,...1 NOV DRAFT. PUBLIC UTILmES COMMISSION ELECTRIC DIVISION 100 JOHN STREET MINUTES

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1 ,...1 DRAFT PUBLIC UTILmES COMMISSION ELECTRIC DIVISION 100 JOHN STREET Tuesday, November, 01 TOWN OF WALLINGFORD NOV 1 01 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC UTILmES :0 p.m. MINUTES 9 PRESENT: Chair Robert Beaumont; Commissioners Patrick Birney & Joel Rinebold; Director 10 Richard Hendershot; Office Manager Tom Sullivan; Water and Sewer Divisions General Manager 11 Neil Amwake; Office Manager William Phelan; Cynthia Kleist Recording Secretary; Public: Steve 1 Gale Pledge of Allegiance- Chair Beaumont called the Meeting to order at :0 p.m. and 1 the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 1. Discussion and Action: Approval of the Meeting Minutes of :,...1 a. October 1, 01 1 Page 1, line should have "Vote: ayes" included at the bottom of the paragraph. 1 Mr. Birney made a motion to approve the October 1, 01 Meeting Minutes as 19 amended. Mr. Rinebold seconded the motion. 0 Vote: ayes 1 b. October, 01 Mr. Birney made a motion to approve the October, 01 Meeting Minutes as presented. Mr. Rinebold seconded the motion. Vote: ayes WATER/SEWER. Discussion and Possible Action: Billing Issue -Abbate NO ACTION TAKEN November, 01 Page 1

2 ,,..~ , ,,. In her Oct. 1, 01 letter to the PUC, Jean Abbate, who was not present at Tuesday's PUC meeting, stated that she had received a phone call in September from the Water and Sewer Division regarding her high water usage. She stated in her letter that nothing had changed and immediately scheduled someone from the Water and Sewer Division to inspect the property. Ms. Abbate said the water sources and a toilet test were performed and no leaks were found. Ms. Abbate said she requested the old meter be tested and was informed by Mr. Phelan that nothing abnormal was found. Ms. Abbate noted that on Oct., 01, she receive her current bill and the usage was excessive, more than double the usage of this time last year and quadruple the amount of her normal usage. She said no leaks were found after being checked privately. She said she had spoken again to Mr. Phelan who informed her that a meter reader had gone to her property and read the meter and at that time, it seemed to be reading normal. Ms. Abbate said her residence is occupied by one person and has one toilet, no swimming pool, and no sprinkler system. She said she was at a loss to come up with any justification regarding the excessive usage. She said in hindsight it was probably not the right time for the Division to change the meter, but noted that even though the test results showed nothing abnormal, she couldn't help but believe the excessive use charges had something to do with the old meter. She pointed out the new meter new reads her normal average usage. Mr. Rinebold asked if there was some other explanation which could identify the source of the problem. Mr. Phelan said staff was unable to identify any other types of issues which may have caused the high bill at the time of the inspection. Mr. Phelan said this situation has been seen before by the Division. He said the new meter is recording back to average and normal consumption. He said he wished the Division hadn't changed the meter so that further readings could have been obtained to see if consumption had returned to normal. He said this issue could have occurred within the timeframe of the billing period that was corrected at the time or prior to the inspection. He said subsequent readings are now normal. Mr. Rinebold said he said he has some concerns but was not inclined to take action. He said the meter testing was fair and undertaken in a professional manner. Mr. Birney concurred. NO ACTION TAKEN. Discussion and Action: Young's Apple Orchard Lease- SNET ITEM REMOVED FROM AGENDA ELECTRIC s. Discussion and Action: Budget Amendment - Account 0 - Distribution Plant -Meters Mr. Sullivan, in his November 1, 01 memo, noted that the proposed budget amendment seeks to appropriate an additional $,000 to Account #0 - Distribution Plant - Meters. He November, 01 Page

3 , ,,...0,, said the additional funds are required to purchase meters for the remainder of Fiscal Year Mr. Sullivan pointed out in his memo that the original budget for the current Fiscal Year 01-01, was prepared seven months into the Fiscal Year He said at that point in the Fiscal Year 01-01, activity to date was reviewed along with the status of that year's budget including carry-forward funds available. Based upon that analysis, it was anticipated that the Division would have unexpended funds available in this Account to carry-forward into Fiscal Year However, as the year progressed, it became apparent the basis for the budget projection was not accurate. Mr. Sullivan said that during the remaining months of the Fiscal Year, the activity, including meter purchases, accelerated such that the majority of the funds that were expected to be available for carry-forward had been expended by June 01 and were no longer available for carry-forward into Fiscal Year Mr. Sullivan said that the result is the original budget request for Fiscal Year was not sufficient and the Division is seeking an additional $,000 to purchase meters needed for the remainder of the Fiscal Year. Mr. Hendershot pointed out that at the time the budget was prepared less than a year ago, it appeared there would be adequate carry-forward funds available to handle the capital needs of this account, so the Division didn't include new monies. He said after the budget was completed, staff purchased the meters using these funds so the funds are not available to carry-forward into Fiscal Year Mr. Birney made a motion to approve the Budget Amendment for the reasons stated in Mr. Sullivan's Nov. 1, 01 memorandum, as well as reasons stated on the record. Mr. Rinebold seconded the motion. Vote: ayes.. Discussion and Action: Abandonment of two WED poles- High Hill Orchard Mr. Hendershot explained the Division received two pieces of correspondence, the first one dated October, 01 from WED Distribution Engineer Mauritzio Cianchetti and the second correspondence dated October, 01 from Wayne Young, owner of High Hill Orchard. He said the two letters discuss Mr. Young's desire to assume ownership of two existing WED poles, located on his property which were scheduled to be removed by the Division. Mr. Hendershot noted that all utilities and encumbrances were removed from both poles. Mr. Hendershot said that the poles have been in place since 199 and are fully depreciated, and have no residual book or scrap value to WED. Mr. Rinebold asked if there was any salvage value to the poles and if there is a liability with the poles in place without use and if the liability is removed with the transfer of the poles. He also wondered if the Town is avoiding the cost to remove and decommission the poles. Mr. Hendershot said once the Town doesn't own the poles, the property owner will accept them as November, 01 Page

4 ,..., 1 is. Mr. Hendershot said the Division would spend at least $00 with the Contractor to remove the poles if Mr. Young didn't take ownership. Mr. Birney made a motion to approve the abandonment of two WED poles - High Hill Orchard, based on the reasons stated in multiple documents under Agenda Item, #. Mr. Rinebold seconded the motion. Vote: ayes PUC. Committee Reports 9. Correspondence 10 Mr. Hendershot reported on final numbers from the recent storm. He said at the height of the 11 storm, nearly,000 customers, 1% were without power. He said there were 10 broken poles, 1 with six poles needing straightening. Mr. Hendershot said there were three locations where the 1 Hendrix cable was broken. He said these were underground cables. Mr. Hendershot said there 1 were also 1 failed transformers. He said Eversource also experienced transmission failure 1 which darkened one-half of the Wallingford sub-station. He said this has occurred three times in 1 not that many months and has given direction to the Electric Division Engineering staff to put 1 together a descriptive scope of work and get quotes from two Engineering firms in order to r:is obtain a purchase order. 19 Mr. Rinebold said it was prudent to investigate cost and operational performance. Mr. 0 Hendershot spoke about the extra help. He pointed out the linemen involved in the Virgin 1 Islands Mutual aid was in Wallingford at this time. He said within the first day, the Division got an additional tree trimming crew from Asplundh and a three-man, two-truck crew from the emergency line Contractor and also received a two-man crew from a municipal on Long Island through NEPPA (Northeast Public Power Association). Mr. Birney asked if there would be a financial bottom line hit that the PUC would be able to review. Mr. Hendershot said this paperwork could be produced for the next PUC meeting. Mr. Sullivan said the payroll was $,000 more than normal plus pensions and benefits. Mr. Hendershot spoke about scheduling the next ERMOC workshop. He spoke about scheduling 9 conflicts and asked the PUC for dates. He suggested Dec. th and Dec. 1 as possible dates. Mr. 0 Rinebold said he was fine with a January date. Mr. Birney suggested a Friday afternoon meeting 1 date. The PUC agreed to a tentative December, 01 ERMOC meeting date. Mr. Hendershot said he would relay this information to Energy New England and Energy Initiatives representatives. Mr. Hendershot said Julie Cammarata, lobbyist, informed WED today that PURA, (Public Utilities Regulatory Authority), beginning January 1, 01, approved a six-month increase in the November, 01 Page

5 , _.19,., 0 1 generation rates for Eversource and United Illuminating (UI) which amounts to a penny a kilowatt hour increase for Eversource and two cents a kilowatt hour for UL Mr. Hendershot noted that WED has no such increase planned. He said currently for the typical 0 kilowatt an hour customer, UI charges $1; Eversource $1 and WED $10. and change. Mr. Hendershot said after the January 1, UI will be charging $19 or $0 more; Eversource will charge $1 which is $ more and WED will be at $10.. Mr. Rinebold commended Mr. Hendershot on identifying these differences. Chair Beaumont said as of yesterday, Eversource has put in to PURA for an increase for distribution expenses, which will be a three year package which Eversource hopes to have approved by April th. Chair Beaumont said he believes this increase would be.9% this year and 1 % for each of the following years. Mr. Birney said he was expecting capacity to be mentioned in the news account and didn't see anything. He said he only read about distribution. Mr. Hendershot said this three year increase used to be called a base rate increase which has to do with funding and running the business and why it is regulated and why Eversource had to go through PURA. Mr. Hendershot also distributed a letter received Oct., 01 by Mr. Amwake at the Water and Sewer Division from Craig Barletta commending the Water Division, specifically Jay Pawlowski and Steve Vallero on their great customer service and dedicated service. In other news, Chair Beaumont said they are halfway through the initial round of interviews for the General Manager position. He said the fourth, fifith and sixth interviews should be completed by the middle of next week. He said the final interviews should take place in December. Mr. Birney, who is a member of the POCD Implementation Committee, said Town Planner Kacie Hand is attempting to schedule another POCD Implementation Committee meeting. PUBLIC QUESTION & ANSWER PERIOD - :0 p.m. NO QUESTIONS - PUBLIC QUESTION & ANSWER PERIOD END AT :0 p.m. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Birney made a motion to adjourn the Meeting at :0 p.m. Mr. Rinebold seconded the motion which passed unanimously. 9 0 Respectfully submitted, Respectfully submitted, 1,,.. Cynthia A. Kleist Recording Secretary November, 01 Joel Rinebold Secretary Page

6 ,...1 Adjournment s Respectfully submitted, Respectfully submitted, Cynthia A. Kleist Recording Secretary Joel Rinebold Secretary November, 01 Page

DRAFT PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION ELECTRIC DIVISION 100 JOHN STREET WALLINGFORD, CT. Tuesday, April 18, :30 P.M. MINUTES

.. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DRAFT PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION ELECTRIC DIVISION 100 JOHN STREET WALLINGFORD, CT Tuesday, April 18, 2017 6:30 P.M. MINUTES TOWN OF WAWNGFORD APR 2 0 2017 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC