June 24-26 in Manitowoc
Plan to Attend 80th MEUW Annual Conference!

Every MEUW member utility and community should plan to have representatives attend the 80th MEUW Annual Conference and Business Meeting, June 24-26 on the shores of Lake Michigan in Manitowoc.

The theme of this year’s Conference is “It’s So Easy Being Green”, a reference to the urgency for all utilities to be environmentally responsible energy providers.

A “Green Bus Tour” is planned for Wednesday afternoon, June 24, with tours of Orion Energy Systems (a world renowned producer of energy efficiency products), Tower Tech Systems (a local firm that produces wind turbine towers), and Manitowoc Public Utilities’ (MPU) power and water plant facilities. We’ll cap off the day with an informal cook out/reception sponsored by our friends at the Wisconsin Utility Suppliers Association (WUSA) and MPU.

During the sessions on Thursday, June 25, you will hear about successful energy efficiency and conservation programs and why it makes good business sense to invest in such programs. Former APPA President Glenn Cannon will make the keynote presentation, followed by presentations from MEUW “Energy Independent” community representatives, and a panel discussion on how to maximize “Focus on Energy” value in your community.

The WUSA Trade Show and Reception will be on Thursday afternoon (watch for the “Vendor Treasure Hunt” special door prize drawing), followed by the Awards Banquet on Thursday evening.

The final event will be the association’s Annual Business Meeting which will take place on Friday morning, June 26. This is an important once a year meeting at which new officers are elected, policy resolutions are discussed and debated, and the association’s business plan for the coming year is presented.

The Conference will take place at the Manitowoc Holiday Inn (4601 Calumet Avenue), and the registration deadline is Friday, June 19. If you need another copy of the MEUW Annual Conference registration materials, visit www.meuw.org/events.htm or call us (608-837-2263). Looking forward to seeing you at the Annual Conference and Business Meeting!

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APPA Washington Report
Horse Trading
by Robert Varela, Editor, APPA’s Public Power Weekly

The effort to pass a comprehensive climate change and energy bill in the House of Representatives has reached the horse trading stage. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey, D-Mass., drafted an ambitious bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, with aggressive provisions for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

As initially drafted, the bill had one huge hole (nothing on allocation of emission allowances), a wide variety of other controversial provisions (such as a tough renewable energy standard) and probably not enough votes for passage.

That means it’s time to trade and there’s plenty to swap. It also means it’s time for stakeholders to stake out their positions.

APPA has done that in policy resolutions adopted by its members and APPA President and CEO Mark Crisson conveyed public power’s climate change principles to Congress in testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the Waxman-Markey bill.

“APPA supports congressional action to address climate change, but we are very concerned that achieving environmental goals be properly balanced with affordable costs to the consumer and the economy,” Crisson told the committee April 23. “Any solution must be workable and sustainable” for consumers and the economy, he said.

The bill as originally drafted does not meet that test, Crisson said. APPA has a detailed set of principles on implementation of a cap-and-trade program, Crisson said. First, legislation must “include a safety valve or other stringent cost-containment mechanism that sets a maximum price on carbon,” he said. APPA supports offsets and other mitigation provisions, but they are inadequate, he added.

All allowances available to the electric industry should be allocated to load-serving entities, Crisson said. That would give utilities time to adapt while low-emissions technology is developed, “without imposing unsustainable rate increases on consumers.” Load-serving entities “are in the best position to ensure that allowance revenues are used to reduce costs to electric consumers,” he said.

Allocating free allowances to independent generators that sell into the wholesale markets run by regional transmission organizations “will raise the already artificially high wholesale prices these markets are producing,” Crisson warned. Generators that most often set the clearing price in those markets will add the value of those allowances to their bids, thus adding that cost to all generation—including no- or low-carbon sources—bidding into the RTO-run markets, he said.

APPA has serious concerns about auctioning allowances, Crisson said. With a stringent cost control mechanism in place, APPA could support phasing in an auction gradually. “But without such a control mechanism, we think no auction should occur until new emissions control technology is commercially available.”

With regard to the proposed renewable electricity standard of 25% by 2025, Crisson reiterated APPA’s support for a renewable electricity standard of 15% by 2020. This should be contingent on a federal standard that is workable, allows a significant proportion of the standard to be met through energy efficiency measures, and ensures that comparable incentives are available to public power electric utilities, among other things, he said.

The new source performance standards contemplated in the draft bill should be dropped, Crisson told the committee. “The language would effectively eliminate coal as a generation fuel after 2015 because there is no commercially deployable coal technology in the United States that can achieve the standard set in the draft, he explained. In order for public power utilities to meet their legal obligation to serve their customers, they must have the ability to bring new coal generation units on line to provide reliable service, he said.

Another concern for APPA is that the draft contemplates three overlapping mandates on the utility sector at once: a cap-and-trade regime for greenhouse gases, a federal renewable electricity standard of 25% by 2025, and an energy efficiency resource standard of 15% by 2020. “This straitjacketing of the electric utility industry by Congress is likely to result in higher-than-necessary electricity prices,” Crisson said.

Given the complexity and breadth of the legislation, the number of industries and organizations involved and the confusion surrounding the debate—cost estimates ranging from $93 to more than $3,000 per family annually—there’s going to be a lot of horse trading going on. Free allowances in return for tough emission-reduction targets? The possibilities are virtually endless. All of which makes it that much more important that public power present a united front on a consistent set of principles.

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Testimony in Support by MEUW President Scott Reimer
Legislature Considers Wind Siting Reform Legislation

The Wisconsin Legislature is considering wind siting reform legislation. A set of companion bills, Senate Bill 185 and Assembly Bill 256, were introduced earlier this year Senator Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee) and Representative Jim Soletski (D-Green Bay), Chairs respectively of the Senate Commerce, Utilities and Rail Committee and the Assembly Energy and Utilities Committee, and cosponsored by a broad bipartisan mix of legislators. MEUW President Scott Reimer (Rice Lake Utilities) testified in support of the proposed legislation at a May 12 Joint Committee hearing, and excerpts from his remarks follow.
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Thank you Chairman Plale and Chairman Soletski for holding this hearing today and for allowing me to share with you, some thoughts on why municipal electric utilities are supporting Senate Bill 185 and Assembly Bill 256, the Wind Siting Reform Bill.

Rice Lake Utilities is proud to be governed by our local utility commission and city council. We also respect the Public Service Commission’s oversight of the utility industry in Wisconsin, which includes all 82 municipally-owned electric utilities.

Senate Bill 185/Assembly Bill 256 is an interesting piece of legislation for a municipal utility. We pride ourselves on being governed locally by commissions, councils and boards. The decisions they make affect each of the residents of that community. Local control and governance is the main reason municipal electric utilities exist today. We are local, municipal entities by nature and vary in size from our largest in Manitowoc to our smallest in Merrillan. We are an industry where smaller utilities typically struggle to meet the ever-increasing legal and regulatory demands placed on them. Wind energy resources in Wisconsin may be limited however they can still play a big role in helping us meet the necessary renewable energy goals that have already been adopted by the Wisconsin Legislature.

It’s important to note that while this legislation does not tout the merits of wind energy in Wisconsin, it surly brings to the forefront the importance of having it as an option when it comes time to make those decisions and would allow the decisions to be made. If utilities, regulatory bodies and our customers are serious about increasing renewable energy output in Wisconsin, there needs to be some certainty that wind energy will get a fair shake.

This legislation puts into place a standard procedure by which companies interested in advancing wind power, utilities, local governments and residents can work together to bring critical jobs and renewable energy to Wisconsin, something all municipal electric utilities are supporting in their own areas and communities. In Rice Lake, for example, we have conducted a wind energy assessment and are currently partnering with our local University of Wisconsin, Barron County Campus in constructing a wind monitoring station to evaluate wind activity in our community. It is our intentions to install a turbine which would further assist the State in moving towards its goal of 25% by 2025.

In summary, municipally owned electric utilities are supportive of standardizing wind siting rules and we urge the committees to pass SB 185/AB 256. Thank you and if there are any questions I can answer for you I would be happy to do so at this time.

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MEUW 2009 Mutual Aid Manual Revisions and
Relia-Trak® Software Distributed to Members

The 2009 MEUW Mutual Aid Manual revisions are complete. In early May, each Member was mailed a 2009 Mutual Aid Manual Revision CD, cover letter, updated table of contents and instructions.

We strongly encourage Members to print out a complete hard copy of all the information for insertion into your orange MEUW Mutual Aid Manual binder. At a minimum, please print the information for the utilities that are in your area for quick and handy reference. This information was revised by the MEUW Safety & Education Committee and distributed for use by MEUW Members to help save time in the event of a disaster.

A complete set of new operating information for each utility (e.g., contact information, distribution voltages, available equipment, number of line personnel) and a strip map to each utility is included on the CD.

Documents regarding the National Incident Management System (NIMS) can be found on the 2009 CD in a separate subfolder within the Section One folder. The Federal Emergency Management Agency now requires NIMS training for utilities wishing to receive federal disaster aid. If you are not already familiar with this program call (800) 621-FEMA or visit www.fema.gov/emergency/nims. If you are unable to send someone to a training course, NIMS training is also available online. Once an employee has submitted a final test online, FEMA will email a certificate. Be sure to print that certificate and keep it on file.

Many thanks to Safety & Education Committee Chair Tom Bushman (Two Rivers) and MEUW Receptionist Shari Baumann for the many hours of work they put into producing the 2009 MEUW Mutual Aid Manual update.

The Relia-Trak® software and manual were also mailed to each Member in early May, bundled with the Mutual Aid Manual revision information.

Some MEUW Members are already tracking their electric utility’s system reliability by various means, but most are not. Either way, please take a few minutes and give Relia-Trak® a test drive. You and your staff will be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to use, and how easy it is to generate useful reports!

This reliability software is able to accurately demonstrate the reliability of your utility operations; calculate SAIDI, SAIFI & CAIDI; be used as an analytical tool for your system; track substations, circuits and segments affected by outages; record incremental restoration and track outages; and identify types of problems. MEUW purchased this software on behalf of MEUW Members from the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association. You may have seen a short demonstration of Relia-Trak® at the January 2009 Joint Superintendent’s Conference in Stevens Point.

If you did not receive the 2009 MEUW Mutual Aid Manual revision information or Relia-Trak® software, have difficulty printing a hard copy from the Mutual Aid Manual CD, cannot locate the orange MEUW Mutual Aid Manual binder, or would like an electronic copy of the Relia-Trak® software manual contact MEUW Receptionist Shari Baumann (608/837-2263 or sbaumann@meuw.org).

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Saturday, September 12 in Sturgeon Bay
Fourth Annual MEUW Lineman’s Rodeo

The Fourth Annual MEUW Lineman’s Rodeo will be held on Saturday, September 12, at Sawyer Park in Sturgeon Bay.

This year’s events will be the Lineman Safety & Knowledge Challenge; Pole Top Rescue; Dead End Bell Change Out; 600 Amp Disconnect Change Out; and Transformer Change Out.

Spectators, families and friends are encouraged to attend. The day will finish with the Rodeo Awards Banquet, which this year features a traditional Door County fish boil. Participants, judges and volunteers will each receive two tickets to the banquet. Additional tickets may be ordered for $12.00 each.

This year, we are expanding participation to include Wisconsin rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities in neighboring states (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota).

Booklets containing participant and volunteer registration forms, schedules, judging guidelines, hotel information and maps to the events were mailed to Member utilities in early May. The team and volunteer registration deadline is Thursday, July 30!

If your utility has not received a booklet, please contact MEUW Receptionist Shari Baumann at sbaumann@meuw.org or 608/837-2263. The booklet is also available online at www.meuw.org/events.htm.

This is a great opportunity to visit beautiful Door County. A group discount has been arranged at the Bridgeport Waterfront Resort, 50 West Lurch Street, Sturgeon Bay, at the special rate of $89/night for one bedroom hotel suites (without a kitchen); $119/night for one bedroom suites (with a kitchen); or $149/night for two bedroom suites. There is a minimum two-night stay required for the block at the Bridgeport. Call 800/671-9190 or 920/746-9919 and ask for the “Sturgeon Bay Utilities block” to get the special rate. This room block expires on Tuesday, July 28.

Another group discount has been arranged at the AmericInn, 622 South Ashland Avenue, Sturgeon Bay, at the special rate of $113/night for a two queen bed room or $117/night for a king bed room (either Friday, Sept. 11, or Saturday, Sept. 12). Call 920/743-5898 and ask for the “Sturgeon Bay Utilities block” to get the special rate. This room block expires on Friday, August 14. Book now, because rooms will go fast!

We hope to see you at the MEUW Lineman’s Rodeo on September 12!

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