##VIDEO ID:67LEGr7RaC8## e e e e e e retire again e e e 5:30 this called the electric Advisory board meeting to order of October 7th 2024 please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and invocation pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all gracious Heavenly Father you thank you for this day Lord we ask that you watch out each and every one of us watch after our families watch after our country watch after our state in your name we pray amen okay next item of business approval of the minutes that were sent to you earlier September 16th motion to approve second discussion all in favor saying I I post same sign motion carried okay metering oh boy just you got a one little chart for you um so this is really all I have on the agenda for you I can be as quick or as longwinded as you want but essentially um probably we we discussed a bunch of different stuff budgeting blah blah blah uh for the going on a year now right uh so kind of the next big thing on um electric Department's list of to-dos is that our GE contract is set to expire December 31st 26 so not quite two years from now and so GE obviously is synonymous with the smart grid project so I don't know when we endeavored to do that deal uh 15 minus 26 would be the answer right 2011 is that is that math about right so Ron stop no that was that was Jay Evans that that was yeah after yeah that would be the Jay Evans days um and so back in the day we kind of go from the all and and and that was typical for the time frame everybody um the the industry kind of started going with the smart grid was kind of the the new technology of that day where we we leave the old um analog meters if you will you know the ones that spin and you go to out there the little numbers um and we physically went out would have to read them um each month and you know calculate stuff and that was the oldfashioned way of doing business um then GE came in well not GE but the industry came in with the smart meter which could turn on and off your your service remotely which would tell you when you were out of power or tell us when we're out of power um then we got crafty with the dep supply side demand stuff and trying to turn your meter off or turn your electric consumption down when it got hot and you know we so we got fancy and we got real expensive too so I don't I don't know without looking back at the book probably like around a buck or so a meter to read before GE came and our our cost right now is is 4 or four four about $488 a meter So it's b our our GE contract is about 1.5 million a year so you divide that by 27,000 divided by 12 and you come up with that number um so that contract actually is not set to expire until um the TW December 26th however GE probably back in marchish kind of put us on notice that that they said hey if you guys want out we want out um so one of the first things I did which which is atypical uh because like my first few months here was kind of so that goes back to December 13 right so that go that my first few months here was dealing with kind of the Fallout of of the smart grid project and don't I I have to be nice um because we're we're still working with GE so I don't know if it was as much of a GE problem as it was us biting off more than we can chew as far as some of the things that we wanted to do with metering um where we didn't have probably the customer base or the service that wanted those type of services and then where really when we went into the smart grid stuff when we extended it into the supply side load management stuff with f fmpa that's really where the city started seeing some bigger losses and we got ended up in a fight with uh fmpa um I can I'm high level here I go down into more detail if you want but long story short it was man we got to work with this ge contract so we reworked that GE contract a couple of years in um and we ended up reducing some of the costs to what they reducing some of the cost to what they are now but then they extended a 10-year term to a 15-year term which brought it to that December 3126 deadline and so now you whatever X years into it 10 years into the that deal they're saying okay we're ready to be done with this this part of our Corporation so we've been spending probably now the last six months trying to figure out how we transition away from GE into the next company um we started off with man do we need to Consultants we we might have talked about that a little bit back in budget time Wan you Brad wanted to look at some Consulting and bringing them in uh doing a big formal RFP um and so short version of the story here is we have been now working for about six months with one of GE subcontractors who's called itran itron and itron is basically the company of GE that manages the meter so um Zippity quick right to the bottom line answer that we'll probably be rolling out here maybe depending on what the storm does and if we get final stuff from GE either to the 14th or the 28th of October commission meetings we'll be running the new contracts to commission and basically what they are is a contract of a seven-year deal with itron and that basically lowers our cost from about the 488 per meter read to one about 125 is I can give it's that's that it's this number that's not I I did the numbers too quick about 144 a meter so we instead of spinning upwards of 1.5 .7 million and I and I increased the GE side because once we hit a certain number in the GE contract which was 26,000 meters there were increases so we had flat until we hit 27 so then we started increasing so we have a contract from itron that once we get set up it's 466,000 367,000 bucks a year to read the meters for seven years so that's if you look down at this bottom line and this bottom bottom box it's it's about a $1.1 million savings over the life of the contract so we'll save some significant money however there's some upfront cost that we have to to to manage between now and then so we we have to continue to pay GE until we can transition out so you got some overlap yeah so and that that overlaps about a million bucks so we so we got to pay we got to pay the GE contract plus an extra million before we see the savings but we're pretty convinced that the savings and the the initial upfront cost and the transitional costs is really our best option to move into metering so that we don't have to go out and buy 27,000 new meters everybody's meters conducive we're basically moving off to a sub contractor of GE so basically what the spreadsheet before you rolls out is kind of where we're at so I finish it so the top one is actually this fiscal year so on that first left hand C you see the GE cost at 1.4 million um but then we have some setup cost if I'll start at the top um there's a setup if you go so you see the GE costs are are over here 1.43 1.47 1.52 that's kind of the early out was they were going to charge us a drop on the contract we've been arguing with them about that and we they basically we they were like we won a couple million bucks that went down to a million and that went down to half a million um right now we think it's at zero um we're we're waiting on a a document that's supposed to was supposed to come today or tomorrow that's basically the out agreement that says okay we'll let you out for zero and our response back to them is well you called us you know but even we we did have a number in our mind as far as what we thought you know if they're going to charge us with something you know they said they had some internal cost blah blah blah so long story short as of right now that number zero um that that's why I have it highlighted because that I haven't seen it in writing yet but our last conversations with him as as long as last week was okay it's zero the other column under itron you see the setup fee the 840,000 Bucks uh there's a first year of 500 grand um they have some other incremental costs in there which aren't super significant and then it settles down in year two at 464 so basically then what this chart rolls out is kind of in a budget format of GE costs plus the initial cost so you see in this fiscal year we're actually up 6 172,000 bucks next year we're up the 458 but then we see we in by fisal year 27 we see the dink decrease and we we kind of return that investment pretty darn quick by year three and then you run those numbers out for the the term it really makes a ton of sense for us to go with the the itron contract so on the docket is um we've got a couple contracts from itron um that's been sitting on Grant's desk doing the legal review and we're waiting on the GE contract to come in and that's really the high level of where we're going to move I I think with metering and and um we are avoiding bidding which I think is a good thing think bidding this would be ultimately cumbersome because of the unknowns of it's a very complex bid and secondly if we end up having to purchase new equipment then they have a contract existing contract to somebody your own piggy back yeah that's basically I think we're calling this an extraordinary measure which is in the procurement yeah records as as as as a reasonable way out it's not so it's not many it might actually s a provider not many there look I don't there there's a handful but everybody's a little bit different and the thing that makes it us going with itron being the so is the sole supplier that with I with rron we don't have to go back out and start changing out 27,000 meters and so basically we're paying $144 a month to lease the meter no the no the the the the the half a grand a year is a software cost it's managing the software meters run about 300 bucks a crack and there ours and those are ours so we go out and we try to change those out every year um that number's gone up with inflation like everything else has uh but that's that that's the typical cost that meters us it sticks in your meter base three to five years and we and we change it out um so that meter RS that's a separate cost so this is really more of the software cost of working with itron to that the meters chirp their numbers it goes into the programs we come back we forgot out the kilowatts and and then we convert it into your bill and that's all the maintenance of this of the system and everything too yeah okay so knock on wood it should be a super smooth transition the the the transitional costs are the hiccup but long term it should sa some significant funds for the for the electric department is the number based on their belief that you're not going to bid it out so they're basically kind of calling their shot is there any is there any negotiation in there there was a little negotiation in there um it was my concern that man are we getting are we getting taken so I had a number in mine where I thought you know where I'd want where I wanted to be and I was really like no greater than a million and a half or a million and a quarter so when their number came in at that that was that's pretty much a prege number to read meters so it with when we calculated that with everything else like it's a no-brainer okay and that and that was the collective thought of the group so um the the heads that were in on this we're Tino I don't know if you Tino Anthony's Our IT director so there's a lot of interconnect with Tino and and the utility departments because everything goes software and it side for the billing purposes um Brad um we we had Alan Irwin who's the lead of in our meter shop involved and as well as Jim Williams going through this so really the group felt like this is the number this is the way to go and that you know that's almost back to a fiscal year 11 number and the and the software is proprietary is that really what the issue is as far as being able to access the information from the reader you have to use their software to be able to do it I don't know the answer to that Mark I'm going to say probably so okay um but the the software and the meters are all related so again all driven with the they're they're kind of a part of GE is already so but if you own the hardware what are you paying for paying the for the software and the maintenance to run the that's what I was asking yeah so you're stuck with the software to go with the hardware that you've already invested in yes okay what happens in seven years we do the process again probably two years in and we figure out do we is this where we want to stay we see what changes are in the market and okay we go out and do it again okay my guess with a crystal ball would be if if if these numbers stay where they're at and everything's smooth and easy I would see us with Arron again but that that's seven years so yeah seven years is a long time for technology it's a long time what what I I mean what if you did a five-year contract with a two two two rollover periods or four foure contract with three rollover periods you've kind of gotten out that that's just a suggestion because we do contracts like that all the time we thought about that going shorter too but we also like the number so it gives them time to go up and they're using the same software you're currently using yep and they're currently subcontracting for G yeah we had to get ge's permission to talk [Music] it seems almost good want some to have this I yeah I thought the same thing are they going to have access to the updates of the software and everything like that already talking about it yeah okay I mean that that would be those were the things that I would think through is like all right well when the soft software upgrades is this company going to be able to do it or are you going to be stuck with you know iton 1.0 when everything else has moved on to two and three and 4.0 well if G is getting out of this business does that mean ion's the one that's going to be responsible for those updates for those patches yep and they've got those capabilities I mean that's a subcontractor that's doing it right now for GE pretty much okay and push come to shove you can R you can ride the same uh you know same system for out for seven years without upgrade grades if need be just you you may not have all the bells and whistles it's not going to cease to perform that's that's the plan okay will that number fluctuate as you grow number of cons customers no it was a it was a fixed number okay it's a fixed number per for the for the for the seven years yeah it's $144 per meter $144 okay any other questions all righty um next meeting date I think we're we're back on [Music] November November 4 okay um roll call anything no Mark there anything you want to share or anything we should know about preparation for the next couple of days I mean you guys did a pretty good job when Helen rolled through from game yeah well that that was not the same no but still um I think this one's going to be a little trickier um that all indications are we're going to get pretty good storm um you all have been watching The Weather Channel too so you know what's coming um typically our preparations Citywide you know making sure we're we're in touch with our debris contractors which we are so our our on the debris side it's really just prepping making sure we have some extra help um and then we Haul everything to the landfill where we burn we'll get a we'll get a permit to to burn it that lowers the cost a little bit making sure everything's all fueled up making sure there's supplies as far as food and those type of things for the cruise which big on the electric side um and just kind of getting everything ready um you know the the magic number is 40 m an hour the crews will stay out on the electric side hooking people up up to about 40 miles an hour and then once that number is hit they go inside bunker down and there's nothing we can do until the storm goes um we'll respond to the public um through the website and the Social Media stuff uh we'll keep track of what outages are we'll try to put up kind of a um a list of uh priority areas you know and and we'll get that out on the website and social media so people kind of have an idea where the cruiser what the priorities are um that'll take us some a little bit of time eight hours or so to prepare because there'll be the there'll be the assessment after the storm and then kind of prioritize in a ranking and the and the priorities are really super simple it's get the get the primary circuits back up first hospital governmental units those type of things things and then work your way down there uh from there and then it's minimum work maximum on right so if we got one Transformer out at the end of the line and it's one house now they're going to be last if we've got one Transformer that gets 20 people up that so that's how we'll prioritize the work on the on the priority circuits too um uh that's really it um the the probably the worst part of this storm is because it's on the heels of Helen we are having some trouble with mutual Aid so that might be slow um actually right before the meeting Brad sent me a a text there's a FMEA we're looking to book a crew out of North Carolina crew actually of eight guy of eight folks so that's not a that's not a big number but um it's what we were able to put our hands on right now and we're having some of the same issues too with the the prick up so a lot of the pickup companies we have three contracts couldn't tell you who the names are um but we have three three contracts that we go to so um a lot of those folks have been busy so the response on the heels of the other major storm is probably going to be the biggest thing so other than that hunker down stay safe if you if you do have any questions about service or whatever you know you guys got my number don't hesitate to call me I'll get you the updates as fast as possible um and we'll work it work on the Social Media stuff as well I was GNA say um you know typically if power goes down computers internet are going to be you know very very difficult to access that kind of information cell cell tends to hold up better so using social media I don't know I don't know that the website is mobile compatible yeah um and as and as far as outages Go I mean we're going to know you're out so I mean it's good to call in or do but as far as communicating that's what I'm saying you know it's going to be it's going to be better for you guys to communicate out on a on a social media platform is going to more accessible to people than website got you got good luck us motion toour motion motion all right