Electric Utility Benchmarking Assessment For Dover Electric Utility June 6, 2018 Avant Energy, Inc. 220 South Sixth Street, Suite 1300 Minneapolis, MN 55402 Tel: 612.349.6868 Fax : 612.349.6108 www.avantenergy.com info@avantenergy.com
Table of Contents Section 1. Executive Summary 1 Section 2. Utility Leadership 4 Section 3. Evaluation of Utility Operations 7 3.1 Common Themes 3.2 Transmission and Distribution 3.3 Engineering 3.4 System Operations 3.5 Metering 3.6 Generation 3.7 Indirect Service Centers Section 4. Electric Utility Financial Reporting and Benchmarking 37 Section 5. Alternative Organizational Constructs 42 Organizational Assumptions Summary of Alternatives Alternative 1) Group Engineering and T&D Alternative 2) Separate Divisions Alternative 3) Group Engineering and System Ops Alternative 4) Minimize Staffing Section 6. Recommendations for Implementation 55
Section 1. Executive Summary This section provides a high-level summary of the findings of the Electric Utility Benchmarking Assessment for the City of Dover Electric Utility.
2 Executive Summary
Executive Summary 3
Section 2. Utility Leadership This section provides a summary of the recommendations related to utility leadership based on Avant s meetings and other communications with Dover personnel.
Utility Leadership 5
6 Utility Leadership
Section 3. Evaluation of Utility Operations This section outlines recommendations for improving the operation of Dover s Electric Utility based on Avant s review of key documents and one-on-one interviews with Dover Electric Utility staff. Section 3 is broken down into the following sub-sections: 3.1 Key Focus Areas These are the key focus areas that apply to all departments within the Dover Electric Utility. Recommendations within each department are categorized by key focus area. 3.2 to 3.6 Specific Dover Electric Utility Departments The recommendations related to each department are based on industry best practices amassed from the Avant team s decades of utility operations and engineering experience. Recommendations are listed by priority order within each focus area. 3.7 Indirect Service Centers This section assesses how the City of Dover s indirect service centers interact with the Electric Department. Indirect service centers analyzed in this report include: Customer Service Procurement Finance Information Technology (IT) Human Resources (HR)
8 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Key Focus Areas
Evaluation of Utility Operations - Key Focus Areas 9
10 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Key Focus Areas
Evaluation of Utility Operations - Key Focus Areas 11
12 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Key Focus Areas
Evaluation of Utility Operations - Transmission and Distribution 13
14 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Transmission and Distribution
Evaluation of Utility Operations - Transmission and Distribution 15
16 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Transmission and Distribution
Evaluation of Utility Operations - Transmission and Distribution 17
18 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Transmission and Distribution
Evaluation of Utility Operations - Engineering 19
20 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Engineering
Evaluation of Utility Operations - Engineering 21
22 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Engineering
Evaluation of Utility Operations - System Operations 23
24 Evaluation of Utility Operations - System Operations
Evaluation of Utility Operations - System Operations 25
26 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Metering
Evaluation of Utility Operations - Metering 27
28 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Metering
Evaluation of Utility Operations - Generation 29
30 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Generation
Evaluation of Utility Operations - Generation 31
32 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Indirect Service Centers
Evaluation of Utility Operations - Indirect Service Centers 33
34 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Indirect Service Centers
Evaluation of Utility Operations - Indirect Service Centers 35
36 Evaluation of Utility Operations - Indirect Service Centers
Section 4. Electric Utility Financial Reporting and Benchmarking This section discusses key financial metrics for Dover s electric utility, including comparisons with competitors and peers.
Delaware Overall Rate Comparison 0.14 $ per kwh 0.13 0.12 0.11 Delmarva Power City of Newark City of Milford Delaware Electric Coop Town of Middletown City of Dover 0.1 2013 2014 2015 2016 0.16 Delaware Residential Rate Comparison 0.15 $ per kwh 0.14 0.13 0.12 0.11 City of Newark City of Milford Town of Middletown Delmarva Power City of Dover Delaware Electric Coop 0.1 2013 2014 2015 2016 38 Electric Utility Financial Reporting and Benchmarking
0.16 Delaware Commercial Rate Comparison $ per kwh 0.15 0.14 0.13 0.12 0.11 Town of Middletown City of Newark City of Milford Delmarva Power City of Dover Delaware Electric Coop 0.1 2013 2014 2015 2016 Delaware Commercial/Industrial Combined Rate Comparison 0.13 $ per kwh 0.12 0.11 0.1 0.09 Delmarva Power City of Newark Delaware Electric Coop City of Milford City of Dover Town of Middletown 0.08 2013 2014 2015 2016 Electric Utility Financial Reporting and Benchmarking 39
45 40 DEC 39.1 Newark 39.1 35 30 25 20 Dover 17.3 Milford 21.5 DPL 25.7 15 10 5 0 40 Electric Utility Financial Reporting and Benchmarking
Electric Utility Financial Reporting and Benchmarking 41
Section 5. Alternative Organizational Constructs This section provides an overview of alternative organizational constructs for Dover.
Alternative Organizational Constructs 43
44 Alternative Organizational Constructs
Alternative Organizational Constructs 45
46 Alternative Organizational Constructs
Electric Director Engineering Manager TEA NAES Electric Engineering T&D Supervisor Ops Supervisor T&D System Ops SCADA Tech Alternative Organizational Constructs 47
48 Alternative Organizational Constructs
Electric Director TEA Engineering Supervisor T&D Supervisor Ops Supervisor NAES Electric Engineering T&D System Ops SCADA Tech Alternative Organizational Constructs 49
50 Alternative Organizational Constructs
Electric Director Electric Engineering & System Operations Supervisor TEA Electric Engineering System Ops SCADA Tech NAES T&D Supervisor T&D Alternative Organizational Constructs 51
52 Alternative Organizational Constructs
Electric Director NAES TEA Contracted Engineering Lead T&D Supervisor Electric Engineering System Ops SCADA Tech T&D Alternative Organizational Constructs 53
54 Alternative Organizational Constructs
Section 6. Recommendations for Implementation This section provides a summary of recommendations from the benchmarking report.
56 Recommendations for Implementation
Recommendations for Implementation 57
BETTER IS POSSIBLE