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Sevier County Electric System’s Robbins details leadership lessons, highlights key projects

March 3, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 3, 2021

In a Q&A with Public Power Current, Allen Robbins, General Manager and CEO at Sevier County Electric System in Tennessee, discusses leadership lessons, highlights projects underway (including a large scale solar project) and details what he sees as the biggest challenges facing the utility and the broader public power community in the next five to 10 years.

Public Power Current: In your book, “Trial By Fire,” you detail how Sevier County Electric System in late 2016 had to unexpectedly deal with a sudden, unexpected surge of wildfires. You had only been General Manager of the electric system for four months.

Can you describe how Sevier County Electric System was able to successfully respond to these wildfires and what leadership lessons you drew from the experience?

Robbins: It was perseverance and intestinal fortitude of the employees of Sevier County Electric System that contributed most to our response to the Gatlinburg Wildfires.

I was promoted to General Manager on August 9, 2016 but I did not become the leader of Sevier County Electric System until November 28, 2016.

In the span of 12 hours I was making decisions with our line personnel I never imagined having to make. In times past the final decision making was left with someone else. Now the buck stopped with me.

During the chaos of this tragic event I had to display a calm and focused demeanor no matter how I was truly feeling on the inside. Hopelessness and inadequacy crept into my psyche but I quickly suppressed those thoughts and feelings because failure was not an option. Thank God that I had two things going for me, an outstanding staff and three predecessors that expressed solid foundational leadership skills that I was able to draw on. All three visited with me at different times offering their support.

The one thing they all said was none of us has ever experienced anything of this magnitude and that this will definitely make me a better manager.  So to George Seaton, Howard Murrell and Rick Harrell I thank you for leadership and positive influences you had on me.

allen
Allen Robbins, General Manager and CEO at Sevier County Electric System

Public Power Current: The recent extreme weather events in Texas and elsewhere have highlighted reliability and power grid issues for utilities. Can you discuss some recent examples of how Sevier County Electric System has successfully responded to power outages caused by weather?

Robbins: On December 23, 2020 we had a volatile windstorm that resulted in multiple small outages throughout the day. Then on December 24, 2020 we had a snowstorm that brought 8” of snow to the lower areas of our service territory but much more in the higher elevations that include the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The two major challenges we had, aside from the snowstorm, was the Christmas Holiday and COVID-19.

First and foremost, what helped us in our response that turned a 7 to 10-day outage event into a 4 to 5 day event was the relationships with other public power utilities both in the Tennessee Valley and the Southeast Region.

The mutual aid agreements we have in place with TVPPA and APPA are so beneficial to a utility in need. It takes a lot of stress out of acquiring help. 

Another important measure that we have put in place to help mitigate a Texas issue in Sevier County is on August 23, 2019, we signed the Long Term Partnership agreement with TVA to further ensure equitable rates and stability for our customers for many years to come.

Public Power Current: Are there specific projects underway at Sevier County Electric System that you would like to highlight?

Robbins: Sevier County is known as the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with approximately 15 million visitors per year. Keeping up with the growth has had many challenges but it has borne out many opportunities for us as well.

Currently we are working on our first large scale solar project with Sevier Solid Waste using one of their Class 3 landfills. Sevier Solid Waste has state of the art digesters that processes the County’s garbage into mulch. They receive visits from all over the world and we felt like utilizing one of their landfills for solar would further demonstrate our commitment to protecting the environment and having a diverse power mix.

Secondly, we are working on a 10-mile transmission line project with one of our neighboring utilities to bring more redundancy and reliability to both of our service territories. Thirdly, through Seven States Power Corporation we have installed 7 EV chargers throughout Sevier County with 4 to 5 more to be installed in the near future.

Public Power Current: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing Sevier County Electric System and the broader public power community in the next five to 10 years? How is Sevier County Electric System positioned to successfully meet these challenges?

Robbins: Retirement of skilled personnel, cyberattacks, DER, energy storage, updating grid infrastructure, unpredictable weather patterns and many more emerging technologies will all be challenges for us over the next 5 to 10 years. All of these are most definitely challenges, but where there are challenges there is opportunity.

To meet the loss of our retiring skilled workforce we have partnered with the Sevier County Economic Development Council, Walter State Community College and trade school institutions in developing a curriculum that addresses the needs of electric utilities like Sevier County Electric System.

Tennessee College of Applied Technology has a 6 to 10-month lineman curriculum that prepares the individual with entry level electric utility skill sets equivalent to a first year Apprentice.

We are the energy experts and we need to ensure our customers know this as well. So instead of resisting rooftop solar or energy storage we have worked with and tried to inform our customers on the best applications that will meet their needs.

Cyberattacks are all about training. There is no way we can prevent cyberattacks but what we can do is try to prevent cyberattack success. This requires a lot of employee training on being vigilant and not just sometimes but all the time. Beyond this I really don’t like talking about it. Brings too much attention to the issue.

Over the past 10 years we have rebuilt several of our distribution circuits, making them more robust by integrating newer components such as line sectionalizers and automated switch gear.

Public power offers help with rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in their communities

February 24, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 24, 2021

Public power utilities and their staff are making themselves available to help with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in their communities.

“We are supporting the vaccination process at a Chelan County community center in several ways,” said Neil Neroutsos, Communications Manager at Washington State’s Chelan County PUD.

Specifically, Chelan County PUD is assisting with site logistics, security, parking lot attendants, snow-removal and supplemental back-up generators. It is also providing overflow parking in a Chelan PUD park for people waiting for vaccinations.

“This support is coming in part from the PUD’s Public Power Benefit program, which uses a portion of funds from surplus energy sales for investments in the community,” Neroutsos said.

“We have a few folks acting in support on planning teams, including myself” in the county joint information system “and have offered the county some facilities for storage and other power supply needs,” said Aaron Swaney, a spokesperson for Snohomish County PUD. “They haven’t needed it so far.”

Meanwhile, Patty Garcia-Likens, a spokesperson for Arizona’s Salt River Project, said that like a number of organizations in the community, SRP has worked with a couple different vaccine distribution sites to assist with their staffing requirements. 

“These opportunities are done on a voluntary basis only and SRP employees have been able to react on short notice and with enthusiasm,” she noted.

Washington State’s Grant PUD has asked employees who may want to assist with vaccination events to complete a short survey “based on feedback we have received from Grant County Health District,” noted Chuck Allen, Public Affairs Supervisor at Grant PUD.

“At this time, they have not asked for our support for anything, but we are ready to offer support as much as possible if they do make a request,” Allen noted.

New study documents $2.69 billion in benefit from EPB community fiber optic network

January 25, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 25, 2021

Tennessee public power utility EPB on Jan. 22 reported that new independent research reveals $2.69 billion in community benefits during the first ten years since EPB built the country’s first Gig-speed community-wide network and used it to establish what EPB said is the nation’s most advanced smart grid power distribution system.

The study was conducted by Bento Lobo, head of the Department of Finance and Economics at the Rollins College of Business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

EPB serves the greater Chattanooga area. It delivers electricity to more than 170,000 homes and businesses across our 600 square mile service area which includes most of Hamilton County as well as parts of surrounding counties in both Tennessee and Georgia.

In 2010, EPB Fiber Optics, which offers internet, TV, and telephone services, became the first provider in the U.S. to deliver up to 1 Gig internet speeds utilizing a community-wide fiber optic network which is accessible to every home and business in its service area.

In 2015, EPB became the first, and to date, only American internet service provider to make up to 10 Gig internet speeds accessible to all of its residential and commercial customers as a standard offer.

“The true economic value of the fiber optic infrastructure for EPB’s customers is much greater than the cost of installing and maintaining the infrastructure,” Lobo said. “Our latest research findings show that Chattanooga’s fiber optic network provides additional value because it provides high speeds, with symmetrical uploads and downloads, and a high degree of network responsiveness which are necessary for the smart grid and other cutting-edge business, educational and research applications.”

In terms of key community benefits from Chattanooga’s advanced infrastructure, the fiber optic infrastructure directly supported the creation and retention of 9,516 jobs which is about 40% of all jobs created in Hamilton County during the study period.

In addition, according to the study, since Chattanooga’s fiber optic network was deployed, it has helped keep the local unemployment rate lower. This effect has been magnified since the outset of the COVID 19 crisis when fiber optics helped many businesses transition their employees to remote work very quickly.

According to the latest available numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Hamilton County’s unemployment rate was 4.7% in November which is significantly lower than Tennessee’s rate (5.3%) and two percentage points lower than the U.S. unemployment rate (6.7%) for the same period.

Moreover, having Chattanooga’s fiber optic network in place allowed EPB to join with Hamilton County Schools and other local and state partners in launching HCS EdConnect, a fiber optic broadband internet service provided at no charge to economically challenged families with K-12 students.

HCS EdConnect is designed to continue providing the service for at least 10 years. Currently more than 12,000 students have internet access to continue their studies from home through HCS EdConnect.

Related to the smart grid’s ability to quickly re-route power around storm damage and other problems, the study documents a 40-55% annual decrease in outage minutes providing EPB customers with an average of $26.6 million in savings each year by helping them avoid spoilage, lost productivity, and other negative impacts.

The smart grid has helped EPB decrease carbon emissions by 7,900 tons through demand management and reduced truck-miles, EPB said.

In 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy designated Chattanooga as a Smart Grid Living Laboratory. Since then, EPB has partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a range of other national and local research partners, like the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Center for Urban Informatics and Progress, to play a significant role in more than $110 million in smart city research.

The study also notes that since the deployment of the smart grid EPB has moved up to being among the most efficient utilities in the country,” as measured by the System Average Interruption Duration Index metric, which reduces environmental impact while keeping costs lower for customers.

EPB noted that its fiber optic network has performed well in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with the transition to remote work, online education, and telehealth.

In comparing a typical pre-COVID day (March 4, 2020) to a typical COVID day (December 14, 2020), EPB has seen a 75% increase in the total volume of internet bandwidth usage over the course of the day.

EPB has also seen a 64% increase in peak bandwidth usage which still occurs during the primetime hours of the evening and is correlated to more video streaming. Because Chattanooga has a fiber optic network, the community has been able to transition to more intensive internet bandwidth usage utilizing in-place infrastructure, EPB said.

American Public Power Association invites board nominations

January 12, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 12, 2021

The American Public Power Association is inviting voting members to nominate candidates for APPA’s 2021-2022 Board of Directors. Nominations are due no later than February 12, 2021.

The Nominating Committee will meet virtually on Monday, March 1, 2021, to consider nominations for new board members. The Committee’s recommendations for new board members will be presented to the association’s membership at the annual business meeting held in June during APPA’s National Conference.

The nomination form can be found here.  

A chart available here lists board members who will continue on the board, those who are eligible for re-election, and those who are not eligible for re-election. It also includes one open seat due to a retirement and one newly added seat.

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 if you need any assistance or additional information.

Decorah, Iowa, city council votes to create municipalization task force

December 10, 2020

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
December 10, 2020

The Decorah, Iowa, city council on Monday voted 6-1 in favor of forming a task force on the municipalization of the city’s electric power infrastructure.

The main job of the task force is to recommend to the city council how to move forward with respect to a feasibility study done about two years ago, Emily Neal, a member of the Decorah city council, who voted in favor of the measure, said.

If successful, Decorah would form a public power utility and would no longer take electric power from Interstate Power & Light (IPL), a subsidiary of investor-owned utility Alliant Energy.

Decorah residents supporting municipalization say a municipal utility would invest more heavily in renewable energy and those investments would remain local and return more money back to the community. “Motivations vary from person to person, but for me municipalization means local power and local dollars staying in our community,” Neal said.

The task force is charged with making a recommendation among four options:

The feasibility study was funded in 2017 by the advocacy group Decorah Power with the support of the Decorah city council. The study, conducted by NewGen Strategies & Solutions, examined the costs and benefits of forming a public power utility – called a Municipal Electric Utility (MEU) in the study – and found that Decorah could save about $5 million annually by setting up its own utility. The study found that Decorah’s 8,000 residents could save about 30% on their electric bills compared with taking service from IPL. Decorah’s 25-year franchise agreement with IPL ended in June 2018.

In the study, NewGen put the cost of municipalization at about $5 million and said the costs could be funded by issuing $5.5 million of 20-year, 5% taxable bonds. In addition, NewGen estimated startup costs for a MEU at about $2 million, about half of which would be costs associated with the regulatory process of seeking approval from the Iowa Utilities Board to set up a utility. The set-up costs could be funded with a $2 million, 20-year, 3.5% tax-exempt bond issuance, NewGen said.

Alliant Energy also commissioned a feasibility study and the report, by Concentric Energy Advisors, estimated start-up costs and the cost of buying its assets that serve Decorah at $51 million.

In May 2018, Decorah residents voted on a referendum that would have authorized the city council to pursue a MEU. The measure failed by three votes, 1,385 to 1,382.

“It often takes two or three passes before a municipalization goes through,” said Neal, who was a volunteer for Decorah Power before she was on the city council. She noted that the vote was very close and there has been “tons of misinformation” surrounding the vote and the proposal was “not promoted very well. For those who think it is a good idea, it is worth doing again.”

In addition to considering the four options with respect to the feasibility study, the task force will convene stakeholders and listen to their concerns and interests and will “draft some comments to give to the Iowa Utilities Board to inform them about the MEU process and the undue hardships when even exploring the issue,” Neal said. The aim, she said, would be to see if the utilities board could help “level the playing field. It is a David and Goliath fight” to take on an investor-owned utility. “We are using public dollars.”

Meanwhile, the task force has a year to study the issues and make its recommendations. Beyond that, the city would have to hold another referendum to gain voters’ approval before presenting a proposal to the Iowa Utilities Board. State rules also require that the city establish a legal utility entity before it can apply to municipalize its electric service.

In 2015, Decorah set up a telecommunications utility entity when it was considering municipalizing phone and internet service, but ultimately found the idea was not feasible.

The last Iowa city to create a public power utility was Anthon, in 1976. Since then, a municipalization effort in Iowa City failed in 2005 when 67% of residents voted against the effort. And in 2008, the Iowa communities of Everly, Kalona, Rolfe, Terril and Wellman pursued municipalization but failed when the utilities board rejected their proposal.

The American Public Power Association offers a variety of resources related to municipalization.

NTUA details significant progress on Navajo Nation CARES Act projects

November 18, 2020

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
November 18, 2020

In the Four-Corners region of the United States, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) has been busily working towards a December 30, 2020 deadline to extend, build, connect, and provide utility services to hundreds of families funded through Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

In mid-August, the Navajo Nation– the recipient of CARES Act funding — announced the award of $147,116,561 to NTUA to construct utility projects eligible under the CARES Act with the goal and purpose of combatting COVID-19. The various NTUA projects are identified in the Navajo NationCARES Act legislation.  These projects must be completed by December 30, 2020.

NTUA is grateful that the Navajo Nation Council passed the Navajo Nation CARES Act legislation and that the Navajo Nation President signed the legislation authorizing the connection of over 500 homes of Navajo families to the electric grid.

NTUA further noted that in anticipation of the approval of the Navajo Nation CARES Act, it had been organizing internally to connect hundreds of homes. In an effort to connect as many families as possible NTUA’s electric construction crews started working five ten-hour days per week starting in June. 

By starting to connect families before the Navajo Nation awarded CARES Act funding to NTUA, NTUA took the risk that the Navajo Nation might not fund NTUA with CARES Act funding as was being proposed at the time.

“We did this with complete faith that Navajo leaders would approve Navajo Nation CARES Act dollars for electric construction,” NTUA General Manager Walter “Wally” Haase said. “If we waited until September to start construction, over 100 families would not have been connected this year.”

“We didn’t want to take that chance,” Haase added. “We want to help as many families as possible to help fight the spread of this devastating COVID-19.”

In June, NTUA presented a proposal to extend electricity to 510 homes, which includes 350 families that NTUA was prepared to connect during the 2020 Light Up Navajo II project (LUNII). The Light Up Navajo initiative, which was supported by a $125,000 grant from APPA’s Demonstration of Energy and Efficiency Developments (DEED) program began in Spring 2019, bringing together volunteer crews from public power utilities across the country to connect Navajo homes to the grid.

NTUA and 34 public power utilities were ready to connect the 350 homes in April 2020; however, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed plans for LUNII. Rather than having the 350 families wait until Spring of 2022, NTUA submitted their homes for funding from the Navajo Nation with CARES Act funding.  Many of the LUN II homes were shovel ready with all the necessary Rights of Way and land acquisition approval in place.

“We wouldn’t have had these LUN II projects ready if we didn’t have our sister utilities on board,” Haase said. “Even though they didn’t travel here, they made it possible for LUN II families to be connected. Their initial commitment resulted in a meaningful difference in the lives of these families.”

NTUA plans to launch another Light Up Navajo project as soon as it is safe to do so. “We want to echo NTUA’s thanks and encourage utilities to continue reaching out if they are interested in participating the next LUN event” said Alex Hofmann, Vice President, Technical and Operations Services, at APPA.

Progress Reports

In weekly progress reports for Navajo Nation leadership, NTUA provides updates on the various CARES Act projects. In Update #11 of November 12, 2020, NTUA noted that in order to help combat the spread of COVID-19, it created partnerships with the other electric service utilities that serve small regions on the Navajo Nation.

As part of the Navajo Nation CARES Act legislation, NTUA was authorized to install off-grid solar units across the Navajo Nation. NTUA initiated a public campaign inviting families without electricity to apply for a solar unit.

NTUA received more than 1,000 applications and many are from families living within close proximity to a power line. In addition, some of the families are living beyond the reach on NTUA’s electric distribution system.

NTUA therefore reached out to the electric companies that serve applicants living in these areas, including Arizona Public Service, Continental Divide Electric Cooperative, Jemez Mountain Electric Cooperative and Socorro Electric Cooperative to find ways to partner to connect these families to the electric grid. NTUA will use CARES Act funding to fund the connection of a minimum of 31 homes served by these companies.

“We used the blueprint of Light Up Navajo as a guideline. I was inspired through the generosity of our sister utilities during LUN to find and create new partnerships,” Haase said. “This is the first time NTUA has established such a partnership with these neighboring electric utility companies. We reached out because of the success of LUN and now we have another unified effort to help families get connected.”

Dual Purpose — off-grid solar units and electric grid connections

As of November 12th, NTUA crews have been working to prepare qualified homes to be connected to the 3,000-kW solar units, energy efficient refrigerators come with each unit, and have determined that:

199 homes are feasible to date; Installation of solar units is scheduled to begin the week of November 16th

NTUA continues to work with the Navajo Nation to obtain land acquisition for construction. The Navajo Nation Land Department has issued NTUA land acquisition for 117 projects, moving these projects closer to construction.

NTUA Districts and Electric Construction line crews have worked 10-hour days. Various crews are building power lines on weekends and holidays.

As a result of these efforts, 358 families are now connected to the electric grid, an increase of 36 homes from the week.

Moreover, NTUA connected 29 homes in two days following the completion of two major power lines that extended over 10 miles.

As for electric capacity projects, NTUA’s electric division has completed 27 out of the 59 planned CARES Act funded projects. There are 17 projects in construction, including Kinlichee (AZ), Kayenta (AZ), Shiprock (NM), and Mexican Water (UT).

Additional projects are set to begin construction later this month in Fort Defiance (AZ), Crystal (NM), Navajo Mountain (UT), and Chinle (AZ). The work will include substation work and pole replacements.

The complete week #11 Update is available here. To continue to follow NTUA’s progress, please look for the weekly Updates at www.ntua.com on the CARES Act – NTUA projects page. 

Boulder, Colo., voters decline to pursue municipalization

November 9, 2020

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
November 9, 2020

Voters in Boulder, Colo., this month approved a ballot initiative that calls for the city to enter into a new, 20-year franchise with investor-owned Xcel Energy.

Residents of the city voted on ballot initiative (City Initiative 2C). According to unofficial results as of Nov. 5, the initiative was approved by 28,401 votes (53.30%), with 24,889 (46.70%) opposed.

If the result holds as expected, Boulder will pause its efforts to create a local electric utility and Boulder residents and businesses will remain Xcel customers in a new partnership.     

Franchise allows opt-outs starting in 2023   

The franchise agreement, which is a part of a comprehensive settlement agreement with Xcel Energy, includes unique terms that give the city additional opportunities to end the franchise agreement early under certain conditions.

The city could opt-out of the franchise in 2022, 2024 and 2028 if Xcel Energy fails to meet certain emission benchmarks, and could also opt-out in 2026, 2031 and 2036 for any reason. An opt-out would require a six-person vote of City Council or a majority vote of Boulder voters.   

If the city opted out of the franchise, it could re-initiate the process to create a local electric utility.

Report highlights benefits of public power utility in Boulder, Colo.

A local power financial analysis found that lower renewable electricity prices, lower bond rates and increasing electrification of transportation and buildings means that citizens of Boulder, Colo., can expect that a locally owned utility would at least breakeven financially within five to 10 years of startup.

The analysis was released on Oct. 14 by a coalition called Empower Our Future, a group that opposed approval of the ballot initiative.

Voters in Minnesota cities reject proposals to abolish public utility commissions

November 6, 2020

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
November 6, 2020

Voters in the Minnesota cities of Princeton and Shakopee this month rejected proposals that would have abolished public utility commissions in the cities.

In Princeton, city residents rejected a ballot initiative that would have abolished the Princeton Public Utilities Commission and transferred all direct oversight and responsibilities to the Princeton City Council. The ballot initiative was rejected by a vote of 1,102 against and 524 in favor.

The Princeton Public Utilities Commission, appointed by the city council, provides oversight and guidance over all policies, finances, and operations of the city’s utility, Princeton Public Utilities.

Princeton Public Utilities provides electricity and water to a variety of customers both inside and outside of city limits. 

In Shakopee, voters rejected a ballot initiative that called for the elimination of the utilities commission and result in the electric and water utilities being governed directly under the city council. 

A total of 11,794 residents voted against the proposal, while 8,312 residents voted in favor of the proposal.

Shakopee Public Utilities is an independent entity governed by a separate board of five commissioners. These commissioners are appointed by Shakopee’s City Council.

The commission was established by city council on December 12, 1950 and took over the responsibility of the utilities on April 1, 1951.

Report highlights benefits of public power utility in Boulder, Colo.

November 2, 2020

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
November 2, 2020

A local power financial analysis finds that lower renewable electricity prices, lower bond rates and increasing electrification of transportation and buildings means that citizens of Boulder, Colo., can expect that a locally owned utility would at least breakeven financially within five to 10 years of startup.

The analysis was released on Oct. 14 by a coalition called Empower Our Future, a group that opposes approval of a ballot initiative (City Initiative 2C) that is on the Nov. 3 ballot in Boulder. Boulder ballot initiative 2C is opposed by Empower Our Future in part based on the Local Power Financial Analysis, the coalition noted.

If passed, the ballot initiative calls for the city to enter into a new, 20-year franchise with Xcel Energy and end the city’s efforts to create a local, city-run electric utility.

The franchise agreement is a part of a comprehensive settlement agreement with Xcel Energy. The comprehensive settlement agreement would only go into effect if the franchise is approved by voters in the Nov. 3 election.

Empower Our Future “believes that we are experiencing a paradigm shift in world energy markets, largely driven by the imperative to stop and reverse climate change,” the coalition said in the financial analysis.

“Further, we believe that remaining flexible relative to options for sourcing 100% renewable electricity and open to new technologies and policies that make it possible to share electricity more equitably, reliably, and affordably, is critical,” the coalition said.

“We offer this analysis of one option-that of implementing a locally owned electric utility-to demonstrate that we have at least one viable option at our disposal today. All indications are that even more options will be available in the near future, which strengthens our conclusion that entering into a twenty-year franchise agreement with Xcel is both ill-conceived and poorly timed.”

Empower our Future said the report independently evaluates several alternative scenarios using the City of Boulder’s Financial Forecasting Tool, current data, and reasoned projections for the near future to independently determine the financial viability of a locally owned electric utility.

The combination of lower renewable electricity prices, lower bond rates, and increasing electrification of transportation and buildings “has resulted in a situation in which Boulder citizens can, with confidence, expect that a locally owned utility would at least breakeven financially within 5 to 10 years of startup, relative to continuing to source more carbon-intensive electricity from Xcel,” the analysis found.

In addition, the financial scenarios included in the analysis predict that enough savings and cash flow would be created to offer Boulder customers lower electric rates for 100% renewable electricity, and to make investments in the modernization of Boulder’s electric system for the benefit of all.

The analysis also found that the switch to 100% renewable electricity by 2030 would nearly eliminate the City of Boulder’s greenhouse gas emissions from electricity production in contrast to the 80% reduction mandated by the state of Colorado for Xcel.

The report shows that entering into a franchise agreement with Xcel Energy “at this critical time, with the currently proposed terms, is not in the best financial interest of Boulder or its citizens,” the coalition said.

“Rather, Boulder should stay the course, keep our options open, and take the lead in establishing an equitable, clean, modern electricity system for now and generations to come. In our estimation, Boulder can accelerate the electrification of our buildings and transportation systems and enjoy the full environmental benefits of 100% renewably-sourced electricity while capturing the financial benefits of a locally owned electric utility for the welfare of our community.”

Thompson details goals as AMP President and CEO, priorities as APPA board chair

October 16, 2020

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
October 16, 2020

Jolene Thompson recently detailed her goals as President and CEO of American Municipal Power (AMP), how AMP and its members have successfully responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and what she is focused on in terms of her responsibilities as chair of the American Public Power Association’s Board of Directors.

[Thompson in April assumed the role of President and CEO of AMP and in June was installed as chair of APPA’s Board of Directors]

Question: Can you detail your short- and long-term goals as AMP’s president and CEO?

My first few weeks were during the early days of COVID-19, so my initial focus was working with our executive team on procedures to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees and their families. We also established information-sharing forums for our members.

AMP is a strong organization and my goal is to work with the AMP Board and employees to build off that foundation. There are always opportunities to strengthen employee culture, refine business processes and tighten budgets—and we’re working on initiatives in those areas. I’m also focused on outreach to AMP members, policy relevance, economic development and making sure we’re on top of the changes taking place in our industry. Innovation was a priority for Marc Gerken and that will continue.

Under his leadership, AMP initiated a member-led Focus Forward Advisory Council, employee Innovation Team and most recently six employee-led Moonshot Initiative Teams. The teams are developing solutions to challenge statements and I’m excited to see what they come up with. My long-term goals are to meet or exceed our members’ expectations, manage their resources wisely, advance their interests in the policy arena, and provide solutions that they can leverage to stay on top of technology and customer trends. To be successful on those fronts, it’s imperative that AMP’s culture supports collaboration, creativity and diversity. 

Question: Can you describe how AMP and its members have successfully responded to the COVID-19 pandemic?

The full duration of the pandemic remains to be seen and governmental guidelines have been a bit of a moving target, but I think most of us have settled into a routine rooted in strong procedures and virtual platforms to keep business moving. In the Spring, we recognized that AMP could support our members by providing a forum for them to exchange information. As a result, we populated a resource site on our member extranet and began hosting regular member calls. Those calls have now transitioned from weekly to periodic. The AMP Board also established a COVID-19 Task Force to discuss the impacts on member systems. We worked with The Energy Authority and reached out to individual AMP members for information about their local experiences. As you would expect, AMP members have been impacted to varying degrees depending on their customer base.

AMP leadership also found the member calls organized by APPA and engagement via the Electric Sector Coordinating Council very helpful.

Question: What do you see as the key challenges and opportunities for the power sector over the next five to 10 years?

It’s common to hear the current changes impacting the power sector described as “disruptors.” Both because the pace of change is faster than it used to be and there are different players than in the past. Key disruptors – including technology developments, a shifting generation resource mix, heightened customer engagement, climate policy, “organized” markets, and workforce dynamics, all present both challenges and opportunities. It’s especially important for public power to have a seat at the table and minimize the disruptions, which is where APPA, joint action agencies, and state and regional associations must play a role to support their members.

Question: How are public power utilities and joint action agencies such as AMP uniquely positioned to thrive as the power sector undergoes changes in that timeframe?

The foundation of public power – customer-ownership, local control, stewardship, reliability and affordability – are all attributes that can be leveraged to help navigate industry disruptors. There seems to be a growing spirit of altruism that matches well with the public power business model.

Question: AMP earlier this summer received the Energy Innovator Award from APPA in recognition of AMP’s public power electric vehicle planning toolkit and guidebook. Can you detail how the planning toolkit and guidebook benefits AMP member communities? Has AMP heard from member communities as to how they are successfully utilizing the EV planning toolkit and guidebook?

AMP’s members are using the DEED Public Power EV Planning Toolkit & Guidebook as a resource to model EV adoption scenarios across their distribution system. This modeling allows public power systems to evaluate EV adoption costs associated with transformer upgrades and impacts to peak demand, as well as benefits from additional electricity sales.

Question: What are you focused on in terms of your responsibilities as the chair of the APPA Board of Directors? Also, how is APPA positioned to succeed under the leadership of Joy Ditto as the power sector and associations face a variety of challenges these days?

Because my time as Chair coincides with our new CEO’s first year, it’s incumbent on me to ensure there are strong and open lines of communication between Joy and her team and the APPA Board. Joy outlined a vision for the organization that resonated with the Board when she interviewed, and she has been working from day one with the very talented APPA staff to implement that vision. Joy’s time with the Utility Telecommunications Council provided her with a strong understanding of the technological developments impacting our industry. She also had the opportunity to lead a team that was able to move that organization forward. She brings those talents and a passion for public power back home to APPA.