GVEA Board Meeting, March 22, 2021
by Jim Schwarber
Chairman Tom DeLong conducted the March 22nd Board meeting of the Golden Valley Electric Association. The public session began at 6:30 PM with about 30 folks attending this Microsoft Teams virtual meeting.
Director Dave Messier provided the regular Safety Moment on the topic of rooftop snow removal. He provided several tips, including: dress for the weather; know where the eaves are; it is best to clear the roof from the ground; use good posture; leave a layer of snow so the roof is not damaged; use a plastic shovel; and work from ridge to eaves when removing snow
GVEA’s Abby Dillard provided the first Education Presentation on TextPower technology coming soon. The purpose for adopting this texting platform is to be able to reach out better to GVEA members. 98% of text messages are read, usually within 5 minutes. Facebook posts only reach 16% of followers. The main intended use for texting will be to to provide current outage information. This tool is used by more than 150 other utilities.
Two-way power outage notifications are enabled with SmartAlert texts. In addition to late payment or disconnect notices, disaster emergency and storm alerts can reach from 3,600 to 15,000 members per minute. Billing notices, expired credit card, and other account information may be quickly and cheaply sent out. Other benefits include replacing door hangers for vegetation management notices. Texting provides sharing of information quickly and takes less staff time to accomplish. Employee and member communications are expected to be improved, too.
Next steps include reaching an initial business agreement with TextPower, completing a roll-out plan, and deciding on either a mass “opt-in” or “opt-out” approach with member-owners. There will be an online Registration portal for enrolling or opting out.
Director Gary Newman asked how many member cell numbers are on file. “Don’t know.” GVEA is asking members to update their account contact numbers via a form on the GVEA webpage.
For the next Education Presentation, GVEA’s Meadow Bailey outlined the new GVEA Communication Strategy. The Board of Directors 2020-2021 Strategic Directive calls for a …”communications strategy that builds trust and maximizes engagement with GVEA members…” Their objective is to increase member satisfaction by 2% by the time of the December 2021 annual Member Survey. The strategy is designed to improve both internal and external communication efforts. Both of these Education Presentations are included in the Member Book for this meeting located at: https://www.gvea.com/meetings-minutes/.
The two presentations were followed by the opportunity for members to comment. While several members were attending the Board meeting, none chose to provide comments this evening.
Bobbie Ortiz, a Member Advisory Committee member from Delta, briefed the Board on the recent MAC meeting highlights. Bobbie mentioned that the MAC was addressed by Cathy Walling. Cathy presented information about Clean Energy Work’s offer to review the draft On-bill Financing pilot program under development by the MAC’s OBF Task Force. Director Tom DeLong also met with the OBF Task force to answer questions and provide further guidance. While there is no time pressure to finish drafting the OBF pilot program; it is moving forward. Bobby mentioned the MAC liked the good presentation from GVEA’s Lineman John Parsons. John provided many stories from the field about responding to outages. “Outages often occur when it is very cold, dark and stormy,” he said.
Under New Business the board voted unanimously to adopt a change to Policy 2.4 for Board Meetings to designate the monthly GVEA Board meeting date to the 4th Tuesday each month instead of Monday. This will allow staff and Directors to prepare more on Mondays as an alternative to the weekend.
The Board unanimously adopted a motion to accept the staff recommendation to make no changes in the current Simplified Rate Filing or SRF. This will keep the basic electricity rate unchanged.
Director John Sloan gave a Northwest Public Power Association (NWPPA) report. GVEA joined NWPPA in 1955. Director and GVEA Chairman Tom DeLong was elected as a new Trustee to the NWPPA board at their most recent meeting on March 12. See www.nwppa.org for more information.
GVEA CEO John Burns reported on the Railbelt Reliability Council. The RRC is very busy meeting weekly and setting up committees. A Tariff Committee is working, too.
In closing comments, Tom DeLong said he will be seeking a technical report to be prepared by staff for the Board that clearly explains “demand charges” and “wheeling charges” when moving power between or across other utilities of the rail belt. He also said GVEA has gathered enough information from its smart meters to consider developing a future rate case filing to offer ‘time of use’ rates.
