSA account s depletion. The RSA balance will be watched throughout the year for impact. Luis Chukiu discussed the RSA in the Summary of the Budgeted Statement of Operations Rate Stabilization Accounts for the Electric and Gas Divisions including a projected estimate for the RSA at the end of 2018 to be $2.45 million. GM Crowley will meet with Comm. Ellen Farley to review the draft budget with her. Correspondence There was no correspondence. Adjourn Comm. Healey made a motion to adjourn the December 6, 2017 meeting of the Middleborough Gas & Electric Board of Commissioners. Comm. Murphy seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Open session adjourned at 7:20 PM. The next scheduled meeting of the Middleborough Board of Gas & Electric Commissioners will be on Wednesday, December 20, 2017, at 6:00 PM, Selectmen Meeting Room, 10 Nickerson Avenue, in Middleborough. The Gas & Electric Commission Meeting of December 6, 2017 was videotaped and broadcast by Middleboro Community Cable Access Media (Comcast and Verizon) and recorded by the Secretary. Respectfully submitted, Jeannette Mello Secretary 2

GAS & ELECTRIC COMMISSION MEETING DATES FOR 2018 Wednesday, January 17, 2018 Wednesday, July 18, 2018 Wednesday, February 21, 2018 Wednesday, August 15, 2018 Wednesday, March 21, 2018 Wednesday,

144 GAS & ELECTRIC COMMISSION MEETING DATES FOR 2018 Wednesday, January 17, 2018 Wednesday, July 18, 2018 Wednesday, February 21, 2018 Wednesday, August 15, 2018 Wednesday, March 21, 2018 Wednesday, September 19, 2018 Wednesday, April 18, 2018 Wednesday, October 17, 2018 Wednesday, May 16, 2018 Wednesday, November 21, 2018 Wednesday, June 20, 2018 Wednesday, December 19, 2018 NOTE: All Commission meetings will be held at the Middleborough Town Hall, Selectmen s Meeting Room, 10 Nickerson Avenue, at 6:00 PM. M:\Commission\Commission Meeting New Dates 2018 Draft.doc

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FARMINGTON BOARD OF SELECTMEN. Tuesday, August 25, 2015

FARMINGTON BOARD OF SELECTMEN. Tuesday, August 25, 2015 FARMINGTON BOARD OF SELECTMEN Tuesday, August 25, 2015 Chairman Joshua Bell called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. with the following members present: Stephan Bunker,, Michael Fogg and Matthew Smith.