Tag: Board of Public Utilities

The Board of Public Utilities will meet Wednesday, April 21, in a remote meeting.

The 5 p.m. work session will include a board update and general manager update, and an information technology update.

On the agenda for the 6 p.m. regular session are a public comment time; general manager and staff reports, COVID-19 update, Leavenworth Road Association update; Turner Community Connection update; miscellaneous comments; board comments and a closed, executive session.

The BPU buildings are closed to the public because of the risk of COVID-19, and the meetings will be on the telephone and internet.

The public may access the meetings on the internet at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84523139724.

Also, the meeting can be accessed by telephone, call toll free 1-888-475-4499.

The meeting ID number is 845 2313 9724.

The board meeting information package is available online at https://www.bpu.com/Portals/0/pdf/board-information-packet-4-21-21.pdf.

Members of the community who want to speak to the board during the regular session must be logged into the Zoom meeting on the internet, using their browser or the Zoom application. Members of the public will be asked to raise their hands to signal they want to address the board.

During the public comment session, members of the community will be asked to provide their name and address and will then have 5 minutes to speak.

To raise your hand, click on the “Raise Hand” feature at the bottom of the application or window or press *9 if connected by phone only.

The Board of Public Utilities’ power plants made more money during the February polar vortex than during the previous three years, according to a report presented at Wednesday night’s BPU board meeting.

Some of that revenue, a $5 million energy rate component overcollection, will be going back to consumers with a lowered ERC charge, according to BPU officials.

The typical BPU residential customer who uses about 800 kilowatt hours of electricity a month could see a reduction of about $8 on the ERC charge on the utility bill, according to Lori Austin, BPU chief financial officer and chief administrative officer. There will be larger reductions among industrial and business customers that typically use more electricity, she said at the board meeting.

Austin added that if residents used more electricity, they may not see a reduction in the total amount, but if their usage stayed the same, they would see it. The ERC is just about 30 percent of the bill, she said.

The revenue from the Nearman power plant during the nine-day period in February was just under $74 million, about as much as that unit earned during the past three years, according to Andrew Ferris, director of electric supply planning for the BPU. The CTE plants are generally operated sparingly, only about 20 days a year, but during this period generated almost $40 million in revenue, which equated to almost 30 years of revenue in those nine days, he said.

Everything, including wind and alternative energy, performed really well, he added, generating revenue margins greater than they had ever seen.

Revenue generation, diverse fuel mix and fuel security in resources that were already on site at the BPU plant were very important, according to Ferris.

Bill Johnson, BPU general manager, said this was not simply about profits or money the BPU was making. ERC is cost-of-service based, he said.

“When we overcollect, we send that overcollection back to the public,” Johnson said. When they undercollect, they do the opposite.

From Feb. 12 to Feb. 20, the load needed here cost BPU a little under $121 million, Ferris said. That was more money than the BPU spent on its load for the past two years combined, he added.

“This just goes to show why it’s so important to make sure our plant is always available,” Ryan Eidson, a board member, said. “That’s a lot of money.” If they weren’t producing energy, they would have been paying a lot, he said.

According to Austin, the ERC is the BPU’s projected cost of fuel used to generate electricity, and the cost of power that is purchased from the market to meet the BPU’s load.

BPU has an agreement with the Southwest Power Pool to use all of the BPU’s resources to generate energy if necessary to support the grid, in times of emergency. The BPU purchases back what it needs to support its load, according to Austin.

The ERC is typically reviewed every three months, and adjustments are made by the BPU after they get the final costs for the quarter. Then customers’ bills are adjusted under the heading, “ERC” on the bills.

The costs of coal, natural gas and purchased power are variable, according to Austin, and the weather and plant availability can affect costs.

She said the BPU also has had to adjust the ERC for 2020 because of lower demand than projected when businesses shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic. That resulted in an $11.7 million ERC overcollection in 2020, she said.

Austin said the SPP reported that 73 percent of the mainland United States was covered in snow during the February severe weather event.

The last comparable cold snap that extreme in history was in 1905, she said.

During the nine days in February, energy prices were higher than forecast because of demand, the SPP explained, with record winter energy consumption.

Because BPU sold more energy into the marketplace than its customers used, there was a positive outcome for the BPU, according to officials.

Having a mixed fuel supply for generation helped the BPU because natural gas prices were high, but coal and oil prices were not as extreme, according to Austin.

According to Austin, the overcollection from the third quarter of 2020, about $9 million, is being adjusted in the first quarter of 2020 on the ERC charges on BPU bills.

The $7.7 combined overcollection, including $2.7 million from 2020 and $5 million from 2021, is being adjusted in the second quarter, according to Austin. The 2021 overcollection is being adjusted earlier than normal, she added.

The ERC rate on utility bills from the polar vortex event will go from the current 2.6-cent per kilowatt hour rate to 1.6-cent per kilowatt hour rate in the second quarter, according to Austin.

Southwest Power Pool has been undergoing a review of the event. Only the natural gas units are getting hit with the market monitor review, according to Ferris.

According to Glen Brendel, director of BPU’s electric production operations and maintenance, they will need to have a spring outage at Nearman to take care of maintenance. It will be a 15-day outage costing around $1.5 million for capital expenses and maintenance. Rebuilding a Nearman generator transformer will be one of the major projects.

An outstanding group of employees at Nearman is the reason it kept going during the extremely cold weather, according to Brendel.

To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].

Gov. Laura Kelly said she is exploring several avenues to help individuals and communities with high utility bills from the recent subzero temperatures.

Gov. Kelly said she is signing a bill passed on Wednesday in the Kansas Legislature that would allow municipal utilities to borrow up to $100 million from the state to use toward expenses incurred because of the recent extremely cold temperatures.

The bill was fast-tracked through the Legislature in one day, and the governor signed it before the end of the day.

Gov. Kelly, at a news conference Wednesday, said the loan program would give cities with municipal utilities immediate relief, helping them to avoid dire effects of the extreme cold while the state is pursuing long-term solutions.

The bill, House Substitute for Senate Bill 88, would provide low-interest rates for loans to municipal utilities, and would go through the state treasurer’s office, which would approve applications from the municipal utilities.

The governor also said Wednesday that she was exploring ways to assist individuals with high utility costs from the February extreme cold weather.

The full extent of spikes in utility bills remains unknown, she said, but they know they will affect many people, as well as utilities, hospitals, residents, landlords and consumers.

The governor earlier announced she and the Kansas Corporation Commission were asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to investigate the causes of the energy shortages

“We really do have to get to the bottom of this,” she said, adding something like this cannot happen again.

She also has instructed her cabinet members to meet with stakeholders, to do whatever they can.

She also said additional funds are being provided by the Low-Income Emergency Assistance Program (LIEAP) for individuals who are encouraged to apply for the program.

The governor said she asked the White House Wednesday morning to work toward providing a waiver on the income qualifications, so that residents can get through this time. Currently, those who have an income up to 130 percent of the federal poverty level, or below, qualify for the LIEAP program.

The Kansas Housing Resources Corp. also has some funding available for statewide rental assistance and for utility assistance. The funds are available through the Kansas Emergency Rental Assistance (KERA) program administered by KHRC. The online KERA application will open on Monday, March 15. More information is at https://kshousingcorp.org/emergency-rental-assistance/.

In addition, Gov. Kelly said all Kansas Corporation Commission regulated utilities are offering payment plans to help customers spread out their costs. Customers may call their providers for options.

In Kansas City, Kansas, customers may call the BPU’s customer service office for more information about payment plans.

Gov. Kelly said she continues to seek solutions to protect Kansas residents from utility costs spikes.

The state contacted the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to see if help was available with utility bills, but the agency doesn’t pay individual utility bills, she said. That is why the state is seeking other solutions, she added.

She said she also is working with the Kansas delegation and talking to the White House to find another route.

Applications for the LIEAP program must be received before 5 p.m. March 31. To find additional information about the LIEAP program and applications, visit http://www.dcf.ks.gov/services/ees/Pages/EnergyAssistance.aspx.

At Wednesday night’s Board of Public Utilities meeting, David Mehlhaff, BPU chief communications officer, said the municipal utility bill passing through the Legislature and being signed into law in one day was unprecedented, and he hadn’t heard of it happening before.

He said BPU was not hurt as much in the recent extreme cold weather as some of the smaller municipal utilities in the state.

Mehlhaff said the KHRC is currently building out its website, preparing application forms and hiring staff to launch this month to assist people with their utility bills. The BPU will be working with the United Way to get the information out to customers when the website applications begin. He is also working to get information out about the LIEAP program.

Mehlhaff said he was on a conference call Wednesday where funding for another $4.5 billion nationally through the end of September 2022 was being discussed for LIEAP. The bill currently is in the U.S. House, he said. He said he sent a letter to representatives to help support the legislation.

He said BPU General Manager Bill Johnson and he, along with Stephen Green, BPU director of water distribution, participated in a roundtable discussion Monday with U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-3rd Dist. Several other utilities also were on the call, he added. One of the BPU’s messages is that it needs federal grant funding, particularly with revisions to lead copper rules, where the BPU would have to replace lines to comply with regulations. It would place a burden on customers to replace those lines, he added.

Last Thursday Johnson and Mehlhaff participated in a Zoom call with Rep. Davids to talk about the recent February cold weather issues in the community, Mehlhaff said at the BPU meeting. They discussed the Southwest Power Pool issues and talked about utility disconnects, he said. The BPU recently extended a moratorium on utility disconnects through March 31.

The BPU also participated in Zoom calls with Sen. Jerry Moran’s and former Sen. Pat Roberts’ offices during the past year, sharing concerns and updates, he said, and BPU has advocated for CARES funding and other issues.

Mehlhaff also said he was delighted that BPU’s positions are front and center on infrastructure issues because Rep. Davids has been appointed vice chair on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

House Substitute for Senate Bill 88 passed with wide support in the Kansas Legislature on Wednesday. The final version of the bill is online at http://kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/measures/sb88/.