DRAFT PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION ELECTRIC DIVISION 100 JOHN STREET WALLINGFORD, CT JULY 19, :30 P.M. MINUTES

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1 July, 0 DRAFT PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION ELECTRIC DIVISION 00 JOHN STREET WALLINGFORD, CT JULY, 0 :0 P.M. MINUTES PRESENT: Chairman Robert Beaumont; Commissioners Richard Nunn and David Gessert; Director George Adair; Electric Division General Manager Richard Hendershot; Office Manager Tom Sullivan; Water and Sewer Divisions General Manager William Phelen; Vincent Mascia Senior Engineer Water and Sewer Divisions; Recording Secretary Cynthia Kleist; Steve Gale; Peter Zichichi; Biagio Gulino; Yolanda and Roland Angueira; Stephanie Rubin, President of the Board of Directors of the Wallingford Emergency Shelter, Inc.; Gregory Kamens of Sunwood Development.. Discussion and Action: Approval of the meeting minutes of June, 0. Mr. Nunn made a motion to accept the meeting minutes of June, 0 as amended. Mr. Gessert seconded the motion. On page, line 0, the word not should be inserted after the word may. On page, line, the word the should be used instead of all. On page, line 0, including instead of or. On page, line 0, insert comma after the word lease and then add the other half after the word lease. On page, line, the word should be purchased not purchase. On page, line, after the word effect add of all CMEEC projects. On page, line, after aggregate add the words of all projects. On page, line, after zero put in parenthesis, the words net cost. On page, line, take out the March 0 there is only one. End of page, line, take out the words in each case and take out the work a at the end. Page, line, we will try to go to the Regulations Review Committee should be changed to the DEP plans to go to. On page, line, add the word that after theorize. Vote: ayes.. Discussion and Action: Director s Report for the month of May 0. Mr. Nunn made a motion to approve the Director s Report for the month of May 0. Mr. Gessert seconded the motion. Mr. Adair said the CIS Infinity product continues to perform adequately for carrying out the meter-to-cash functions with some exceptions. He said we are still encountering

2 problems with the bill print. He said problems also persist with other bill print issues and for this reason, the Wallingford team has not yet signed off for payment to Advanced Utilities for this deliverable. Mr. Adair said the lien modification is not yet fully functional. Advanced Utilities has made additional changes to the mod and the Water/Sewer staff are in the process of further testing. We have not signed off on this deliverable, pending the outcome of these further efforts. Combined Meter Reading On Combined Meter Reading, Mr. Adair said the fieldwork for route design continues with Water and Electric Division personnel jointly walking the routes and noting the location of all water meters. He said he is confident the field work will be completed before the beginning of Winter. He said the first billing resulting from combined reading will be the March bill, which will begin reading in December. He said four of the five funding meter-reading positions in the Electric Division have been filled. He said we are in the process of hiring a fifth person. ELECTRIC DIVISION Mr. Adair said electric division sales for May totaled, MWHrs, an increase of. % compared to May 00. Maximum system demand occurred on May at 0. MW, a decrease of.% from the May 00 peak. He said in June 0, there was an.% increase in volume and a % drop in demand. He said between the two months (May and June), there were streetlight repairs in May and in June and there were less than 00 customers without power between June -0, 0. WASTEWATER DIVISION At the Wastewater Treatment Plant, the average daily flow during May was. million gallons, an increase of % from May 00. May s average nitrogen discharge was pounds per day, in excess of the target maximum of pounds per day, and higher than the May 00 discharge average of pounds per day. Year-to-date nitrogen discharge average is pounds per day, vs pounds per day for the same period last year. Vote: ayes. Discussion and Action: Approval of Director s Report June 0. Mr. Gessert made a motion to approve the Director s Report for June 0. Mr. Nunn seconded the motion. Mr. Adair talked about the town wide occupied building energy conservation assessment benchmarking effort. He said WED is utilizing the same process that was employed to identify the energy efficiency upgrades for the Town s Board of Education facilities. He said WED is working with all Town departments to finalize survey questionnaire July, 0

3 information, including historical data on all energy use. Once this information is compete. CMEEC will arrange for a walk-through and formal energy use benchmarking of each Town-owned occupied building. Mr. Adair also mentioned the APPA national conference which included discussions on environmental regulations affecting power generation in the U.S., public power decision-making process for new generation sources, cyber security concerns, including issues related to smart metering, and U.S. regulatory and industry on the Fukushima (Japan) disaster. He said a report to the PUC on the conference is forthcoming. WATER DIVISION Mr. Adair said water production for June totaled. million gallons, a decrease of.% vs. June 00. Rainfall for June totaled / inches, % above the historical average for June and % greater than the rainfall for June 00. Rainfall year-to-date totaled. inches, 0% above the historical average. Mr. Adair said Water Division personnel successfully repaired a 0 transmission main gate valve using parts form a similar valve that had been removed earlier from service. He said the annual main flushing program is underway and through the end of June, % of the system flushing had been completed. WASTEWATER DIVISION Mr. Adair said at the Wastewater Treatment Plant, the average daily flow during June was. million gallons, an increase of % from June 00. June s average nitrogen discharge was pounds per day, in excess of the target maximum of pounds per day and higher than the June 00 discharge average of pounds per day. Year-todate nitrogen discharge average is pounds per day, vs. pounds per day for the same period last year. Vote: ayes. PUBLIC QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD Mr. Gale asked about the Energy Conservation Fund spending approximately $ million on various energy projects and if there was any energy reduction usage. Mr. Hendershot said this has already occurred; the loads have been fairly flat. WATER/SEWER. Discussion and Possible Action: Billing Issue Zichichi. Mr. Gessert made a motion to go back five years with the $. figure and cut it back to $00. Mr. Beaumont seconded the motion. In his June, 0 letter to the PUC, Mr. Zichichi said he believed the Water/Sewer Divisions had taken many missteps and miscalculations of his meter, then used these miscalculations to gain entry into his home and look around, at which time they found an illegal spicket connection and informed him, resulting in immediate correction of the July, 0

4 problem. He said he believed the reading was incorrect and requested the meter so he could have a licensed plumber look into this. He said as to date, he has not been able to view the meter. Mr. Phelen said Mr. Zichichi has two meters in his home, one being a dedicated irrigation meter and the other a typical domestic water/sewer meter. He said the irrigation meter was installed October and there is a signed agreement with Mr. Zichichi indicating there is an irrigation system and he agreed to the Water & Sewer Divisions terms. Mr. Phelen said since that point in time there has been no problems with the meter and has been billed appropriately. Mr. Phelen said in December of 00, the Division performed normal readings of the irrigation and water/sewer meters and found the irrigation meter had a lower reading than it had three months earlier. He said this had never occurred in the 0 or years since this meter was installed. He said they contacted Mr. Zichichi but were unable to enter the building before the March bill was sent. Mr. Phelen said based on this, we issued the March bill based on a zero consumption of the irrigation meter. The domestic meter recorded and was billed accordingly. Mr. Phelen said subsequent to the issue of the March bill, they were able to enter the home to change both meters. He said at that time we noticed the irrigation meter s seal had been broken, which typically means someone had removed it, possibly meaning a contractor came in to blow out the irrigation line, and was probably re-installed backwards. Mr. Phelen said policy is to contact the Water & Sewer Division and have us remove the meter and allow the contractor to do what they have to do, and then we re-install the meter and seal it. Mr. Phelen said after this had happened, both meters were tested and they were accurate. Mr. Zichichi said he would like to have the meter test duplicated. Mr. Phelen said the Wallingford testing facilities are down but he would be willing to have the test performed in Meriden. Vote: ayes Nay. (Beaumont and Gessert- Aye) (Mr. Nunn Nay).. Discussion and Possible Action: Flat Rate Sewer Charge - Gulino. No Action Taken. In his June, 00 letter to the PUC, Mr. Gulino said he owns two properties at 0 and East Main Street. He said both of the properties have septic and well water. He said a septic problem developed in 00 at the 0 address so he decided to connect the 0 and the address at the same time and pay both connections at the same time. Mr. Gulino said at his 0 address he has full use of the sewer line and has been billed quarterly. He said his problem is at East Main Street where the lateral has entered the basement but there has been no connection to the sewer line. Mr. Gulino says he is being billed a flat sewer use rate at East Main but feels it is unfair because he is not using the service. Mr. Phelen said a sewer line was installed servicing his property at East Main Street in November 00. Since the sewer line actually enters the basement of this property it is impossible for the Division to know if or when the sewer line was active. As a result, July, 0

5 Mr. Gulino has been billed a flat sewer rate charge since December, 00. Mr. Phelen presented a printout of the billings to the PUC. Mr. Gulino said he will probably connect to the sewer when he sells the home and will inform the Division when he does. Mr. Phelen said he recommended that Mr. Gulino connect in 00. Mr. Gulino said he does not know what he is going to do with the house at the moment. Mr. Phelen said judging by the photo of the lateral in the basement, it would be easy for someone to connect without the Division knowing about it. Mr. Gulino said he has six or seven properties and has had no problem. Mr. Adair said this is unusual when the tap is made and the line is run into the structure, the assumption is that we have made sewer available at any time. He said there is no intervening process that would come into play here, it is essentially ready-at-will. Mr. Phelen said there would be no permit required through the Water/Sewer Division to complete the work. He said to install the tap and lateral, there is a permit needed, but not past that point. Mr. Gessert said if he is paying for a service he is not getting he should not be billed for it. Mr. Mascia said this would be setting a precedent for all similar situations. He said the permits were taken out, we inspected them and observed them being installed into the basement. He said at that time the presumption is that service is going to take place. Mr. Moscia said if the line was disconnected at the curb and capped off, then it would be presumed there would be no need for sewer service and another permit would have to be taken out to re-establish service.. Discussion and Possible Action: Billing Issue Angueira. Mr. Gessert made a motion to pay the $ bill down for months in equal installments - no interest accumulating keep the regular bills current and payments up to date. Mr. Nunn seconded the motion. In their June, 0 letter to the PUC, Mr. and Mrs. Angueira said they were appealing their water and sewer bill of $.0 for the last quarter. They claimed this figure was not consistent with bills of the past years. They said they have had no plumbing problems and the Division s inspector did not find any leaks. They said they are on a fixed income. They stated they made a $ good faith payment which was more or less an average of past bills. Mr. Phelen said the Water Division contacted Mrs. Angueira on April, 0 to advise her of unusually high consumption during the period of January, 0 through April, 0. He said on April, 0, Division personnel changed the water meter and conducted an inspection of the property. No leaks were found at that time. In addition, based on the meter reading at the time of the change-out, water consumption that recorded on the meter had returned to normal. Mr. Phelen enclosed historical consumption and billing information. Mr. Phelen said the meter was sent to a private company, MBS, for testing. The results indicated the meter was under-recording at the low flow level and within the AWWA accuracy limits for the medium and high flow test rates. He presented a copy of the test results to the PUC. July, 0

6 Mr. Gessert said the Angueira s billing history shows between,00 and,00 cubic feet per quarter. He said the average residential water meter uses approximately,000 cubic feet per year. Mr. Phelen said the average residential usage is,00 cubic feet per year. He said to go from,00 cubic feet to,00 cubic feet of usage in one quarter is extraordinary. Mr. Phelen said the meter that recorded the,00 cubic feet of usage in one quarter actually went back for a short period of time to its normal daily rate. Mrs. Angueira said this is the only time this has happened in 0 years she has resided at this address. Mr. Nunn said the question is why this figure is so much larger. Mr. Adair said all we know is that it water went through the meter and the meter was accurate. Mr. Gessert said it is frustrating because we don t know where the water went; we have to assume it went through the meter. Mr. Mascia said that many times in investigating these type of complaints, they are resolved when we go through the home and find a very minor toilet leak. Vote: ayes.. Discussion and Action: Water/Sewer Division Request for Revision of Specified Water/Sewer Connections Wallingford Emergency Shelter. Mr. Beaumont made a motion to allow single service Water/Sewer to be right-sized by the engineering staff with the understanding the exterior closet on the exterior wall to be properly serviced and sized to be done by our sizing criteria. Mr. Nunn seconded the motion. Mr. Kamens of Sunwood Development told the PUC in a July, 0 letter, that the Wallingford Emergency Shelter, (WES), on Quinnipiac Street, currently serves as temporary housing for residents of Wallingford and surrounding towns from Nov. through April. He said the current building only allows adults to stay overnight and during the last few years we have had to turn away several families with children because they are single rooms. He said the WES has spent the last two years raising money to build a four unit structure that will allow families with children to be housed. He said this will be temporary housing. Each unit is 00 sq. ft and is two-level, will be open-year round, with a 0 day turnaround. Mr. Kamens said we came up with a concept to construct a four unit building with two bedrooms that looks like a condominium. He said this is a commercial piece of property used as an emergency shelter. He said the building being constructed is being used for emergency shelter for families. He said funds are limited, and the cost of bringing in four sewers and four waters is $,000 to $0,000 more expensive than single service. He requested the PUC grant permission for single service water and single service sewer. Mr. Mascia said we look at proposed dwelling units based on our ability to provide individual water and sewer. He said these proposed WES units are laid out individually as townhouses, and are amenable to be serviced individually. Mr. Adair said they are entirely appropriate in the application of the policy because of the configuration. July, 0

7 Mr. Adair said he is fully satisfied that staff has been consistently and appropriately applying the policy. He asked that if the PUC elects to make any exceptions, that it do so having recognized in the motion the unique circumstances surrounding this case. Vote: ayes.. Discussion and Action: Water Division Budget Amendment Arc Flash Study. Mr. Nunn made a motion to approve a budget amendment increasing account 00 (Outside Services) by the amount of $,0.00 through a corresponding increase to the Appropriation from Cash in the Source of Funds section of the budget. Mr. Gessert seconded the motion. Mr. Phelen said there was an appropriation for this study in FY 0/ budget in the amount of $,000. He said it went out to bid in February 0 and was awarded in March 0 with the understanding the deliverable was to be provided by June 0, 0. Mr. Phelen said unfortunately, the contractor was not able to provide and deliver the product, so no funds have been funds. He said we are looking to re-appropriate those same funds only this time in the amount the actual work that was bid in FY 0/0. Mr. Phelen says he believes the Arc Flash Study involves visiting each town facility and examining the electrical boxes to determine their ratings based on their voltage or wattage and provide the appropriate protective covering. Vote: ayes.. Discussion and Action: Sewer Division Budget Amendment Arc Flash Study. Mr. Gessert made a motion to approve a budget amendment increasing account 00 (Outside Services) by the amount of $,0.00 through a corresponding decrease to the Appropriation to Cash in the Use of Funds section of the budget. Mr. Nunn seconded the motion. Vote: ayes. 0. Review of Water/Sewer Division Disbursements - May 0. Mr. Gessert made a motion to approve Water/Sewer Division Disbursements for the month of May 0. Mr. Nunn seconded the motion. Vote: ayes.. Review of Water/Sewer Division Disbursements June 0. Mr. Gessert made a motion to approve Water/Sewer Division Disbursements for the month of June 0. Mr. Nunn seconded the motion. Vote: ayes. July, 0

8 Review of Electric Division Disbursements for the Month of May 0. Mr. Gessert made a motion to approve Electric Division Disbursements for the month of May 0. Mr. Nunn seconded the motion. Vote: ayes.. Review of Electric Division Disbursements for the Month of June 0. Mr. Gessert made a motion to approve the Electric Division Disbursements for the Month of June 0. Mr. Nunn seconded the motion. Vote: ayes.. Discussion: Electric Division Electric Rate Study/Cost of Service. Mr. Hendershot said this Study is based on actual data from fiscal 00-00, and on projected (budgeted) data for fiscal When BHLeymaster, Inc, or BHLI began work on the Study in August 00,the 0-0 budget was not yet available. Staff has compared the Study s forecast for fiscal 0-0 to the Division s Town Councilapproved 0-0 budget and has determined that the differences are not significant. Projected power supply purchases were provided by staff. These figures form the basis for projected WED retail sales. The Study utilizes CMEEC power supply cost forecasts from November of 00. The Study is structured to isolate power supply costs from WED s other operating costs. BHLI has provided two Options regarding revenues and proposed rates in the Study. Option provides just enough revenue to meet the % ROI and maintain the minimum cash reserves. Option produces a bit more revenue and so establishes ROIs that are closer to % per year and, at the end of the Study period (fiscal 0-0) generates cash reserves that are approximately % greater than the minimum. Staff intends to recommend the PUC adopt rates based on Option. Mr. Hendershot presented a summary of the average monthly impact (for both summer (S) and winter (W) of the proposed Rate (Residential) changes from Option on the typical customer using 0 KWhs or electricity each month: Current Rates Proposed / Proposed / Proposed / (S) $. $. $. $. (W) $. $. $. $0. Proposed / (S) $. (W) $0.. Discussion and Action: Schedule Workshop Cost of Service Study/Rate Study. The PUC decided to schedule the Cost of Service Study/Rate Study Workshop on Monday, August at p.m. at the Electric Division, 00 John Street, Wallingford, CT. July, 0

9 Discussion and Action: Set Date for Public Hearing Electric Rates. Mr. Gessert made a motion to schedule the Public Hearing for the Electric Rates on Tuesday, August 0 at :0 p.m. in Wallingford Town Hall, South Main Street, Wallingford, CT. Mr. Nunn seconded the motion. Vote: ayes. A. Mr. Gessert made a motion to waive Article, Section to discuss an item not on the agenda. (transfer of funds, $,00 from Interest on Customer Deposits) Account #, to (Taxes) Account # 0 in the amount of $,00. Mr. Gessert made a motion to approve the transfers of funds. Mr. Nunn seconded the motion. Vote: ayes.. Executive Session pursuant to Section -0(b)(),() and Sections - (f) and -00()(E) of the CT General Statues Relative to discuss purchase of power supply negotiations and evaluation. Mr. Nunn made a motion to go into Executive Session at 0: p.m. to discuss pending litigation without further motions until a motion to come out of Executive Session. Mr. Gessert seconded the motion. Vote: ayes.. Motion to come out of Executive Session. Mr. Beaumont made a motion to come out of Executive Session at 0: p.m. Mr. Gessert seconded the motion. Vote: ayes.. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 0: p.m. The vote was unanimous. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia A. Kleist Recording Secretary Respectfully submitted, Richard A. Nunn Secretary July, 0

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION DE LIBERTY UTILITIES (GRANITE STATE ELECTRIC) CORP. d/b/a LIBERTY UTILITIES

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION DE 17-058 LIBERTY UTILITIES (GRANITE STATE ELECTRIC) CORP. d/b/a LIBERTY UTILITIES Request for Approval of Energy Supply Solicitation and Resulting Rates