Power board hears updates on billing spike, near‑record demand, AMI and substation work

Board members received a cluster of operational updates covering recent billing anomalies, near‑record demand, construction progress and grant reimbursements.

Staff explained a May billing spike in the EDAM portion of the utility bill tied to TISO charges and settlements that had been withheld in April and added in May. "We do expect that's gonna come back down substantially less going forward," staff said, adding that credits should reallocate once Kaisole returns fees to the account.

Clerk reported the system reached 54.6 megawatts yesterday, about 1 MW short of the all‑time peak of 55.7 MW: "We were only 1 megawatt away yesterday from our all time peak." Members said hot weather could push the system to the record shortly.

On capital work, staff said the Capacity 2 distribution line construction is complete though not yet energized; remaining work includes underground runs and a short reconductor near the airport. Substation 1 engineering is finished and staff are awaiting redline approvals and funding to bid the remaining work; the presenter provided approximate coordinates (around 3200 South and 2600 West) for Substation 1.

On AMI and communications, project staff said the metering work is "ready to go except for our communications with AT and T still," and described troubleshooting with AT&T project resources and credentialing as the remaining hurdle. Staff also reported they submitted a reimbursement invoice for two‑thirds of engineering costs on a transmission-line project and plan another invoice for staff time, noting, in the meeting, it is "a $66.33 type of a grant" as described by staff in the transcript and that they will pursue reimbursements through the state.

The board asked staff to include resource‑level cost breakdowns (capacity factors and resource costs) and portions of the US bill in future packets so members can better understand resource contributions to the overall bill.