HomeMy WebLinkAbout02242020 City Council Laydown - Foutz Electric Dept (fau-(3)
Electric Dept Work Session
Follow up
1. Of the 2,681 meters on the system currently, how many are residential
and how many are demand?
A. The current count for meters is 2,862. Of those 2,215 are non-
demand meters and 420 are demand meters with the rest being
considered inactive or vacant. There are 2,142 classified in the
residential rate (962 inside City limits and 1,180 outside), 589 in
the Small General Service Rate (417 inside and 172 outside) and
95 in the Large General Service Rate (85 inside and 10 outside),
and 1 Special Contract.
2. What is our Chugach bill versus what we're selling.
A. Below is a screen shot of the bill from Chugach Electric on
February 5th, 2020. This bill is for usage in January and the fuel
costs are from December 2019. After we have received the bill,
the Finance department applies it to our customers in late
February. That means there is a three month lag time and
indicates that what Seward buys and sells is not a linear
correlation.
Description Units Rate per Unit Amount
Customer Charge 2 Meters S150.00 S300.00
Demand Charge 9.663 kW S14.69 S141.949.47
Energy Charge 5.886.742 kWh $0.01465 S86.240.77
Fuel and Purchased Power Costs-December 2019 S288.993.43
Subtotal S517.483.67
Alaska Energy Authority Bradley Lake Credit-January 2019 t (S16.320.00)
AVTEC Wind Turbine Purchases Credit-January 2019 2 0 kWh SO.05249 S0.00
Total Amount Due S501.163.67
3. Who is paying for the Third Avenue, Nash Road, and out the road street
lights.
A. The finance and electric department are in the process of
identifying all the street lights that we are aware of on our
system. The City (particularly the Public Works Department) is
paying for the in town street lights.
4. Explain the taxes on out of town electric bills.
A. Customers outside the City Limits are charged 3% borough tax for
sales.
5. Clarify customer bills.
A. The electric charges are broken into three parts. First is the
Seward Utility Charge; this is what Seward charges customers to
repair, upgrade and maintain the infrastructure. Second is the
cost of power adjustment (COPA); this is what it costs for Seward
to purchase power, including fuel costs, from Chugach Electric
Association (CEA). The majority of this cost is for Natural Gas,
which is the fuel source for about 90% of the generation. The
third charge is the customer charge; this is the fixed costs by the
utility.
4
Seward Utility Charge / kWh 21 iI+gilt}:ri I'
Cost of Power Adjustment 21 +nttttifiio 705 MIS
Customer Charge 0.00 21.84
Taxes 4.61
CURRENT CHARGES $158.27
TOTAL AMOUNT DUE $158.27
RATES FOR ELECTRICAL POWER BY CLASS OF SERVICE
Class of Service Seward Utility Charge Demand Charge Customer Charge
/kWh /kW
Residential Base rate: S.09526
Summer* $0.1 1718 N/A
$21.84
Winter* S0.08098 N/A
Small General Scrvicc Rase rate: 5.10906
(Less than 25 kW)
Summer* $0.12542 N/A S41.72
Winter* S0.09161 N/A
Boat harbor(Less 5.10906/kWh N/A $41.72
than 25 kW)
Large General Scrvicc 50.07523(I 200 kWh/kW) $26 6l** $43.71
$0.02606(Additional kWh)
$9-82(175 watts)
$14.58(250 watts)
Yard Lights N/A N/A $27.76(400 watts)
$69.38(1000 watts)
LED cquivalcnt =(I/2
of cost)
Mctcrcd Street Lights S0.14471 N/A $43.71
These rates arc based, in part, on the cost of cncrgy and demand from Chugach Electric Association
(CEA)and will change when there is an adjustment to CEA rates charged to the City of Seward.
* Summer is defined to mean the period from April 15 through October 15 with Winter defined as the
remainder of the year.
** Demand Charges will be based on the maximum demand recorded over a 15-minute period.
6. Street lights versus yard lights.
A. Street lights are the steel high mast lights along the roadways.
Yard Lights are generally located on or near a platted lot at the
request of a customer. The City (in particular Public Works) pays
for the majority of the street lights. If individual customers ask for
a yard light they would be responsible for paying the monthly
charge as outlined in the tariff. Outside City limits, the state
(Department of Transportation) and/or Borough pays for street
lights they consider necessary for entering and exiting of the
Seward Highway. Any street lights in subdivisions outside City
limits, the borough pays for under similar criteria. The Finance
Department is in the process of confirming everyone is being
charged appropriately.
7. Status of software updates for reports.
A. The Finance department is already running monthly reports for
verification of demand readings. If individual customers have
questions about their bills or clarification of demand and if it is
included on their bill, they can contact the utility counter located
in City Hall.
8. Number of customers below 90% power factor and a timeline for
transitioning them.
A. At this time we cannot accurately quantify the number of
customers who have a power factor lower than 90%. First the
report must be created. This entails our staff specifying the data
needed and the output desired. The Electric and Finance
departments are working together to develop the precise
parameters for creating the reports out of the billing software.
Since each of these reports costs thousands of dollars from the
software developer, we are taking careful and deliberate steps to
ensure that we ask for the pertinent information before
submitting the request. Once established, the program must be
written by a software programmer.