Minnesota Public Power Communities Receive Grants For Various Energy Projects
February 3, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 3, 2022
Minnesota public power communities have received grants that will help pay for a wide variety of energy-related projects.
Minnesota’s Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) awarded seed grants to 74 energy efficiency and renewable energy projects — over twice as many as last year. The communities are funded for a wide range of energy projects, from improving buildings for energy efficiency to job skills training for careers in clean energy. This year, Seed Grants with a focus on underserved communities received additional funding.
These awards mark the 11th round of CERTs seed grants, totaling over $1.6 million to 467 projects since 2006.
City of Halstad/Halstad Municipal Utility
Wimmer Homes Insulation: Wimmer Homes, originally built in the 1960s for low-income elderly people to preserve independence in small homes, were designed with electric heat and have received insufficient R value updates through the years. This project will insulate the attics in 14 rental units owned and operated by the city of Halstad.
Electric Vehicle Charging Station: Halstad Municipal Utility would like to contribute to the electric vehicle grid by supplying a charging station close to their downtown. Whether it is bringing tourists to shop at their new General Store or visiting the “World’s Largest Sugar Beet,” the City of Halstad hopes to alleviate range anxiety for EV customers. They also plan to promote EV charging at homes with Off Peak incentives.
Willmar Municipal Utilities
Regency Park Energy Efficiency Outreach: Will create outreach events with multiple partners at the two Regency Mobile home parks in Willmar to educate residents about electrical efficiency, thermal savings with water efficiency, and communication about wastewater issues. Local utilities have identified these sites to have significantly high water and electricity use, and they hope to educate residents and help to reduce the average use per household.
City of Willmar
Willmar GreenStep Reboot: This project will jump start the GreenStep work previously initiated and bring in more community members not only to help implement best practices in the city, but also to provide educational lectures on best practices. The first goal is to create the Willmar Green Team with members from the utility, city, county, and other important regional organizers. These members will be the leaders and presenters for future community meetings.
St. Peter
Gustavus Adolphus College — Promoting Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency In Diverse Communities: This project will engage college students in local clean energy, energy efficiency, and education efforts. Gustavus interns will be mentored by, and work directly with, the Southcentral Minnesota Clean Energy Council (SMCEC) to develop collaborations and identify specific local opportunities. The interns will recruit students from area colleges to engage with SMCEC and develop local action plans for clean energy and energy efficiency, with an emphasis on underrepresented communities. Student groups will then execute the action plans in their local communities.
City of Warren
Clean Energy Independence — Model Plan for Design for Community Regeneration: The Warren Clean Energy Independence Plan will create actionable recommendations and be a regional model for clean energy independence. This work builds from visioning, planning, and prioritizing completed in the first phase of “Design for Community Regeneration (D4CR) Warren.” Running alongside D4CR Phase 2, this project will generate detailed analysis, recommendations, and tools for implementation that address opportunities to reduce energy burden, improve energy security and resilience, offer economic development opportunities, and build on Warren’s leadership to be a model for a just and regenerative energy path.
Electric Vehicle Charger: This project will provide a public EV charging station easily accessible to residents, employees, and visitors, and expand the community’s EV resources.
City of Worthington
Unidos MN Education Fund — Energy Justice Pueblitos: Unidos MN will conduct a series of train-the-trainer educational workshops on energy efficiency and electric bills with support from Minnesota’s Citizen Utility Board. Unidos MN plans to establish a cohort of community experts who will engage with Latinx community members on energy efficiency resources and tools, as well as provide bill consultation.
City of Jackson
Bike Local, Shop Local — Developing a Bicycle Incentive Program: This project will focus on adopting a “Bicycling Business Incentive Program” where Jackson area businesses will award those who bike to work or visit their business. This is an energy efficiency project that will foster behavior change using authentic community engagement and education, encourage participating businesses to offer a discount, allow employers to provide employee incentives (i.e. bicycle commuter reimbursements, bicycle shop discounts, etc.), and provide education about EVs and electric bikes.
City of Rochester
Channel One Regional Food Bank — Food Bank Lighting Retrofit: Channel One Regional Food Bank (C1) partnered with RETAP to evaluate their energy management practices and potential energy efficiency projects. Retrofitting C1’s lighting load was recognized as the best place to realize efficiencies and this project will implement the recommendations. By investing in energy efficiency upgrades, C1 will reserve general operating funds for their mission to end hunger in their region and demonstrate the viability of energy efficiency upgrades to other nonprofits, especially their network of 200 partnering food shelves and local food security programs.
Moorhead
Lake Agassiz Habitat for Humanity — ReStore HVAC Update: This project will improve the energy efficiency of the HVAC system within the ReStore/Habitat office building. The 18,000 square foot building serves nearly 17,000 customers annually, many of whom are low income. Two of the three HVAC systems are suspected to be original to the building, built in 1964. Cost savings from energy efficiency improvements to their systems will allow them to keep ReStore prices low and put more funding into their home building mission.
Northcountry Cooperative Foundation — Improving Energy Efficiency of Manufactured Homes: The grant will be used to assess the energy efficiency of manufactured homes in Northcountry Cooperative Foundation’s client Bennett Park Cooperative in partnership with Slipstream. The assessment data will be used to develop a scalable energy efficiency rehab loan and grant program for manufactured/mobile homeowners.
East Grand Forks
New Americans Integration Center — Building Energy Efficiency Assessment and Open House: The New Americans Integration Center will hire a professional to conduct an infrared assessment of the building. Information from the report will allow prioritization of weatherization projects for the building. Following completion of the weatherization improvements, an open house will take place to share the energy savings achievements with the Somali community and the community in general. An essay project for Somali students will encourage engagement around saving energy at home.
Mora
Kanabec County Agricultural Society — Light the Grounds: The project aims to change out exterior light fixtures at the fairgrounds in order to decrease annual use and cost to the organization. There will be a brochure, signs, and news articles to educate the community about the savings as a result of these changes, especially during the county fair. Additionally, the project will explore the possibility of adding a community solar garden on the fairgrounds with the intent of establishing an energy source for both the fairgrounds and for low-income households in the community.
Benson
Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches — MN Venture Farms Cold Climate Solar Greenhouse: Year-round food production is nearly impossible for Black and Indigenous People of Color and economically disadvantaged farmers who lack the capital to own and operate cold-climate solar greenhouses that can actively grow produce during Minnesota winters. This project will design a plan to implement and operate cold-climate solar greenhouses at multiple farm sites to increase access to locally produced, healthy foods year round; increase food security; reduce health disparities; promote sustainable agriculture; and provide agricultural education programs.
Nebraska Utility Launches New Program To Support Local Businesses
February 2, 2022
by Vanessa Nikolic
APPA News
February 2, 2022
Nebraska’s Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) recently launched a new tool to help provide support to small businesses in the local community.
According to a recent article in OPPD’s The Wire newsletter, SizeUpNebraska is a web platform that offers a variety of tools, data, and research that local businesses can utilize to compare competition, identify market characteristics, and discover ways to optimize marketing efforts.
Interested businesses can also use the new tool to discover potential customers and suppliers. Users can find suppliers closer to their business using the tool’s location functions. The platform also helps to identify where competitors are located.
SizeUpNebraska will be available to the communities served by OPPD. The platform is free for businesses to access, and no formal training is required.
OPPD’s Economic Development team saw how other utilities used the platform to provide value to large and small businesses. The team began working to bring SizeUpNebraska to OPPD’s communities with the goal of helping the local economy thrive.
Other features of SizeUpNebraska include identifying top businesses in the area, analyzing customer characteristics, showing how to make better decisions based on data, and offering recommendations based on the data provided.
The tool also aims to attract new businesses and up-and-coming entrepreneurs.
OPPD says the tool will help businesses grow by giving them access to key market research and data that they otherwise could not find.
Additional information about OPPD’s economic development initiatives are available here.
Wis. Utility Customers Save Energy While Helping Charities Under Pilot Program
February 2, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Dierctor
February 2, 2022
The Wisconsin public power communities of New Richmond and Mount Horeb have been selected to participate in the second round of a pilot program under which residents will raise money for local charities while they save money learning new ways to save energy.
Focus on Energy’s “Save to Give Challenge” launched in 2020 exclusively for rural communities. The program’s success in Lodi and Bayfield in Wisconsin last year resulted in its being able to expand this year.
Lodi, New Richmond and Mount Horeb are all members of WPPI Energy, which serves 51 locally owned electric utilities.
Focus on Energy Director of Program Operations Erin Soman noted that Lodi residents taking part in the first challenge were able to help keep one of their community charities open.
In both New Richmond and Mount Horeb, any residential customer of the municipal electric utility will be eligible to participate through the utility’s website.
In the same place residents pay their bills online, they can participate in the “Save to Give Challenge” where they will learn and practice no- and low-cost energy actions, tracking their progress on the website or a mobile phone app.
Each time they record how they saved energy they will earn donation points toward their favorite community nonprofits. When enough residents participate and accrue those points, Focus on Energy will donate up to $25,000 to the charities.
Participants will also have easy access to energy saving tips and information about other Focus on Energy offerings. Through time-limited campaigns — coupled with longer-term strategies — the pilot engages rural households to implement behavior-based energy savings and participate in Focus on Energy programs, Focus on Energy noted.
For Mount Horeb and New Richmond, the “Save to Give Challenge” is also in line with the communities’ goals to save energy and support local organizations. Both communities have robust networks of volunteers, social networks, and treasured nonprofits.
In New Richmond, the “Save to Give Challenge” aligns with the community’s vision, written by its residents, to protect natural resources and maintain the city’s reputation as a prosperous, civically engaged community.
Mt. Horeb Utilities, in partnership with WPPI Energy, will also be providing additional donations to local nonprofits when reaches participation milestones in the “Save to Give Challenge.”
For more information about the challenge, click here.
Additional details on Focus on Energy is available here.
Tuskegee, Alabama Utility Reflects on Past and Present Leadership
January 31, 2022
by APPA News
January 31, 2022
February marks Black History Month. In 1976, President Gerald Ford recognized Black History Month during the nation’s bicentennial celebration, urging Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
Today the American Public Power Association pays tribute to the Black American leaders who, over a half-century ago, sought to establish the Utilities Board of Tuskegee (UBT). We also celebrate its leaders today.
Tuskegee, Alabama Public Power Utility Formed
The Tuskegee City Council and then-Mayor C.M. Keever unanimously adopted a resolution on January 27, 1970 in support of incorporating a public corporation responsible for utility services.
The effort was spearheaded by Booker T. Conley, Lawyer Edward Reid, and William C. Allen, who are widely recognized as “the fathers of the Utilities Board of the City of Tuskegee.” These three local citizens had undersigned the Certification of Incorporation presented to the Tuskegee City Council. It sought to incorporate a public utility to operate an electric system, a water works system, and a sewage system. The certificate called for, among other issues, that an electrical system be ran in perpetuity by acquiring, operating, maintaining, improving, and extending an electric system in the City of Tuskegee, and in the territory surrounding the city.
Booker T. Conley (1923-2019)
His family said that Booker Conley embodied the best of Conley family virtues: humble, intelligent, brave, and adventurous. He would surely be proud of the legacy he left for public power today.
Booker Conley greatly admired his older brother, Coleman, and would follow him to Tuskegee University, where Coleman had enrolled in the very first class of Tuskegee Airmen. That first class of U.S. Army Air Corps cadets graduated from Tuskegee Army Air Field on March 7, 1942; the class began with only 13 cadets.
Booker Conley had instead decided to continue a century-long family carpentry tradition by studying architecture at Tuskegee University. He later drafted the plans to build the airplane hangars that housed Tuskegee’s famous “Red Tail” fighter planes.
When his older brother was tragically killed in a combat exercise, Booker took his place and joined the civil pilot training program at the Tuskegee Institute in 1940. Upon graduating from the Army’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, he went on to serve with the 92nd “Buffalo Soldiers” infantry division in Italy during World War II, flying P-51 Mustang fighter planes. The Buffalo Soldiers Division was the only Black infantry division that participated in WWII combat, serving in Italy from 1944 to the war’s end.
Booker Conley flew missions over Italy and Northern Africa. He and Coleman Conley are the first known brothers to be documented amongst the 996 Tuskegee Airmen pilots.
Conley returned to Tuskegee after World War II. He lived near the Tuskegee University campus with his wife, Dorothy, where they raised their four children, and he enjoyed a 50-year long career. In his forties, he continued to serve his country by helping advance the formation of a public power utility to improve the utility services in his hometown. It still thrives today.
UBT Today
UBT operates with 72 employees. The 103-square mile service area includes the City of Tuskegee, the towns of Franklin and Shorter, and much of Macon County, Alabama. The utility has approximately 6,714 electric customers – 88% are residential customers. The utility’s two largest customers are Tuskegee University and the Veterans Affairs medical center.
The public power utility is overseen by a five-member board of directors. All five members are Black men, with Black men and women comprising the predominant majority of UBT’s leadership team.
Gerald B. Long, UBT General Manager
Gerald Long, CPA, CGMA, graduated from the University of Alabama, Birmingham in 1983 with a degree in accounting. He joined the Alabama Public Service Commission in 1988 as an advisor concerning the state’s telecommunications issues. He was later promoted to director of the telecommunications division. During his tenure with the Commission, he started his own accounting firm and later left the Commission to operate it full-time in 1996. In 2008 he became the Chief Financial Officer of UBT and, later, its General Manager.
“I love working for UBT because we provide indispensable services to the community, and through the provision of those services, we are able to plot a future for the community that will lead to economic growth and prosperity,” he said.
Alvin Woods, UBT Light & Power Supervisor
Alvin Woods has been with UBT for nearly 35 years. Since 1987, Woods has seen the Lighting Department grow into a well-rounded utility with trained staff and a fleet of work trucks and various equipment necessary to get the job done. When he began, the department thrived from on-the-job training. UBT’s linemen and journeymen are now trained through the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association’s nationally accredited program. Much of the light staff is now substantially certified so the utility no longer needs to subcontract work to outside professionals.
Woods has been the Light & Power Supervisor for over 20 years now and is proud to be part of UBT’s growth and development serving a city with such a rich history.
UBT has won several awards for its reliability. Indeed, UBT’s most recent electric reliability metric percentage stands at 99.9886 percent.
“Outside of serving our community with excellence, we are also proud of being Electric Cities members that go out and assist other cities as well as other states during times of disasters. We love serving the people,” said Woods. The American Public Power Association awarded UBT a Mutual Aid Commendation certificate for supporting electrical restoration efforts to the Vinton Public Power Authority in Louisiana after the utility was hit hard by Hurricane Laura in August 2020.
UBT continues to give back to the community. Most recently, the public power utility donated $10,000 to the Macon County-Tuskegee Public Library to help expand the number of titles the library offers to help further expand learning opportunities for the community. UBT recently donated to the Booker T. Washington High School Boys Basketball team to acquire new equipment and uniforms before the 2022 season began.
APPA Members Encouraged To Apply For Sue Kelly Community Service Award
January 19, 2022
by Vanessa Nikolic
APPA News
January 19, 2022
Member utilities of the American Public Power Association (APPA) are encouraged to apply for the Sue Kelly Community Service Award. The deadline for nominations is Jan. 31, 2022.
APPA’s Sue Kelly Community Service Award recognizes “good neighbor” activities that demonstrate the commitment of the utility and its employees to the community. Any APPA member utility that has not received the award in the past five years is eligible.
Nominees should have achievement or sustained performance showing commitment by the utility and its employees to enhancing the quality of life in the community through activities that: address a community need or improve the community’s social, cultural, educational, or economic environment; and provide an opportunity for employee involvement.
Award winners are selected by a board committee of APPA. Recipients will be recognized at APPA’s National Conference in June.
The 2021 Sue Kelly Community Service Award recipients are EPB of Chattanooga, Tennessee, North Carolina public power utility Fayetteville PWC, Wisconsin’s Kaukauna Utilities (KU), Washington State’s Mason County Public Utility District (PUD) 1, and the City of Philippi in West Virginia.
Not long after the COVID-19 pandemic began, EPB joined a local school district and other community partners to launch a program that provided high-speed fiber optic internet services to every economically disadvantaged K-12 student in the county at no charge. As a result, the program was made available to more than 28,000 students.
KU and Mason County PUD 1 focused on providing pandemic relief in its communities. KU donated $30,000 to area non-profits that help community members in need with rent or mortgage payments and other expenses. Mason County PUD 1 implemented a COVID-19 response program to safeguard employee health, customer health, and the continuity of utility services for its customers by suspending all disconnections, fees, and rate increases, offering long-term payment plans for any customer that kept in communication with them.
The City of Philippi’s Municipal Electric Department supported its community’s overall economic growth by taking part in various beautification projects like lining its historic downtown’s buildings with lights.
Fayetteville PWC partnered with the city’s downtown district to bring an interactive public art installation to light up the area after the city reopened following the COVID-19 shutdowns.
“It’s an honor to be recognized by APPA for the activities that we have been committed to for so many years- giving back to our community,” Fayetteville PWC Communications/Community Relations Officer Carolyn Justice-Hinson said. “We have continued to find ways to support our community in powerful ways despite COVID limiting many in-person service projects.”
Justice-Hinson said Fayetteville PWC encourages its staff to volunteer by looking for community service opportunities that fit its employees’ interests and abilities. The public power utility promotes and organizes many service events such as the ‘Field of Honor’ flag setup and takedown for Veterans Day and a community cleanup coordinated in conjunction with APPA’s Day of Giving.
Additional details about the award are available here.
New Mexico Utility Regulators Consider Petition On Public Power Study At Meeting
January 13, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 13, 2022
New Mexico utility regulators at a Jan. 12 meeting considered a petition that asked them to launch a study that would evaluate shifting the state’s electric sector to public power.
At the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission (PRC), the commissioners heard from State Sen. Carrie Hamblen and Mariel Nanasi, Executive Director of the New Mexico New Energy Economy as part of their discussion about the petition, which was filed by a group of New Mexico lawmakers.
The lawmakers said in their petition that they “believe that it is probable that public ownership of the electrical utilities that serve New Mexico would benefit New Mexico’s ratepayers, New Mexico’s businesses, and New Mexico’s state, local and tribal governments.”
At the PRC meeting, Sen. Hamblen said that the value of the study would be to “determine the costs, benefits and pathways to public power and to evaluate whether implementation of public power will protect the public interest, reduce and stabilize electricity rates, create revenue generation for the state and result in the deployment of 100 percent renewables plus storage, as well as enhance local economic benefits.”
Hamblen said that “if we are to thoroughly understand the alternatives to the current structure of our energy systems and service providers, we need the advice of technical experts. We also need to feel comfortable in seeing what other options there are and, really, whether or not they’re good for our state.”
She noted that the American Public Power Association has determined that public power customers pay on average 11 percent less than investor-owned utility customers. Further, public power customers “receive more reliable service and are more likely to benefit from renewable power sources,” Hamblen went on to say.
“Most importantly for New Mexico, it also keeps our money in our communities,” she said. “Publicly owned utilities can reinvest profits from energy sales into local jobs, lower energy costs for low-income customers and invest in local community projects and causes.”
Hamblen noted that the petition “points to two possible models that can be studied – a state-owned and operated electric power authority with municipal and tribal local control over generation or a community choice system where investor-owned utilities maintain transmission and distribution, with the option for municipal and tribal control over the generation.”
Hamblen said that her colleagues in the New Mexico House and Senate “feel that the PRC is not only the appropriate agency to house the study, but also has the most expertise when it comes to providing data on our various utilities.” The PRC “would be the custodian of the study and we are not asking you to take a position on the study findings. You have the technical expertise and if there are questions to be asked, you can either provide the answers or get that information from the utilities,” she said.
“We know that you will not be implementing public power. We recognize that that is the purview of the legislature,” she said. “We recognize that there are many factors to be explored” including the impact on workers, the costs of a publicly owned utility, how municipalities and tribal entities will be affected “and much more and that’s why, as legislators, there’s already been exploration about who is going to do the study and who is going to pay for it. We don’t expect the PRC to pay for it.”
Hamblen said that “the joint petitioners and legislators will be seeking that private money to be housed at the Santa Fe Community Foundation.” Moreover, the PRC would not be responsible for determining the best consultants and agencies to perform the study.
Nanasi said that “we’re hoping that this study will be done” in 2022.
PRC Commissioner Stephen Fischmann said he thinks such a study is worth doing. He noted that a lot of public power utilities are “doing some of the most innovative work,” mentioning specifically the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and its work on hydrogen, Texas public power utility Austin Energy, which “embraced solar very early” and Texas public power utility CPS Energy.
And, within New Mexico, the community of Farmington “loves its municipal public electric utility. It has very low rates.”
The Commissioners ultimately decided not to take action on the petition at the meeting.
APPA Seeks Nominations For 2022-2023 Board of Directors
January 13, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 13, 2022
The American Public Power Association (APPA) is seeking nominations for APPA’s 2022-2023 Board of Directors.
The nomination form can be found here to nominate individuals and nominations are due no later than February 12, 2022.The call for nominations covers Regions 5, 7, 9, and 10.
The APPA Nominating Committee will meet virtually on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, to consider nominations for new Board members. The Committee’s recommendations for new Board members will be presented to APPA’s membership at the annual business meeting held in June during APPA’s National Conference.
Directors are normally elected for three-year terms and are eligible to serve two consecutive terms. Any director who has served five or more years consecutively is not eligible for re-election until a period of one year has elapsed.
Contact Cartina Parks-Williams at CParks-Williams@publicpower.org for assistance or additional information.
Court Advances South San Joaquin Irrigation District Bid To Replace PG&E As Local Power Provider
January 3, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 3, 2022
California’s South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) was recently handed a key victory by an appeals court in SSJID’s ongoing bid to replace investor-owned Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) as the local retail electric service provider.
The December decision issued by the Third District Court of Appeal validated the Local Agency Formation Commission’s approval of SSJID’s ability and authority to provide retail electric utility service to its customers. The decision also allows the district to move forward with the ability to provide those services by purchasing PG&E’s facilities through the process of eminent domain.
Since 2004, SSJID has been actively working to replace PG&E as the electric utility for customers in Manteca, Escalon, Ripon and surrounding areas.
As part of that process, SSJID was required to obtain approval from a San Joaquin County agency called the Local Agency Formation Commission.
In 2014, after five independent studies and a public workshop before the Local Agency Formation Commission, it found that SSJID’s business plan was sound and that SSJID has the ability to carry out its service commitments.
PG&E filed a lawsuit to have the decision overturned in San Joaquin County Superior Court. After continued litigation and some favorable court decisions for SSJID, SSJID offered to purchase local electric distribution assets from PG&E in 2016.
After PG&E indicated its assets were not for sale, the District filed a lawsuit to gain the right to purchase the assets from PG&E, through a process called eminent domain
On March 25, 2020, SSJID and PG&E stipulated to a “relief from stay” in a hearing in a PG&E bankruptcy proceeding that would allow ongoing litigation between the two parties to continue. This stipulation allowed for final briefs to be filed and for the appellate court to take the appeals under consideration.
SSJID has offered to pay PG&E $116 million for the power lines, substations and transmission infrastructure required to deliver electricity to the region.
SSJID was established in 1909 and is headquartered in Manteca, Calif.
SSJID provides agricultural irrigation water to about 56,000 acres surrounding Escalon, Ripon and Manteca, and wholesale drinking water to the cities of Manteca, Lathrop, Tracy, indirectly serving over 193,000 residents, and in the future, the city of Escalon.
SSJID, along with Oakdale Irrigation District, owns and operates the Tri-Dam Project, a series of storage reservoirs and electric generation facilities that produce zero-carbon hydropower in the Stanislaus Riverwater shed.
New Mexico Lawmakers Ask Utility Regulators To Consider Public Power Option
January 3, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 3, 2022
A group of New Mexico lawmakers is asking state utility regulators to launch a study that would evaluate shifting the state’s electric sector to public power.
The lawmakers said in their petition filed at the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission (PRC) that they “believe that it is probable that public ownership of the electrical utilities that serve New Mexico would benefit New Mexico’s ratepayers, New Mexico’s businesses, and New Mexico’s state, local and tribal governments.”
The lawmakers said that the PRC should oversee a comprehensive study that would address questions that would include, among others:
- Would the pursuit of a publicly controlled utility authority at the state level advance the public interest, in both a “traditional” public utility perspective and an expansive 2021 and beyond regulatory framework that breaks up utility monopolies and supports tribal community and state energy rights, and its interactions with other disruptions that will be occurring simultaneously in the transportation, health, and building sectors during the 2020s and comprehends climate emergency needs?
- What are the benefits, costs, and risks associated with such a transition?
- What are the high-level cost reductions or increases of replacing private investor-owned utilities with public power?
- What is the revenue potential of exporting excess renewable energy and job creation opportunities?
- What is the technical, financial, and legal feasibility of pursuing public power for New Mexico?
- What would be the best design for such a transition? The study should compare and contrast the costs and benefits of the status quo versus a publicly owned power authority and Community Choice Aggregation.
The lawmakers said that within the next decade trillions of dollars will be invested in energy infrastructure across the United States. “From federal policies to market forces to the inevitable replacement of retiring fossil fuel plants, the transition to renewable energy sources will necessitate a massive restructuring of not only the power grid and generation sources, but energy markets, ownership and control,” the petition said.
“With some of the highest solar and wind capacity of any state in the nation and the ability to deliver terawatts of energy to our neighbors and beyond, New Mexico will be presented with numerous opportunities and important decisions as this transition unfolds.”
But the lawmakers argued that the transition is not being facilitated effectively by the state’s current IOU structure. “Despite New Mexico’s abundant natural resources, second in the country for solar potential and 11th in the country for wind potential, and the sun Zia on our flag, each of the state’s investor-owned-utilities have relatively small percentages of renewables in their energy portfolios.”
They said that under the current energy model, investor-owned-utilities’ plant ownership and energy investments “require a return on equity that creates a perverse incentive NOT to invest in energy sources with fixed capital costs and no fuel costs.”
The lawmakers said that under the IOU model, returns on investments and profits — at least in the case of Public Service Company of New Mexico, with a return that is 9.575% annually, are exported to Wall Street.
Ann Arbor, Mich., Commission Endorses Public Power Utility Study
December 16, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
December 16, 2021
The Ann Arbor, Mich., Energy Commission on Dec. 14 unanimously adopted a resolution recommending that the Ann Arbor City Council authorize a municipal electric utility feasibility study.
The vote culminates a nearly year-long community discussion about exploring the public power option as a way to power Ann Arbor’s local electric grid with 100 percent renewable energy, a core strategy of the city’s A2Zero climate action plan.
Ann Arbor for Public Power, a nonprofit grassroots organization, has been leading the effort. The group commissioned and released a study outlining a legal roadmap to municipalization, made multiple presentations to Energy Commission and to various community organizations, and collected over 1,200 signatures from Ann Arbor residents supporting a muni feasibility study.
There are currently 41 Michigan cities and towns served by public power utilities.
The resolution includes a recommendation that the city ensure a just transition for workers in its energy decisions.
The resolution also asks Council to move forward on a Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU). An SEU is a city-owned nonprofit that helps residents make homes more energy efficient, install solar panels, and convert from gas appliances to electric, by providing an alternative to investor-owned DTE Energy. It also seeks to convert buildings to self-powering microgrids.
Ann Arbor for Public Power said it looks forward to working with the City Council in January on its feasibility study resolution.
“We will continue promoting community discussion around municipalization in the coming year, as we work towards an eventual voter referendum to establish a city-owned electric utility to replace DTE Energy,” the group said.
For more information, go to annarborpublicpower.org.
For additional information about municipalization and related resources provided by the American Public Power Association, click here.