HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-03-25-UTIL-min.pdf Minutes of the Electric Utility Ad-hoc Committee
March 25, 2002
Members in Attendance
Roger Borghesani,Nick Cannalonga, David Chamberlain, Paul Chernick, Norman Cohen,
Peter Enrich, Ingrid Klimoff, Patrick Mehr, David Pavlik,Kelly McKay Zeoli
Review of Minutes
Patrick noted that under 2b and 2c he was listed in the minutes but was not at that meeting.
Also, it was agreed that in 3b's heading, "concerns"would be changed to"issues."
Comnetitive Power Sunoly
Roger and Ingrid are collecting town and school electricity invoices. Within the next couple
weeks they hope to have an approximate load usage. Roger said that Gary Markowitz is
following up on the terms and conditions and will send those out to the committee. They are
looking for some help. They will try to get terms and conditions from Select Energy,
Massachusetts High Tech Council, Trans Canada, AES, Power Options and UEFA. David
Chamberlain said he would coordinate with Gary and Nick said he knows of another company
that took over after Enron and will pass along the information to Gary and David.
Roger also said that all the accounts are billed separately and many are on different rate
structures. They will look at any buildings on default service first, which are accounts opened
after March 1998.
Peter said that he saw the next 3 pieces of the work as: clarifying data, identifying potential
suppliers, and getting the terms and conditions. He also suggested that Norman and Emily
look over and evaluate the terms and conditions collected. Norman will also look at 30B
Aggregation
Marlborough just signed on as a municipal supplier Kelly will check with their government
about this. Committee members should give Kelly any pertinent questions or topics they want
covered. Ingrid will contact Bedford Selectman Gordon Feltman regarding opt-in, opt-out
and Paul will talk with Bedford's counsel.
Double Poles
Patrick set up two meetings with utility providers. At the second meeting the main issue was
lack of communication among all those who have lines on the poles. Nstar is setting up a
database to track all the poles and will give database access to all the companies so they can
see what the status of the poles is. It was acknowledged by everyone that it will take a couple
of months to figure out all of the bugs with the database and all the players involved. The
next meeting will be on April 11
Patrick suggested, as a way to get the utility companies to be more responsive, that the
committee check with contractors to see how much they charge for moving the lines (this
would be at the expense of the utilities). Hopefully this would get back to the utilities. David
Pavlik and Kelly will call some contractors.
Reliability
Patrick received a report from Brookline regarding specific reliability problems. Roger said
that he should contact the DEE to get a report on LexingtonfromNstar Patrick said that
Brookline Selectman Donna Kalikow was the lead force behind Brookline's electric
committee. Don Weitzman, chair of the Brookline committee and Ken Barna (Rubin,
Rudman) are also involved. Ken wrote a memo about reliability issues, Norman will talk to
Emily to see if she will contact Ken to get a copy of that memo, though they may not share it.
Peter will also contact Donna to discuss sharing resources.
Peter suggested that the committee set up a follow-up meeting to Rick White's and Jay
Kauffman's reliability meeting with Nstar six months ago. Patrick will look into setting up
the meeting and Paul will come up with some topics and questions for Nstar to address. He
will also send out a letter to Nstar as chair of the committee.
Roger said that he will send out information regarding a meeting in Woburn on April 9 about
issues of reliability in this area.
Municipalization
Paul e-mailed the DTE's order with regard to Stowe's municipal light plant.
Norman said he would talk with Town Assessor Joe Nugent about the tax value of the utility
company's land assets.
Ingrid, Kelly, and Patrick will start talking with other towns that have municipalized, like
Concord and Belmont, to find out their logistical issues and data.
Peter suggested that the committee concentrate on the competitive power supply, double
poles, and reliability issues in the short term. If it makes significant progress on this, then it
could move on to municipalization and other concerns.
Next Stern and Recap of Assisnments
The next meeting is on Wednesday May 14 at 7.30 a.m. in Room 1 l l of Town Hall.
• Gary and Dave Chamberlain will collect terms and conditions
• Emily and Norman will review the terms and conditions
• Norman will look at 30B
• Kelly will check with town employees in Marlborough
• Ingrid will talk with Bedford Selectman Feltman
• Paul will talk to Bedford town attorneys
• Kelly and Dave Pavlik will find out contractors' rates for moving lines
• Peter and Emily will contact Brookline Electric Committee players about the memo
• Patrick and Paul will research setting up a follow-up meeting with Nstar
• Norman will speak with Joe Nugent
• Ingrid, Kelly, and Patrick will meet with other communities about municipalization