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September 22 in
Wisconsin Dells
MEUW Accounting & Customer Service Seminar
The 2009 Accounting & Customer Service Seminar has been set for
Tuesday, September 22. By popular demand, we will once again be at
Glacier Canyon Lodge at the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells. The
theme for this year’s seminar is Balancing Your Business in
Challenging Times.
In the morning, there will be a presentation from Wisconsin Energy
Conservation Corporation on encouraging your customers to conserve
energy, followed by a panel on landlord education issues, a presentation
on motivational employee and customer service, and an accounting
potpourri presentation (to include investment risk categories and
stimulus funds accounting).
In the afternoon, there will be a special presentation on customer
payment negotiation/verbal judo, followed by a presentation on PSC
customer issues and Commitment to Community audit reports. We
will conclude with the popular Open Forum.
This year’s pre-registration fee is $85. Registrations received
after September 12 will be $95 each. Registration materials will be sent
to your utility in mid-August and will also be posted online at
www.meuw.org/events.htm.
Those who wish to stay overnight on the night of September 21 should
telephone Glacier Canyon Lodge (800/867-WILD) by August 22 to make your
reservations. Be sure to ask for the MEUW block to receive the special
rate of $70 single/$99 double.
We hope to see someone from your utility at the 2009 MEUW Accounting &
Customer Service Seminar!
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APPA Washington Report
1,428 Pages
by Robert Varela, Editor, APPA’s Public Power Weekly
The House-passed climate change and energy bill started out as a
648-page discussion draft released on March 31 by House Energy and
Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Energy and
Environment Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey, D-Mass. Key features
included a renewable electricity standard of 25% by 2025; a separate
energy efficiency standard for utilities of 15% by 2020; and greenhouse
gas emission caps of 20% below 2005 levels in 2020, 42% below in 2030
and 83% below in 2050. The discussion draft had nothing on allocation or
auctioning of emission allowances, but President Barack Obama had called
for auctioning 100% of the allowances.
Not exactly light summer reading but APPA’s legislative staff jumped on
it.
When Waxman and Markey formally introduced the discussion draft on May
15 as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, H.R. 2454, the
legislation had grown to 932 pages.
By the time the Energy and Commerce Committee passed the bill on May 21,
it was some 1,000 pages. When the American Clean Energy and Security Act
hit the House floor on June 22, it had grown to 1,201 pages. As finally
passed by the House on June 26 (after a last 306-page amendment filed at
3 a.m. the morning before the House passed the bill), it officially
stood at 1,428 pages, divided into five titles, 30 subtitles and 215
sections. The various iterations of the House bill totaled more than
6,000 pages, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., noted.
In the course of its journey through the House, the changes to the bill
included some substantial improvements. The 2020 emissions-reduction cap
was eased, from 20% to 17% below 2005 levels. The renewable electricity
and energy efficiency standards were combined into a single standard of
20% by 2020, with up to one-quarter of that coming from energy
efficiency (or up to 12% at the election of a governor).
And talk of auctioning all emission allowances has been taken off the
table. The formula for allocating emission allowances to the electricity
industry has been revised.
Keeping abreast of all the changes has been more than a full-time job
for APPA’s legislative staff, in addition to working for improvements to
the bill.
While the improvements have been a welcome trend, APPA still has
significant concerns regarding parts of the legislation. “First and
foremost among those concerns is the lack of sufficient measures to
control the financial impact on consumers of not only the level but also
the volatility of allowance prices in a cap-and-trade system,” APPA
President and CEO Mark Crisson said.
While the absence of a safety valve stands out, the bill has other
problematic provisions tucked into its 1,428 pages and 215 sections. One
overriding problem is that, as long as it is, the bill is even more
incredibly complex. That complexity makes it likely that there may be
some surprises buried in the bill and that unintended consequences will
surface in the course of implementation. That’s a compelling argument
for adding a safety valve to make sure costs don’t spiral out of
control.
Thomas Friedman of The New York Times seized on the bill’s
complexity in a recent column: “There is much in the House cap-and-trade
energy bill that just passed that I absolutely hate. It is too weak in
key areas and way too complicated in others. A simple, straightforward
carbon tax would have made much more sense than this Rube Goldberg
contraption. It is pathetic that we couldn’t do better. … It stinks.
It’s a mess. I detest it.” Friedman’s rhetoric contains some truth and
is amusing, but he lost me completely when he said Congress should just
go ahead and pass the bill.
That’s a dangerous attitude. Imagine saying that health care reform is
so important that Congress should pass an appalling bill that’s a
stinking mess.
APPA staff began meeting with key senators before the ink was dry on the
House bill. “We look forward to working with the Senate to make further
improvements to the bill,” Crisson said.
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2009-2010 MEUW
Officers and Board of Directors
Based on the district elections held in May 2009, and the general
elections held during the Annual Business Meeting on June 26,
congratulations to the following members of the 2009-2010 MEUW Board of
Directors:
Officers: President Jeff Feldt, Kaukauna; 1st V.P. David
Tracey, Pardeeville; 2nd V.P. Tom Bushman, Two Rivers;
Secretary-Treasurer Zak Bloom, Waupun; Past Pres. Scott Reimer, Rice
Lake; Executive Director David Benforado, MEUW.
Board of Directors: District 1: Director
Carl Gaulke, River Falls; Alt. Dir. David DeJongh, Cornell;
District 2: Director Tim Putz, Arcadia; Alt. Dir. Vacant;
District 3: Director Lisa Christensen, Oconto Falls; Alt. Dir.
Okho Bohm-Hagedorn, Shawano; District 4: Director Randy
Jaeckels, New Holstein; Alt. Dir. Vacant; District 5:
Director Travis Cooke, Trempealeau; Alt. Dir. Gregg Hanson, Westby;
District 6: Director Dave Mikonowicz, Reedsburg; Alt. Dir.
Pat Drone, Prairie du Sac; District 7: Director Todd
Tessmann, Hustisford; Alt. Dir. Steve Lorenz, Sheboygan Falls;
District 8: Director Mike Reynolds, Boscobel; Alt. Dir. Jim
Kolbe, Hazel Green; District 9: Director Tim Herlitzka,
Waunakee; Alt. Dir. David Herfel, Mount Horeb; District 10:
Director Dennis Bednarski, Oconomowoc; Alt. Dir. Dale Lythjohan,
Cedarburg.
At-Large Directors: John Andler, Columbus; Jerry Ewert,
Black River Falls; Nilaksh Kothari, Manitowoc; Joe Pacovsky, Marshfield.
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Resolutions Adopted
at MEUW Annual Meeting
Since 1998, MEUW has made a special effort to pass substantive policy
resolutions each year at the Annual Meeting. The resolutions have become
an effective tool to develop MEUW positions on issues, direct MEUW staff
regarding those issues, and to communicate MEUW’s position to others.
The following six resolutions will be printed into a booklet and
circulated to all members of the Wisconsin Congressional Delegation in
Washington DC, the Governor, PSC Commissioners, all Wisconsin
Legislators, MEUW Members and other interested parties. If you are
interested in past MEUW policy resolutions, please find them on the MEUW
website at
www.meuw.org/govrelpolicyres.htm.
• 2009-1: Supporting the Recommendations in the Final
Report of
the Governor’s Global Warming Task Force;
• 2009-2: Recognizing Columbus, Evansville, Marshfield
and
Oconomowoc as participants in State “Energy
Independent Communities” Grant Program;
• 2009-3: In Support of Public Entity Broadband
Mapping;
• 2009-4: Supporting Open Discussion at all Levels on
Standardized Advanced Renewable Tariffs;
• 2009-5: In Support of SB 185/AB 256 - Standardized
Wind
Siting Reform;
• 2009-6: In Support of Modifications to the Nuclear
Generation
Construction Moratorium as Recommended in the
Governor’s Global Warming Task Force’s Final Report.
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MEUW Annual Conference Wraps Up; Green Bus Tour a Smashing Success
2009 MEUW Annual
Conference
Nearly 100 utility managers, governing body members and local officials
attended the 2009 MEUW Annual Conference, “It’s So Easy Being Green,” in
Manitowoc June 24-26. A pre-conference “Green Bus Tour” was attended by
more than 50 folks, who visited Orion Energy Systems, Tower Tech
Systems, and Manitowoc Public Utilities.
For a three-minute highlight video of the conference, visit
www.meuw.org. Mark your calendars for the 2010 MEUW Annual
Conference June 9-11 in Green Bay.
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Safety Achievement Awards Presented at Annual Conference
The 2008 MEUW Safety Achievement Awards were given out at the 2009
MEUW Annual Conference in Stevens Point in the morning on Thursday, June
25.
In its tenth year, the Award is a voluntary reporting system that MEUW
developed to recognize safety achievement and to encourage pro-active
safety activities. This year, 70% of the MEUW membership (57 Members)
participated by filing reports, an all time high. Forty-nine Members
received awards this year.
If any recipients would like an electronic copy of one of the photos on
this page, a sample press release, or extra copies of this issue of
Live Lines, please contact MEUW Receptionist Shari Baumann
(608/837-2263 or sbaumann@meuw.org).
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Management Certification Program “Class of 2009” Recognized
Eleven individuals comprised the “Class of 2009” after completing all
six sessions in the MEUW Management Certification Program. The graduates
were recognized at the MEUW Annual Conference on Thursday, June 25,
2009.
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