[00:00:14]
OKAY, I'D LIKE TO GO AHEAD AND GET THINGS STARTED.
[CALL MEETING TO ORDER]
OKAY.I'D LIKE TO CALL THIS MEETING OF THE ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION TO ORDER.
TODAY IS MARCH 20TH, 2023 AT 6:00 PM WE ARE IN THE SHOOTING FAST CONFERENCE ROOM HERE AT AUSTIN ENERGY HEADQUARTERS, AND WE HAVE AT LEAST ONE COMMISSIONER APPEARING VIRTUALLY.
UH, FOR THE RECORD, WE HAVE COMMISSIONERS, WHITE, TULE, HOPKINS, TREL, AND CHAPMAN.
AND THEN, AS I MENTIONED, UH, COMMISSIONER REID APPEARING VIRTUALLY.
SO FIRST I'D LIKE TO WELCOME, UH, A NEW COMMISSIONER JOINING US THIS EVENING, KAVA WHITE, APPOINTED BY COUNCIL MEMBER FUENTES.
HAPPY TO HAVE YOU, UM, ON BOARD IF YOU'D LIKE TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF OR SAY A FEW WORDS.
WELL, I, I THINK I INTRODUCED, UH, MYSELF THE MOST Y BEFOREHAND, BUT YEAH.
UM, KIVA WHITE, UH, REPRESENTING DISTRICT TWO, ALTHOUGH I LIVE IN DISTRICT THREE.
AND, UH, YEAH, LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING COLLABORATIVELY WITH YOU ALL.
UM, AND, UH, JUST AS A NOTE, WE HAVE A VERY FULL AGENDA TONIGHT.
UH, THERE ARE SEVERAL REALLY IMPORTANT STAFF BRIEFINGS.
UH, SO JUST KEEP THAT IN MIND AS WE, YOU KNOW, KEEP AN EYE ON TIME.
[PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL]
WE HAVE PUBLIC COMMENT.UH, HAS THERE ANYONE SIGNED UP FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT? YES, WE HAVE TWO SPEAKERS.
UM, MY NAME IS DALE BUK, AND I WANTED TO TALK ABOUT TWO, TWO THINGS, ONE VERY BRIEFLY AND THE OTHER TO A LITTLE BIT MORE DETAIL.
COULD YOU, COULD YOU, UH, MOVE THE MICROPHONE A LITTLE CLOSER, PLEASE? WELL, I MAY HAVE TO DO THIS.
UM, THE FIRST THING WANTED TO MENTION IS REGARD.
AS YOU KNOW, ELECTRIC VEHICLES ARE MY THING, AND I'VE TRIED TO BRING SOME THINGS TO YOUR ATTENTION.
SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE, AND I'VE TRIED MULTIPLE AVENUES WITHOUT MUCH SUCCESS.
THERE ARE MANY, MANY EV CHARGING STATIONS THAT ARE NOT WORKING AND HAVE NOT WORKED FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME.
AND I'VE TRIED CONTACTING THE PLUGIN PEOPLE AND THEY ALL WORK HARD TO TRY TO FIX THINGS.
BUT I'VE CALLED CHARGEPOINT MULTIPLE TIMES, GIVE THEM THE NUMBER OF THE STATION, AND THEY BASICALLY SAY, CONTACT THE OWNER.
AND WE HAVE NO IDEA, OF COURSE, WHO THE OWNER IS.
SO SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE.
A LOT OF OUR EV PEOPLE, WE HAVE LOTS OF EV DRIVERS NOW, AND, UH, I'VE BEEN IN SEVERAL MEETINGS WITH, THAT'S THEIR NUMBER ONE COMPLAINT, IS WE GO TO CHARGING STATIONS THAT ARE NOT FOR JUST, FOR EXAMPLE, CENTRAL MARKET.
IT HASN'T BEEN WORKING SINCE, UH, PROBABLY A YEAR.
UH, THIS ON THIS, UH, TWO, TWO HAS TWO PRONGS AND ONLY ONE HAS BEEN WORKING.
IT'S GOT A BIG SLASH ON ONE SHOWING YOU NOT TO PLUG IN.
SO ANYWAY, UH, MY NEXT IS THE PET PEEVE.
SO, UM, I'D LIKE TO TALK TO YOU AGAIN ABOUT ONE OF MY PET PEEVES.
UH, THE LAST TIME I FLEW INTO AUSTIN AIRPORT, I SAW ACRES, ACRES OF FLAT WAREHOUSE ROOFTOPS AS WE APPROACHED THE RUNWAY.
UH, I'M READING RECENTLY IN THE MEDIA OF PROTESTS AGAINST SOLAR INSTALLATIONS THAT ARE TAKING UP VALUABLE LANDSCAPE.
AND SOME FOLKS DON'T WANNA LIVE NEAR A SOLAR INSTALLATION.
THERE IS EVEN A STUDY RECENTLY RELEASED THAT SAYS, IF YOU LIVE WITHIN A HALF MILE OF A SOLAR STATION OR A SOLAR FARM, YOUR HOUSE IS WORTH 1% LESS IN VALUE.
UH, THE AMOUNT OF SPACE AVAILABLE ON ROOFTOPS, WALMART, TARGET, HOME DEPOT, COSTCO, AND A LOT OF OTHER LARGE STORES, UH, AND SHOPPING MALLS ACROSS THE CONTINENTAL US IS STAGGERING.
AND THERE ARE ESTIMATES TO SAY ABOUT 7.2 BILLION WITH A B BILLION SQUARE FEET, OR ABOUT THE SIZE OF THE CITY OF EL PASO.
[00:05:01]
EVEN TINY, UH, ROAD ISLAND HAS 279 STORES THAT HAVE AT LEAST 2500, 20 5,000 SQUARE FEET EACH ON THEIR ROOFTOPS.SO, AT BEST, BLANKETING THESE STORES IN WAREHOUSES, IN SOLAR PANELS COULD REDUCE THE NEED TO CITE SOLAR FARMS IN RURAL AREAS WHERE THERE'S OFTEN OPPOSITION FROM NEIGHBORS AND CAN ALSO THREATEN ENDANGERED SPECIES.
SO I BELIEVE THAT AUSTIN ENERGY SHOULD COMMIT TO WORKING WITH COMMERCIAL BUILDING OWNERS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS RESOURCE.
THE FACT THAT WE HAVE WIND TURBINES IN WEST TEXAS THAT ARE NOW BEING TURNED OFF DUE TO CONGESTION IN THE CRES LINES, SHOULD MAKE US LOOK FOR OTHER WAYS TO LIMIT CONGESTION AS WELL AS AVOIDING PAYING TRANSMISSION COSTS.
AND THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO MY GRIPE.
THE NEXT SPEAKER IS TTA COOPER.
HI, UH, IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN.
I HOPE Y'ALL HAD A GOOD HOLIDAY, BUT I'M NOT GONNA STAY UP HERE VERY LONG BECAUSE I PROVIDED SOME WRITTEN COMMENTS AND BASICALLY TO SUM IT UP, IT'S LIKE, WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED IN THIS WINTER STORM AND WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO ABOUT IT? BECAUSE I WAS ONE OF THE ONE 74,000 THAT WAS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY, AND I WAS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY IN URI.
NOT ONLY IS IT INCONVENIENT, BUT IT COSTS A LOT OF MONEY TO THE CITY, TO THE, TO THE UTILITY.
IT ALSO KIND OF MESSES UP, UH, BUDGET PLANNING, AND PARTICULARLY IN RATE CASE MAKING.
IT WAS A HOTLY CONTESTED ISSUE BECAUSE WE DID NOT HAVE ANY DATA ABOUT THE LOSS OF REVENUES AND KILOWATT HOURS IN WINTER STORM URI.
AND I THINK I SEE A FORMER, UH, PARTY PARTICIPANT WITH ME WHO'S PAINFULLY AWARE OF THAT.
SO MY COMMENTS JUST BASICALLY SET OUT A SERIES OF, UH, DATA REQUESTS THAT I AM ENCOURAGING Y'ALL TO ASK, ACTUALLY TO FINE TUNE AND ADD ON TO KIND OF GET THE RAW DATA TO START LOOKING AT POLICY TO SEE WHAT WE CAN DO.
I MEAN, I'VE EVEN INCLUDED LEGAL FACTS, LIKE, WHO OWNS THE ALLEY? IS IT THE CITY THAT OWNS AN ALLEY THAT'S IN A NEIGHBORHOOD? HOW, YOU KNOW, WHO'S GOT THE RESPONSIBILITY, CUSTOMER VERSUS UTILITY? SO I'M GONNA LEAVE IT AT THAT.
I KNOW Y'ALL HAVE A FULL AGENDA AND THIS IS SELF-EXPLANATORY, SO THANK YOU SO MUCH.
OKAY, MOVING ON IN THE AGENDA, WE'LL MOVE TO ITEM NUMBER ONE, APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES.
UM, THIS IS THE JANUARY 9TH, UH, 2023 MEETING MINUTES SHOULD HAVE BEEN CIRCULATED IN YOUR MEETING MATERIALS.
ARE THERE ANY REVISIONS? HEARING NONE? UH, I'LL ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE THE JANUARY 9TH, 2023 MINUTES SUB MOVED.
AND COMMISSIONER REED, COULD I GET A VOTE FROM YOU? I DIDN'T HEAR YOU.
I'M NOT SURE IF HE CAN HEAR ME.
SO,
WAS THERE A DIFFERENT LINK SCENT? HE HE'S ON THE, WE'RE WE ARE WORKING OUT SOME TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES.
HE CAN SEE HE, WE CAN SEE HIM.
OH, THAT, UM, UM, SO WE'RE, WE'RE CHECKING THAT OUT.
AND PRESUMABLY CAN'T HEAR US EITHER.
UM, THAT I, I DIDN'T REALIZE UNTIL NOW THAT HE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO HEAR US.
YOU THINK HE WOULD'VE WAVED OR NODDED OR RAISED HIS HAND? JUST TEXTED HIM.
UM, WELL, I WILL, UH, GO AHEAD AND, UH, AS I SAID, MOTION PASSES.
WE WILL, UH, COME BACK AND MAKE SURE THAT WE COUNT COMMISSIONER REED'S VOTE IF, IF WE GET HIM ON THE AUDIO HERE.
I'D, I'D LIKE TO CALL THE MEETING, UH, BACK TO ORDER.
WE HAVE COMMISSIONER REED ON THE PHONE
[00:10:01]
IN TRANSIT, AND SO I'D LIKE[8. Staff briefing of the First Quarter Financial Report by Stephanie Koudelka, Finance Director.]
TO TAKE, UH, ITEM NUMBER EIGHT OUT OF ORDER.THIS IS STAFF BRIEFING ON THE FIRST QUARTER FINANCIAL REPORT.
UM, AND, UH, SO I THINK THAT THIS ONE SHOULD BE RELATIVELY BRIEF.
UM, SO WE'LL, WE'LL HEAR THAT REPORT WHILE CYRUS IS IN TRANSIT, AND THEN WE'LL PICK BACK UP WITH, UM, ITEM NUMBER TWO.
PLEASE GO AHEAD AND WOULD YOU MIND INTRODUCING YOURSELF? I'M NOT SURE THAT WE'VE MET YET.
I'M A FINANCE DIRECTOR HERE AT AUSTIN ENERGY.
I MIGHT JUST, I MIGHT NEED TO LEAN IN A LITTLE BIT.
IS THAT BETTER? OR WE CAN JUST CALL YOU ON A CELL PHONE.
I CAN GRAB MY PHONE REALLY QUICK.
A LITTLE BIT HUNCHED OVER, BUT IF YOU CAN HEAR ME NOW, I'LL SPEAK CLEAR.
AND I'M WAITING FOR MY PRESENTATION.
I'LL GET STARTED THIS EVENING.
I'LL BE PRESENTING TO YOU A BRIEF SUMMARY OF OUR, UM, UNAUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE, FOR FIRST QUARTER OF OUR FY UM, 23 ENDED DECEMBER.
JUST ON THE DISCLAIMER TAB, JUST TO LET YOU KNOW THAT WE'VE GOT UNAUDITED INFORMATION IN THIS REPORT AS WELL AS FORECASTED DATA THAT'S SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
UM, I JUST WANNA LET YOU KNOW THAT OUR FY 22 RESULTS HAVE BEEN AUDITED AS OF THE BEGINNING OF THIS MONTH.
SO THEY ARE POSTED HERE ON THE LINK THAT YOU'VE GOT ON THIS SLIDE.
SO I'LL START WITH THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND UM, GIVE YOU AN OVERVIEW OF OUR FINANCIAL POLICY COMPLIANCE.
UM, AT THE END OF THE QUARTER, WE ARE IMPARTIAL COMPLIANCE WITH OUR FINANCIAL POLICIES.
UH, WE'LL FOCUS ON OUR RESERVE POLICIES.
WE DO HAVE THREE INDIVIDUAL BALANCES THAT ARE DESIGNATED FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES.
EACH OF THOSE ARE SITTING BELOW THE TARGETS AS OF DECEMBER.
WE ALSO HAVE A POLICY THAT OUR COMBINED CASH, UM, WHICH IS WORKING CAPITAL AND, UH, RESERVE BALANCES WILL SIT AT A MINIMUM FOR FY 23.
AND AT DECEMBER, OUR TOTAL IS JUST UNDER THAT AT 434 AT THE END OF DECEMBER, I'M WORKING ACROSS THE PAGE HERE.
OUR CASH BALANCE IS 154 MILLION AND THAT'S A DECREASE OF 133 MILLION OVER THE FISCAL YEAR.
THAT'S PRIMARILY DUE TO HIGHER POWER SUPPLY COSTS WE SAW OVER THAT 12 MONTH PERIOD.
UM, WE'RE CURRENTLY UNDER RECOVERED IN OUR POWER SUPPLY ADJUSTMENT, AND THAT'S DUE TO HIGHER PRICES WE SAW IN NATURAL GAS.
UM, WE SAW INCREASED CONGESTION AND HIGHER LOAD IN MARKET PRICES
[00:15:01]
IN DECEMBER OF THE FISCAL YEAR.DURING THE PERIOD, WE ALSO RETURNED THE WHOLESALE OVER COLLECTION THAT WE RECEIVED FROM THE MARKET RELATED TO WHOLESALE, UH, WINTER STORM URI.
UH, I THINK SURE, LIKE I THINK THAT'S FINE IF AS LONG AS, UM, REMIND ME OF YOUR LAST NAME AGAIN.
AS LONG AS MS. CACO IS ALL RIGHT WITH THAT.
UH, UH, ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THE BRAZOS SETTLEMENT OR ARE THERE OTHER FUNDS? SO THE BANKRUPTCY BRAZOS IS RELATED, AS YOU KNOW, TO THE POWER SUPPLY ADJUSTMENT, BUT THIS, UM, IN PARTICULAR IS REFERENCING OUR WORKING CAPITAL, WHICH WENT FROM AN OVER RECOVERY RELATED TO WINTER STORM URI TO AN UNDER RECOVERY AFTER WE RETURNED THOSE FUNDS THAT WE RECEIVED FROM THE WHOLESALE MARKET.
AND THEN SAW SOME HIGHER COST IN FY 22, WHICH MOVED US TO AN UNDER RECOVERY.
AND, AND ALSO IT THERE ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT, IT SAYS, UH, AUSTIN ENERGY PLANS TO SELL BONDS.
GIVEN INTEREST RATES HAVING SHOT UP, WHY YOU NEED TO REFINANCE.
COULD YOU TELL US? SO WE HAVE A COMMERCIAL PAPER, UM, LINE THAT WE WORK OFF OF FOR SHORT-TERM DEBT TO FUND OUR CAPITAL PLAN.
AND WE ARE CLOSE TO CAPACITY ON OUR TAX EXEMPT DEBT, WHICH MEANS THAT WE NEED TO ROLL THAT TO LONG-TERM DEBT.
UM, WE ALSO HAVE A GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO REFINANCE SOME CULLABLE BONDS, UM, THAT WE'LL SEE SOME SAVINGS FOR OUR CUSTOMERS.
SO, UM, THE TIMING OF THE INTEREST RATES IS A LITTLE BIT OUT OF OUR CONTROL, GIVEN THAT WE DO NEED TO REFINANCE THAT COMMERCIAL PAPER.
WHEN DO YOU THINK YOU'LL SEE THE BRAZO SETTLEMENT ROLLED INTO SOME EXPENSES? SO THE BRAZO SETTLEMENT, UM, IS ALREADY IN THE PSA RECOVERY BALANCE.
UM, WE ELECTED TO RECEIVE THAT 27 MILLION ACCELERATED CASH RECOVERY FOR THAT, UM, BRAZO SETTLEMENT.
WE'VE RECEIVED 18 MILLION OF THE 27.
UM, WE EXPECT TO GET ABOUT HALF OF THE BALANCE OVER THE NEXT YEAR OR SO, AND THEN THE REMAINING PIECE OF THAT WILL COME IN 12 ANNUAL INSTALLMENTS.
WELL, THAT, THAT'S THE MONEY COMING IN MM-HMM.
THAT'S POTENTIALLY, I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S A BILLION DOLLARS OR WHATEVER.
WHAT ABOUT THAT? SO OUR PORTION OF THAT WAS ABOUT 49 MILLION.
AND WHEN WE ELECTED TO RECEIVE THE CASH, UH, ACCELERATED RECOVERY, WE, UM, ARE RECEIVING 27 MILLION OF THAT SHORT PAY.
SO THE SHORT PAY WAS ABOUT 49 TOTAL, AND WE'RE GETTING 27 OF THAT.
WE'VE RECEIVED 18, UM, OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF MONTHS.
AND, AND, AND WHY, WHY DID YOU MAKE THAT ELECTION? THAT WAS A GOOD OPTION FOR OUR CUSTOMERS, JUST GIVEN, UM, I GUESS THE LIKELIHOOD OF THE RECEIPT OF THE OTHER OPTION THAT WAS GIVEN TO US DURING THE BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS.
UM, THE PRESENT VALUE OF THE ANALYSIS WAS JUST A, A BETTER OVERALL, UM, UH, DEAL FOR OUR CUSTOMERS TO RECEIVE THAT CASH UPFRONT.
SO I GUESS I'M JUST A LITTLE BIT CONFUSED ABOUT, I THOUGHT THERE WAS A SHORT PAY AND THEN THERE WAS ALSO THE BANKRUPTCY.
SO THE BANKRUPTCY IS RELATED TO THE SHORT PAYMENT.
SO AS A MARKET PARTICIPANT, WE HAD A 49 MILLION SHORT PAY, UM, RELATED TO URI.
UM, AND THE BRAZO SETTLEMENT SETTLES OUT OUR PORTION OF THAT SHORT PAY TO 27 MILLION.
I'LL CONTINUE WITH THE MIDDLE OF THE SLIDE.
WE HAVE, UM, OPERATING REVENUE AT THE FIRST QUARTER OF A, OF 384 MILLION.
UM, THAT'S PRETTY CLOSE TO BUDGET.
WE'RE 1% MORE THAN BUDGET, WHILE OUR OPERATING EXPENSES WITH TRANSFERS ARE THE 444 MILLION THAT YOU SEE HERE.
UM, THAT'S ALL SIMILAR UNFAVORABLE RESULTS OF ABOUT 3% MORE THAN BUDGET.
UM, THE INCREASE THAT YOU'RE SEEING HERE FOR REVENUE EXPENSE AND EXPENSES PRIMARILY RELATED TO THOSE POWER SUPPLY COSTS AND REVENUES THAT I JUST MENTIONED IN AUGUST, AUSTIN ENERGY RECEIVED A CREDIT RATING DOWNGRADE FROM S AND P TO AA MINUS, UM, THAT IS BELOW OUR TARGET OF AA.
UM, THERE'S MORE ON THAT CREDIT ACTION IN THE BACK OF YOUR PACKET IN THE MARKET AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS SECTION.
AND FINALLY, AS WE JUST SPOKE ABOUT, UM, YOU'LL SEE A SUMMARY IN YOUR PACKET ON OUR CAPITAL PROJECT FUNDING, UM, DEBT SERVICE BY FISCAL YEAR
[00:20:01]
AND OUR FINANCING PLANS, UM, WHICH IS TO CLOSE BONDS IN MAY OF THIS YEAR.AND SO WITH THAT, I WILL CLOSE OUT THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, TAKE ANY OTHER ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.
UH, WHEN WAS THE CREDIT DOWNGRADE? WHEN, WHEN DID THAT OCCUR? FROM, FROM STANDARD AND PORES THE ONE THAT'S ONE OF LIST OF 22.
WELCOME TO COMMISSIONER REED IN PERSON.
THANK YOU FOR DRIVING UP HERE.
SORRY FOR THE, OH, I, I ACTUALLY, I ACTUALLY RAN
UM, SO WE HAD TAKEN, UH, ITEM NUMBER EIGHT, I BELIEVE, OUT OF ORDER.
SO NOW WE'RE GONNA GO BACK TO DISCUSSION AND ACTION ON RECOMMENDATIONS.
SO THIS IS ITEMS TWO THROUGH SEVEN.
ARE THERE ANY ITEMS THAT COMMISSIONERS WOULD LIKE PULLED FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION?
[1. Approve the minutes of the Electric Utility Commission Regular meeting on January 9, 2023.]
ACTUALLY, I AM SORRY.CAN WE, UM, TAKE A VOTE ON THE, UM, MINUTES? UM, WE ONLY HAD FIVE COMMISSIONERS ACTUALLY VOTE.
UM, THE, I WOULD LIKE TO, LET ME JUST START THAT OVER.
I'LL ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE THE, UH, JANUARY 9TH, 2023, UH, COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES.
[Items 3 - 7]
ITEMS NUMBER TWO THROUGH SEVEN.ARE THERE ANY THAT COMMISSIONERS WOULD LIKE TO PULL FOR DISCUSSION? UH, TWO, PLEASE.
HEARING NONE, I'LL ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE ITEMS THREE THROUGH SEVEN.
IS THERE A SECOND? COMMISSIONER TREL.
[2. Recommend authorizing negotiation and execution of a Design-Build Agreement with Jingoli Power, LLC for design and construction services for the Brackenridge Gas Insulated Switchgear Substation - Reissue in an amount not to exceed $33,949,201.00.]
WE'LL MOVE.WE WILL, UH, NOW TAKE UP ITEM NUMBER TWO.
IF WE HAVE SOMEONE FROM COMMISSION, UM, AE STAFF.
I ALMOST SAID COMMISSIONED STAFF.
LISA MARTIN AUSTIN, ENERGY, VICE PRESIDENT OF ELECTRIC SYSTEM ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL SERVICES.
GO AHEAD, COMMISSIONER CHAPMAN.
SO, UH, 33 MILLION IS THIS, HAS THIS PROJECT LOOKING AT IT BEEN PRE-APPROVED BY COUNCIL, REVIEWED BY COUNCIL.
THIS ITEM IS SCHEDULED TO GO TO COUNCIL IN APRIL.
AND, AND ALL OF WHICH IS DOWN, THIS IS, UH, TO STRENGTHEN THE DOWNTOWN NETWORK, UH, REPLACES THE TRANSFORMERS.
SO THEY WILL HAVE CONTINUING MORE DEPENDABLE SERVICE, RIGHT? THAT IS CORRECT.
HOW MANY TI HOW MANY DAYS, HOW MANY HOURS DID THEY GO WITHOUT POWER DURING THE FIRST WINTER STORM? HOW MANY HOURS DID DOWN THE DOWNTOWN CIRCUIT? WHICH, WHICH AS I UNDERSTAND IS DIFF DIFFERENT.
IT HAS A CONTINUOUS FEED LOOP, RIGHT? RIGHT.
IT IS A, IT IS A MESH NETWORK, THE DOWNTOWN.
SO YOU'RE TALKING AND, AND HOW MANY, MANY HOURS, HOW MANY HOURS DURING THE FIRST WINTER STORM WAS THAT NETWORK DOWN? TO MY KNOWLEDGE, THEY DID NOT GO DOWN BECAUSE THEY ARE A CONTINUOUS, UH, THEY ARE A MESH NETWORK.
AND SO YOU CANNOT, UH, TURN OFF THEIR POWER AS PART OF OUR LOADED PROCESS.
AND AND SAME, SAME TRUE IN THE MOST RECENT STORM IN, IN THE MOST RECENT STORM, THERE WAS NO, UH, LOAD CURTAILMENT OR, OR LOAD SHED PROCESS.
UM, BUT THE DOWNTOWN NETWORK IS UNDERGROUND AND ALSO REDUNDANT FEEDS.
SO IF THERE WERE ANY IMPACT, UM, TO ANY ASPECT, THEN IT WOULD BE FED FROM OTHER ASPECTS OF THE NETWORK.
HAVE YOU ANALYZED THE COST? UH, UH, 33 MILLION BEING A BIG, BIG NUMBER.
HAVE YOU ANALYZED THE COST OF STAGING THE PROCESS OVER TIME? ONE TRANSFORMER IN FIVE YEARS, ONE IN 10, THREE AND 15 OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT? NO, BECAUSE, UM, NOT THAT I'M AWARE OF THE, THE, UH, OPPORTUNITIES TO REPLACE THE SUBSTATION IN A HOLE.
[00:25:01]
MAKE SENSE? UH, RIGHT.YOU HAVE TO DO ALL OF THE SWITCH GEAR AT ONCE AND THEN, UM, WHILE WE'RE IN THAT PROCESS, WE'RE GONNA PUT IN THE ADDITIONAL TRANSFORMERS, UM, TO REPLACE THE EXISTING ONES THERE.
AND IS AND, AND, AND THESE ARE COM LARGELY COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS, UH, COMMERCIAL AND GOVERNMENT CUSTOMERS.
UH, HAS, IS WHAT EFFECT DO THE, THESE WELL, THESE COSTS GET SOCIALIZED SUCH THAT RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS WILL ALSO HAVE TO PAY, UH, FOR, FOR THE 33 AS PART OF THE 33 MILLION IN ANY RATE CASE? FUTURE RATE CASE.
SO THE, THE, UM, SUBSTATION IS, THE TRANSMISSION PORTION OF IT IS PART OF OUR TRANSMISSION COST OF SERVICE THAT GETS APPROVED.
UM, AND, UH, YOU KNOW, AS BY ERCOT AS A RELIABILITY NEED AND THEN COVERED THROUGH OUR TRANSMISSION COST OF SERVICE.
AND THE DISTRIBUTION SUBSTATION PORTION OF IT IS ALSO COVERED THERE THAT WAY? NO, NO.
IT'S COVERED THROUGH OUR BASE RATES.
COVERED THROUGH OUR BASE RATES.
UM, SO WE, WE HIRE AN OUTSIDE FIRM TO DO THE WORK, AND THAT'S, THAT'S THE NORMAL PROCESS.
WE DON'T, WE DON'T HAVE THIS TO TRANSFORMER REBUILD.
THIS IS A, A VERY, THERE'S NOTHING UNUSUAL ABOUT THIS PROCESS.
THERE IS, THERE IS NOTHING UNUSUAL ABOUT THIS PROCESS.
IT'S A, IT'S A GAS INSULATED SWITCH GEAR SUBSTATION.
UM, AND SO YES, WE CONTRACT OUT FOR THAT TYPE OF SUBSTATION.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ALL RIGHT.
HEARING NONE, I WILL ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE ITEM NUMBER TWO FOR A RECOMMENDATION TO COUNSEL.
IS THERE A SECOND? COMMISSIONER TULE.
AND OPPOSED? AND COMMISSIONER WHITE, ARE YOU ABSTAINING? THAT WAS, THAT WAS AN AYE.
SORRY, THAT WOULD JUST BE FIVE.
DO WE NEED, DO WE NEED SIX TO PASS? UM, EVEN IF, IF THE, IF WE ONLY HAVE SIX IN ATTENDANCE, I, YEAH, I BELIEVE YOU TO PASS.
[9. Staff briefing of the First Quarter Operations Report by Stuart Reilly, Interim Deputy General Manager and Chief Operations Officer.]
ON TO STAFF BRIEFINGS AND REPORTS.ITEM NUMBER NINE, THIS IS THE FIRST QUARTER OPERATIONS REPORT.
THIS ISN'T GONNA DO ANYTHING, RIGHT? OR IS THIS, DOES THIS WORK? OKAY.
UM, CAN YOU HEAR ME OKAY? UM, WHILE THEY'RE GETTING THAT LOADED UP, I'LL JUST SAY, UM, I'M UHOH, CAN WE MUTE DAVID, RIGHT? DAVID? ONE.
I'M STUART RILEY, INTERIM DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER.
AND I AM HERE TO PROVIDE, UM, BELATEDLY BECAUSE WE WERE SCHEDULED TO DO THIS IN FEBRUARY, THE FIRST QUARTER OPERATIONS UPDATE.
SO JUST AS A REMINDER, THE FIRST QUARTER COVERS THE MONTHS OF OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, AND DECEMBER OF 2022.
AND I WILL GO THROUGH OUR STANDARD AGENDA ONCE WE HAVE THAT ON THE SCREEN, UM, TO COVER THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, RELIABILITY, PERFORMANCE, ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE, AND OUR GRID RESILIENCE STRATEGIC GOAL.
UM, ONE THING I'LL ALSO COVER UNDER GRID RESILIENCE IS I WILL GIVE AN UPDATE THAT THE COMMISSION REQUESTED RELATED TO SEXUALIZATION.
[00:30:12]
I'LL JUST KEEP THINGS MOVING AND, UM, UNTIL WE GET TO SOME OF THE MORE VISUAL SLIDES, UM, WE SHOULD BE GOOD.SO, UM, FOR THE QUARTER GENERATOR AVAILABILITY WAS ON TARGET.
OUR RESOURCES MET OR EXCEEDED AVAILABILITY TARGETS.
OUR RELIABILITY PERFORMANCE IS STABLE.
WE ARE NEAR OUR FIRST QUARTILE INDUSTRY BENCHMARK GOAL.
AND IN ADDITION, WE ARE WELL ABOVE THE TEXAS UTILITIES AVERAGE.
IN TERMS OF OUR RELIABILITY METRICS, OUR RENEWABLE PRODUCTION WAS ON TARGET FOR THE QUARTER WITH AN AGGREGATE PRODUCTION AS A PERCENT OF LOAD AT 47% RENEWABLE ENERGY.
AND WE WERE AT 73 POINT A HALF PERCENT CARBON FREE GENERATION AS A PERCENT OF LOAD FOR THE MONTHS OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER TONIGHT IS JUST NOT OUR TECH NIGHT.
ALL RIGHT, I'M ON SLIDE FIVE, PLEASE.
DO YOU ALL HAVE COPIES OF THIS IN FRONT OF YOU AS WELL? OH, OKAY.
WELL, SO THEN I COULD HAVE JUST KEPT GOING.
SO SLIDE FIVE SHOWS THE COMMERCIAL, UH, OUR GENERATOR COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY.
AND SO FOR THE FIRST QUARTER WE HAD 100% COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY FOR OUR SANDHILL COMBINED CYCLE, AS WELL AS THE SOUTH TEXAS PROJECT AND 99% COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY AT F PPP.
UH, YOU'RE NOT SHOWING THE DECKER YET, GTS? YEAH.
DO YOU, IS THAT JUST
UH, I MEAN, UM, I COULD GO BACK AND SEE WHAT KIND OF REPORTING MIGHT BE HELPFUL THERE, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, OF COURSE WE WANT TO HAVE 'EM AVAILABLE IF NEEDED.
UM, SO IN TERMS OF COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY THAT WOULD, WOULD GET TO THAT.
BUT TYPICALLY THEY'RE JUST, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE GONNA BE USED SO INFREQUENTLY, LIKE YOU SAID, IN PEAK TIMES OF NEED THAT IT'S NOT AS MUCH OF A CONCERN.
BUT, UM, ON SLIDE SIX, MOVING ON TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
THE ONE, UH, THIS IS OUR NET GENERATION AND LOAD ANALYSIS FOR THE QUARTER.
THE NOTEWORTHY ITEM I WANTED TO POINT OUT HERE, YOU'LL SEE IN THE BOTTOM LEFT QUADRANT OF THE SLIDE THAT THERE WAS AN INCREASE IN OUR SYSTEM PEAK DEMAND FOR THE FORCE FIRST QUARTER AS COMPARED TO THE FIRST QUARTER OVER PREVIOUS YEARS.
AND THAT'S BECAUSE WE SET A NEW ALL-TIME WINTER PEAK DEMAND RECORD ON DECEMBER 23RD, 2022 OF JUST OVER 2,600 MEGAWATTS.
AND ERCOT ALSO SENT A NEW ALL-TIME WINTER PEAK THAT SAME DAY.
WHAT, WHAT DAY WAS THAT AGAIN? DECEMBER 23RD.
AND SO THAT'S THE HIGHEST PEAK EVER FOR WINTER AUSTIN ENERGY? YEAH.
AND, UM, AT THE END OF 2022, UM, THE 2021 DATA COME OUT FOR TEXAS UTILITIES SYSTEM RELIABILITY.
AND HERE I WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT HOW AUSTIN ENERGY COMPARES TO THE TEXAS AVERAGES.
AGAIN, THIS DATA IS FOR 2021, BUT THERE ARE, UH, DATA FOR AUSTIN ENERGY'S NUMBERS FOR 2022 AND ONE OF THE FOOTNOTES.
SO YOU'LL SEE HERE THAT OUR NUMBER OF OUTAGE MINUTES PER CUSTOMER PER YEAR IS LESS THAN ONE FIFTH, THE AMOUNT OF OUTAGE MINUTES ON AVERAGE.
AND WE ALSO HAVE LESS THAN HALF AS MANY OUTAGES PER YEAR PER CUSTOMER.
AND OUR AVERAGE OUTAGE DURATION, WHICH IS ALSO SEEN AS AVERAGE RESTORATION TIME IS ALSO FAR SHORTER THAN THE TEXAS AVERAGE.
MOVING ON TO OUR ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE GOALS IN TERMS OF MEETING OUR CLEAN ENERGY GOALS.
THIS IS OUR LATEST 12 MONTH ROLLING AVERAGE, SHOWING CARBON FREE POWER AS A PERCENT OF CUSTOMER LOAD.
WE'RE CURRENTLY AT 75% CARBON FREE POWER, AND ALL ALONG THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THIS SLIDE, UH, ALSO HAVE UP THERE ALL OF OUR GENERATING UNITS SHOWING OUR GENERATING PORTFOLIO.
AND THIS GRAPH BASICALLY JUST SHOWS THE SAME DATA OF THAT 75% CARBON FREE ENERGY AS A PERCENT OF LOAD.
THE STEEP LINE SHOWS THE MONTH TO MONTH FIGURES OF WHAT OUR CARBON FREE GENERATION IS.
AND THE SMOOTH LINE SH SHOWS THE ROLLING 12 MONTH AVERAGE.
[00:35:01]
THE 88% LINE AT THE TOP OF THE BAR? UM, THAT IS OUR GOAL UNDER THE RESOURCE PLAN FOR 2030.SO MOVING NEXT TO OUR GRID RESILIENCE STRATEGIC GOAL, YOU CAN GO TWO SLIDES AHEAD.
UM, AS YOU ALL ARE LIKELY AWARE, GRID RESILIENCE IS ONE OF OUR SIX STRATEGIC GOALS AND LONG BEFORE WINTER STORM, MARA, THIS HAS BEEN A PRIORITY FOR US AND I'VE REPORTED ON IT EACH QUARTER.
AND EVEN THOUGH OUR RELIABILITY NUMBERS, AS I JUST STATED, UH, FAR EXCEED THE TEXAS UTILITY AVERAGES, WE STILL, UH, MEET, WE STILL SEEK TO MEET THE HIGH EXPECTATIONS WE HAVE FOR RELIABILITY AND RESILIENCE.
AND SO A COUPLE OF ASPECTS ARE SHOWN HERE.
THEN THE FIRST ONE, WE CONTINUE TO WORK TO ADDRESS OUR TOP 10 UNDERPERFORMING FEEDERS AND OUR TOP 10 WILDFIRE CRITICALITY FEEDERS THROUGH OUR DISTRIBUTION RESILIENCE PROGRAM.
THIS IS FOCUSED ON RELIABILITY ANALYSIS, DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM ENGINEERING, AND INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADE PROJECTS.
ALSO AS PART OF OUR LAST RESOURCE PLAN, GOING TO THE NEXT ITEM ON THERE, UM, AE CONTRACTED FOR A STUDY TO INVESTIGATE HOW TO ACHIEVE THE PLAN'S GOALS WHILE MAKING UP FOR THE LOSS OF DISPATCHABLE UNITS AND THE IMPACTS ON OUR TRANSMISSION SYSTEM.
THE CONSULTANT IS STILL WORKING ON THAT ASSESSMENT, WHICH WE WILL, WE ANTICIPATE TO BE COMPLETED IN JUNE.
AND THEN WE'LL PRESENT TO EUC THE FOLLOWING MONTH.
SO AS I MENTIONED AT THE BEGINNING, THE EUC ALSO ASKS FOR AN UPDATE ON SECTIONAL.
SO I'LL COVER THAT NOW AS I SPEAK ABOUT OUR APPLICATION OF RECLOSERS ON OUR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM.
A RECLOSER NORMAL FUNCTION IS A PROTECTIVE DEVICE THAT OPENS TO INTERRUPT FAULT CURRENT AND THEN CLOSES THE FEEDER TO ATTEMPT TO CLEAR TEMPORARY FAULTS.
THIS QUICK OPENING AND CLOSINGS IS WHY IT'S CALLED A RECLOSER.
IT IS ESSENTIALLY A SMALL CIRCUIT BREAKER LOCATED WITHIN A DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM THAT CAN ISOLATE A SECTION OF FEEDER.
AND SO I'M GONNA SHOW TWO APPLICATIONS OF DISTRIBUTION SECTIONALIZING AT AUSTIN ENERGY.
THE FIRST ONE I THINK IS MORE, UH, ON POINT TO WHAT THE EUCS REQUEST WAS WHEN IT ASKED FOR THIS PRESENTATION, WHICH IS RELATED TO HOW IT CAN BE BENEFICIAL IN AN ERCOT LOAD SHED SCENARIO.
AND THEN THE OTHER SCENARIO I'LL SHOW IS KIND OF A MORE COMMON PURPOSE FOR CIRCUIT RESILIENCE AND FAULT CONDITIONS.
SO ROBIN, WOULD YOU GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE? SO THIS IS KIND OF A BUSY SLIDE HERE, AND I'LL, IN A MOMENT I'LL KIND OF WALK YOU THROUGH WHAT ALL IT SHOWS.
UM, AND THIS IS THE FIRST APPLICATION I MENTIONED, AN ERCOT LOAD SHED SCENARIO, OR AN ERCOT CONTROLLED OUTAGE DURING AN ERCOT, UH, ENERGY EMERGENCY ALERT.
AND SO OUR OBJECTIVE HERE IS WE'RE FEASIBLE TO INSTALL A RECLOSER AFTER THE LAST CRITICAL LOAD ON A CIRCUIT TO PROVIDE A WAY TO INCLUDE THAT CIRCUIT'S DOWNSTREAM NON-CRITICAL LOADS IN THE LOAD SHED.
THE OUTCOME OF THIS IS TO INCREASE AUSTIN ENERGY'S ABILITY TO SPREAD THE LOAD SHED ACROSS MORE OF OUR SYSTEM, INCREASING THE POOL OF CUSTOMERS WHO CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE MANDATED CONTROLLED OUTAGES IN AN ERCOT EMERGENCY.
SO I'LL, I'LL WALK THROUGH WHAT YOU SEE HERE.
THIS VISUAL SHOWS A BEFORE AND AFTER SCENARIO FOR THE SAME TWO CIRCUITS.
CIRCUIT A AND CIRCUIT B, CIRCUIT A HAS NO CRITICAL LOAD FACILITIES, AND CIRCUIT B HAS A CRITICAL LOAD FACILITY LIKE A, THINK OF THIS AS A HOSPITAL IN THIS EXAMPLE.
SO FOCUSING ON THE BEFORE RECLOSER ON THE, ON THE ABOVE THAT DOTTED LINE.
SO THE BEFORE RECLOSER EXAMPLE HERE FOR CIRCUITS A AND B, YOU CAN SEE THAT THE ENTIRE CIRCUIT, A WITH NO CRITICAL LOADS IS SUBJECT TO LOAD SHED DURING A, AN ERCOT EMERGENCY, WHEREAS THE ENTIRE CIRCUIT B, BECAUSE IT HAS THAT HOSPITAL ON THAT CIRCUIT, IS, IT REMAINS FULLY ENERGIZED DURING THAT EMERGENCY.
SO MOVING ON TO AFTER THE, AFTER THE RECLOSER IS INSTALLED ON CIRCUIT B DURING AN ERCOT MANDATED LOAD SHED, THE RECLOSER IS OPENED AND THE DOWNSTREAM NON-CRITICAL LOADS CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE POOL OF LOAD SHED WITHOUT IMPACTING THAT HOSPITAL.
AND SO FAR WE HAVE SEVEN CIRCUITS IDENTIFIED FOR THIS ACTIVITY.
THERE ARE A LIMITED NUMBER OF CANDIDATES FOR THIS ACTIVITY BECAUSE THAT CRITICAL LOAD NEEDS TO BE LOCATED NEAR THE HEAD END OF THE CIRCUIT TO HAVE A, UH, IMPACT TO ADD THE DOWNSTREAM NON-CRITICAL LOADS TO THE POOL OF AVAILABLE LOAD SHED.
AND SO WE HAVE SEVEN CANDIDATES FOR THIS IDENTIFIED.
WE'VE DONE FIVE SO FAR, AND WE HAVE TWO MORE THAT ARE IN THE WORKS.
AND THESE TO THESE SEVEN CIRCUITS ADD A TOTAL OF 13 MEGAWATTS TO OUR AVAILABLE POOL FOR LOAD SHED.
CAN YOU GIVE US A SENSE ABOUT WHAT'S THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CIRCUITS? UH, UH, I MEAN, UH, ON A PERCENTAGE BASIS, SEVEN.
SEVEN SOUNDS REALLY, IT'S VERY FEW.
[00:40:01]
THAT IS VERY FEW, BUT THERE AREN'T MANY THAT ARE, ARE GOOD CANDIDATES FOR THIS.UM, AS WE FIND OTHERS, YOU KNOW, CRITICAL LOADS CAN COME AND GO.
UM, NEW MEDICAL CENTER COULD POP UP A SURGICAL CENTER, A DIALYSIS CENTER, DIFFERENT KINDS OF THINGS.
UM, AND SO THERE MAY BE OTHER CANDIDATES FOR THIS TYPE OF ACTIVITY IN THE FUTURE.
AND AS THOSE DO COME ON THE SYSTEM OR, UH, AS OUR SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS CHANGE, WE'LL LOOK FOR WAYS TO INCLUDE MORE OF THESE GOING FORWARD.
SO JUST SECONDING THAT, SO THAT'S 13 MEGAWATTS OUT OF 2,600 MEGAWATTS, SO AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE ABILITY TO TRIM BACK.
SO IT'S KIND OF, YEAH, AND I THINK, I THINK, UM, THAT KIND OF SPEAKS TO THE RESPONSE THAT YOU'VE GOTTEN TO THAT QUESTION IN THE PAST, WHICH IS SORT OF THAT, YOU KNOW, IS THE JUICE WORTH THE SQUEEZE? AND, AND WE'VE, WHAT, WHAT WE'VE REALLY FOCUSED A LOT OF OUR ACTIVITY ON IN TERMS OF ADDING TO OUR CAPABILITY.
UH, IF ERCOT WERE TO REQUEST SO MUCH, YOU KNOW, SUCH DEEP AMOUNT OF LOAD SHED IN THE FUTURE IS REALLY PARTNERING WITH OUR LARGE INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMERS ON PRE-ASSIGNED TARGETS TO WHERE IF WE'RE IN AN ERCOT ENERGY EMERGENCY FOR THEM TO RAMP DOWN AS THAT EMERGENCY KIND OF GROWS IN, IN SCALE, YOU KNOW, AT AN EEA ONE, TWO, AND THREE.
UM, AND ACTUALLY WE CAN GET A LOT MORE, UM, HEADROOM THAT WAY THAN, THAN WHAT WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO ACHIEVE SO FAR WITH THIS ACTIVITY.
UM, I GUESS I'LL JUST ECHO THAT GENERAL SENTIMENT THAT THIS SEEMS, UM, TO HAVE A SMALL IMPACT, ALTHOUGH I APPRECIATE Y'ALL GOING THROUGH THE EXERCISE.
UM, I'M WONDERING IF, IF YOU'RE ALSO CONSIDERING, UM, ANY SORT OF UPDATES, UH, SOFTWARE UPDATES OR, OR OTHER UPDATES THAT WOULD ALLOW YOU TO BE MUCH MORE GRANULAR AND USE THE SMART METERS THAT WE ALL HAVE AND HAVE PAID FOR TO BE ABLE TO JUST TURN FOLKS OFF AND BACK ON ON A MORE INDIVIDUAL BASIS AS OPPOSED TO JUST ON A FEEDER BASIS, WHICH TO, TO YOUR POINT, LIKE THERE'S LIMITED OPPORTUNITY NOW AND IT'S ALWAYS GONNA BE CHANGING, SO IT'S GONNA REMAIN LIMITED.
SO JUST WONDERING IF YOU'RE PURSUING USING SMART METERS TO BE ABLE TO LOAD SHED ON A METER BY METER BASIS AS OPPOSED TO CIRCUIT BY CIRCUIT.
SO THE COMMISSION HAS ASKED THAT QUESTION BEFORE, AND THE ANSWER IS BASICALLY THAT THE, THAT SMART METER TECHNOLOGY ISN'T THERE BECAUSE IT USES, UM, UH, A RADIO FREQUENCY, IT TRAVELS OVER A RADIO FREQUENCY MESH NETWORK AND THIS, IT, THE, THE SYSTEM JUST CAN'T HANDLE THAT MUCH TRAFFIC ESSENTIALLY, AND IT WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO RESPOND QUICKLY ENOUGH.
UH, PARTICULARLY THAT LEVEL OF VOLUME.
IT, IT IS JUST NOT, IT'S NOT INTENDED FOR THAT USE.
AND SO IT'S JUST NOT CAPABLE OF OF OF THAT OUTCOME AT THIS TIME.
IS THAT SOMETHING THAT CAN BE UPDATED, ALTERED? I, YOU KNOW, I, I'VE READ ABOUT THE SMART METER IS BEING USED TO CURTAIL LOAD OTHER PLACES, SO I'M JUST WONDERING IF THERE'S ANY YEAH.
ANY EFFORTS TO TRY TO UPDATE THE SYSTEM TO BE ABLE TO, I UNDERSTAND IT'S NOT POSSIBLE RIGHT NOW, JUST THINKING FORWARD.
AND, UM, WHAT WE CAN DO IS MAYBE WE CAN, UH, SEND YOU SOME OF THAT DISCUSSION FROM A PREVIOUS MEETING WHERE, WHERE THAT WAS DISCUSSED.
AND MY RECOLLECTION IS THAT WE HAD ONE OF OUR SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS KIND OF CALL IN TO, TO GET INTO SOME OF THAT MORE GRANULAR DETAIL.
SO WHAT'S THE MAGNITUDE OF THE INDUSTRIAL LOAD THAT COULD BE POTENTIALLY MANIPULATED TO HELP WITH A MASSIVE CURTAILMENT AGAIN, UM, MULTIPLES OF THIS, UH, YOU KNOW, I, I DON'T WANNA CALL ANY PARTICULAR INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMERS OUT, BUT, BUT I MEAN, WE CAN GET AT LEAST FIVE TIMES THAT, UM, JUST FROM, FROM CALLING ON SOME OF THOSE, UM, SOME OF THOSE PARTNERSHIPS NOW THAT WE, WE'VE BUILT WITH OUR LARGE INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMERS.
AND THEN WHEN WE GET TO THE DISCUSSION SOONER OR LATER ABOUT, YOU KNOW, BEHIND THE METER STORAGE AND MAYBE VEHICLES BACKING UP HOMES OR SUCH, NOT, YOU KNOW, THAT COULD BE ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO TURN THOSE INTO FRUITFUL DERS TO HELP BACK UP AS WELL AS DO THIS, RIGHT? ABSOLUTELY.
SO ON THIS ONE, UM, WE'RE ALSO, I WANNA
[00:45:01]
MENTION THAT WE'RE IN THE PLANNING STAGES OF INSTALLING RECLOSERS FOR KIND OF WHAT IS CONSIDERED TO BE A MORE TYPICAL DAY-TO-DAY RESILIENCY APPLICATION FOR THIS, UM, FOR THIS PIECE OF HARDWARE.AND THE OBJECTIVE HERE IS TO INSTALL RE-CLOSERS TO INCREASE OUR ABILITY TO ISOLATE A FAULT OR PERFORM MAINTENANCE.
AND SO THE OUTCOME OF THIS WOULD BE TO SEE FEWER CUSTOMERS IMPACTED BY PLANNED OR UNPLANNED OUTAGES AND TO CREATE MORE PATHS FOR PROVIDING POWER IN A RESTORATION.
UM, SO LIKE IN THE LAST SLIDE HERE, I'LL KIND OF LAY OUT WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT.
YOU HAVE A BEFORE AND AFTER VIEW, AND INSTEAD OF THIS BEING IN AN ERCOT CONTROLLED OUTAGE SCENARIO, THIS IS A SCENARIO IN WHICH THERE IS A FAULT.
YOU'LL SEE THE, THE RED LIGHTNING BOLT THERE.
UM, THEN THAT COULD BE, UM, A STORM TREE LIMB EQUIPMENT FAILURE CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES AND ANIMAL.
SO PRIOR TO INSTALLING THE RECLOSER, IF THERE'S A FAULT, THEN THAT SUBSTATION BREAKER IS GONNA OPEN, UH, AND YOU CAN SEE ON THAT FAR LEFT HAND SIDE WHERE THE SUBSTATION IS, AND THAT BREAKER A THAT'S LABELED ON THERE.
SO THAT BREAKER IS GOING TO SENSE THAT FAULT AND IT'S GOING TO OPEN.
SO ONCE THAT OPENS, ALL 1800 CUSTOMERS ARE OUT WHO ARE FED BY THAT ON THAT FEEDER.
AND SO AFTER RE-CLOSERS ARE INSTALLED, YOU CAN SEE DOWN BELOW WE HAVE THE CAPABILITY OF ISOLATING A PORTION OF THAT CIRCUIT AND REROUTING POWER TO THE UNAFFECTED PORTIONS OF THAT CIRCUIT.
SO IN THIS EXAMPLE, WE HAVE THE CIRCUIT AND THIRDS THAT ASSUME EACH CUSTOMER'S EQUAL IN SIZE.
SO HERE ONLY ONE THIRD OR 600 OF THE 1800 CUSTOMERS WOULD HAVE A SUSTAINED OUTAGE AS CO CREWS WOULD REPAIR THAT FAULT CONDITION.
AND YOU CAN SEE HOW POWER IS, IS ABLE TO PASS AND, UH, ROUTE AROUND THAT FAULT SECTION, UH, THAT WOULD BE ISOLATED DUE TO THOSE RE-CLOSERS.
SO AS I MENTIONED, WE'RE IN THE PLANNING STAGES FOR DEPLOYING THIS, AND WE'RE STARTING WITH OUR UNDERPERFORMING FEEDERS IN OUR WILDFIRE RISK AREAS TO IMPROVE OUR RESILIENCY AND RELIABILITY, TO MINIMIZE CUSTOMER OUTAGES.
WE'RE ALSO SEEKING GRANT FUNDING TO ASSIST WITH THIS EFFORT.
AND ULTIMATELY FOR THIS ACTIVITY, THERE ARE 292 CIRCUITS THAT ARE CANDIDATES FOR THIS DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM ENHANCEMENT.
AND IT'S GOING TO BE A LONG-TERM PROJECT FOR US ON OUR PATH TOWARDS A SMARTER AND MORE AUTOMATED GRID.
AND THAT'S ALL I'VE GOT FOR YOU TONIGHT.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? YES, THERE WE GO.
UM, SO 292 CIRCUITS LONG-TERM PLAN.
HOW LONG? UM, WELL, PART OF THAT COULD BE, COULD DEPEND ON OUR, ON THE FUNDING THAT WE'RE ABLE TO GET, UM, IF, IF WE'RE SUCCESSFUL THERE.
BUT I, I WOULD ESTIMATE, YOU KNOW, LIKELY A 10 YEAR EFFORT.
BUT STARTING WITH OUR UNDERPERFORMING FEEDERS, WE'RE, WE'RE GONNA PRIORITIZE THAT ACTIVITY OVER THAT PERIOD OF TIME TO GET THE MOST BANG FOR OUR BUCK AS WE GO OUT AND DO THAT.
AND SO THAT'S PART OF OUR RESILIENCY PROGRAM AS WE'RE LOOKING AT OUR WILDFIRE RISK FEEDERS AND OUR UNDERPERFORMING FEEDERS, THAT THIS WOULD BE SOMETHING THAT'S PLANNED FOR THOSE FEEDERS AS WELL.
BUT SO THE TIMELINE ON THE, THE, YOU KNOW, TOP 10 WORST PERFORMING FEEDERS THAT THAT'S LIKE BRING IT IN A YEAR OR TWO OR, UM, YEAH, I THINK, UM, I DON'T KNOW.
I'M GETTING THE, I'M GETTING THE TWO YEARS, YES, TWO YEARS.
SO WHAT PORTION OF THE 292 ARE UNDERPERFORMING CIRCUITS? WELL, IF WE RANK THEM, WE'RE LOOKING, YOU KNOW, I MEAN WE'RE GOING, WE'RE, THERE'S NOT ONE SET THRESHOLD OF WHAT MAKES IT UNDERPERFORMING, BUT BASICALLY WE'RE GOING TO RANK THEM IN TERMS OF THEIR PERFORMANCE.
AND SO WE TYPICALLY LOOK AT THE TOP 10 IN TERMS OF THEIR UNDERPERFORMANCE, ANOTHER WAY OF SAYING THE BOTTOM 10 IN TERMS OF PERFORMANCE.
SORRY, I THINK I, UM, JUST DIDN'T QUITE HEAR THE NUMBERS CORRECTLY.
SO YOU WERE SAYING THERE'S 292 CIRCUITS THAT YOU'RE TRYING TO DO THIS WORK ON TOTAL? YES.
AND THAT WOULD, WELL, THAT WOULD BE CANDIDATES FOR THIS POTENTIALLY GOING FORWARD.
I MEAN, THERE COULD BE CHANGE CHANGES TO, UH, SOME OF THOSE, BUT CURRENTLY THAT, THAT'S JUST SPEAKS TO KIND OF HOW THIS IS SUCH A, A LONG-TERM PROJECT.
CUZ YOU SAID THERE WAS ABOUT 400 TOTAL, SO YEAH, TWO, UM, ALMOST THREE QUARTERS OF THEM.
UM, SO I'M WONDERING, UM, HOW YOU'RE INCORPORATING ANY EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS, UH, INTO PRIORITIZING WITH, WITH SUCH A LARGE NUMBER THAT, YOU KNOW, PERHAPS NEED THIS WORK IF, IF, UM, YEAH, IF, IF EQUITY IS BEING FACTORED IN AND IF SO,
[00:50:01]
HOW? YEAH, AND AND I, I APPRECIATE YOU BRINGING THAT UP BECAUSE, UM, WHAT WE WANT TO DO IS BUILD EQUITY INTO EVERYTHING THAT WE DO WHERE IT'S NOT AN AFTERTHOUGHT, BUT IT'S ACTUALLY BUILT INTO KIND OF THE FABRIC OF OUR ACTIVITIES.SO EQU THERE'S AN EQUITY COMPONENT TO EVERYTHING THAT WE'RE DOING.
AND IN FACT, WE HAVE OUR EQUITY AND INCLUSION PROGRAM MANAGER INVOLVED IN THAT GRIT ON THAT.
IT'S CALLED GRIT, OUR, UH, APPLICATION FOR FUNDING ON THIS JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT THERE'S A COMMUNITY EQUITY COMPONENT TO THIS WORK.
AND SO I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH THAT CONCERN.
AND, YOU KNOW, I JUST BACKING UP TO WHAT, UM, COMMISSIONER CHAPMAN STATED EARLIER ABOUT, YOU KNOW, DOWNTOWN DURING WINTER STORM URI, UH, YOU KNOW, WE, WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYTHING THAT WE'RE DOING HAS AN EQUITY COMPONENT AND THAT WE'RE NOT LEAVING ANY CUSTOMERS BEHIND.
AND SO ANY OF THOSE KIND OF UNDERSERVED AREAS, WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE BEING THERE FOR THEM AND, AND, AND MAKING SURE THAT THEY HAVE THE RELIABILITY AND THE RESILIENCY AND SOME OF THE, THESE, UH, YOU KNOW, IT'S UM, IT'S SORT OF COUNTERINTUITIVE AND A LOT OF THESE, BECAUSE A LOT OF THE WILDFIRE RISK CIRCUITS WHERE WE MIGHT BE DOING SOME OF THAT WORK IS REALLY ON THE WESTERN MORE AFFLUENT SIDE OF OUR SERVICE TERRITORY.
BUT WE DON'T WANT TO LEAVE ANY OF THE, UH, OTHER PARTS OF OUR SERVICE TERRITORY BEHIND AS WE'RE, AS WE'RE PRIORITIZING AS WELL.
SO APPRECIATE YOU BRINGING THAT UP.
CAN I ASK A FOLLOW UP? THANKS.
YEAH, AND THAT'S WHY I ASKED CUZ I YEAH, ASSUMED THE WEST SIDE WAS, WAS WHERE THE WILDFIRE AREAS WERE.
UM, BUT I, I KNOW THE EAST SIDE STILL EXPERIENCES OUTAGES AND, AND CERTAINLY HAD HAD PLENTY OF OUTAGES DURING, DURING THE LAST STORM.
UM, SO I GUESS I'M JUST WONDERING, I'M GLAD THAT YOUR EQUITY PROGRAM OFFICER IS, IS PART OF, UM, EVALUATING THAT WORK AT SOME LEVEL, BUT I GUESS I'M JUST WONDERING WHAT SPECIFIC METRICS YOU'RE INCORPORATING.
LIKE ARE YOU LOOKING AT, YOU KNOW, AGE OF THE HOME OR, UM, INCOME OR I, IS THERE, IS THERE ANY SORT OF FORMULA, UM, BEYOND, YOU KNOW, WILDFIRE RISK, UM, THAT IS, THAT, THAT MIGHT GO INTO DETERMINING, YOU KNOW, WHICH, WHICH CIRCUIT GETS THIS ADDED INVESTMENT NEXT? YEAH, I, THE SPECIFICS OF THAT WORK AND HOW, UM, YOU KNOW, HOW WE'RE ENSURING THAT EQUITY IS, IS A PART OF THAT, UH, I CAN'T SAY WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THAT WORK OF THAT GRANT APPLICATION IS, YOU KNOW, EXACTLY TAILORED TO THAT.
BUT, YOU KNOW, JUST AS AN EXAMPLE, I WAS HAVING A MEETING WITH ONE OF OUR TEAM MEMBERS WHO IS INVOLVED IN THAT AND HE QUICKLY PULLED UP A MAP THAT SHOWS UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES AND, YOU KNOW, WE ARE KIND OF TALKING AROUND SOME OF THOSE ISSUES.
SO, YOU KNOW, NOT JUST LOOKING AT, UM, OUR, OUR WILDFIRE RISK AREAS, BUT HE HAD, HE, HE, THEY, THEY'RE THINKING ABOUT ALL THOSE THINGS IN TERMS OF, THERE, THERE ARE PUBLIC DATABASES THAT THE COUNTY AND THE CITY HAVE IN TERMS OF UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES.
AND SO MAKING SURE THAT THAT'S FACTORED IN THERE, BUT I, I, I DON'T KNOW EXACTLY HOW THAT WORKS, BUT I THINK THE, AND ANY OF THESE GRANT OPPORTUNITIES NOW, UM, REALLY SEEK TO MAKE SURE THAT THERE'S AN EQUITY COMPONENT TO THAT, TO THAT GRANT AS WELL, JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT MONEY IS USED, YOU KNOW, FOR THE COMMUNITY APPROPRIATELY.
MAY, MAY I GO AHEAD, COMMISSIONER.
UH, I, I WAS JUST GONNA ASK, UH, WHEN THE GRANT APPLICATION IS COMPLETE, IS IT COMPLETE NOW? IT IS NOT.
COULD YOU CIRCULATE IT TO THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION? I ASSUME SO, YES.
SO WHO IS, WHERE IS THE GRANT FUNDING COMING FROM? IF YOU, IF WE RECEIVE IT? IT'S, UM, THE FEDERAL GRANT, A D OE GRANT.
IS IT PART OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE BILL? I DON'T KNOW.
UM, COULD YOU PROVIDE A LITTLE MORE DETAIL ABOUT WHAT WERE THE CRITERIA FOR THE 290, UH, CIRCUITS THAT YOU'VE IDENTIFIED AS POTENTIALLY, UM, AVAILABLE FOR THIS? WELL, FOR ONE THING, IT, IT HAS TO HAVE ENOUGH, UM, OVERHEAD BECAUSE IT, IT'S NOT A CANDIDATE FOR THIS, UH, TYPE OF ACTIVITY IF IT'S AN UN IF IT'S AN UNDERGROUND CIRCUIT.
BUT EVEN OUR UNDERGROUND CIRCUITS ARE GONNA HAVE, YOU KNOW, SOME, SOME COMPONENT, UH, IS GOING TO BE OVERHEAD FED.
BUT, UM, AND SO THAT'S, THAT'S GENERALLY KIND OF WHY IT'S NOT ALL OF THEM.
SO IT, SO YOU'RE SAYING THAT POTENTIALLY, I MEAN, EVERY OVERHEAD CIRCUIT COULD BENEFIT FROM A RECLOSER IF I, YOU KNOW, I'D HAVE TO ASK MY
[00:55:01]
ENGINEERING TEAM EXACTLY WHERE THAT NUMBER COMES FROM, BUT, UM, YEAH, SO I COULD GET BACK TO YOU ON EXACTLY WHY, WHY NOT EVERY CIRCUIT MAKES IT INTO THAT LIST, BUT IT'S NOT, A UNDERGROUND CIRCUIT IS NOT GONNA BE A CANDIDATE FOR THIS.[10. Staff briefing on the recent Base Rate changes by Rusty Maenius, Vice President of Finance.]
OKAY.UH, NOW MOVING ON TO, UM, BRIEFING ON THE RECENT BASE RATE CHANGES.
RUSTY MANUS, VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE HERE AT AUSTIN ENERGY.
UH, I HAVE A BRIEF PRESENTATION THAT WILL SUMMARIZE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CITY COUNCIL'S DECISION, UH, REGARDING AUSTIN ENERGY SPACE RATE CHANGE.
SO THIS PAST DECEMBER, CITY COUNCIL APPROVED A 29.5 MILLION BASE REVENUE REQUIREMENT INCREASE FOR BILLS RENDERED ON OR AFTER MARCH 1ST, 2023.
IN ADDITION TO THAT INCREASE IN REVENUE REQUIREMENT, UH, THEY APPROVED A PHASED IN APPROACH FOR RESIDENTIAL RATES THAT, UH, UM, THAT, UH, INCREASES THE MONTHLY CUSTOMER CHARGE, UH, FROM $10 TO $13 INITIALLY, AND THEN THAT INCREASES AN ADDITIONAL DOLLAR TO 14, AND THEN $15 EACH INCREASE IN THE CUSTOMER CHARGE IS OFFSET BY AN INCREMENTAL DECREASE IN THE ENERGY CHARGE.
SO THAT REMAINS, UH, REVENUE NEUTRAL TO THE UTILITY.
WE REDUCED, UH, THE CITY COUNCIL APPROVED A REDUCTION IN THE NUMBER OF TIERS FROM FIVE TO FOUR.
THEY APPROVED, UM, UH, WHAT I'LL CALL A HIGH LOAD FACTOR P TWO RATE OR A HIGH LOAD FACTOR, PRIMARY TWO RATE.
THAT IS A, UH, A CONTRACTED RATE, WHICH A PRIMARY CUSTOMER MAY OPT INTO IF THEY MEET THE QUALIFICATION OF HAVING AN 85% AVERAGE LOAD FACTOR.
THE MAJORITY OF THIS 29.5 MILLION FELL TO THE RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS AND THE SMALLEST COMMERCIAL CLASS, WHAT I CALL S ONE.
UH, CONSEQUENTLY MOST OF THE COMMERCIAL CLASSES, THE S TWO THROUGH P UH, P FOUR, UH, RECEIVED, UH, SLIGHT DECREASES VALUE OF SOLAR INCREASED FROM, UH, 9.70 CENTS K W H, TO 9.91.
UH, AND WE WERE TASKED TO, UH, BASICALLY DOUBLE THE ENROLLMENT OF THE CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM BY 2025.
NOW, VERY QUICK QUESTION, YES.
ON THE P TWO RATE, UM, ARE FOLKS THAT WOULD QUALIFY FOR THAT RATE ALREADY APPLYING NOW, OR WILL THAT BE YES.
SO DO WE KNOW HOW MANY I ASKED THAT VERY QUESTION TODAY WE HAVE ONE, ONE, UH, CUSTOMER SO FAR.
AND RELATED TO THAT, THE $200,000 CAP, IS THAT PER CUSTOMER? YES.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS BEFORE I MOVE OFF OF THIS? OKAY, NEXT SLIDE.
THERE ARE A CO OF OTHER ISSUES THAT CITY COUNCIL, UH, TESTED US WITH.
UM, THE FIRST IS TO CONDUCT A LINE LOSS STUDY PRIOR TO THE NEXT BASE RATE CASE, UH, DEVELOP A PRIMARY TWO SUBSTATION TARIFF TO BE CONSIDERED IN THE NEXT BASE RATE CASE, PROVIDE A PATHWAY FOR THE P FOUR CUSTOMERS TO MOVE, UH, POTENTIALLY TO A TRANSMISSION SERVICE.
AND WE'VE MODIFIED THE, UH, VALUE OF SOLAR, UH, CITY COUNCIL APPROVED, UH, AUSTIN INJURY'S PROPOSAL FOR THE VALUE OF SOLAR, SOLAR RATE AND ITS METHODOLOGY SAVING EXCEPT, UH, THE SOCIETAL BENEFITS, UH, WHICH WILL BE, UH, PASSED THROUGH THE POWER SUPPLY ADJUSTMENT.
UH, AUSTIN ENERGY'S ORIGINAL PROPOSAL WOULD COLLECT THAT THROUGH THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY CHARGE.
UH, THE AVOIDED COST WILL BE BASED ON A ROLLING FIVE YEAR AVERAGE WITH ANY RATE CHANGES EVERY THREE YEARS.
AND THEN WE WILL ENGAGE IN A PUBLIC PROCESS, UH, TO EVALUATE COSTS BEGINNING NO LATER THAN JANUARY OF 2025.
IN ADDITION TO THOSE THINGS, AUSTIN ENERGY HAS COMMITTED TO WORKING WITH INTERESTED PARTIES ON ADDITIONAL SOLAR AND STORAGE ISSUES.
SO WHAT'S THE TIMEFRAME FOR THE WORKING WITH INTERESTED PARTIES ON ADDITIONAL STORAGE AND SOLAR OPPORTUNITIES? I DON'T KNOW THAT THERE IS A HARD AND FAST DATE BY, BY, UM, WHICH THAT HAS TO OCCUR THAT I'M AWARE OF.
[01:00:01]
WE GET THAT GOING THIS SUMMER? CYRUS? WEREN'T YOU TALKING ABOUT THIS BEFORE? YEAH, I JUST, AND I'M NOT SURE IF, IF THIS WOULD BE OUTSIDE OF THE EUC, THIS WOULD BE A SEPARATE PROCESS FROM THE E U C AND WE JUST GET MAYBE A REPORT.I'M, I'M NOT SURE, SOMETHING WE CAN DISCUSS AT A FUTURE MEETING.
I THINK HOW DO WE, YOU KNOW, DO, DO WE HAVE A ROLE IN SETTING THAT UP? IS THAT SOMETHING THAT AUSTIN ENERGY SETS UP AND WE JUST, I'M NOT SURE.
SO MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THAT WOULD BE SPEARHEADED BY AUSTIN ENERGY.
SO, UH, THE, THE IMPACT TO A TYPICAL INSIDE CITY NON CAP RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS OF, UH, BILL INCREASE OF $8 AND 85 CENTS, UH, THAT TRANSLATES INTO 12.60 CENTS PER K W H THAT COMPARES FAVORABLY, UH, TO AVERAGE, UH, RESIDENTIAL RATES IN THE COMPETITIVE MARKET.
I'LL DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO THE FOOTNOTE AT THE BOTTOM.
UH, IN THE COMPETITIVE MARKET, THOSE RATES ARE ANYWHERES FROM BASICALLY 15 CENTS TO 17 CENTS.
AND HERE ARE TWO LINKS, UH, THAT GIVE YOU A LOT MORE DETAIL THAN YOU PROBABLY WANT TO KNOW.
UH, BUT THEY, UM, UM, THE FIRST LINK GOES EXACTLY TO THE TERRACE OF YOU NEED THE NITTY GRITTY THAT'S THERE.
UH, AND THE 2022 BASE RATE REVIEW, WHICH IS ALSO ON THE AUSTIN ENERGY WEBSITE, GIVES SOME REALLY, UH, NICE INFORMATION ABOUT, UH, SOME OF THE, OF THE THINGS, OTHER ISSUES THAT WENT INTO THE RIGHT CASE.
AND WITH THAT, I WILL CONCLUDE AND ANSWER ANY OTHER QUESTIONS THAT THERE MIGHT BE.
[11. Staff briefing on the February Winter Storm Event by Stuart Reilly, Interim Deputy General Manager and Chief Operations Officer; Elton Richards, Vice President Electric System Field Operations; Greg Flay, Vice President Technology & Data; and Lisa Martin, Vice President Electric Systems Engineering & Technical Services.]
RIGHT, MOVING ON TO ITEM NUMBER 11.THIS IS BRIEFING ON THE WINTER STORM MARA, OR THE FEBRUARY, 2023 WINTER EVENT.
AND THE REASON THAT WE CANCELED OUR FEBRUARY COMMISSION MEETING OH, AS, SORRY, AS A NOTE BEFORE YOU, UH, GET STARTED.
UM, I KNOW LOTS OF FOLKS ARE OBVIOUSLY VERY INTERESTED IN, IN, IN THIS BRIEFING, AND I, UM, ASKED ROBIN TO SEND AROUND THE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE'S, UH, BRIEFING THAT, THAT AUSTIN ENERGY PROVIDED TO THE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE AND OF THE LINK TO THE MESSAGE BOARD THAT, UH, COUNSEL HAS WITH ADDITIONAL FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS.
AUSTIN ENERGY IS MY UNDERSTANDING, AND I'M SURE, UH, MR. RILEY WILL, UH, GET INTO THIS MORE.
BUT, BUT MY UNDERSTANDING IS AUSTIN ENERGY IS ACTIVELY WORKING ON RESPONDING TO ALL OF HIS QUESTIONS.
AND MY HOPE WAS THAT, UM, GIVEN THE OBVIOUS IMPORT AND UH, INTEREST IN THIS BRIEFING AND THIS DISCUSSION THAT WE COULD, UM, AS I'M SURE COMMISSIONER WHITE HAS SEEN, WE'RE PRETTY INFORMAL AS FAR AS QUESTIONS GO.
WE TYPICALLY GO AHEAD AND ASK DURING PRESENTATIONS JUST WHILE WE'RE ON THE SLIDE, BUT THIS TIME I WAS GONNA, UH, I'D LIKE TO WAIT AND HAVE GO SORT OF AROUND THE HORN AND EACH COMMISSIONER ASK ANY QUESTIONS, YOU KNOW, JUST EACH TAKE THEIR TURN LIKE THE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE DID.
I THOUGHT THAT WORKED REALLY WELL AND CONSIDERING, YOU KNOW, THIS COULD BE A LONG, UM, BRIEFING OR DISCUSSION, I WANTED TO DO IT THAT WAY.
SO KEEP THAT IN MIND AS WE'RE GOING.
AND ALSO TRY TO KEEP IN MIND, UM, ASKING QUESTIONS AND FOR INFORMATION THAT COUNCIL HASN'T ALREADY ASKED FOR, BECAUSE AUSTIN ENERGY WILL BE PROVIDING THAT AND WE'LL GET THAT INFORMATION.
SO JUST TRY NOT TO DOUBLE UP ON WHAT'S ALREADY BEEN ASKED FOR.
WITH ALL OF THAT, LET'S, LET'S HEAR.
I'M STUART RILEY, INTERIM DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER IN CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER.
AND I REALIZE MANY OF YOU WATCHED THIS, UH, THIS SAME, UH, BASICALLY THE SAME PRESENTATION AT THAT AUSTIN ENERGY UTILITY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING, BUT WE WANTED TO PRESENT IT TO YOU AS WELL AND KIND OF TEE IT UP FOR ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE AT THE END.
UM, SO AS YOU'RE ALL AWARE, UM, WINTER STORM MARA CAUSED, UM, LONG-TERM, UH, LONG DURATION OUTAGES FROM A HISTORIC ICE STORM THAT WE EXPERIENCED HERE.
THE OUTAGES WERE SPREAD ACROSS OUR ENTIRE 437 SQUARE MILE SERVICE TERRITORY.
AND WHILE THE, THIS EVENT WAS HISTORIC, UNFORTUNATELY THESE TYPES OF EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS, WHICH CAUSE LONG DURATION OUTAGES ARE BECOMING MORE COMMON DUE TO THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE.
WE KNOW THERE ARE MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RESPONSE EFFORTS, AND THAT'S THE REASON WE ALWAYS COMPLETE AN AFTER ACTION REPORT AFTER SUCH A MAJOR EVENT TO HELP US CONTINUOUSLY LEARN AND IMPROVE.
AND AS JACKIE SERGEANT, OUR GENERAL MANAGER OUTLINED FOR THE CITY COUNCIL, WE'RE NOT WAITING FOR THE RESULTS OF THE AFTER ACTION REVIEW TO START MAKING SOME CHANGES IN LOOKING AT IMPROVEMENTS,
[01:05:01]
THERE ARE MEASURES WE'RE ALREADY TAKING FOR FUTURE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS, PARTICULARLY FOR LONG DURATION POWER OUTAGES.THESE INCLUDE HOW TO COMMUNICATE SYSTEM-WIDE RESTORATION INFORMATION WHEN INDIVIDUAL OUTAGE TIMES OUT INDIVIDUAL OUTAGE RESTORATION TIMES ARE NOT POSSIBLE.
A FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR BURYING EXISTING OVERHEAD DISTRIBUTION LINES, PARTICIPATING IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY AUDITOR'S TREE TRIMMING AND VEGETATION AUDIT TO FIND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENHANCEMENT RECLASSIFYING POSITIONS TO STRENGTHEN OUR FULL-TIME ENERGY MANAGEMENT STAFF AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
AND ADDITIONALLY, WE'VE ALREADY BEGUN REACHING OUT TO PEER UTILITIES THAT MORE FREQUENTLY ENDURE EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS SUCH AS WILDFIRES, HURRICANES, AND ICE STORMS, TO BEGIN LEARNING THEIR BEST PRACTICES AND WILL BE, WE WILL BE CONDUCTING SITE VISITS TO SEE THOSE FIRSTHAND.
UM, ROBIN, IF YOU WOULD GO TO SLIDE, UM, TWO.
SO IN ADDITION TO THE OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW I'M ABOUT TO PROVIDE, UM, WITH ME TODAY ARE SEVERAL MEMBERS OF OUR EXECUTIVE TEAM WHO WILL BRIEF YOU ON THE FOLLOWING AREAS, TREE TRIMMING AND VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, VICE PRESIDENT OF ELECTRIC SYSTEM FIELD OPERATIONS, ELTON RICHARDS, OUTAGE MAP, VICE PRESIDENT OF TECHNOLOGY AND DATA.
GREG FLAY, MUTUAL AID VICE PRESIDENT OF ELECTRIC SYSTEM ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL SERVICES.
LISA MARTIN AND LISA WILL ALSO TALK ABOUT OUR AFTER ACTION PROCESS, AND WE HOPE THESE SHORT PRESENTATIONS WILL BEGIN TO ANSWER SOME OF YOUR QUESTIONS.
AND I WILL START WITH THE OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW.
AND SO, ROBIN, IF YOU WOULD GO TO SLIDE FOUR.
SO BEFORE I GET INTO THE TIMELINE AND OPERATIONAL IMPACTS, I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE WE START WITH A COMMON UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT MADE THIS EVENT SO DIFFERENT FROM THE ERCOT EVENT IN 2021.
UM, PEOPLE HAVE SAID TO US THAT THEY CAN'T BELIEVE THIS HAPPENED AGAIN, AND I UNDERSTAND AS THIS WAS ANOTHER LONG DURATION POWER OUTAGE THAT AFFECTED PEOPLE, UH, MANY, MANY PEOPLE AND CREATED IMMENSE HARDSHIP IN PEOPLE'S LIVES.
SO, BUT WHILE RECOGNIZING THAT, I JUST WANT US TO HAVE THIS CONVERSATION KEEPING IN MIND HOW TRULY DIFFERENT THESE EVENTS WERE OPERATIONALLY AND HOW DIFFERENT OUR RESPONSE ACTIONS ARE AS WE LOOK BACK AT THIS EVENT.
SO, WINTER STORM URI WAS A ERCOT GRID EMERGENCY, WHEREAS WINTER STORM MARA WAS A NATURAL DISASTER WITH HURRICANE LEVEL DAMAGE.
FEBRUARY, 2021 WAS AN ERCOT LOAD SHED EVENT.
ERCOT DIRECTED UTILITIES TO CUT OFF ENOUGH CUSTOMERS TO KEEP THE ERCOT GRID FROM A COMPLETE COLLAPSE THAT WOULD'VE TAKEN WEEKS OR LONGER TO GET BACK UP.
ONCE GENERATING UNITS WERE ABLE TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE SUPPLY, ERCOT ALLOWED US TO START RESTORING POWER TO CUSTOMERS.
AND DURING THAT EVENT, AUSTIN ENERGY'S GENERATING UNITS WERE AVAILABLE AND PROVIDING POWER TO THE ERCOT GRID, BUT THAT DID NOT LESSEN OUR REQUIREMENT TO SHUT OFF CUSTOMERS AS DIRECTED BY ERCOT TO KEEP THE GRID FROM GOING DARK.
THERE WAS STORM DAMAGE ON THE WESTERN SIDE OF OUR CITY, WHICH WAS ALL RESTORED BEFORE THE ERCOT EMERGENCY, AND THERE WAS SOME STORM DAMAGE THAT COULD ONLY BE DISCOVERED AFTER ERCOT LIFTED THE LOAD SHED MANDATE.
BUT THAT WAS ONLY AROUND 35,000 CUSTOMERS, ALL RESTORED BY OUR OWN INTERNAL TEAMS. NOTHING ANYWHERE NEAR WHAT WE SAW WITH THIS EVENT.
THIS 2023 WINTER STORM MARA WAS COMPLETELY A LOCALIZED ICE STORM EVENT.
AND AS WE ALL KNOW, THE ICE DECIMATED TREES TOOK DOWN OUR INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESTORATION WORK ON THIS EVENT, EVEN WITH HUNDREDS OF ADDITIONAL CREWS, TOOK A GREAT DEAL OF TIME DUE TO THE MASSIVE SCALE OF DAMAGE.
UM, AND, UH, AGAIN, I WANT TO BE CLEAR THAT I'M NOT INVALIDATING CUSTOMERS, UH, EXPERIENCES OR FRUSTRATION OF TWO LONG DURATION POWER OUTAGES IN SUCH A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.
BUT I DO WANT US TO KNOW THAT THIS HURRICANE LEVEL NATURAL DISASTER HAS TO BE UNDERSTOOD AS DIFFERENT FROM OUTAGES THAT WERE MANDATED BY ERCOT.
SO THIS EVENT, UH, LIKE I SAID, ESSENTIALLY HAD THE IMPACT OF A HURRICANE, BUT IT WAS, UH, A HURRICANE THAT NO ONE KNEW WAS COMING.
HOWEVER, I DON'T MEAN TO, UH, IMPLY THAT WE WEREN'T READY FOR ICING BECAUSE WE WERE, WE HAD WE REGULAR WEATHER SITUATIONAL AWARENESS CALLS.
UH, STARTING JANUARY 30TH, WE MONITORED THE FORECAST.
WE CALLED IN ADDITIONAL AUSTIN ENERGY CREWS AND TREE TRIMMERS, SET THEM UP IN HOTELS TO BE RESPO, ABLE TO RESPOND QUICKLY AND BE READY.
UM, AND MAKING SURE WE HAVE ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL FOR STORMS IS NOT, UM, SOMETHING THAT IS UNUSUAL FOR US.
UM, WE DO THAT ALL THE TIME TO PREP FOR STORMS, BUT WE WENT BEYOND THAT HERE, REALIZING THAT TRAVEL COULD POSE A CHALLENGE FOR OUR CREWS.
UM, ON OUR, ON AND ON OUR WEATHER PROVIDER SERVICE CALLS, ON OUR WEATHER SERVICE PROVIDER CALLS.
NONE OF THE PREDICTIONS WERE ANYTHING CLOSE TO WHAT MATERIALIZED.
AND I, I ALSO HAD A CALL ON JANUARY 31ST WITH THE TEXAS ENERGY RELIABILITY COUNCIL IN THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
[01:10:01]
THAT CALL, OTHER UTILITIES WERE SEEING OUTAGES.BUT AT THAT TIME, THERE WERE ZERO OUTAGES IN AUSTIN ENERGY SERVICE TERRITORY.
WE HAD ZERO OUTAGES AFFECTING ZERO CUSTOMERS.
AND STILL, WE STOOD UP OUR INCIDENT COMMAND THAT DAY ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 31ST, TO ENSURE WE HAD THE STRUCTURE AND PERSONNEL IN PLACE TO BE READY IN CASE SOMETHING HAPPENED THAT WAS WORSE THAN WHAT WAS EXPECTED.
OF COURSE, THE WORST DID HAPPEN.
UM, THE ACTUAL ICE ACCUMULATION NUMBER WAS NOT THE QUARTER INCH OR HALF INCH THAT WAS PREDICTED, UH, MOSTLY NORTH AND WEST OF AUSTIN IN THE HILL COUNTRY, BUT RATHER OVER SEVEN TENTHS OF AN INCH IN CENTRAL AUSTIN THE MOST IN OUR HISTORY.
UM, I MEN, I MENTIONED CLIMATE CHANGE BEFORE, BUT YOU KNOW, AS CLIMATE CHANGE IS HERE, WE'RE, WE'RE KIND OF GETTING A LITTLE BIT NUMB TO HEARING ABOUT UNPRECEDENTED WEATHER EVENTS.
AND, UM, YOU KNOW, ONE THING THAT KIND OF BRINGS IT HOME A LITTLE BIT IS, UH, ONE OF OUR, UH, SAFETY PERSONNEL WAS AT A CUSTOMER'S HOME BECAUSE OF A DOWNED WIRE.
AND THAT CUSTOMER HAD LIVED IN THAT HOME FOR 65 YEARS AND SAID THIS WAS THE WORST STORM THEY HAD EVER SEEN.
AND EVENTUALLY THAT THE DATA APPROVED THAT CUSTOMER, RIGHT? UM, THIS WAS THE WORST ICE STORM, AT LEAST THAT AUSTIN HAD EVER SEEN.
AND SO NOW, UM, YOU KNOW, AS WE TALK ABOUT HOW WE PREPARE FOR EMERGENCIES, WE REALLY HAVE TO PLAN FOR SOMETHING FAR IN EXCESS OF WHAT THE WEATHER IS PREDICTING AS THAT CAN BE, UH, BASED ON TIMES THAT WE'RE MORE PREDICTABLE.
SO THIS SHOWS THIS MAP OF TEXAS SHOWS POWER OUTAGES, UM, EARLY ON THE EVENING OF FEBRUARY 2ND.
THERE'S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THIS DATE OR TIME.
IT JUST HAPPENS TO BE WHEN I TOOK A SCREENSHOT, IT SHOWS THE ICE STORM AFFECTED AREA FROM BASICALLY FROM AUSTIN ALL THE WAY UP TO TYLER, WITH AUSTIN BEING THE MOST DENSELY POPULATED AREA, ALSO HAVING MORE ICING THAN THE OTHER AREAS AS SHOWN ON THE PREVIOUS SLIDE.
AND AS I UNDERSTAND IT, WITH HE A HEAVIER CONCENTRATION OF THE MOST, I, UH, AFFECTED TREES, UH, MOSTLY, UH, LIVE OAKS WERE IMPACTED THE WORST BECAUSE, UH, BECAUSE THEY'RE STILL CARRYING LEAVES THAT TIME OF YEAR.
SO HERE I'LL START TAKING US THROUGH THE TIMELINE OF EVENTS STARTING WITH, UH, STORM PREPARATION AND BLUE.
AS I MENTIONED, THIS STARTED WITH OUR SITUATIONAL AWARENESS CALLS, GETTING FULL BRIEFINGS FROM OUR WEATHER PROVIDER.
ALSO, STORM PREP INCLUDED GETTING HOTELS AND MEALS SET UP FOR OUR CREWS AND ACTIVATING OUR INCIDENT COMMAND.
ALL OF THAT WAS STARTED AND ACCOMPLISHED PRIOR TO HAVING A SINGLE CUSTOMER OUTAGE AT AROUND 3:30 AM ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1ST.
OUTAGES FROM THE STORM STARTED COMING IN 30 MINUTES LATER AT 4:00 AM OUR GENERAL MANAGER DIRECTED US TO REQUEST MUTUAL AID.
AND YOU CAN SEE HERE THE BLUE LINE OF OUTAGES INCREASES VERY QUICKLY BY 7:00 AM WE HAD NEARLY A HUNDRED THOUSAND OUTAGES, AND WE INITIATED MAKING CONTACT WITH THOSE UTILITIES REGARDING MUTUAL AID.
AS YOU CAN SEE, THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS OUT AT ANY GIVEN TIME WAS NEARLY 174,000 CUSTOMERS, 32% OF OUR CUSTOMERS.
AND, UM, WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS THAT THE TIMELINE IS BAKE BROKEN DOWN INTO THREE BASIC WAVES OF STORM RESTORATION.
UH, AND DURING THIS INITIAL PHASE, FREEZING RAIN AND ICE ACCUMULATION MADE RESTORATION DIFFICULT AND HAZARDOUS VEGETATION FALLING ON OUR LINES.
THE CHALLENGING WEATHER AND REPEATED OUTAGES MADE EVEN A FULL DAMAGE ASSESSMENT VERY DIFFICULT DURING THIS FIRST PHASE.
HERE YOU CAN SEE, UH, JUST A FEW EXAMPLES OF DOWNED VEGETATION, UM, BLOCKING OUR CREWS FROM GETTING TO WHERE THEY NEEDED TO GO.
AND WHEN OUR CREWS ENCOUNTERED THIS ON THE ROADS, UH, THEY WOULD STOP, UH, CUT THE TREES UP INTO MANAGEABLE SIZE PIECES AND BE ABLE TO GET TO WHERE THEY NEEDED TO GO.
UM, IN ADDITION, DURING THIS TIME, GETTING AROUND WAS DIFFICULT DUE TO ICE, AND OF COURSE, UM, OUR CREWS ARE DRIVING AROUND IN SOME VERY LARGE TRUCKS AND GETTING UP AND DOWN SOME OF THESE HILLS, UH, IN PARTS OF OUR SERVICE TERRITORY IS VERY DANGEROUS, UH, TO DO IN THE ICE.
SO, UM, HOPEFULLY WE'RE ABLE TO PLAY THIS VIDEO.
I'M NOT GONNA COUNT ON IT TONIGHT, UM, BUT THIS IS ONE OF OUR, UH, TEAM MEMBERS.
DO YOU THINK IT'S GONNA PLAY? OH, OKAY.
SO, UH, THIS IS ONE OF OUR CREW MEMBERS WHO WAS TALKING ABOUT ALL THE CHALLENGES OUT IN THE FIELD, UM, DURING A STORM EVENT, HOW, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S ALREADY A VERY DANGEROUS JOB, UH, BECOMES ABOUT A THOUSAND TIMES MORE DANGEROUS.
AND, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE, THEY'RE TRYING TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY'RE SAFE AND THAT THEIR COWORKERS ARE SAFE AND GET HOME TO THEIR FAMILIES EACH DAY.
AND, UM, HE ALSO TALKED ABOUT HOW THEY WOULD RESTORE, UH, A SECTION, UM, AND GET A CALL.
THEY'D GET IT DONE, RE YOU KNOW, REMOVE THE TREES, REMOVE WHATEVER CONDITION, GET EVERYTHING FIXED UP AND LEAVE THE JOB, AND 40 MINUTES LATER GET A CALL RIGHT BACK AS ANOTHER TREE HAD FALLEN AND THEY BACK RIGHT BACK REPAIRING
[01:15:01]
THE SAME SECTION THEY HAD JUST FIXED.AND THIS NEXT SLIDE REALLY SPEAKS TO THAT CHALLENGE, UM, OF REPEATED OUTAGES THAT POSED A SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE FOR US IN MAKING PROGRESS ON RESTORATIONS.
SO THIS SLIDE SHOWS IN FOUR HOUR INCREMENTS, THE OUTAGES IN BLUE AND THE RESTORATIONS IN ORANGE.
AND, UM, FEBRUARY 2ND WAS A PARTICULARLY CHALLENGING DAY FOR US AS OUR RESTORATIONS REALLY, UH, COULDN'T, COULDN'T KEEP UP WITH, UH, WITH NEW OUTAGES WERE LARGELY CANCELED OUT BY THOSE NEW OUTAGES THAT WERE COMING IN.
AND, UM, ALL TOLD DURING THE COURSE OF THE EVENT, THERE WERE OVER 373,000 RESTORATIONS THAT WE COMPLETED.
SOME OF THOSE WERE REPEAT OUTAGES THAT WERE RESTORED, AND SOME OF THOSE ARE NEW OUTAGES THAT CAME IN AT A DIFFERENT POINT DURING THE COURSE OF THE EVENT.
IN THE INITIAL PHASE, THIS PHASE ONE THAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, WE WERE FOCUSED ON, UH, RESTORING CRITICAL FACILITIES OR CRITICAL LOAD CUSTOMERS AND LARGE CIRCUIT LOCKOUTS.
SO WHEN I SAY CIRCUIT LOCKOUT, EVERY ELECTRIC CIRCUIT IS, UH, EVERY ELECTRIC SYSTEM IS MADE UP OF CIRCUITS.
UM, THESE ARE THE MAIN LINES I, I MENTIONED.
I SHOWED THOSE TWO, THOSE EXAMPLES OF THE SEXUALIZATION.
SO THESE CIRCUITS HAVE BREAKERS KIND OF LIKE A LARGE SCALE VERSION OF THE CIRCUIT BREAKER IN YOUR HOME.
AND, UM, THESE ARE A PROTECTIVE DEVICE THAT HELPS SAFEGUARD AND PREVENT FURTHER DAMAGE.
SO WHEN AN OBJECT COMES INTO CONTACT WITH THE EQUIPMENT ON THAT CIRCUIT, THAT CIRCUIT BREAKER WILL OPEN UP TO SHUT DOWN THE CIRCUIT AND PREVENT FURTHER DAMAGE.
SO IF A, IF THE CIRCUIT CLEARS ITSELF QUICKLY, THE CIRCUIT BREAKER CAN CLOSE BACK AND POWER CAN FLOW AS NECESSARY.
I MENTIONED THAT BECAUSE IN A TYPICAL STORM RESTORATION, CLEARING THOSE CIRCUIT LOCKOUTS, UH, IN PHASE ONE OF THIS TIMELINE WOULD RESTORE 90%, UH, OF CUSTOMERS ROUGHLY.
HOWEVER, THIS EVENT TURNED OUT TO BE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
AND THAT BRINGS US TO PHASE TWO OF THE TIMELINE.
SO AFTER THOSE MAINLINE CIRCUITS WERE BROUGHT BACK UP, THAT LED TO THE LATERALS OFF OF THE MAIN LINES AS WE WORKED OUR WAY DOWN TO THE MOST GRANULAR DAMAGE.
UM, IN DOING SO, WE'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING AS COMPLICATED AND LABORIOUS AS THIS WITH SO MUCH MANUAL WORK, UH, REQUIRED ALL OVER OUR SYSTEM, CIRCUIT AFTER CIRCUIT WITH TREE DAMAGE UP AND DOWN THE LINE, BROKEN CROSS ARMS, BROKEN POLES, DOZENS OF SEPARATE ISSUES, PREVENTING THEM FROM BEING ENERGIZED UNTIL THE PROBLEMS WERE FIXED.
HERE IN PHASE TWO, WE WERE STILL WORKING ON SOME CRITICAL FACILITIES WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY WORKING OUR WAY FROM LARGEST OUTAGES TO SMALLEST OUTAGES TO GET THE MOST CUSTOMERS BACK UP AND WORKING THEM OLDEST TO NEWEST.
DURING THIS STAGE, WE ALSO EXPERIENCED HIGH WINDS AND RAIN.
SO I MENTIONED HOW LABORIOUS AND TIME CONSUMING THIS WAS AND, AND THESE, UH, THREE PICTURES HERE JUST SHOW ONE OF THE, UH, DIFFICULT SITUATIONS THAT WE HAVE.
A LOT OF OUR POLES ARE IN CUSTOMER'S BACKYARDS.
THOSE ARE HARD TO GET TO AND INACCESSIBLE BY BUCKET TRUCKS.
AND HERE YOU CAN SEE SOME CHALLENGING TERRAIN THAT REQUIRED MANUAL WORK FOR THIS CREW TO GET THAT POLE BACK IN PLACE AFTER ALL THE TREE DAMAGE THAT TOOK THIS POLE DOWN.
AND SOMEBODY SAID THAT THAT PICTURE ON THE LEFT LOOKED LIKE THE, UH, STATUE OF IWOJIMA.
AND THIS, THIS PICTURE SHOWS THE LOCATION WHERE JACKIE AND ELTON PROVIDED ONE OF THE PRESS CONFERENCES.
THIS WORK WAS ACTUALLY CALLED IN AS WHAT APPEARED TO BE A LEANING POLE, BUT, UM, AND THAT THAT WOULD'VE BEEN ABOUT A TWO HOUR JOB.
UH, WHEN THE CREW ARRIVED AT THE SITE, UH, WHAT WAS THOUGHT TO BE A LEANING POLE ACTUALLY TURNED OUT TO BE A BROKEN POLE AT THE VERY BASE OF THAT POLE.
UM, AND THAT REQUIRED EXTRA CREWS, AS YOU CAN SEE HERE, FOUR TRUCKS.
AND, UM, THAT TURNED IT OUT TO BE AN ALL DAY JOB.
ALSO, IT'S WORTH NOTING HERE THAT THE CAUSE OF THIS WAS A TREE FALLING INTO COMMUNICATIONS LINES, UH, NOT THE POWER LINES.
AND THAT WAS, UM, THAT WAS A COMMON OCCURRENCE.
THE, THE COMMUNICATIONS LINES THAT ARE AFFIXED TO OUR POLES ARE ATTACHED WELL, AND A LOT OF THE TREES THAT FELL OVER ACTUALLY ENDED UP TAKING SOME OF THOSE POLES DOWN, UH, DUE TO THE COMMUNICATIONS LINES.
SO ONCE WE GOT THROUGH THIS PHASE TWO WORK, WE WERE ABLE TO GET TO THE INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMERS IN PHASE THREE.
IF YOU'D MOVED TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
SO THIS IS THE LAST PHASE WE TRANSITIONED TO RECONNECTS STARTING ON THE NINTH.
WE EXPEDITED THESE CUSTOMER RECONNECTS WITH THE HELP OF D S D, THE DEPARTMENT, THE DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN, FOR CUSTOMERS TO GET ELECTRICIANS AND GET INSPECTED AND GREEN TAGGED IN ORDER FOR US TO RESTORE AND SEND A CREW TO SAFELY RECONNECT THEIR EQUIPMENT TO OUR SYSTEM.
HERE YOU CAN SEE A CUSTOMER SERVICE PANEL
[01:20:01]
AND WEATHERHEAD TORN OFF THEIR HOME ON THE LEFT AND A BENT AND BROKEN WEATHERHEAD ON THE RIGHT.UH, WE SAW WELL OVER A THOUSAND OF THESE CASES AND SOME, SOME CONTINUED TO, SOME CONTINUED TO COME IN WELL AFTER THE STORM WAS OVER AS CUSTOMER REPAIRS WERE MADE.
AND THAT'S ALL I'VE GOT FOR YOU ON THE OPERATIONS TIMELINE AND OVERVIEW.
AND NEXT ELTON RICHARDS WILL TALK ABOUT VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, REALLY NOT LOOKING AT VIDEO OF THE, DON'T WANNA TURN AROUND, LOOK AT THIS WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU.
SO I'VE GOT THE SLIDE UP HERE.
ALL RIGHT, GOOD EVENING, EVENING CHAIR COMMISSIONERS.
I'M ELTON RICHARDS, ELECTRIC SYSTEMS FIELD OPERATIONS VICE PRESIDENT, AND I'LL BE SPEAKING TO YOU ABOUT THE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT.
SO THE CUSTOMER TREE TRIM IN THIS DURING THIS EVENT WAS MASSIVE, LARGER THAN ANYTHING I'VE EVER SEEN.
AND THE PICTURES THAT YOU GOT UP HERE ARE VERY REPRESENTATIVE ABOUT WHAT WAS OUT IN THE FIELD THAT WE SAW.
THIS WASN'T A MATTER OF JUST BRANCHES COMING OFF, THIS WAS WHOLE TREES COMING DOWN AND LIMBS THAT WERE 15 FOOT LONG OR LONGER.
SO IN, UH, YOU GUYS LIVE IN AUSTIN, YOU DROVE AROUND, YOU SAW WHAT WAS OUT THERE IN STREETS.
UH, THE FUNNY THING ABOUT THESE TWO PICTURES IS EXACTLY WHAT STEWART WAS, UH, ALLUDING TO.
THESE ARE BOTH POLES OR WIRES THAT WERE DAMAGED BECAUSE OF THE VEGETATION ON COMMS LINES, NOT ON POWER LINES.
AND THAT WAS VERY PREVALENT THROUGHOUT THE AREA AND THE DAMAGE IN THE FIELD.
SO THIS IS KIND OF AN OVERVIEW ON AUSTIN ENERGY'S CUSTOMER TREE TREATMENT CYCLES AND PRACTICES.
UH, YOU CAN SEE BY THE NUMBERS ON OUR DISTRIBUTION OVERHEAD, WE'VE GOT ABOUT 2,400 MILES, BUT THAT'S NOT COMPLETELY ALL THE CIRCUITS OR THE MILEAGE.
THEN WE HAVE 1400 MILES OF SECONDARY SERVICE AND APPROXIMATELY 1200 MILES OF STREET LIGHTS.
SO A TOTAL OF ABOUT 5,000 MILES THAT WE TAKE CARE OF WITH CUSTOMER TREE TRIMMING ON THAT.
THE CURRENT TRIM CYCLE THAT WE HAVE, OR STANDARD IS 15 FOOT PER FAST GROWING EIGHT FOOT FOR SLOW GROWING.
AND THAT'S WHAT WE'VE BEEN CUTTING TO SINCE 2019.
SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT COME IN ARE OBVIOUSLY THE TYPES OF TREES TO SPECIES IN THE YEAR.
WE DO HAVE THE OAK WILT, WHICH RUNS BETWEEN FEBRUARY AND JUNE, AND THEN WE HAD THE BIRD HABITAT FROM MARCH OR AUGUST.
NOW, UH, THE THING TO REMEMBER IS WE DON'T SHUT DOWN DURING THESE PERIODS.
SO LET'S SAY, UH, DAVE'S GOT A CIRCUIT THAT HE HAS AND HE'S GOT OAK ON HIS PROPERTY AND MARTY DOESN'T, WE'LL GO OUT AND TRIM THAT CIRCUIT.
WE'LL ASK DAVE, HEY, WE HAVE TRAINED ARBORIST.
WE STERILIZE THE TOOLS BEFORE EACH USE AND AFTER, AND WE, WHEN WE COAT THE CUTS, WE GIVE HIM THE OPTION, WOULD YOU LIKE US TO DO IT? IF HE SAYS NO, THEN WE SAY, OKAY, THANK YOU, AND WE'LL COME BACK WHEN THE SEASON'S OVER.
SO THE PROBLEM WITH THAT IS WE HAVE TO MOBILIZE TWICE TO DO THAT.
UH, I WILL SAY SOME OF THE COUNCIL MEMBERS HAVE BEEN VERY RECEPTIVE TO HOMEOWNER'S MEETINGS, AND THAT HAS BEEN A GODSEND FOR THINGS LIKE OAK WILT BECAUSE WE'VE HAD INDIVIDUALS SAY, ABSOLUTELY, IF YOU'RE TRAINED IN, YOU CAN DO IT SAFELY, GO AHEAD AND PROCEED.
AND THAT SAVES US FROM HAVING TO GO BACK BIRD HABITAT WE CAN'T TOUCH, DON'T WANT TO TOUCH.
BUT WHAT WE DO IS WE IN THERE, IN THAT TIMEFRAME, WE DO THE CUSTOMER TREE TRIM IN THE AREAS THAT DO NOT HAVE BIRD HABITAT.
WE JUST HAVE TO PLAN OUT WHERE WE'RE GOING.
WHEN WE DO A CIRCUIT, WE START AT THE SUBSTATION OF BREAKER AS HE WAS KIND OF LAYING OUT, AND WE GO ALL THE WAY TO THE END OF THAT LINE.
THAT WAY WHEN WE FINISH THAT CIRCUIT, WE CAN SAY THAT CIRCUIT IS FINISHED, AND THEN WE MOVE TO THE NEXT CIRCUIT THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
WE ALSO RESPOND TO LINE FUSE ISSUES.
IF A CUSTOMER CALLS UP AND AND SAYS, HEY, I GOT A TREE LAYING ON MY SERVICE OUT HERE, THEN WE'LL COME OUT AND WE'LL TRIM THAT.
SO WE DO OFF CYCLE FOR CUSTOMERS IF THEY DO HAVE ISSUES, AND THEY CALL IT IN THE THREE PRIMARY CONTRACTORS THAT WE'RE USING FROM A CONTRACT THAT STARTED TWO YEARS AGO IN JANUARY, 2021 IS DAVEY WRIGHTON ASHLAN.
THOSE ARE THE THREE THAT WE'RE USING CURRENTLY.
SO ALL THIS DOES IS JUST KINDA SHOW YOU THE RESTRICTIONS THAT WE HAVE EITHER BASED UPON BIRDER HABITAT OAKWELL OR COMBINED.
AND YOU CAN SEE IT IS A PRETTY BIG AREA, BUT WE'VE GOT A LARGE TERRITORY, SO WE ARE ABLE TO MOBILIZE IN AREAS THAT AREN'T AFFECTED.
SO WE CAN CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
[01:25:01]
SO I KNOW ONE OF THE QUESTIONS HAVE COME UP ABOUT HOW DO WE PRIORITIZE ON THE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT FOR CUSTOMER TREE TREATMENT.THE TWO PRIMARY THAT WE LOOK AT ARE THE WILDFIRE RISK.
WE DEFINITELY DON'T WANNA REPEAT OF WHAT HAPPENED IN CALIFORNIA OUT HERE.
SO THAT IS DEFINITELY ONE OF OUR PRIORITIES.
AND I KNOW THERE'S A QUESTION ABOUT, UH, I THINK, UH, KAY WAS ASKING ABOUT THE UNDERPERFORMING, HOW YOU DO IT.
SO AS LET'S SAY CIRCUIT 1 2 34 IS OUR UNDERPERFORMING TOP THIS YEAR, IF WE DO ALL THE CORRECTIVE MAINTENANCE ON IT AND WE DO THE CUSTOMER TREE TREATMENT ON IT AND BUILD THAT RELIABILITY UP, THAT DROPS OFF.
AND SO THEN IT DROPS DOWN ONE.
SO IT'S A ROLLING CYCLE AS WE WORK THE, THE THE UNDERPERFORMING OFF.
AND THEN WE ALSO LOOK AT A AGE AND LAST TIME THE CIRCUIT WAS DONE.
SO THE OLDEST ONES THAT HAVEN'T BEEN TRIMMED AND NOT TRIMMED TO THE CURRENT STANDARDS.
THOSE ARE THE THREE PRONGS THAT WE LOOK AT WHEN WE'RE LAYING OUT OUR VEGETATION MANAGEMENT FOR CUSTOMER TREE TRIMMING.
IN 2019 WE DID A DRONE PITCHER AND THIS WAS OUT AT STACK OH SEVEN, AND THIS WAS WHAT WAS OUT THERE.
AND AFTER WE DID THE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, THAT'S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.
UH, FIRST PICTURE, I DIDN'T KNOW THERE WERE A FENCE THERE.
I MEAN, IT'S PRETTY, PRETTY IMPRESSIVE WHEN YOU SEE SOMETHING TRIMMED TO THE CURRENT STANDARDS, HOW MUCH IT ACTUALLY CLEANS IT UP.
SO BY THE NUMBERS IN 2022, WE TRIMMED 21 CIRCUITS.
THE TOTAL CIRCUITS TRIMMED SINCE OUR STANDARD CHANGED IN 2019 IS 62.
WE HAVE COMPLETED 149 MILES LAST YEAR.
AND KEEP IN MIND, MILEAGE ISN'T A REAL GOOD BASELINE TO USE.
I'VE GOT ONE CIRCUIT THAT'S THREE TENTHS OF A MILE, AND THE LONGEST CIRCUIT, 39 MILES.
SO IT IT, THAT'S NOT A REAL GOOD COMPARISON TO DO, BUT WE DO TRACK THE MILEAGE AS WE DO IT.
NUMBER CREWS WORKING IS BETWEEN 40 TO 45.
I KNOW ONE OF THE QUESTIONS CAME UP, WE ARE BUDGETED UP TO 60, THE SHORTAGE AND LABOR WORKFORCE IS KILLING THE CONTRACTORS.
I'VE HAD MEETINGS WITH ALL THE VICE PRESIDENTS OF OPERATIONS FOR ALL THREE OF OUR CONTRACTORS.
UH, ONE OF THE CONTRACTORS HAS GIVEN A $5,000 SIGN ON BONUS AND ANOTHER 10,000 IF YOU STAY FOR 12 MONTHS.
SO THEY'RE, THEY'RE TRYING TO GET 'EM UP, BUT, BUT ON AVERAGE, 40 TO 45 IS ALL WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO GET.
THE GOOD THING IS IS I'VE GOT MY VEGETATION MANAGEMENT MANAGER, UH, JOE OSBORNE, WE'RE TAKING THAT MONEY WE DIDN'T SPEND, BECAUSE WE DIDN'T HAVE THE CRUISE PUTTING TOGETHER ANOTHER CONTRACT FOR UP TO SIX ADDITIONAL VEGETATION MANAGEMENT CONTRACTORS.
AND THESE WILL BE SMALLER COMPANIES THAT POTENTIALLY COULDN'T BID WHEN WE WERE SAYING WE NEEDED 60, BUT THEY MIGHT HAVE FIVE OR SIX.
AND THEN WE'RE GOING TO ROLL THAT OUT AND THEN UTILIZE THOSE SMALLER COMPANIES TO START ON THESE CIRCUITS ALSO.
SO THAT'LL GIVE US ADDITIONAL LEGS ON THE GROUND TO KIND OF GET AHEAD OF SOME OF THIS TRIMMING.
SO FOR 2023, WE'VE GOT 44 CIRCUITS PLANNED.
218 MILES, THAT'S WHAT THE 40 TO 45 CREWS THAT WE KNOW WE'RE GONNA HAVE.
AND THEN WE'RE PLANNING ON GETTING THE 20 ADDITIONAL WITH A CONTRACT THAT I JUST SPOKE ABOUT.
SO TO GIVE YOU AN OVERALL SCOPE OF THE SIZE OF WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT, WE GOT 419 CIRCUITS IN IN AUSTIN ENERGY RIGHT NOW.
307 OF THOSE REQUIRE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT WITH CUSTOMER TREE TRIMMING.
NOW, KEEP IN MIND WE'VE NEVER STOPPED VEGETATION MANAGEMENT AND CUSTOMER TREE TRIMMING.
WE JUST DID IT BEFORE AT A STANDARD THAT WE COULDN'T STAY AHEAD OF IT.
SO IT'S ALWAYS BEEN DONE FOR FOREVER.
BUT NOW WE'RE TRYING TO GET TO A SUSTAINABLE LEVEL SO WE CAN GET TO A FIVE TO SEVEN YEAR CYCLE WITH A MID-CYCLE TRIM IN THERE SO WE CAN CONTINUE IT AS WE GO FORWARD.
SO THE OTHER THING THAT CAME UP NEXT LINE, I'M SORRY, IS WHAT'S THE NOTIFICATION PROCESS? SO THERE WAS A LOT OF, UH, DISCUSSION ABOUT, WELL, A CUSTOMER CAN INFUSE, A CUSTOMER CAN'T REFUSE, THEY CAN REFUSE UP TO A POINT.
SO WE ARE VERY CUSTOMER FOCUSED ON OUR NOTIFICATION PROCESS.
MORE SO THAN ANY COMPANY I'VE EVER WORKED FOR.
OUR PLANNERS GO OUT AND THEY, THEY ACTUALLY WALK THE CIRCUIT DOWN FROM START TO FINISH ALMOST A YEAR AHEAD OF TIME.
THEY MAKE ANNOTATIONS ABOUT WHAT VEGETATION IS OUT THERE, THE SPECIES OF TREES, WHAT NEEDS TO BE TRIMMED, AND AS THEY'RE WALKING ALONG, THEY'RE HANGING DOOR CARDS AND KNOCKING ON DOORS TO NOTIFY CUSTOMERS.
SO LET'S GO BACK TO THE, THE SAME THING.
[01:30:01]
LET'S SAY DAVE SAYS, WELL, YOU KNOW, I REALLY DON'T WANT MY TREES CUT YOU.SO HE CALLS UP AND SAYS, I DON'T WANT A TREE CUT.
WE'LL SEND OUR TRAIN ARBORS OUT, WALK DAVE THROUGH, USE A LASER POINTER, SHOW 'EM WHAT WE'RE GONNA CUT, WHERE WE'RE CUTTING BACK TO.
WELL, MARTY SAYS, NOPE, I STILL DON'T WANT MY TREES CUT.
WE SAY, HEY, THIS IS WHAT WE'RE GONNA CUT.
SHE SAYS, NOPE, WE'RE STILL NOT GONNA CUT IT.
WELL, AT THAT POINT WE'LL SEND A CERTIFIED LETTER OUT SAYING, YEP, WE ARE GONNA CUT IT.
AND THEN WE GO OUT AND EXECUTE THE CUT.
THE PROBLEM IS THAT'S ABOUT A SIX MONTH PROCESS BY THE TIME YOU GET EVERYBODY BOUGHT IN.
SO IT'S VERY LABOROUS ON THE FRONT END.
UH, BUT WE DO, AS I SAID, IT, IT IS VERY CUSTOMER FOCUSED FOR THE INDIVIDUALS AROUND HERE.
UH, SO WE'LL CONTINUE TO DO THAT AS LONG AS IT'S ACCEPTABLE.
IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING PRETTY WELL.
THE PERCENTAGES, WHEN YOU LOOK AT HOW MANY PEOPLE WANT A DISCUSSION IS PROBABLY ABOUT 20 TO 30.
THE ONES THAT START TO HARD LINE REFUSE MAYBE 10%.
THE ONES THAT WE SENT LETTERS TO, I THINK IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS WE SENT FOUR LETTERS.
SO ALMOST NO ONE GETS TO THAT POINT.
AND I BELIEVE THAT'S IT FOR ME.
AND NEXT UP WOULD BE GREG CLAY, ARE WE DOING QUESTION NOW OR WE WAITING TO? OKAY, COOL.
GOOD EVENING, CHAIR AND COMMISSION MEMBERS.
I'M GREG FLAY, VICE PRESIDENT OF TECHNOLOGY AND DATA HERE AT AUSTIN ENERGY.
I'M HERE TO PRESENT ON THE TECHNOLOGY AND DATA ASPECTS OF THE OUTAGE MAP AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES.
SO CUSTOMERS COME TO THE OUTAGE MAP SEEKING ANSWERS TO TWO QUESTIONS.
DOES MY UTILITY KNOW THAT MY POWER IS OFF? AND WHEN WILL MY POWER BE RESTORED? THIS IS THE PURPOSE OF THE OUTAGE MAP.
THE TWO MAIN SYSTEMS INVOLVED IN PRODUCING THE OUTAGE MAP ARE ILLUSTRATED ON THE SLIDE.
THE FIRST IS THE COBRA STORM CENTER OUTAGE MAP APPLICATION, AND THE SECOND IS OUR SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC ADVANCED DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OR A D M S, WHICH IS USED FOR DISTRIBUTION GRID MONITORING AND CONTROL.
THE COBRA APPLICATION IS CLOUD-BASED AND IS UPDATED EVERY 10 MINUTES WITH A FILE CONTAINING ALL CONFIRMED AND UNCONFIRMED OUTAGES TO THE ADMS SYSTEM.
COBRA IS IN EFFECT A DISPLAY SYSTEM FOR THE DATA IN ADMS. THE OUTAGE DATA IS NOT FILTERED, MANIPULATED, OR MODIFIED AS IT COMES FROM ADMS. THIS INFORMATION IS VIEWABLE BY CUSTOMERS EITHER ON A DESKTOP OR A LAPTOP WEB BROWSER, AS WELL AS VIA MOBILE BROWSER.
I THINK, UH, HELP FOLKS UNDERSTAND EXACTLY HOW UH, COBRA OPERATES ARE THAT.
FIRST OF ALL, FOR LARGER AREAS, COBRA HAS LOGIC TO PLACE THE ICON CLOSE TO THE MIDDLE OF THAT AREA.
UH, SECONDLY, WE DON'T SHOW OUTAGES AT THE INDIVIDUAL HOUSE LEVEL ON THE MAP FOR SECURITY REASONS, CUSTOMERS MAY BE PART OF A NESTED OUTAGE WHEN A LARGE ISSUE IS FIXED, BUT A DIFFERENT ISSUE CLOSER TO THE HOME IS CAUSING AN OUTAGE WHILE THE ESTIMATED TIME OF RESTORATION OR ETR NORMALLY APPEARS FOR AN OUTAGE.
DURING BLUE SKY DAYS, ETRS ARE SUSPENDED DURING STORM MODE, SO THEY DO NOT APPEAR ON THE MAP.
IN THE PAST, WE'VE REPRESENTED THE ACTUAL AREA COVERED BY LARGE OUTAGES AS POLYGONS, BUT WE HAVE REMOVED THESE BASED ON CUSTOMER FEEDBACK.
WE HIDE THE LEGEND BY DEFAULT AS IT OBSCURES OTHER FEATURES SUCH AS NAVIGATION BUTTONS AND THE ABILITY TO TOGGLE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND SPANISH.
LASTLY, FOLLOWING THE 2021 WINTER STORM, WE MADE SEVERAL IMPROVEMENTS AS A RESULT OF CUSTOMER FEEDBACK AND AS CAPTURED IN THE AFTER ACTION REPORT, STAFF HAVE COMPLETED ALL THE IDENTIFIED ACTIONS.
OUTAGE REPORTING CAN HAPPEN IN SEVERAL CHANNELS.
THE FIRST CHANNEL IS VIA PHONE, UH, TO OUR UTILITY CALL CENTER OR TO THREE 11, WHICH IS SUPPLEMENTED BY OUR AUTOMATED RESPONSE SYSTEM AND OUR CALL OVERFLOW SYSTEM OUTAGES REPORTED IN THIS WAY, ARE ENTERED TO DIRECTLY INTO OUR ADMS SYSTEM AND SHOW UP IN THAT SYSTEM AS AN UNCONFIRMED OUTAGE.
CUSTOMERS CAN ALSO REPORT THEIR OUTAGE VIA COOPER'S OUTAGE REPORTING AND STATUS SYSTEM, WHICH IS LINKED ON THE OUTAGE MAP OR VIA TEXT TO COOPER'S NOTIFY SYSTEM.
IN EITHER CASE, THE CUSTOMER ADDRESS IS OBTAINED VIA A CALL TO OUR CUSTOMER CARE AND BILLING SYSTEM OR CCN B, AND THE OUTAGE IS THEN LOGGED IN ADMS AS AN UNCONFIRMED OUTAGE.
LASTLY, CUSTOMERS CAN REPORT AN OUTAGE VIA A BUTTON ON THREE 11 MOBILE APP, WHICH THEN REDIRECTS THEM TO THE COBRA OUTAGE REPORTING AND STATUS SYSTEM.
A CUSTOMER CAN OBTAIN THE STATUS FOR THEIR SPECIFIC ADDRESS VIA
[01:35:02]
ENTERING THEIR ACCOUNT NUMBER OR PHONE NUMBER, AS WELL AS THEIR ZIP CODE IF USING THE WEBSITE OR BY TEXTING STAT VIA THEIR MOBILE PHONE.COOPER THEN SENDS US INFORMATION TO CCM B WHERE THE CUSTOMER ACCOUNT NUMBER OR PHONE NUMBER IS MATCHED TO AN ADDRESS, WHICH IS THEN RETURNED TO COBRA.
COBRA THEN REACHES BACK TO ADMS SYSTEM TO GET THE LATEST OUTAGE INFORMATION FOR THAT ADDRESS.
THE INFORMATION IS THEN PRESENTED TO THE CUSTOMER.
THE FIRST ISSUE WE HAD DURING MARA WITH THE COBRA PLATFORM WAS THAT AN INTERNAL THREAD COUNT LIMIT INHIBITED A DEFECTIVE EXECUTION OF DATA GATHERING DATA PRESENTATION PROCESSES.
THIS HAS ACTUALLY BEEN RESOLVED.
UM, THE PRESENTATION'S A LITTLE, UH, OUT OF DATE.
THIS HAS BEEN RESOLVED AND IS NO LONGER AN ISSUE.
THE SECOND ISSUE WE HAD WAS THAT THE TIMEOUT WINDOW FOR CALLS TO CCNB AND ADMS WAS TOO SHORT AT ABOUT 4.5 SECONDS, THE VENDOR IS PROVIDING A FIX FOR THIS.
AT THE END OF THIS MONTH, THE FIX WILL EXTEND THE TIMEOUT TO 30 SECONDS.
THE MAJORITY OF THE FAILED CALLS WERE, UH, TAKING ABOUT FIVE TO 10 SECONDS, WHICH FAILED FOUR AND A HALF.
OUR WORST CASE WITH HUNDREDS OF PHONE NUMBERS ASSOCIATED WITH A SINGLE ADDRESS TAKES LESS THAN 30 SECONDS.
SO THIS UPDATE SHOULD ADDRESS THE PROBLEM.
A THIRD ISSUE ASSOCIATED WITH THE OUTAGE REPORTING DURING MARA CONCERNS THE INBOUND QUOTA PARAMETER, WHICH ONLY ALLOWS A CERTAIN NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS TO SEND OUTAGE INFORMATION AT ONE TIME.
WE ROUGHLY TRIPLE THE SIZE OF THE INBOUND QUOTA PARAMETER, WHICH SHOULD BE ADEQUATE TO HANDLE THE NEXT SURGE.
I'D LIKE TO CLOSE BY NOTING THAT COBRA IS THE LEADING PROVIDER OF OUTAGE MAP AND NOTIFICATION SOFTWARE IN USE BY ALL THE UTILITIES THAT YOU SEE ON THIS SLIDE, INCLUDING THE TEXAS UTILITIES, CPS, ENCORE, A E P, AND AUSTIN ENERGY.
IT IS NOT PERFECT SOFTWARE, AS I'VE EXPLAINED, BUT IT IS THE BEST AVAILABLE COMMERCIAL PRODUCT.
AND NOW I'LL TURN THE PRESENTATION OVER TO LISA MARTIN TO SHARE INFORMATION ON MUTUAL AID.
UM, SO AS I SAID BEFORE, I'M THE VP OF ELECTRIC SYSTEM ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL SERVICES AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE IS ONE ASPECT OF FUNCTION THAT IS UNDER MY WORK GROUPS AND MUTUAL AID IS A VERY IMPORTANT ASPECT OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE.
SO MUTUAL AID IS EXACTLY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE.
IT'S UTILITIES HELPING OTHER UTILITIES IN TIMES OF NEED.
IT'S PURPOSEFULLY FLEXIBLE AND SCALABLE, AND IT PROVIDES THE RESOURCES AND THE EQUIPMENT THAT'S NEEDED TO TAKE ON A SUSTAINED OUTAGE.
UM, THAT IS BEYOND THE CAPABILITIES OF, YOU KNOW, A UTILITY DURING NORMAL OPERATIONS.
UM, FOR DECADES, AUSTIN ENERGY HAS BEEN A VERY, UM, STRONG CONTRIBUTOR TO MUTUAL AID FOR OTHERS IN NEED.
MOST NOTABLY, UH, RECENTLY WE WENT AND SENT CREWS TO FLORIDA AFTER HURRICANE IAN AND A FEW YEARS AGO WE SENT CREWS TO, UH, PUERTO RICO AFTER HURRICANE MARIA.
WE ALSO KEEP CREWS LO CLOSER TO HOME IN THE STATE OF TEXAS.
UM, AND AFTER HURRICANE NICHOLAS IN 2021, WE SENT PERSONNEL TO HOUSTON.
AND THEN AFTER HURRICANE HANNAH IN 2020, WE SENT THEM TO THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY.
HOWEVER, AUSTIN ENERGY HAS NOT OFTEN FOUND ITSELF IN NEED OF MUTUAL AID, BUT THAT WAS DEFINITELY NOT THE CASE DURING WINTER STORM.
SO I WANNA JUST CLARIFY FOR A MOMENT ABOUT THE TYPES OF MUTUAL AID THAT WE RECEIVED.
UM, SOMETIMES IT WAS NEIGHBORING UTILITIES.
WE DO THAT THROUGH, UM, LARGELY THROUGH MUTUAL AID ASSISTANCE AGREEMENTS THAT ARE ESTABLISHED THROUGH INDUSTRY, UM, UH, WORKING GROUPS.
AND WE'RE A MEMBER OF A NUMBER OF PUBLIC POWER WORKING GROUPS.
UM, IN OUR CASE, WE HAD, UH, CREWS COMING FROM NEW BRAUNFELS UTILITIES, CENTERPOINT ENERGY IN HOUSTON, AND CPS ENERGY IN SAN ANTONIO.
AND I ALSO HAVE ON THIS SLIDE CONTRACT CREWS.
AND THAT REFERS TO INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS WHO HAVE QUALIFIED PERSONNEL AND SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT, UM, TO BE ABLE TO CONTRIBUTE TO STORM RESTORATION.
ONE OF THE BENEFITS OF THESE TYPES OF CREWS IS THAT THEY DON'T HAVE A HOME UTILITY.
SO THEY DON'T HAVE A, A HOME GRID THAT THEY HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF FIRST, AND SO THEY CAN BE AVAILABLE LONGER, UM, THROUGHOUT THE END OF THE STORM.
UM, THOSE, UH, COMPANIES THAT, UH, PROVIDED MUTUAL AID TO AUSTIN ENERGY DURING WINTER STORM MARA INCLUDE RENEGADE BIRD ELECTRIC MP TECHNOLOGIES AND TEMPEST ENERGY.
IN TOTAL, WE ADDED 445 PERSONNEL TO OUR, UM, TO AUGMENT OUR EXISTING PERSONNEL.
AND WE CALCULATED OVER, UM, 1,600 PERSONNEL, UM, INCLUDING DISTRIBUTION RESTORATION SUBSTATION, UH, VEGETATION, UH, WORKING TO CONTRIBUTE TO WINTER STORM MA RESTORATION.
UM, THE, UH, WHEN, WHEN YOU BRING ON MUTUAL AID, UH, WE HAVE TO REMEMBER FIRST AND FOREMOST THAT SAFETY IS A TOP PRIORITY.
[01:40:01]
SO WE DON'T JUST SEND CREWS OUT TO WORK ON OUR SYSTEM, WE HAVE TO PAIR THEM WITH AN AUSTIN ENERGY PERSONNEL WHO WE REFER TO AS A BIRD DOG.AND THAT PERSON IS IN CONSTANT COMMUNICATION WITH, UM, OUR DISPATCH CENTER AND THEN ALSO OVERSEEING THE CREWS IN THE FIELD.
SO IT'S A EFFICIENT WAY OF, OF SENDING OUT MASS GROUPS, UM, WHILE STILL MAINTAINING CONTROL OVER THE SITUATION.
UM, AND THEN ANOTHER, UM, CONSIDERATION THAT HAS TO COME INTO PLACE IS THAT WHEN YOU BRING ON EXTRA CREWS, YOU HAVE TO HAVE SPACE FOR THEIR DAILY BRIEFINGS TO STAGE ALL THEIR EQUIPMENT.
AND AT SOME POINT WE MAXED OUT OUR EXISTING SERVICE CENTERS, AND SO WE HAD TO FIND ANOTHER LOCATION, UM, AND WE SET UP A TEMPORARY SERVICE CENTER IN COORDINATION WITH TEXT DOT, UM, FOR MUTUAL AID STAGING GROUNDS.
SO THIS IS A TIMELINE, UM, OF THE MUTUAL AID CREWS OVER THE COURSE OF THE, UH, RESTORATION EFFORTS.
AND I WANTED TO, UM, POINT OUT THAT WE REQUESTED MUTUAL AID AS SOON AS THE OUTAGES BEGAN, AND WE BROUGHT ON CREWS BEFORE THE STORM WAS EVEN OVER.
WE'VE BEEN TALKING A LOT, UM, IN HINDSIGHT WITH TO, UM, OUR PEER UTILITIES WHO EXPERIENCE HURRICANES.
AND A LOT OF TIMES THEY WAIT TILL THE STORM IS COMPLETELY PASSED AND THEN THEY START BRINGING ON THE CREWS TO, UM, GO OUT IN THE FIELD.
BUT YOU CAN SEE THAT WE HAVE SEVERAL CREWS THAT WERE, UM, IN EFFECT DURING THE FIRST COUPLE OF DAYS, AND WE CONTINUE TO BRING ON CREWS THROUGHOUT THOSE FIRST DAYS.
AND THEN YOU SEE THAT SECOND STORM, WE THOUGHT THERE WAS GONNA BE SOME ADDITIONAL WEATHER ON THE SIXTH AND THE SEVENTH, SOME OF OUR UTILITY, UH, COUNTERPARTS HAD TO SEND HOME TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR GRID.
AND, UH, THEN WE JUST INCREASED THE CONTRACT CREWS TO MAKE UP FOR KEEPING A CONSTANT NUMBER ON OUR GRID.
AND THEN THE MUTUALLY CRUISE STAYED UNTIL THE END OF THE RESTORATION.
SO THESE ARE JUST A FEW PHOTOS OF MUTUAL AID CREWS IN COORDINATION WITH AUSTIN SYNERGY AND INACTION.
WE'RE VERY GRATEFUL FOR THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO CAME TO SUPPORT US DURING WINTER STORM MARA.
AND, UH, IN TOTAL THOSE, UH, 445 PERSONNEL WORKING 16 HOUR DAYS ADDED, UH, AN ADDITIONAL 43,000 HOURS OF SUPPORT, AND THEY DID SO WITH ZERO, UH, REPORTABLE INSTANCE.
SO WE'RE VERY PLEASED WITH THEIR SAFETY CULTURE, OUR SAFETY CULTURE, AND THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN OUR FIELD PERSONNEL, OUR DISPATCH CREW, AND OUR SAFETY TEAM.
UM, SO WE'RE VERY GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF THE WORK THAT THEY DID AND, UH, WE LEARNED A LOT FROM RECEIVING THIS MUCH MUTUAL AID.
AND SO WE'RE GONNA INCORPORATE THOSE LESSONS LEARNED THROUGH OUR AFTER ACTION REPORT, WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY NEXT SLIDE.
ALL RIGHT, SO I'M GONNA STAY UP HERE AND TELL YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT OUR PLAN IS FOR AFTER ACTION.
UM, SO WE HAVE AN IN-HOUSE TEAM CALLED CORPORATE QUALITY SERVICES, AND THEY ARE DEDICATED TO FOSTERING A CULTURE OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND ENHANCING OPERATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS.
SO THESE ARE FOLKS WHO ARE TRAINED IN QUALITY MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES, ROOT CAUSE ANALYSES, VALUE STREAM MAPPING, AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
UM, THEY WORK THROUGHOUT THE UTILITY WITH ALL OF OUR BUSINESS UNITS TO ENHANCE PROCESSES, DEVELOP TOOLS, AND ESSENTIALLY IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE WORK THAT WE DO EVERY DAY.
AND SO THAT'S WHO'S GONNA BE LEADING AUSTIN'S AFTER ACTION REPORT, AND IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE WOULD DO AFTER ANY, UM, INCIDENT COMMAND ACTIVATION.
NOW, I KNOW THERE ARE MANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC COUNCIL AND THIS COMMISSION WHO ARE VERY INTERESTED IN OUR AFTER ACTION REVIEW, AND WE'RE VERY HAPPY ABOUT THAT.
BUT EVEN IF NO ONE WAS GONNA READ THE REPORT, WE WOULD BE DOING THIS WORK ANYWAY BECAUSE WE'RE A CONTINUOUSLY LEARNING ORGANIZATION, UH, DATA DRIVEN AND ROOTED IN CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENTS.
SO THE FOCUS OF THE AFTER ACTION THAT I'M GONNA TALK ABOUT TODAY IS US AND ENERGY'S, UH, EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO WINTER STORM.
OUR REVIEW HAS THREE OBJECTIVES TO UNDERSTAND OUR ACTIONS AS THEY RELATE TO THE WINTER STORM EVENT, TO IDENTIFY THE FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTED TO ANY PROCESS BREAKDOWNS AND TO IDENTIFY EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR RESPONDING TO SIMILAR INCIDENTS IN THE FUTURE.
AND OF COURSE, WE ARE A CITY DEPARTMENT, AND SO WHILE WE ARE BEST POISED TO REVIEW THE TECHNICAL AND OPERATIONAL ASPECT OF OUR RESPONSE, WE ARE PART AND PARCEL OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
AND THE CITY OF AUSTIN AS A WHOLE WILL ALSO BE DOING AN AFTER ACTION REVIEW LED BY HESO.
AND OUR REVIEW WILL BECOME PART OF THAT.
THERE'S GONNA BE A UTILITY SECTION THAT'LL INCLUDE SOME OF OUR FINDINGS AND THEN POINT TO OUR OVERARCHING REPORT.
UM, SO OUR FINDINGS WILL BE COVERED IN AT LEAST THESE SEVEN FOCUS AREAS.
UM, AND THEN THESE ARE ESSENTIALLY AREAS OF OUR INSTANT COMMAND, UM, ACTIVATION AND, UM, ACTUALLY THE, THE NUMBER OF AREAS HAVE GROWN SINCE WE'VE STARTED THIS SLIDE.
SO OUR AFTER ACTION REVIEW APPROACH, UH, INVOLVES FIVE STEP PROCESS.
WE WILL PLAN, DISCOVER, ANALYZE, IMPROVE, AND REPORT.
SO WE'RE IDENTIFYING WHAT WENT WELL AND WHAT DID NOT GO WELL.
WE'RE ADDRESSING CRITICAL QUESTIONS, IDENTIFYING ROOT CAUSES OF OUR MAJOR FINDINGS, AND WE'RE
[01:45:01]
ANALYZING THE RESPONSE TO THE 2021 STORMS, INCLUDING URI, UM, AND COMPARING AND CONTRASTING THAT TO OUR WORK AFTER, UH, OR DURING WINTER STORM MARA.UM, AT THE CURRENT TIME WE ARE WRAPPING UP THE DISCOVER PHASE.
WE'VE ALSO BEGUN THE ANALYSIS PHASE.
SO WE'RE, WE'RE KIND OF IN BETWEEN THOSE TWO PHASES RIGHT NOW.
AND WHEN WE GET TO THE IMPROVE PHASE, WE'LL DEVELOP AN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN THAT WE WILL CARRY THROUGH OUR FINDINGS AND OUR ACTIONS UNTIL WE GET, TILL WE, UM, COMPLETE THOSE.
UM, AND WE'LL DO THAT AFTER WE PUBLISH THE REPORT.
UM, BUT AS YOU'VE HEARD, MANY OF MY COLLEAGUES SAY ALREADY, WE DON'T HAVE TO WAIT TILL WE GET A REPORT TO ALREADY MAKE CHANGES.
THERE ARE OPPORTUNITIES, UM, THAT ARE ALREADY UNDERWAY TO BEGIN MAKING, UM, IMPROVEMENTS IN OUR DAY-TO-DAY ACTION AND TO READY OURSELVES FOR THE NEXT STORM, CUZ WE KNOW THEY WILL KEEP COMING.
UM, AND SO ESSENTIALLY THIS IS A STANDARDIZED PROCESS TO DETERMINE WHAT WE SHOULD START, WE SHOULD STOP AND WHAT WE SHOULD CONTINUE DOING AS WE APPROACH THE NEXT, UM, ANTICIPATED LONG DURATION OUTAGE EVENT.
AND SO I THINK THAT'S OUR FINAL SLIDE IF YOU'D GO ONE MORE.
AND, UH, CHAIR HOPKINS WILL TURN IT BACK TO YOU.
UM, SO NOW AS I MENTIONED, I THINK I'D LIKE TO JUST GO AROUND THE HORN.
SO COMMISSIONER REED, IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR FOLKS? YEAH, THE FIRST ONE IS FOR, UM, I THINK FOR ELTON ON THE TREE TRIMMING, UH, YOU HAD A, YOU HAD A, A SLIDE THAT SHOWED 2022 AND 2023.
I GUESS MY QUESTION IS REALLY ABOUT, UM, AND, AND THAT YOU'RE PLANNING FOR ADDITIONAL CREWS, YOU KNOW, DO YOU HAVE ALL THE THINKING ABOUT OUR ROLE? DO YOU, DO YOU HAVE ALL THE BUDGETARY AUTHORITY YOU NEED TO ENACT THE PLAN THAT YOU HAVE IN FRONT OF YOU? IS, IS, YEAH, WE DO CYRUS AND, AND I WANT TO THANK YOU GUYS, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF, YOU'VE BEEN WITH ME THROUGH THIS WHOLE THING.
UM, YOU KNOW, JACKIE'S THE ONE THAT ACTUALLY DIRECTED THE COO TO GO BACK TO THE CITY IN 2019 AND GET THE STANDARD BACK TO SOMETHING SUSTAINABLE.
UH, WHEN I ASK YOU GUYS FOR THE, THE BUDGET TO GET ADDITIONAL CREWS IN HERE, YOU GUYS DIDN'T HESITATE.
SO YAS AIRS, YOU GUYS HAVE DONE GREAT.
SO THE NEXT ONE THAT YOU'RE GONNA SEE IS WE'VE GOT THE, UH, BID GOING UP AND I THINK THEY'RE DOING THE, UM, REVIEW OF THE BIDS THIS WEEK OR NEXT WEEK.
AND I'VE TOLD JOE OSBORNE, AS SOON AS THAT GETS WRAPPED UP, I WANTED TO GET IN FRONT OF YOU.
WE WILL PULL IT UP SO I CAN GET THAT IN FRONT OF YOU TO GET THAT CONTRACT PUSHED OUT.
SO THAT WOULD BE THE ONLY THING I'D SAY IS WHEN THAT CONTRACT COMES UP, JUST BE FLEXIBLE ON PULLING IT INTO THE SCHEDULE, UH, INSTEAD OF PUSHING IT OUT TO THE JUNE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
AND THEN MY OTHER, CAN I ASK IT? SURE.
MY OTHER QUESTION WAS MORE ABOUT, UM, AND THIS IS BASED ON MY SCIENTIFIC, UH, REVIEW, WHICH WAS TALKING TO THE OTHER MACALLEN SOCCER PARENTS DURING GIRLS' SOCCER GAMES, MANY OF WHOM WERE AFFECTED AND DIDN'T HAVE POWER.
UM, SO IT'S VERY SCIENTIFIC, BUT A LOT OF THE FOLKS UPSET WERE UPSET JUST ABOUT COMMUNICATION AND NOT KNOWING WHEN THEIR HOME WOULD COME BACK ON SO THEY COULD PLAN.
AND I DON'T KNOW IF THIS GOES TO THE, TO THE OUTAGE, UM, YOU KNOW, SOFTWARE, SO THAT MAY NOT BE FOR YOU, BUT NO, I I CAN ANSWER.
SO THE, SO, SO AS AN EXAMPLE, UM, THE PARENTS OF THE BACKUP GOALIE AND NOT NAMING NAMES WERE VERY, WE'RE VERY UPSET.
UM, SO WE'RE VERY UP, WE'RE VERY UPSET, UM, BECAUSE THEY WENT A LONG TIME WITHOUT POWER AND THEN THEY FOUND OUT FROM ONE OF THOSE VISITING CREWS THAT THE HOMES RIGHT BEHIND THEM DID HAVE POWER.
AND SO THEN THAT CREW BASICALLY SAID, OH, WE'LL GO AHEAD AND DO YOUR HOME CUZ IT'S ON THE SAME, YOU KNOW, IT'S BASICALLY ON THE SAME CIRCUIT OR WHATEVER.
SO JUST AT AT LEAST THIS IS, AGAIN, THIS ISN'T SCIENTIFIC, THERE SEEMED TO BE A LITTLE BIT OF A HAPHAZARD NATURE ON HOW PEOPLE GOT THEIR POWER BACK AND, AND, AND WHERE IS THAT TRUE? OR HOW, HOW DO WE NO, I, I CAN TELL YOU THERE, THERE'S NO SCIENTIFIC METHOD TO AN ETR.
UH, I THINK I SAID ONE OF MY PRESS CONFERENCES, I CAN THROW A NUMBER OUT THERE THAT I HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN AND MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER, BUT I'D RATHER WAIT UNTIL WE CAN ASSESS EVERYTHING AND PROVIDE ONE.
I CAN TELL YOU THE, THE PROBLEM WITH THIS STORM VERSUS EVERY OTHER STORM I'VE EVER SEEN HERE IS ON THE INITIAL FRONT WE THOUGHT, OKAY, CIRCUITS,
[01:50:01]
WE GET THE CIRCUITS WALKED DOWN, WE'LL GET 90% OF THE CUSTOMERS RESTORED.WE HAD NEVER SEEN THE OUTAGE NUMBERS OR THE DAMAGE ON AN INDIVIDUAL CIRCUIT.
SO I WAS OUT EVERY DAY WITH THE CREWS AND WHERE WE WOULD NORMALLY ON A THREE MILE LINE, CLEAN UP ONE AREA, PICK UP 3000 CUSTOMERS AND LEAVE A HUNDRED STRANDED.
THERE WERE FOUR TO FIVE AREAS DAMAGE ON THAT THREE MILE AREA.
I WAS WITH ONE CREW AND IT TOOK US FOUR HOURS TO GO A QUARTER OF A MILE BECAUSE OF THE DAMAGE ON IT.
SO WHEN WE LOOKED AT THE NUMBERS ON THE BOARD, WE DIDN'T SEE THAT DAMAGE BEHIND.
AND AS FAR AS THE EXAMPLES OF THAT, I'LL, I I'LL TELL YOU ONE ESCALATED COMPLAINT THAT I HAD, UH, THE GUY WAS CALLING, HE WAS SAYING, YOU KNOW, I, I DON'T SEE THE OUTAGE ON THE OUTAGE MAP.
YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN IS THE DOT'S NOT ON YOUR HOUSE, IT'S IN THE GENERAL AREA.
I SAID, BUT HERE'S THE PROBLEM.
THERE'S 186 METERS ASSOCIATED WITH THE, THE TAP THAT WE'RE WORKING ON RIGHT NOW.
I CAN TELL YOU THAT TAP WILL BE RESTORED IN ABOUT THREE HOURS, BUT I CAN'T TELL YOU YOU'RE GONNA BE RESTORED BECAUSE YOU MIGHT BE 180 6 OUTTA 180 5.
SO, AND, AND THERE WE DO LOGIC ON LARGEST CUSTOMER COUNT INITIALLY IN THE FIRST 24 HOURS.
THEN WE LOOK AT LARGER CUSTOMER OUT AND WHO'S BEEN OUT THE LONGEST.
AND THEN WE WAVE BETWEEN THOSE TWO OF 'EM TRIED TO MEET IN THE MIDDLE, BUT WE ALSO GIVE THE CREWS THE AUTONOMY TO DO EXACTLY WHAT THAT CREW DID.
IF THEY WERE THERE AND THEY COULD RESTORE 'EM AND THEY FIND OUT ABOUT IT, WHY WOULD I DEMOBILIZE AND SEND 'EM THREE HOURS ACROSS THE CITY WHEN THEY COULD SPEND ONE MORE HOUR AND PICK UP MORE CUSTOMERS THERE? SO WE DO HAVE A STRATEGY ON IT, AND I WOULD SAY IT IN GENERAL, IT WORKS WELL, BUT WE ABSOLUTELY GIVE THE CREW LEADS TO AUTONOMY TO MAKE A DECISION.
SHE THOUGHT IT WAS CUZ THEY GAVE HIM COFFEE.
UH,
PROBABLY DID GET SOME, SOME GOOD GOODWILL ON THAT.
SO I GUESS ONE OF THE, IN THE, I GUESS THE, THE QUESTION OR THE COMMENT IS REALLY IN THE AFTER ACTION REPORT, I HOPE YOU'RE ALSO LOOKING AT HOW YOU COMMUNICATED WITH CUSTOMERS ABOUT TIMELINES FOR RESTORING.
CUZ THAT'S REALLY WHAT UPSET, I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE THE MOST IS JUST NOT KNOWING.
TAMMY COOPER IS, IS OVER THE, THE PIO AND WHILE WE DID A LOT OF COMMUNICATION, WE KNOW THERE'S OPPORTUNITY FOR WHAT WAS COMMUNICATED.
SO SHE HAS THAT ACTION AND HER TEAM IS, IS WORKING ON THAT.
AND IT WILL ABSOLUTELY BE IN THE AFTER ACTION REVIEW.
UH, UH, AND, AND FIRST OF ALL, FIRST OF ALL, THE, UH, MUTUAL AID AGREEMENTS.
I GUESS THAT'S A QUESTION, UH, FOR YOU MS. MARTIN.
UH, I, EVEN THOUGH I'VE WORKED IN THIS FIELD FOR YEARS, I'VE NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN A MUTUAL AID AGREEMENT.
UH, CAN WHAT IS THE, AND AND BEFORE I SAY ANYTHING, ANYTHING ELSE? MY HAT'S OFF TO THE, TO ALL THE PEOPLE THAT WERE WORKING LONG HARD HOURS.
UH, UH, I DIDN'T OFFER THEM COFFEE, BUT I DID VISIT WITH SEVERAL OF THE LINE WORKERS AND JUST MY GODS WERE LOT VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVE SUCH DEDICATED, UH, CREWS AND STAFF.
MY QUESTION IS ABOUT THE MUTUAL AID AGREEMENTS AND THAT IS, THAT IS WHAT IS THEIR OBLIGATION, UH, MEANING AND, AND IS THERE SOME WAY IN ESSENCE TO HAVE PEOPLE, LIKE WHEN, WHEN JACKIE REACHED OUT AT 4:00 AM AS I AS WE HEARD, UH, AND, AND GAVE IT A GO, UH, IS THERE A WAY TO PREPOSITION AND, AND I UNDERSTAND THE BIRD DOGGING AND, AND THAT PEOPLE HAVE TO GET IN, UH, FROM DIFFERENT AREAS, BUT LIKE CENTER POINT AT THE HIGH DURING THE WHOLE PROCESS CENTER POINT, UH, SEND ONLY 70 PEOPLE, THE SECOND LARGEST OR LARGEST UTILITY IN THE STATE.
UH, WHAT ARE THEIR OBLIGATIONS AND AND IS THERE ANY WAY THAT WHEN JACKIE SAYS BINGO, UH, THAT WE CAN'T HAVE MORE DEFINITE, UH, COMMITMENTS TO MOVE IN QUICKER? YEAH, SO, SO MUTUAL AID WORKS BECAUSE IT'S A PARTNERSHIP AND AN AGREEMENT FOR ONE UTILITY TO HELP ANOTHER.
[01:55:01]
THAT SAYS, UH, IF WE'RE IMPACTED, YOU MUST COME HELP US.WHAT WHAT HAPPENS IS, UM, ENTITIES WHO HAVE AN AGREEMENT OR ARE, UM, CONSIDERING EXECUTING AN AGREEMENT BECAUSE THERE'S A LOT OF STANDARD FORMS, UM, THAT EXIST AND THEN THROUGH A, A MUTUAL PARTNERSHIP THROUGH, FOR EXAMPLE AN AN INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION, UM, YOU'VE KIND OF ALL PRE VETTED THOSE, THOSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS IN ADVANCE.
AND SO THEN A UTILITY IN NEED WILL PUT AN OUTREACH SAYING, I AM ASKING FOR, YOU KNOW, WE ARE ANTICIPATING THIS TYPE OF THING.
I AM ASKING FOR THIS TYPE OF, UH, CRUISE OR PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT, UM, WHO CAN HELP ME.
AND THEY SEND IT OUT TO A BROAD ENTITY, A BROAD GROUP, AND THEN PEOPLE RESPOND, THIS IS WHAT I CAN OFFER.
UM, AND THEN YOU SAY, YES, I WOULD LIKE THAT, WE NEED THAT NOW, WHEN CAN YOU BE HERE? WE'RE, WE'RE GONNA ASSIGN YOU TO, YOU KNOW, THE SOUTH SERVICE CENTER, WE'VE GOT THE SAFETY TEAM READY FOR YOUR ARRIVAL, WE'LL DO THE DEBRIEFING.
WE'VE GOT LOGISTICS SET UP WITH YOUR FOOD AND YOUR HOTELS AND ALL THOSE THINGS.
SO THERE'S LIKE A WHOLE OPERATION BEHIND IT.
AND IT'S NOT AS SIMPLE AS JUST SAYING THAT IN THE CONTRACT SOMEONE OBLIGATES TO HAVE 120 PER PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME.
DOES THAT HELP COLOR IT A LITTLE BIT? YES.
FOR BACKGROUND, BUT LIKE CENTER POINT, UH, WAS ONLY ABLE TO COUGH UP A LIMITED NUMBER.
I, I DON'T KNOW THAT I CAN EXACTLY SPEAK FOR, UM, HOW THEY CHOOSE TO, YOU KNOW, USE THEIR, THEIR, UM, CREWS.
BUT I DO KNOW THAT IN THE END WE ACCEPTED AS MANY AS WE POSSIBLY COULD AND WE FOUND THEM, UM, THROUGH A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT MEDIUMS. DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU WANTED TO ADD? SURE.
AND UM, I'LL SAY THAT OUR, OUR, I THINK OUR BEST TOOL FOR RECEIVING MUTUAL AID IS THE FACT THAT WE GIVE MUTUAL AID SO OTHER UTILITIES KNOW, UM, THAT WHEN THERE'S A TIME OF NEED THAT WE SHOW UP AND, AND IT KIND OF WORKS THAT WAY.
SO THE AGREEMENTS THINK OF THE AGREEMENT MORE AS JUST ALREADY LAYING OUT THE GROUNDWORK OF, YOU KNOW, HOW TO APPORTION RISK IN AN EVENT LIKE THAT.
BUT ACTUALLY CALLING UPON THOSE ENTITIES, UM, IS GOING TO BE AT THEIR DISCRETION.
KEEP IN MIND THAT WE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THE WEATHER WAS REALLY GONNA BE DURING THIS PERIOD OF TIME AND THERE WAS A PERIOD OF TIME WHEN, UM, CENTER POINT INDEED DID HAVE TO PULL ITS CRUISE BACK.
UM, 70 IS, IS UH, IN MY VIEW QUITE A LOT TO SEND, UM, ON A, ON A, UM, MU ON MUTUAL AID.
SO, UM, HATS OFF TO THEM, UH, HATS OFF TO NEW, NEW BRAUN FULLS, NOT A LARGE UTILITY THAT ALSO CHIPPED IN.
AND INDEED WHEN WE WERE REACHING OUT TO OTHER UTILITIES, THEY WERE REACHING OUT TO US AT A, AROUND THE SAME TIME, OFFER PROACTIVELY OFFERING TO HELP.
SO THAT'S WHAT YOU TEND TO SEE IN THESE TYPES OF EVENTS IS UTILITIES REACHING OUT TO HELP UTILITIES AS, AS LISA MENTIONED, ALL OF WHICH IS I I, YEAH.
AND HEADS, IF THERE IS IN THE AFTER ACTION, UH, IF THERE'S ANY, MY RECOMMENDATION WOULD BE IF THERE'S ANY WAY TO STRENGTHEN THOSE COMMITMENTS, UH, UH, PLEASE DO SO.
PLEASE, PLEASE CONSIDER THE, PLEASE CONSIDER THAT.
UH, AND I'LL, I'LL JUST REINFORCE SOMETHING THAT LISA MENTIONED BECAUSE WE HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS USING, NOT SO MUCH.
UH, WELL, ALTHOUGH THE MUTUAL AID STRUCTURE WAS REALLY SUCCESSFUL, BRINGING IN THOSE CONTRACT CREWS WAS ACTUALLY VERY SUCCESSFUL AS WELL.
UM, CUZ THEY CAN, THEY'RE, THEY'RE READY TO DO IT.
THEY CAN BE, YOU KNOW, THEY CAN BE DEPLOYED AT A MOMENT'S NOTICE AND THEY CAN STAY FOR THE DURATION.
AND, YOU KNOW, ONE THING THAT'S TRICKIER ABOUT ICE STORM RESTORATION IS THAT IT CAN STICK AROUND LONGER.
AND, UM, KNOWING THAT THOSE, HAVING, HAVING THOSE AGREEMENTS AS WELL WAS, WAS REALLY BENEFICIAL.
MY OTHER, THAT, THAT ANSWERS THAT LINE OF QUESTIONS.
THE OTHER QUESTIONS I, I, I HAVE AS I OB OBSERVED IN MY OWN BACKYARD, BUT THROUGHOUT MY NEIGHBORHOOD, UH, AS WAS SAID BEFORE IS THE COMMUNICATIONS LINES WE'RE TALKING THE FIBER OPTIC, THE GRANDE, THE, UH, AT AND T AND AS I UNDERSTAND THOSE LINES, THEY DON'T TRIMM FOR THOSE LINES.
THEY, THEY TRIM FOR THE POWER LINES UP TOP THAT, AND THEREFORE, YET THOSE LINES ICED UP, CREATED WEIGHT BRANCHES CAME DOWN ON THOSE LINES.
AND IF I UNDERSTAND THAT WEIGHTED DOWN THE POLES AND THE COMMUNICATIONS LINE WERE AS MUCH OF A PROBLEM OR MORE THAN THE POWER LINES.
IS THAT CORRECT? UH, I, I THINK THAT'S A, UM, I THINK THAT'S A FAIR STATEMENT.
AND YOU KNOW, JUST TO POINT OUT, WE, WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THOSE COMMUNICATIONS LINES, BUT
[02:00:01]
WE ARE OBLIGATED UNDER STATE AND FEDERAL LAW TO PROVIDE SPACE ON OUR POLES TO COMMON CARRIERS AND TO PROVIDE OUR POLES TO, TO THOSE COMMUNICATIONS, UH, PROVIDERS.SO, UM, THE OBLIGATION TO, FOR VEGETATION, UH, CLEARANCE OR TREE TRIMMING AROUND THOSE COMMUNICATIONS LINES IS, IS THEIR OBLIGATION.
SO THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE'LL, UH, BE EXPLORING AS WELL.
SO TO FOLLOW UP ON THAT ARE IS, ARE Y'ALL GONNA GET REIMBURSED THE COST FOR THE COST THAT YOU INCURRED HEARD AS A RESULT OF THEY'RE NOT DOING ANY TRIMMING, UH, AROUND THEIR LINES? I SEE.
I MEAN, IT WAS A MAJOR, MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO THE DAMAGE.
SO ALL OF WHICH IS, ARE THEY GONNA BE HELD RESPONSIBLE? WELL, WE HOPE TO BE REIMBURSED BY FEMA, UM, AS PART OF THE CITY AND COUNTY, UM, SEEKING REIMBURSEMENTS FROM FEMA SO THAT THAT HOPEFULLY WON'T EVEN BE A CONCERN OR ANYTHING THAT WOULD COME INTO PLAY.
BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, I TO YOUR SPECIFIC QUESTION, I DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT AND, AND I I SERIOUSLY DOUBT IT ALL OF WHICH IS, UH, Y Y'ALL HAVE AGREEMENTS FOR THEM, THE AGREEMENTS OR LICENSES FOR THEM TO PUT THEIR WIRES ON TO PULL ATTACHMENTS POLES.
UH, MAYBE IN THOSE AGREEMENTS THAT CAN BE MODIFIED TO CLARIFY THEIR RESPON COUNTERING RESPONSIBILITIES.
MANY, IT'S REGULARLY THE RIGHT, CERTAINLY YES.
PROBABLY DOESN'T INCLUDE, I WANNA SAY I APPRECIATE YOUR SUGGESTION AROUND THE CAUSE TWO WEEKS AGO I WAS GOING AROUND.
COMMISSIONER TREL, YOUR, YOUR MIC'S NOT WORKING NOW.
UM, I JUST HAD A COUPLE OF QUEST FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS FROM, UH, MR. RICHARDS.
UM, I'M INTERESTED IN YOUR STATEMENT THAT YOU, UH, I, I APPRECIATE AND I I UNDERSTAND YOU NEVER STOPPED THE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT.
AS I'VE LOOKED THROUGH THE CITY'S POLICIES, IT'S CLEAR THAT OVER TIME, UH, THIS, UH, THE POLICY BECAME MORE SERIOUS.
IT YOU INCREASED THE STANDARDS FOR THE DISTANCES, ET CETERA, WHICH WAS GOOD, BUT YOU SAID YOU JUST COULDN'T STAY AHEAD OF IT.
SO YOU'RE HOPING TO GET TO A FIVE TO SEVEN YEAR CYCLE.
AND I JUST WANNA KNOW IF MY UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THAT MEANS IS CORRECT, AND THAT IS THAT YOU HOPE TO EVENTUALLY GET TO WHERE YOU CAN RUN THROUGH EVERY CIRCUIT, EVERY UH, LINE ON A FIVE TO SEVEN YEAR CYCLE.
CORRECT MA'AM, WHEN I WAS, I WAS SAYING WE COULDN'T STAY AHEAD OF IT ON A FOUR AND A EIGHT FOOT RIGHT.
WITH 300 CIRCUITS, IT'S, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO GET BACK TO THAT CIRCUIT BEFORE IT'S OVERGROWN.
SO WHAT, WHAT OUR, OUR DISCUSSION WITH MY VEGETATION MANAGEMENT MANAGER IS KIND OF A REDUNDANT, BUT IS TO GET IT ON A FIVE TO SEVEN YEAR WITH A MID-CYCLE CUT.
AND WHAT THAT WOULD LOOK LIKE IS AT THE THREE TO FOUR YEAR MARK, THEY WOULD JUST DRIVE THROUGH AND JUST TRIM BACK A FOOT OR TWO THAT MIGHT BE ENCROACHING WITHIN THAT AREA.
THAT WAY IT WOULD MAINTAIN IT.
AND THEN EACH CIRCUIT WOULD BE ON A REPEATED EITHER A FIVE TO SEVEN YEAR, I WOULD LIKE A FIVE YEAR, BUT WE'LL HAVE TO SEE WHAT, WHEN WE GET CAUGHT UP, IF WE CAN DO IT.
UH, RIGHT NOW IT'S LOOKING MORE LIKE A SEVEN, BUT I THINK A FIVE YEAR WOULD, A MID-CYCLE CUT WOULD BE THE RIGHT THING FOR AUSTIN IN, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION.
AND DO YOU HAVE A GOAL FOR WHEN YOU HOPE TO BE ABLE TO GET TO THAT REALISTICALLY? WELL, IT, IT WAS FROM JULY, 2021, FIVE YEARS FROM THEN UNTIL I,
[02:05:01]
I WAS LOSING ABOUT 15 CREWS.I'M HOPING THIS NEW CONTRACT COMING IN, GETTING THE 44 PLUS CIRCUITS A YEAR, MAYBE EVEN GETTING AHEAD OF THAT WOULD GET ME BACK TO THAT.
SO WE, WE GOT THE CONTRACTOR APPROVED IN JANUARY, 2021.
WE GAVE THE CONTRACTOR SIX MONTHS TO RAMP UP AND THAT WAS GOING FROM ABOUT 30 CREWS UP TO THE 60 35 CREWS.
BUT THEY WERE ABLE TO GET TO AGAIN TWO TO 40 TO 45.
SO SINCE JULY OF 2021, THAT WAS KIND OF MY TARGETED AT THE END OF IT.
SO 20, 22, 5 YEARS FROM THAT 2027 WAS WHAT MYSELF AND MY MANAGER'S GOAL WAS.
BUT WE'LL SEE IF GETTING THESE ADDITIONAL CREWS ON WILL BE ABLE TO GET US TO THAT POINT, THAT THAT WOULD BE MY BEST CASE SCENARIO.
SO I TH YOU KNOW THAT I ASKED A QUESTION ABOUT FOLLOWING UP WITH THE UM, UH, STORM URI.
YOU REPORTED TO US BACK IN 2021 THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF CREWS FROM 38 IN JANUARY OF 21 TO 58 IN JUNE OF 21.
THAT WAS THE TARGET? YES MA'AM.
THAT WAS WHAT WE WERE BUDGETED FOR.
SO FROM THIS WINTER STORM, THE CONTRACTORS HAD TOLD ME WE WOULD GET UP TO THE 58 60 BY JULY, BUT THAT DID NOT HAPPEN BECAUSE OF THE LABOR SHORTAGES.
WELL THAT WAS IN JUNE OF 21 THAT YOU REPORTED THAT.
I MIS I MUST HAVE MISUNDERSTOOD THAT.
WELL YOU HAD 58, WHAT DID YOU GET TO, DO YOU RECALL ABOUT 40 TO 45? THAT'S, WE'VE BEEN CONSISTENT ALL THE WAY THROUGH.
SO ONCE YOU'D RAMPED UP AT FOLLOWING YURI, YOU DIDN'T, YOU HAVEN'T FALLEN OFF ON THE NUMBER OF CREWS? NO, THEY'VE BEEN BEEN PRETTY CONSISTENT ON 'EM.
SOME MIGHT GO UP FIVE AND THE OTHER ONE DROPS DOWN, BUT TOTAL BETWEEN THE THREE HAVE BETWEEN BEEN BETWEEN THE 40 TO 45.
AND SO YOU HAVE THE THREE, UM, COMPANIES THAT YOU CONTRACT WITH.
I NOTICED ONE OF THEM, DAVEY TREE WAS UM, BROUGHT ON A CONTRACT IN AUGUST OF 2020.
2020 FOR PRE-PLANNING SERVICES FOR $17.5 MILLION.
MA HOW DID YES, MA'AM DID THAT MA DIFFER FROM VEGETATION MANAGEMENT? SO THEY'VE ACTUALLY GOT A PLANNING GROUP AND THEY'RE THE ONES THAT GO OUT AND WALK IT DOWN, DO THE ANNOTATION ON WHAT NEEDS TO BE TRIMMED, MILEAGE OF THE LINE, HOW MANY CREWS IT'S GONNA TAKE.
SO THEY DO ALL THE PRE-PLANNING AND THEN THEY ALSO HAVE VEGETATION CREWS CAME IN ON A NEW CONTRACT THAT CONDUCTS THAT TREE TRIMMING.
UM, AND I, I REALIZED AS I WAS READING THROUGH THIS, I KEPT SEEING THE NUMBER OF CREWS, HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE ON A CREW.
IT CAN BE ANYWHERE BETWEEN FIVE TO EIGHT DEPENDING ON THE SIZE OF, IF LET'S SAY IT'S A VERY HEAVY, UH, OAK AREA THAT'S VERY HEAVILY GROWN IN, THEN THEY COULD ADD ADDITIONAL PEOPLE ONTO THAT CREW FOR THAT SPECIFIC CUT.
BUT THAT'S WHAT, THAT'S WHY WE JUST LOOK AT THE, THE TOTAL CREWS BECAUSE THEN WE CAN PUT 'EM ON DIFFERENT CIRCUITS AND DO THE EACH, DO THESE CREWS THAT WE YOU CONTRACT FOR, DO THEY HAVE THEIR OWN TRUCKS? YES, MA'AM.
THEY HAVE THEIR OWN TRUCKS AND THEIR OWN EQUIPMENT.
THEY HAVE FOREMAN THAT OVERSEE 'EM.
AND THEN WHAT WE HAVE IS WE HAVE LINE CLEARANCE COORDINATORS AND THEN OUR ARBORISTS THAT WORK WITH THEM.
WELL I WOULD ECHO THE OTHER COMMISSIONER'S COMMENTS THAT I, YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT, UH, WITH THE KNOWLEDGE WE NOW HAVE, THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN THAT WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY GOTTA GET AHEAD OF IT AND ANYTHING WE CAN DO TO MAKE CERTAIN THAT YOUR BUDGET HAS AN SUFFICIENT AMOUNT TO, TO UM, UH, ATTRACT THE, UM, CONTRACTORS AND THE, THAT YOU NEED.
LIKE I SAID, JUST WHEN THAT, THAT NEW CONTRACT COMES IN, IF YOU GUYS COULD SQUEEZE IT IN AGENDA, AND I KNOW MARTY'S ALWAYS WORKED WITH US BEFORE ON, ON ONES THAT WE NEED PRIORITY ON.
SO THAT, THAT'S THE NEXT ONE THAT I NEED IS TO GET THAT PUSHED THROUGH.
AND FINALLY, YOU'RE, YOU'RE HAPPY WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF THE, UH, CONTRACTS? YES, MA'AM.
WE CURRENTLY HAVE OUR, OUR ARBORIST ACTUALLY GO OUT AND INSPECT AFTER THEY TRIM, THEY SPOT CHECK 'EM AND THEY ALSO SPOT CHECK 'EM WHILE THEY'RE DOING IT.
UH, STEWART ACTUALLY HAS A STORY, HE KIND OF WENT UNDERCOVER WHEN THE, THE DAVEY CREWS WERE OUT THERE AND YOU JUST KIND OF WENT OUT AND KIND OF TALKED TO HIM.
THEY WERE POLITE TO HIM, TOLD 'EM WHAT THEY WERE DOING OUT THERE, UH, LEAVING THE DOOR CARD.
SO IN MOST CASES, I THINK IN THE, THE YEAR THAT THEY'VE BEEN WORKING WITH THOSE THREE, I'VE HAD ONE INSTANCE WHERE THERE WAS A MISUNDERSTANDING WITH A CUSTOMER AND I THINK THERE WAS PROBABLY A LITTLE BIT ON BOTH SIDES ON THAT ONE.
BUT YEAH, THEY ARE VERY PROFESSIONAL AND, AND THEY, THEY DO A GOOD JOB.
AND YOU'RE SATISFIED WITH THE PACE OF THE WORK? YES, MA'AM.
FOR THE CREWS THAT THEY'VE GOT FOR WHAT THEY'RE DOING.
UH, AND, AND AGAIN, IF WE CAN GET BACK ON THAT CYCLE, IT WILL GO FASTER BECAUSE WHAT THEY'RE DOING NOW IS THEY'RE NOT TRIMMING THREE FEET BACK TO GET TO THE 15TH FEET.
[02:10:01]
BACK TO GET TO THE 15TH FEET.SO IT'S A HEAVIER CUT NOW TO DO THAT VEGETATION MANAGEMENT THAN IT WILL BE WHEN WE GET ON A CONSISTENT CYCLE, IF THAT MAKES SENSE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH THANK CARE.
UM, JUST STICKING ON THAT TOPIC, JUST, UM, OR ACTUALLY, NO, I THINK ALL OF MY QUESTIONS HAVE ALREADY BEEN ANSWERED ON THE, ON THE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT.
UM,
UM, SO YOU MENTIONED THAT IN, IN SOME INSTANCES, UH, OR MAYBE IT'S EVEN COMMON PRACTICE FOR CREWS TO NOT BRING IN OR FOR UTILITIES NOT TO BRING IN MUTUAL AID UNTIL AFTER THE DISASTER HAS PASSED.
I, AND I CAN'T REMEMBER WHERE I SAW THIS, BUT YOU KNOW, I FEEL LIKE I SAW ON THE NEWS AT SOME POINT IN, UM, AND I THINK IT WAS, YOU KNOW, HURRICANE SITUATION WHERE WE HAD DAYS AND DAYS AND DAYS OF ADVANCED WARNING, RIGHT.
UM, BUT, YOU KNOW, THERE WERE STAGING FAR IN ADVANCE OF THE STORM'S ARRIVAL, RIGHT? AND, AND SO THAT IT WASN'T A CALL AFTER WE REALIZED WE HAD A MAJOR PROBLEM.
IT WE KNEW IT WAS COMING AND, YOU KNOW, THERE'S, THERE'S STAGING ALREADY ON, YOU KNOW, IN PLACE.
AND THAT THEY WERE DEPLOYED IMMEDIATELY A UPON THIS, YOU KNOW, AS SOON AS IT WAS NOT DANGEROUS TO, TO MOVE.
UM, AND SO I'M WONDERING IF THERE'S, AND I KNOW THAT THIS IS TIED TO THE, THE FACT THAT WE DIDN'T REALIZE THE STORM WAS GONNA BE AS SIGNIFICANT AS IT WAS THE ICING EVENT IN THIS CASE.
UM, SO I, I GUESS IT'S A TWOFOLD THING.
ONE, WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO GET CREWS IN AHEAD OF A STORM AND CAN WE DO THAT? AND TWO, UM MM-HMM.
AND, YOU KNOW, MAYBE NOT EVERY STORM, BUT MANY, MANY STORMS. YOU KNOW, IT'S GETTING TO BE, LIKE YOU SAID, IT'S NOT, IF EVERY ONCE A YEAR THERE'S AN UNPRECEDENTED STORM, IT STARTS TO GET PRECEDENT.
AND SO WHEN, WHEN, HOW DO WE BUILD INTO OUR, UH, YOU KNOW, I KNOW THAT I'M NOT A, A WEATHER PERSON AND, UM, I, I DON'T ENVY THEIR JOB, BUT HOW, HOW DO WE BUILD IN A MARGIN OF ERROR, RIGHT? UH, TO A STORM THAT WE KNOW IS COMING? WE MAY NOT KNOW IT'S GONNA BE AS BAD AS IT TURNS OUT TO BE, BUT MAYBE WE SHOULD PLAN FOR IT BEING MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN WE THINK.
NO, NO, I, YOU'VE ALREADY STARTED DOWN THE PATH OF ANSWERING YOUR QUESTION.
I'VE GOT MULTIPLE PARTS TO IT AS WELL.
JUST KEEP ME HONEST TO MAKE SURE I DON'T MISS ANY.
SO I, I, I WANNA CLARIFY A POINT.
UM, WHEN I MENTIONED THAT A LOT OF UTILITIES DON'T, UH, I, MAYBE I SHOULDN'T HAVE SAID, BRING ON MUTUAL AID.
WHAT WE ARE LEARNING FROM OUR, UM, FELLOW UTILITIES WHO ARE EXPERIENCED HURRICANE AFTER HURRICANE AFTER HURRICANE.
UM, SO THEY MAY BE PRE-STAGING AND ASKING IN ADVANCE, BUT OFTEN THEY DON'T SEND CREWS OUT LIKE THEY WAIT FOR THE STORM TO PASS, AND THEN THEY SEND OUT THEIR DAMAGE ASSESSORS, AND THEN THEY SEND OUT THEIR RESTORATION CREWS, RIGHT? AND, AND REALLY THAT PART OF THAT IS BUILT INTO THE EXPERIENCE THAT THEY HAVE CONTINUED TO BUILD UP OVER TIME.
SO IN MY, UH, HUMBLE OPINION, UM, THE TIMING OF WHEN YOU SELECT AND REQUEST MUTUALLY CRUISE IS A BIT BIT OF AN ART, AND IT'S A BIT OF A SCIENCE.
AND, UH, AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, US AND ENERGY HAS NOT RECEIVED A LOT OF MUTUAL AID IN THE PAST.
SO I WAS, YOU KNOW, VERY PLEASED THAT JACKIE AT THE 4:00 AM CALL SAID, LISA, WHAT'S THE STATUS OF THAT CONTRACT WE NEED TO BRING IN CRUISE NOW? UM, SO THE THE RISK FACTOR, UM, IT, YOU KNOW, STARTING IN, IN RIGHT FORECASTS OR FORECASTS, WEATHER FORECAST, RIGHT? AND SO WE CAN SAY, OH, WE'RE HEARING A 10TH OF AN INCH OF ICE.
WE'RE NOW, NOW IT'S INCREASING AND WE'RE HEARING A QUARTER OF AN INCH OF AN ICE, AND WE CAN BUILD IN SOME AMOUNT OF MARGIN TO SAY, WELL, WE'RE GONNA ASSUME IT'S GONNA BE WORSE THAN THAT, AND WE'RE GONNA CALL IN CRUISE.
THE, THE PIECE OF IT THAT WE HAVE TO KEEP IN MIND IS THAT THERE'S A COST, RIGHT? FOR, FOR THAT.
UM, JUST HAVING THEM COME DRIVE HERE, STAGING AND THEIR EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE, WE'RE PAYING FOR THEM AS SOON AS IT'S PORTAL TO PORTAL.
SOON, AS SOON AS THEY LEAVE, UM, THEIR BASE OF WHERE THEY'RE LOCATED RIGHT NOW, THEY'RE GONNA START, UM, TRACKING THE COST.
AND SO THAT'S SOMETHING THAT IF WE DO THAT OVER TIME AND WE, AND, AND IT CONTINUES TO BE THAT THERE'S NOT A STORM OR THERE'S NO NEED FOR THAT MUTUAL AID, THEN THAT WILL RACK UP AND ULTIMATELY GET PASSED ON TO OUR CUSTOMERS.
AND SO WE HAVE TO BE VERY PRUDENT AND CAREFUL ABOUT THAT.
UM, BUT I THINK THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, IN THE CASE OF WHEN YOU'RE RIGHT, IT'S, IT'S AMAZING, RIGHT? NOT ONLY HAVE YOU SET ALL OF YOUR INTERNAL COORDINATION, SO YOU'VE GOT THE LOGISTICS SET UP, YOU'VE GOT THE SERVICE CENTERS READY, UM, AND THEN THEY'RE READY TO GO RIGHT AWAY.
AND SO I THINK WE'RE GONNA CONTINUE THROUGH OUR, UH, LESSONS LEARNED.
[02:15:01]
I KNOW WHEN WE GO VISIT OTHER UTILITIES, WE'RE GONNA BE ASKING THESE QUESTIONS.WHAT KIND OF FACTORS DO YOU, UH, USE TO DETERMINE WHEN TO, YOU KNOW, MAKE THE REQUEST AND TELL PEOPLE TO JUST STAND BY, OH NO, COME START COMING SO THAT WE CAN GET CLOSER, UM, ALONG THE END OF THAT SPECTRUM OF THAT ART AND SCIENCE.
MY, UH, ANOTHER POINT ON THE JOINT POLL USE AGREEMENTS OR A ATTACHMENT AGREEMENTS, UM, DO WE KNOW WHETHER THOSE AGREEMENTS INCLUDE, UH, ANY KIND OF REQUIREMENT? I MEAN, I ASSUME THAT THEY INCLUDE SOME KIND OF REQUIREMENT THAT THE, THAT THE UTILITY, UM, YOU KNOW, UH, OPERATOR, UM, WITHIN THE STANDARDS, YOU KNOW, WITHIN AUSTIN ENERGY SAFETY STANDARDS OR MEASURES OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
I, AND, AND SO I'M WONDERING IF THERE'S A WAY TO INCORPORATE A MINIMUM TREE TRIMMING, UM, YOU KNOW, DISTANCE OR STANDARD INTO THOSE, UH, POLE ATTACHMENT AGREEMENTS.
DO YOU KNOW? I'LL HAVE TO LOOK UP.
THAT'S BEEN SOMETHING THAT I'VE BEEN, UH, PONDERING AS WELL, BUT I HAVEN'T HAD A CHANCE TO GO BACK AND LOOK AT THAT.
AND I THINK, YOU KNOW, ONE COMPLICATING FACTOR IS IF YOU LOOK UP AT THE POLLS AND YOU LOOK AT THE COMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS THAT ARE ATTACHED TO THOSE POLLS, YOU'LL SEE FIVE, SIX OF THEM, YOU KNOW, SPACED, UH, YOU KNOW, 12 INCHES INCHES APART.
YEAH, I I WAS THINKING IT WAS LESS THAN THAT, BUT YEAH, THAT'S PROBABLY STANDARD IS 12.
AND, UM, AND, AND SO, UM, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT, THAT AS, AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, FOR US TO LOOK INTO BECAUSE, UH, WHAT I WANT TO MAKE SURE OF IS IF THERE, IF, IF THERE'S SOME ABILITY FOR US TO FURTHER ENFORCE SOME KIND OF OBLIGATIONS ON THEM, OR IF THERE'S SOME KIND OF OBLIGATION THAT WITHIN THE, OUR REGULATORY ARRANGEMENT THAT WE HAVE WITH THEM THAT WE COULD ADD.
AND THAT'S JUST SOMETHING THAT WE'LL, WE'LL WANNA LOOK INTO, UM, AS WELL.
BUT TYPICALLY, YOU KNOW, TREE TRIMMING, I'LL SAY IS NOT, UM, INTENDED FOR, TO PREVENT THE TREE FROM FALLING OVER, FALLING INTO THE OBJECT.
IT'S TO KEEP THAT CONTACT AWAY FROM AN ENERGIZED LINE, RIGHT? UM, AND AS ELTON HAS MENTIONED BEFORE, NO AMOUNT OF VEGETATION MANAGEMENT CAN POSSIBLY ACCOUNT FOR A 40 FOOT TALL PECAN TREE FALLING OVER.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF WHAT WE SAW HERE, YOU KNOW, AND IF, IF YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE, YOU'RE TRIMMING IS TO KEEP THAT, THAT TREE LIMB AWAY FROM THAT ENERGIZED LINE, UM, YOU KNOW, THE SAME, UH, RATIONALE DOESN'T APPLY TO COMMS REALLY FOR COMMS. IT ONLY, ONLY THE TREE FALLING OVER REALLY GETS YOU THERE
SO, SO IT'S JUST A, IT JUST HAPPENS TO BE THAT THIS EVENT WAS SO UNIQUE WITH THE, YOU KNOW, I HEARD 11 MILLION TREES LOST IN THIS EVENT, YOU KNOW, AND, AND IT WAS JUST THE NATURE OF THIS EVENT IN PARTICULAR, BUT ON A REGULAR BASIS, I'M NOT SURE THAT MUCH WOULD BE ACHIEVED, IF ANYTHING, UH, FROM KIND OF WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, EVEN THOUGH THE COMMS LINES ARE, ARE, YOU KNOW, KIND OF AT THE FOREFRONT OF OUR MINDS.
UH, MY OTHER QUESTION, OUR COMMENT I GUESS IS AROUND, UM, THE OUTAGE MAP, UM, IN PARTICULAR.
SO I THINK, YOU KNOW, I TOO, LIKE COMMISSIONER REID HEARD A LOT OF, YOU KNOW, SIGNIFICANT FRUSTRATION, UM, WITH THE, UH, REPORTING OF OUTAGES I, IN, IN PARTICULAR.
SO, AND THIS PROBABLY ISN'T A QUESTION FOR YOU QUITE YET, UM, BUT I, MY FIRST QUESTION IS, AND HELP ME JUST UNDERSTAND, DOES AUSTIN ENERGY KNOW WHEN ONE OF ITS INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMERS IS EXPERIENCING A POWER OUTAGE METER BY METER? THE ANSWER IS YES, BUT IT IS MORE COMPLICATED THAN THAT.
SO WHEN A METER STOPS RECEIVING POWER, RIGHT, SINCE IT'S A LOSS OF VOLTAGE, IT GIVES A LAST, LAST GASP, RIGHT? IT'S KIND OF MORBID CONCEPT, BUT IT GIVES A LAST GASP.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, THAT COULD BE BECAUSE SOMEONE HAS STOPPED THEIR SERVICE BECAUSE THEY'VE MOVED OUT OF THEIR HOME.
IT COULD BE BECAUSE WE'VE TURNED OFF THEIR POWER, UH, BECAUSE OF NON-PAYMENT, RIGHT? IT COULD BE BECAUSE THERE'S AN OUTAGE.
SO WHEN THAT INFORMATION COMES FROM THE METER SYSTEM INTO OUR DISTRIBU ADVANCED DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, ADMS, IT DOESN'T REGISTER AS AN OUTAGE OR ELSE OUR DISPATCHERS WOULD SEND A ROLL A TRUCK, RIGHT, TO GO CHECK IT OUT AND RIGHT.
THAT'S NOT AN EFFICIENT USE OF TIME, ESPECIALLY IF IT'S FOR REASONS THAT ARE NOT RELATED TO AN OUTAGE.
[02:20:01]
INFERENCE LOGIC IN ADMS TO DETERMINE WHEN IT HAS MORE THAN ONE LESS GASP BEHIND A PARTICULAR DEVICE, WHETHER IT'S A FUSE OR A SECTIONALIZE OR A RECLOSER OR A CIRCUIT BREAKER, THAT IT WILL THEN USE LOGIC BASED ON THE TOPOLOGY THAT'S IN THE SYSTEM TO SAY, OKAY, WE'VE SEEN THESE TWO AND THEY'RE BOTH BEHIND THIS, SO WE THINK THIS SECTION IS OUT.AND USUALLY AT THAT POINT THERE'S ALSO PEOPLE TEXTING IN OUT AND THERE ARE PEOPLE CALLING INTO THE CALL CENTER SAYING, I HAVE NO LIGHT, AND THERE ARE PEOPLE PUTTING INTO THE OUTAGE MAP AS WELL.
SO ALL OF THAT INFORMATION COMES IN TOGETHER IN ADDITION TO THAT LAST GAP TO TELL THE SYSTEM, OKAY, THIS IS WHERE WE THINK THE OUTAGE IS.
THIS IS HOW MANY CUSTOMERS ARE AFFECTED, AND THIS IS THE DEVICE THAT THEN WE WOULD SEND A TRUCK TO.
THAT'S, AND MORE, MAYBE WE NEED TO LET ME, AND, AND MAYBE WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE FLIP SIDE TO THAT IS WHEN IT TAKES ALL OF THOSE OUTAGES THAT ARE REPORTED AND ROLLS THEM UP TO THAT DEVICE, THAT LINE FUSE OR WHATEVER IT IS, AND THEN THAT, THAT LINE FUSE GETS, WE POP A NEW LINE FUSE, AND THEN IT'S, THAT LOGIC IS GOING TO ASSUME THAT ALL OF THOSE DOWNSTREAM CUSTOMERS ARE THEREFORE RESTORED BECAUSE THEY ALL ROLL UP TO THAT LINE FUSE.
AND SO THAT'S THE EXPERIENCE THAT, UH, A LOT OF CUSTOMERS HAD.
AND, AND THEY GET THE TEXT, IT SAYS, A PORTION OF OUR SYSTEM SERVE THAT SERVES YOUR ADDRESS, UH, HAS BEEN FIXED.
IF YOU'RE STILL OUT, TEXT OUT, PEOPLE GOT VERY FRUSTRATED BY THAT.
BUT I'M, I'M BEGGING PLEASE JUST TEXT OUT BECAUSE, UH, YOU KNOW, AND, AND THE OTHER UTILITIES THAT I'VE, THAT I'VE SPOKEN WITH, YOU KNOW, IN, IN HURRICANE SITUATIONS, THEY SAID, OH YEAH, OF COURSE THEY JUST TEXT OUT AGAIN, YOU KNOW, NO BIG DEAL.
UM, AND, BUT A LOT OF COMMUNI WORK IN COMMUNICATING THAT TO CUSTOMERS HAS TAKEN PLACE OVER TIME, UH, A LONG PERIOD OF TIME TO KIND OF GET PEOPLE ACCUSTOMED TO THAT BECAUSE THERE'S A LOT OF FRUSTRATION.
THEN THEY'LL TEXT OUT, THEN THEY'LL LOOK FOR THEMSELVES ON THE OUTAGE MAP, WHICH ONLY UPDATES EVERY 10 MINUTES.
THEY MIGHT NOT SEE THEMSELVES IMMEDIATELY, THEY'RE TEXTING OUT OVER AND O AND, AND IT'S JUST, IT WAS BUILDING INTO A FRUSTRATING SITUATION.
SO WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO IS JUST MAKE SURE THAT WE, AND PART OF THAT IS A COMMUNICATIONS ISSUE FOR US TO JUST COMMUNICATE SOME OF THOSE, UM, ISSUES OR SOME OF THOSE CHALLENGES TO OUR CUSTOMERS AND JUST TO BETTER EQUIP OURSELVES, YOU KNOW, FOR THAT AND THE, AND TO EQUIP OUR CUSTOMERS IN THE FUTURE, UM, FOR THAT.
SO, AND YES, AND WHEN YOU HAVE THAT SITUATION RIGHT, WHERE THE LINE FUSE GETS CLOSED IN AND WE ASSUME ALL THE OTHERS ARE OUT, BUT THEN SAY, COMMISSIONER TUTTLES IS STILL OUT, YOUR COMMISSIONER TUT'S METER CAN'T GASP AGAIN, RIGHT? IT'S ALREADY GASPED.
SO THERE'S NO WAY FOR IT TO JUST SEND A SIGNAL TO SAY, I'M OUT CUZ IT'S OUT.
SO THEN WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR HIM TO SAY, I'M OUT OR, OKAY, SO, ALRIGHT.
SO I THINK I, I DON'T, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE ANSWER TO THIS IS, RIGHT? BUT I I I JUST IN THE WAY THAT YOU DESCRIBED ALL OF THAT, THAT IT, IT, I COULD SEE BEING INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING FROM AN INDIVIDUAL, YOU KNOW, RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE.
YOU'RE JUST, YOU'RE SITTING THERE AND, UM, YOU KNOW, IT'S, THE COMMUNICATION THAT I'VE RECEIVED IS I NEED TO REPORT AN OUTAGE.
SO I, I GO OR, WELL, FIRST I LOOK AT THE OUTAGE MAP AND I DON'T SEE, UM, AN OUTAGE IN MY AREA, SO I'M GONNA REPORT AN OUTAGE, I REPORT AN OUTAGE, AND THEN, UM, YOU KNOW, 10 MINUTES LATER I LOOK AND I'M STILL NOT SEEING ANYTHING ON THE OUTAGE MAP THAT SAYS THAT THERE'S AN OUTAGE IN MY AREA, OR I, YOU KNOW, AND I, I HAD SEVERAL FOLKS TELL ME THAT THEY, YOU KNOW, REPORTED I DOZENS OF TIMES AND THEN IT WOULD, AND THEY WOULD GO AND LOOK AND THE, THE OUTAGE MAP WOULDN'T REFLECT, UM, AN OUTAGE IN THEIR AREA.
SO THEN THEY THOUGHT, I NEED TO GO REPORT AGAIN.
AND, AND SO THE THING I'M, I THINK I'M, I SENSE A LOT OF FRUSTRATION THERE AND I HEAR YOU ABOUT THE, THE, THE INTERNAL FLAWS IN THE SYSTEM AND, UM, BUT I, I FEEL LIKE THERE'S GOTTA BE A BETTER WAY TO, UM, TO INTERACT WITH THE CUSTOMER, UH, BECAUSE I THINK, I THINK THAT THAT IS MORE FRUSTRATING THAN JUST UNDERSTANDING THAT THERE IS AN OUTAGE AND I DON'T KNOW WHEN IT'S COMING BACK, YOU KNOW, BUT KNOWING THAT THE UTILITY KNOWS THAT MY HOUSE IS OUT LIKE THAT, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE I'VE TRIED TO TELL YOU SIX TIMES AND I'M STILL NOT SURE, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE THE MAP DOESN'T REFLECT IT OR, YOU KNOW, I, MY NEIGHBOR GOT IT BACK, BUT I STILL DON'T HAVE IT.
DO THEY KNOW THAT I DON'T HAVE IT? AND, AND SO I, I THINK THERE'S A LOT OF FRUSTRATION THERE AND, AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO BETTER COMMUNICATE THAT, BUT I'M HOPING THAT THERE'S A SOLUTION SOMEWHERE.
AND WITH THAT, I'M GONNA CLOSE BECAUSE CONDITIONER TULE HAS LOTS TO SAY ABOUT THIS, SO YOU PROBABLY DON'T NEED TO GO ANYWHERE.
UM, SO I, WHAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND
[02:25:01]
IS WHY CAN'T YOU PING THE METERS TO DOUBLE CHECK THAT THEY'RE OUT? SO I HAVE A LOW CONFIDENCE THAT THE LAST GASP IS REALLY WORKING.SO MY QUESTIONS ARE, I WANT THREE TEXTS EASY, RIGHT? I WANT TO KNOW THAT THE LAST GASP WAS WORKING.
SO I WANT A TEXT THAT SAYS, YOU KNOW, MY, MY OUT.
THE SECOND ONE IS, AND IF YOU CAN PROVIDE IT IN THAT FIRST ONE ABOUT, YOU KNOW, KNOW IT'S A SMALL SCALE, YOU CAN SAY, HERE'S THE RESTORATION JOB, BUT YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO, RIGHT? FIRST ONE IS, WE KNOW YOU'RE OUT AUTOMATIC.
I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO CALL IN, I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO CALL IN FIVE TIMES.
I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TEXT HIM, I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO EMAIL IN.
TEXT THAT WE KNOW YOU'RE OUT AND IF IT'S A MULTI-DAY THING, I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S EVERY 12 HOURS OR EVERY 24 HOURS, IF IT'S BAD, WE STILL KNOW YOU'RE OUT.
OKAY? AND WHY CAN'T YOU PING THE METER IF YOU CAN'T PING THE METER? IT'S OUT.
OKAY? SECOND ONE IS RESTORATION ESTIMATE.
OKAY? THE BEST YOU CAN DO WHEN IT'S A SMALLER SCALE, I CAN UNDERSTAND HEIGHTEN ROLL A TRUCK AND DO THAT.
AND WHEN IT'S BROADSKY IT'S LIKE WE'VE GOT A MAJOR PROBLEM, SEE THE OUTAGE MAP AND WE'LL GET BACK TO YOU.
AND WE DO HAVE A RESTORATION ESTIMATE.
AND THE THIRD ONE IS YOUR, WE THINK YOUR POWER'S UP, TEXT US.
NO, IF YOU REALLY DON'T HAVE IT, BUT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO PING THE METER THERE.
SO I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOUR IP INFRASTRUCTURE CUZ IT SEEMS LIKE IT HAS A REAL PROBLEM CUZ MULTIPLE TIMES OVER THE YEARS I'VE SIGNED UP FOR STUFF AND THEN IT KIND OF STARTS FAILING AND I HAVE THE SAME PHONE NUMBER THAT I'VE HAD FOR DECADES.
OKAY? SO EITHER TEXT OR EMAILS AND WHY CAN'T IT BE THAT SIMPLE? WHY CAN'T IT BE THAT AUTOMATIC? SECOND THING IS ON THE OUTAGE MAP, WAS IT A PROBLEM WITH THE THREAD COUNT AND ALL THAT STUFF WHERE IT WAS ACCURACY OR INACCURACY OF THE COUNT AS WELL AS THE LOCATION ON TOP OF THE UNDERSTANDABLE, LIKE EVERYTHING'S OUT, THE CREWS NEED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE PRIORITY OR ORDER IS AND THAT MIGHT BE MORE MANUAL, RIGHT? SO I CAN UNDERSTAND THE OUTAGE RESTORATION ISSUE, BUT SEPARATING THAT THE MAP SHOULD JUST BE ABLE TO HANDLE WHATEVER DATA VOLUME UP TO 535,000 METERS, RIGHT? NO, AND YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO TEST THE SOFTWARE WE USED TO DO THIS DESIGNING COMPLEX COMPUTERS, OKAY? AND IT SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO THAT AND SIMULATE IT TO WHERE IF EVERYTHING GOES OUT, THE AVERAGE MAP WILL SHOW THAT IN SOME WAY WITH THE ZOOM IN.
BUT WITH THESE FIXES THAT YOU HAVE IN THERE MM-HMM.
AND THE THIRD THING IS REALLY MORE, STUART MAYBE CAN ANSWER IT, IT'S A DRIP OR DRAIN STRATEGY.
OKAY? AND I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT IT'S AUSTIN WATER'S PROBLEM.
IT SHOULD BE ON YOUR WEBSITE OR COMMUNICATOR, RIGHT? IF MY POWER GOES OUT, THEN I HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT HEAT, THEN I HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT FREEZING PIPES.
DO I DRIP OR DO I DRAIN, DO I DRAIN THE LOWEST HOBI EXTERNALLY TO TRY TO DRAIN IT? OR IF I DRIP BECAUSE YOU DON'T WANT ME TO DRAIN IT, CUZ I'VE GOT MAYBE PARTIAL, DO I DRIP THE HOT WATER OR COLD WATER AT THE FURTHEST FAUCET? RIGHT? I, MAYBE I'VE MISSED IT, BUT I'D LIKE TO SEE SOME KIND OF TECHNICAL STUFF THAT'S THAT'S ELEVATED TO SOME GOOD ADVICE ON DRIP OR DRAIN STRATEGY IF YOU LOSE POWER FOR A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME.
SO WHY DON'T WE HIT THE COMMUNICATION? WHY CAN'T WE HAVE THE THREE SIMPLE TEXT? SO WE WERE, UH, SO THIS IS GOOD QUESTION.
UM, SOME OF THAT I THINK WILL BE HANDLED IN THE, UH, AFTER ACTION REPORT.
UM, IN TERMS OF THE COMMUNICATIONS, THE PROACTIVE COMMUNICATIONS THAT TO FOLKS THAT DID REQUIRE MORE, UM, MANUAL DATA EXTRACTS AND PREPARATION FOR THOSE TEXTS TO GO OUT, THEN PROBABLY THERE SHOULD BE.
SO THERE'S, THERE'S NO DOUBT THAT THERE'S GONNA BE SOME, UH, ELEMENT OF THE AFTER ACTION REPORT THAT DEALS WITH THAT.
UH, IN TERMS OF THE NUMBERS OF, UH, PEOPLE FOR THE, FOR THE REASONS WE'VE JUST MENTIONED.
LIKE, I'M FRUSTRATED, I'M GONNA, UH, SEND THAT TEXT IN AGAIN.
I'M GOING TO DO THOSE THINGS AGAIN.
THAT WAS SOME OF WHAT WE HIT WITH THOSE, UH, THOSE PARAMETERS.
WE WERE HITTING LEVELS OF, OF FOLKS TRYING TO COMMUNICATE WITH US THAT WERE FAR HIGHER THAN WHAT WE'D EXPECTED.
SO THAT'S WHAT THE BULK OF THAT WAS, WAS DEALING WITH.
SO FOR EXAMPLE, WE WERE, WE HAD THAT, UH, INPUT QUOTA SET TO ABOUT, UH, 600 AND WE WERE GETTING LIKE 800.
SO THERE WERE 200 PEOPLE THAT WERE BASICALLY THEIR STUFF WAS NOT GETTING THROUGH.
WE'VE NOW INCREASED THAT TO I BELIEVE 1800 IN TERMS OF AN INPUT QUEUE.
SO EVEN IF WE GET THE SAME LEVEL OF, UH, PEOPLE HITTING THE SYSTEM THAT WE DID DURING MARA, WE HAVE LIKE PLENTY OF HEADROOM ON TOP OF THAT TO HANDLE THAT KIND OF COMMUNICATION.
UM, IN TERMS OF THE, UH, USE OF THE, THE NETWORK, THE, THE MESH NETWORK FOR COMMUNICATING TO, UH, METERS.
I, I THINK STEWART HAD, UH, TOUCHED ON THAT A LITTLE EARLIER,
[02:30:01]
UH, WITH REGARD TO THE, UM,SO THEY'RE DESIGNED TO BE, UM, MY UNDERSTANDING IS THEY'RE DESIGNED TO BE ON A ONESIE TWOSIE BASIS, BUT SWEEPING LIKE 500,000 METERS TO FIGURE OUT LIKE WHO'S ON AND WHO'S OFF IS NOT WHAT THE SYSTEM WAS DESIGNED FOR AS I UNDERSTAND IT, THE MESH NETWORK.
UM, SO I'M, DID I ANSWER WELL, OKAY, SO YOUR ADMS WILL TELL YOU, YOU KNOW, BULK WISE, WHAT'S THAT DOWN? YOU NEED TO LOOK AT YOUR LOAD AND YOU CAN SEE FROM DIFFERENT MEASUREMENT POINTS.
I MEAN, ISN'T EVERY SUBSTATION HAVE COMMUNICATION TO IT AND THE RECLOSERS ARE COMMUNICATING TO YOU THE BREAKERS, RIGHT? SO YOU CAN DO SOME FIRST ROUGH CUT ABOUT, HEY, THESE ARE UP SO WE'RE NOT GONNA BOTHER SCANNING THOSE 200,000 METERS, RIGHT? AND YOU COULD PARTITION UP AND MAYBE THERE NEEDS TO BE SOME MORE BANDWIDTH APPLIED OR BANDWIDTH CAPABILITY IN THAT.
AND I UNDERSTAND IT COULD BE DIFFERENT, THIS COULD BE A LOWER LEVEL OF INVESTMENT TO GET THAT BANDWIDTH TO PING MORE METERS AT THE SAME TIME OR NEARLY THE SAME TIME, RIGHT.
THAN TRYING TO USE IT FOR THE FINE GRAIN, UH, SHUTOFF, RIGHT? BECAUSE THAT'S A DIFFERENT DEAL.
I HEARD THERE WAS ANOTHER ISSUE WITH POTENTIALLY BRINGING THEM BACK UP IF YOU DID IT FOR FINE GRAIN.
BUT IT SEEMS LIKE, YOU KNOW, THIS IS JUST, AND IT CAN MAYBE BE A SHORT MESSAGE INSTEAD OF A LONG WHERE YOU'RE GETTING POWER FACTORS AND THINGS LIKE THAT, BUT IT JUST SEEMS LIKE YOU COULD HAVE SOME RAW INTELLIGENCE PARTITION IT OUT, PLUS IT'S NOT GONNA BE ALL IN THE SAME MESH BECAUSE THROUGHOUT THE 400 SQUARE MILES YOU'VE GOT MANY DIFFERENT MESH NETWORKS THERE, RIGHT? TO COMMUNICATE.
OR MAYBE YOU HAVE A BOTTLENECK IN THE COMMUNICATION.
IT'S ALL IN CENTER, IT'S ALL ONE MESH NETWORK YEAH.
I MEAN, YOU COULD PROBABLY HAVE SOME REDUNDANCY PUT IN THERE, RIGHT? BUT IT JUST SEEMS LIKE IT SHOULD BE, IT, THE OBJECTIVE SHOULD BE GETTING IT THAT EASY.
I, YOU KNOW, THAT I'M OUT, I'M CONFIRMED IF I'M STILL OUT, THEN YOU OCCASIONALLY SEND WITHOUT PESTERING, RIGHT? AND THEN YOU TELL ME RESTORATION AND THEN YOU TELL ME, HEY, WE THINK YOU'RE UP.
RIGHT? HOW DO YOU GET TO THAT? AND I, I DO WANNA SHARE THAT WE DID HAVE, UH, SEVERAL DIFFERENT GROUPS DOING, USING THE PINGING FUNCTION, RIGHT? THEY'RE NOT PINGING ALL 535,000 METERS AT ONCE.
UM, BUT WHAT THEY'RE DOING IS, IS PINGING IN SECTIONS, REGIONAL SECTIONS AND, AND THEN TRYING TO CROSS REFERENCE THAT WITH OTHER INFORMATION TO DETERMINE IF WE HAVE CUSTOMERS WHO ARE OUT THAT WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT.
SO THERE'S A COUPLE DIFFERENT WAYS THAT IT'S DONE.
SOMETIMES IT'S DONE IN THE CONTROL CENTER AFTER, UH, SOMEONE IN THE FIELD CLOSES A, YOU KNOW, A DEVICE AND THEN THEY'RE CHECKING TO SEE DID, DID ALL THOSE, YOU KNOW, CUSTOMERS GET TURNED BACK ON.
UM, AND THAT'LL IDENTIFY, YOU KNOW, CUSTOMERS WHO ARE STILL PART OF THOSE NESTED OUTAGES.
UM, AND THEN WE ALSO HAD, UH, GROUPS ON OUR CONTROL ENGINEERING TEAM THAT'S OVERSEES OUR ADMS AND THEN, UH, FOLKS IN OUR AMI METERING TEAM PINGING AND CROSS-REFERENCING DATA TO TRY TO IDENTIFY, UM, THE METERS THAT DID NOT RESPOND RIGHT TO SAY, ARE THOSE ONES THAT WE KNOW ARE OUT FOR A DIFFERENT REASON THAT'S NOT STORM RELATED.
UH, YOU KNOW, ARE THERE SITUATIONS WHERE WE DIDN'T GET A RESPONSE BACK? AND THAT'S PERHAPS BECAUSE IT DIDN'T MAKE IT THROUGH ALL THE HOPS OF THAT RF MESH NETWORK TO MAKE IT BACK TO US.
AND THEN, AH, HERE WE FOUND THIS NESTED.
LET'S MAKE SURE THAT INSTANT IS PUT INTO THE SYSTEM.
SO THERE'S A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT WAYS THAT THEY'RE USING THAT PINGING FUNCTION, UH, DURING THIS TYPE OF EVENT TO, UH, TRY TO GATHER THAT INTEL.
BUT IT'S NOT AS SIMPLE AS JUST, AND THEN FEED IT SEAMLESSLY INTO YOUR ADMS SYSTEM AND THEN YEAH, SEAMLESSLY SEND YOUR CREWS OUT.
WELL, I, I'D LIKE WHEN YOU GET THROUGH THE ACT AFTER ACTION, YOU DO THAT MORE OF THE DETAIL OF HOW YOU CAN MAYBE INVEST SOME MORE TO GET MORE AUTOMATION IN THAT, TO GET IT TO BE THAT SIMPLE AND THAT RELIABLE WOULD BE GOOD.
AND THEN, YOU KNOW, MORE TESTS, SOFTWARE TESTS, UM, AND THEN THE DRIPPER DRAINS.
STUART, MAYBE YOU HAVE SOME EXPERIENCE ON THAT.
UM, UH, BUT WE CAN DEFINITELY GET YOU THAT INFORMATION BECAUSE, UM, TO BE HONEST, I, I HAD OTHER THINGS ON MY MIND I WAS NOT THINKING ABOUT, UH, ABOUT THAT.
BUT YOU KNOW, I KNOW THAT AT OUR UTILITY BILLING CENTERS, UM, AUSTIN WATER HAS PROVIDED SOME OF THOSE, UM, UH, WATER SHUTOFF VALVE KEYS TO, FOR, TO HELP CUSTOMERS SHUT IT OFF AT THE, AT THE METER.
UM, UH, AND SO THAT MASTER SHUTOFF VALVE IS KIND OF THEIR PREFERRED STRATEGY, I BELIEVE MM-HMM.
AND THEN FROM THAT POINT, I, I THINK YOU WOULD HAVE TO DRAIN IT, UM, IN ORDER TO KEEP ANYTHING, UH, FROM, FROM OR OR DRIPPING AT THAT POINT.
I, I ASSUME THAT WOULD BE FINE AS WELL, BUT YEAH, IT ALL DEPENDS.
BUT YEAH, I, WE CAN, I CAN FIND OUT WHAT
[02:35:01]
THEIR PREFERRED STRATEGY AT AUSTIN WATER IS AND UH, UM, YOU KNOW, I HEAR YOU IN TERMS OF BASICALLY, UH, KIND OF, UH, COLLABORATING MORE ON THE COMMUNICATIONS FRONT, UH, WITH SOME OF THOSE MESSAGING, UH, OPPORTUNITIES THAT COULD CROSS OVER.UH, I THINK, I THINK THAT'S A, A VALID, AND ONCE THAT'S IN PLACE, IF YOU GET, SURE IT SHOULD BE ON AUSTIN WATERS, BUT THE REASON YOU'RE HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT IT IS BECAUSE THE POWER'S GOING OUT AND YOU MAY FREEZE PIPES.
SO IT'S, IT SHOULD BE ON THE AUSTIN ENERGY WEBSITE AND SUCH NOT.
AND, UM, SO YEAH, THAT'S ALL FOR ME RIGHT NOW, MR. WHITE.
WELL, THANKS FOR ALL THE GREAT QUESTIONS FROM MY FELLOW COMMISSIONERS.
UM, AND I JUST WANTED TO ALSO SAY, UH, THANKS MR. RILEY FOR REALLY EMPHASIZING THAT THIS IS A CLIMATE EVENT THAT WE ARE HAVE EXPERIENCED.
AND I MEAN, I THINK THE SAME WAS TRUE OF WINTER STORM URI, AND, UH, I AGREE THAT WE ARE, WE'RE GONNA KEEP HAVING THESE TYPES OF EVENTS AND, UM, WE ARE NOT GONNA BE ABLE TO JUST AVOID ALL OUTAGES.
WE'RE, WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO FIND WAYS, WAYS TO COPE.
AND THAT'S A REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE REALITY THAT WE'VE KIND OF JUST COLLECTIVELY, UH, BUILT FOR OURSELVES.
BUT, UM, I DO THINK THAT, UM, I GUESS KIND OF INCREASING OUR RESILIENCE, UH, IN A NUMBER OF WAYS IS, UH, JUST KIND OF WHERE I WANTED TO FOCUS A LITTLE BIT.
UM, WE'VE TALKED A LOT ABOUT TREE TRIMMING AND I DID A APPRECIATE THE, UM, THE COMMENTS THAT YOU HAD MR. RICHARDS THAT, YOU KNOW, THERE'S NO AMOUNT OF TRIMMING THAT CAN, UM, PREVENT OUTAGES FROM, FROM LARGE TREES FALLING OVER.
AND, AND CERTAINLY WE HAD A LOT OF THAT IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD AND, AND ALL OVER, ALL OVER THE CITY.
UM, AND I DID SEE SOME, UM, REPORTING AND COMMENTARY FROM ARBORIST THAT PART OF THE REASON WHY THERE, THERE WAS SO MUCH DAMAGE FROM TREES WAS NOT ONLY THE LARGE AMOUNT OF ICE, BUT THE STRESS THAT THE TREES HAD BEEN, UM, EXPERIENCING WITH OUR EXTENDED DROUGHTS.
UM, YOU KNOW, REALLY OVER THE LAST HOWEVER MANY YEARS.
UM, SO I KNOW THAT Y'ALL ARE INVESTING MORE IN TREE TREMAINE.
I'M WONDERING, UM, IF, IF AUSTIN ENERGY IS INVESTING OR HAS CONSIDERED INVESTING AT ALL IN STRATEGIES THAT WILL HELP MAINTAIN THE HEALTH OF THE TREES, UM, AND BY THAT I MEAN, YOU KNOW, BASIC THINGS LIKE, UM, PROVIDING MULCHING AND, UM, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THOSE OTHER, UM, KIND OF LOW HANGING, I GUESS, UM, TREE HEALTH STRATEGIES.
YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY LIKE THERE'S NOTHING THAT MAKES UP FOR LIKE HAVING A SUMMER WITH NO RAIN, BUT, UM, THERE ARE, THERE ARE SOME THINGS IN MULCHING BEING ONE OF THEM THAT REALLY, THAT CAN HELP.
IS, IS THAT PART OF THE STRATEGY? IS THAT BEING CONSIDERED, THAT'S ONE OF THE AREAS IN WHICH WE AT AUSTIN ENERGY NEED TO REMEMBER THAT IT'S NOT ON ALL ON US WHERE CITY DEPARTMENT, AND I KNOW THAT THERE'S A LOT OF MULCHING GOING ON CURRENTLY AND OPPORTUNITIES, UH, THAT COME UP FROM TIME TO TIME FOR COM FOR OUR COMMUNITY TO, TO COME AND GET MULCH.
BUT ALSO, UM, YOU KNOW, SOMETHING THAT WE'VE BEEN INVOLVED IN FOR, FOR MANY YEARS NOW WITH TREE FOLKS IS THINKING ABOUT THE RIGHT TREE AND THE RIGHT PLACE AND REALLY THINKING ABOUT, UM, YOU KNOW, UTILITY FRIENDLY TREES, UM, AS WELL AS NATIVE TREES.
UH, YOU KNOW, NOT HAVING THESE, UM, INVASIVE SPECIES THAT ARE MORE PRONE TO BREAKING IN IN THESE KINDS OF EVENTS AND, AND REALLY THINKING ABOUT, UH, THE RESILIENCY OF OUR TREE CANOPY AND IN A LOT OF THOSE WAYS AS WELL.
BUT I THINK THERE ARE, OR, OR WILL BE, UH, A LOT OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOME OF THE, FROM, FOR THE MULCH FOR PEOPLE TO, TO GATHER.
BUT, YOU KNOW, IT WASN'T, IT WASN'T JUST ON US IN TERMS OF, YOU KNOW, MAKING SURE THAT THE TREES ARE HEALTHY OR CLEANING UP THE TREES AFTERWARDS.
I MEAN, AUSTIN RESOURCE RECOVERY DID AN UNBELIEVABLE JOB AND I'VE SEEN SOME OF THE VIDEOS OF ALL THE, UH, EVERYTHING THAT THEY'VE PICKED UP.
IT'S, IT'S, IT'S KIND OF MIND BOGGLING.
UM, AND YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT'S A BIG FOCUS FOR THE CITY RIGHT NOW IS JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE ALL ACROSS TO DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS REALLY WORKING IN UNISON ON THESE KINDS OF THINGS.
CUZ WE ALL HAVE KIND OF A DIFFERENT PIECE OF, OF THE EQUATION HERE, HERE, DIFFERENT PIECE OF THE PUZZLE, UH, AND THAT KIND OF RESPONSE.
BUT YEAH, I, I THAT'S A, THAT'S A GREAT IDEA.
YEAH, AND I, I MEAN, I GUESS I, I REALIZE THAT THERE'S, UM, YOU KNOW, YOU CAN GO PICK UP YOUR OWN MULCH, BUT, YOU KNOW, LET'S BE REAL, MOST OF US DON'T HAVE A TRUCK OR ABILITY TO DO THAT.
SO YEAH, JUST THINKING, YOU KNOW, IF WE, IF WE ARE INVESTING, WE'RE INVESTING A LOT IN TREE TRIMMING, WHICH I, YOU KNOW, GRANTED IS NEEDED, BUT LIKE, LIKE YOU SAY, IT'S NOT GONNA, IT'S, IT'S
[02:40:01]
NOT GONNA SOLVE ALL THE ISSUES.SO JUST TRYING TO THINK LIKE, WHAT ARE THE OTHER, WHAT ARE THE OTHER THINGS THAT, YOU KNOW, MAYBE IT'S IN CERTAIN AREAS YOU JUST DELIVER IT TO THE, DELIVER IT TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD OR SOMETHING, YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW.
I'M JUST, UM, LOOKING AT THE PHOTOS AND ALSO HAVING SEEN ALL THESE TREES COME DOWN, WHAT CAN WE DO? IT'S SOMETHING CONSIDERED AS FAR AS INFORMATION, BUT WE, WE, WE NEED EVERYONE TO REMEMBER AUSTIN ENERGY OWNS ZERO TREES, RIGHT? WE DON'T OWN ANY TREES.
UH, SO WE DON'T HAVE ANY TREES.
UH, BUT I THINK, UH, I DO HAVE TRAINED ARBORIST AND I THINK PUTTING IN HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN A HEALTH, AND I KNOW WE, WE DID POST SOME STUFF ABOUT IF YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS, YOU THINK IT CALL A TRAINED ARBS TO COME OUT AND LOOK AT IT.
SO I THINK WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR MORE PUBLIC INFORMATION ON OUR WEBSITE AND THAT'S ABSOLUTELY SOMETHING I WILL TALK TO MY, MY MANAGER ABOUT IT TOO.
AND, YOU KNOW, HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY HEALTHY TREES? WHAT DO YOU DO IF ONE'S NOT HEALTHY? HOW CAN YOU MAINTAIN THE HEALTH OF IT TO LOOK AT THAT? AND I, AND I WILL TAKE IN TO SEE, UH, AND I DON'T KNOW HOW IT WOULD WORK, BUT YOU KNOW, IF THERE WAS SOMETHING THAT WOULD PROVIDE IT IF YOU CAME AND GOT IT OR SOMETHING LIKE, I DON'T KNOW, WE, WE'LL TAKE A LOOK AT IT, BUT I JUST WANT EVERYBODY TO REMEMBER WE OWN ZERO TREATS AUSTIN ENERGY, SO WE OWN POLES AND WIRES.
UH, SO, BUT, UH, WE'LL DEFINITELY I'LL DEFINITELY UPDATE THE WEBSITE CAUSE THAT'S A GREAT SUGGESTION THAT I HADN'T THOUGHT OF BEFORE.
AND THEN I'LL FOLLOW UP ON, ON THE OTHER AND SEE IF THERE'S SOME TYPE OF A CITY PROGRAM THAT MIGHT BE ABLE TO PROVIDE THAT.
UM, AND I GUESS I'LL JUST, UM, SECOND THE, THE COMMENTS FROM COMMISSIONER TOTTLE ABOUT, UM, YOU KNOW, LOOKING AT, AT WAYS AND, AND KIND OF WHAT THE OPTIONS AND COST WOULD BE ON IMPROVING THAT MESH COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK SO THAT WE CAN DO MORE WITH IT.
UM, IT SEEMS LIKE THE RESPONSES THAT WE'RE GETTING ON THIS, UH, STORM AND THE COMMUNICATIONS AS WELL AS, YOU KNOW, THE INABILITY TO FULLY UTILIZE, UM, YOU KNOW, THE, THE SMART METERS IN, IN OTHER WAYS, UM, AND, AND THE, THAT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK IS A MAJOR BARRIER.
LIKE, I DON'T KNOW, THIS IS NOT MY AREA OF EXPERTISE.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT COSTS OR IF IT'S, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S POSSIBLE IN TERMS OF UPGRADING THAT TO BE ABLE TO DO MORE, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, IT SEEMS LIKE THAT WOULD AT LEAST BE WORTH EXAMINING.
AND I GUESS, KIND OF ON A RELATED NOTE, I'M WONDERING IF ANY ANALYSIS HAS BEEN DONE ON THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THIS OUTAGE HERE IN AUSTIN? NOT THAT I'VE SEEN AND, UM, NOT ONE THAT WE HAVE PERFORMED, BUT I I, THERE COULD BE ONE OUT THERE AND I WOULD, I WOULD GUESS THAT ONE'S COMING, BUT YEAH, I, I'VE SEEN A LOT OF SPECULATION ONLINE ABOUT JUST HOW COSTLY IT IS.
UM, BUT I'M NOT AWARE OF, UH, OF ONE THAT'S FIRMLY QUANTIFYING THAT.
WOULD SOME SORT OF ESTIMATE LIKE THAT BE PART OF THE AFTER ACTION REPORT? UM, TYPICALLY NOT.
UH, WE'RE OUR AFTER ACTION REPORT IS REALLY LOOKING AT, UM, WHAT ACTIONABLE ITEMS WE CAN, WE CAN IDENTIFY THAT WILL MAKE US BETTER MOVING FORWARD AND, AND WE REALLY WANT THEM TO BE THINGS THAT ARE ACTIONABLE, UM, OR THINGS THAT WE DID WELL THAT WE NEED TO REMEMBER TO THAT, THAT WE DID WELL TO LEVERAGE FURTHER IN THE FUTURE.
BUT IT'S NOT REALLY GOING TO, YOU KNOW, THAT THAT COULD BE SOMETHING, UH, THAT'S INCLUDED.
I'M NOT SURE IN THE CITY'S OVERALL AFTER ACTION REPORT, OUR OURS IS REALLY GONNA FIT WITHIN THAT OVERALL CITY OF AUSTIN UMBRELLA.
AND SO OURS WILL BE, UH, BOTH A SECTION WITHIN THE OVERALL CITY OF AUSTIN AFTER ACTION REPORT.
AND, UM, IT'S KIND OF A STANDALONE APPENDIX AS ITS OWN.
WELL I'M ASKING BECAUSE I MEAN, IT DOES SEEM LIKE YOU'LL, WITH MAYBE THE EXCEPTION OF THE COMMUNICATIONS ISSUES THAT HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED A LOT HERE, DID A LOT OF THINGS RIGHT, AND DID WHAT YOU COULD, AND IT JUST SIMPLY WAS, UM, YOU KNOW, THE WEATHER JUST OVERWHELMED THE SYSTEM AND YOU KNOW, I KNOW THAT EVERY TIME BURYING POWER LINES IS BROUGHT UP THAT IT'S JUST, UM, DISMISSED OUTRIGHT IS TOO EXPENSIVE.
BUT, YOU KNOW, IF YOU START TO LOOK AT TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THESE KIND OF EXTENDED OUTAGE EVENTS ACROSS A LARGE, YOU KNOW, SO MANY CUSTOMERS IN THE CITY, THAT KIND OF EVERYTHING IS GROUND TO A HALT.
UM, I DON'T KNOW, IT JUST MIGHT, STRATEGIES THAT SEEM LIKE THEY'RE OUTLANDISHLY EXPENSIVE MIGHT ACTUALLY BE COST EFFECTIVE.
I JUST YEAH, THAT'S, YEAH, THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING.
THAT'S EXACTLY, UM, WHY JACK JACKIE, SERGEANT, OUR GENERAL MANAGER, SAID THAT WE NEED TO PUT FUNDING INTO OUR NEXT YEAR'S BUDGET TO BE ABLE TO GET A FULL STUDY OF THAT.
BECAUSE YOU'RE RIGHT, IT'S, UM, YOU
[02:45:01]
KNOW, IT'S ALWAYS BEEN SEEN AS PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE AND EACH TIME THIS CONVERSATION COMES UP, YOU KNOW, IT COMES UP PERIODICALLY, UH, AND IT COMES UP ON A SITE TO SITE BASIS WHERE PE YOU KNOW, PEOPLE ARE PAYING THEIR LOWER LINE EXTENSION COSTS AND YOU KNOW, THEY WANT TO SEE WHAT THE DIFFERENCE, YOU KNOW, SO IT, IT DOES COME UP AND, YOU KNOW, EACH TIME PEOPLE SEE THE NUMBERS AND THAT KIND OF SQUASHES THE CONVERSATION THERE.BUT WHAT WE WANT TO DO IS LOOK AT A, A REALLY COMPLETE ANALYSIS OF, OF WHAT THOSE COSTS WOULD BE AND, AND WHAT THE FEASIBILITY, JUST EVEN THE FEASIBILITY OF DOING SOMETHING ON SUCH A LARGE SCALE SO THAT WE CAN HAVE THAT P PUBLIC POLICY DISCUSSION.
BECAUSE OTHERWISE WE'RE JUST KIND OF HAVING THAT DISCUSSION IN A VACUUM WITHOUT HAVING THE, THE FIRM NUMBERS, THE HARD DATA.
SO, UH, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT, THAT WE'LL DO AND, UM, WE'LL LOOK TO GET THAT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
I MEAN, IT'S, IT'S, IT'S GOING TO BE A RATHER EXPENSIVE EFFORT JUST TO STUDY SOMETHING AS, UM, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE 5,000 MILES OF OVERHEAD DISTRIBUTION LINES AND, AND WE'D WANT SOMEBODY TO DO A REALLY COMPLETE STUDY AND THINK ABOUT HOW IT COULD BE PHASED IN, UM, THINK ABOUT WHAT OUR PRIORITIES WOULD BE AND THAT KIND OF THING.
SO YEAH, THEN ONCE WE HAVE THAT FEASIBILITY, WE KNOW WHAT THE ACTUAL COST WOULD BE OR WHAT THE COST WOULD BE FOR OUR PRIORITIES, YOU KNOW, WE CAN HAVE START HAVING THOSE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT PRIORITIES AND THE COST BENEFIT KIND OF RELATIONSHIP, SO.
YEAH, AND I GUESS THAT'S KIND OF WHAT I'M GETTING AT IS LIKE YEAH, THE COST, BUT ALSO TRYING TO QUANTIFY, UM, I GUESS THE BENEFIT THE AVOIDED, THE AVOIDED COST OF, OF NOT DOING IT.
YOU KNOW, I WILL SAY I PERSONALLY LIVE IN A NEIGHBORHOOD THAT DOES HAVE BURIED POWERED LINES AND I WAS OUT FOR, UM, A LITTLE LESS THAN A DAY AND THEN MY POWER WAS RESTORED, PROBABLY
YEAH,
WELL, THAT'S PROBABLY WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD BECAUSE EVERYTHING'S BURIED, SO, YEAH.
UM, YEAH, AND MY ONLY OTHER COMMENT IS, UH, I, I DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S A REASON WHY THE MAP DOESN'T SHOW INDIVIDUAL POINTS LIKE THIS HOUSE IS OUT.
UM, BUT I THINK THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL IN, UM, ON A NORMAL DAY-TO-DAY OUTAGE KIND OF SCENARIO.
UM, IT CAN BE USED BY PEOPLE TO SAY, OH, THIS HOUSE HAS NO POWER, THEIR SECURITY SYSTEM'S OFF.
UM, AND SO THAT'S WHY, BUT OBVIOUSLY IN AN EVENT LIKE THIS, MAYBE, YOU KNOW, IT'S, IT'S NOT AS GREAT A CONCERN CUZ UM, PEOPLE ARE GONNA KNOW A LOT OF PLACES ARE OUT.
BUT THAT'S, THAT'S THE REASON WHY, UH, BECAUSE ANYBODY COULD JUST PULL UP THE OUTAGE MAP AND ZOOM IN AND EXACTLY, YOU KNOW, WHERE THE POWER IS OUT AND THAT COULD CREATE A SECURITY RISK FOR, FOR THAT HOUSEHOLD.
I JUST KNOW THAT THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE I THINK THAT EVEN WHEN THEY SAW, THEY SAW THE DOT THAT WAS NEAR THEM, BUT THEY'RE LIKE, IS THIS ME? AND YEAH.
AND I, BUT MAYBE THAT GOES BACK TO GETTING THE TEXT, SO, YOU KNOW, IT'S YOU.
BUT YEAH, I HEARD FROM A LOT OF CUSTOMERS WHO WOULD, YOU KNOW, SOME EVEN SENT ME A SCREENSHOT AND THEY SAID, I'M NOT, YOU KNOW, ON THIS MAP AND I, YOU KNOW, I KEEP CALLING OR, OR WHATEVER IT MAY BE.
AND I WOULD LOOK THEM UP IN THE SYSTEM AND THEN I COULD CONFIRM THAT THEY WERE INDEED THAT DOT THAT WAS FIVE, SIX BLOCKS AWAY OR WHATEVER, AND THEN THEY FELT MUCH BETTER.
AND THAT GETS TO KIND OF THE FIRST POINT THAT GREG BROUGHT UP AND I THINK THAT YOU BROUGHT UP, OR SOMEBODY BROUGHT UP THAT I JUST WANT TO KNOW THAT, YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, THAT'S LIKE THE VERY FIRST THING.
UH, AND, AND, AND SO, UM, THAT IS SOMETHING THAT WE'LL HAVE TO CONTINUE TO REFINE BECAUSE WE DID AWAY WITH THE, THE POLYGONS WEREN'T, UH, VERY USER FRIENDLY AND WE SWITCHED TO THIS WHERE IT WILL ROLL UP IN THE, LIKE THE RED DOT WITH THE SQUARE IS THE MOST NUMBER OF OUTAGES, BUT IT MIGHT BE KIND OF FAR AWAY FROM YOU AND YOU MIGHT NOT NECESSARILY KNOW, UH, HOW THE, HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS VERY WELL.
UM, OUR SYSTEM AND LISA, LISA JUST REMINDED ME THAT OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE REPS CAN LOOK THAT UP AS WELL, SO THEY, THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO TELL.
SO YEAH, ONCE YOU CAN GET THROUGH YEAH.
THAT, YEAH, UNDERSTANDABLY SO.
I MEAN, THIS GOES BACK TO MY INITIAL COMMENT, LIKE, WE ARE ALL GOING TO, UH, SUFFER LIKE, AND SINCE, SINCE, SINCE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE REPS, AND I KNOW WE ALL TALK ABOUT OUR LINE WORKERS A LOT WHO ARE OUT IN THE FIELD, BUT OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE REPS, WERE DEALING WITH A LOT OF VERY FRUSTRATED PEOPLE.
AND MY, I, I MEAN, YOU KNOW, WE HAD A LOT OF PEOPLE BEHIND THE SCENES, IT WAS ALL HANDS ON DECK FOR US.
WE HAD A LOT OF HEROIC PEOPLE, NOT JUST OUT IN THE FIELD, BUT PEOPLE ANSWERING PHONES AND STUFF.
SO I JUST WANNA RECOGNIZE THEM AS WELL.
UM, ALRIGHT, THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE FOR THE BRIEFING AND FOR THE THOUGHTFUL DISCUSSION HERE.
UM, WE'VE GOT JUST A COUPLE MORE
[02:50:01]
THINGS ON THE AGENDA.UM, I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I'M STARVING.
[12. Approve the creation of a Budget & Audit working group to provide recommendations on the FY 23/24 Austin Energy budget to the Commission. (Sponsors: Chapman, Trostle, Reed)]
GOT DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS. NUMBER 12, UH, APPROVE THE CREATION OF A BUDGET AND AUDIT WORKING GROUP TO PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS ON FISCAL YEAR 20 23, 20 24 AUSTIN ENERGY BUDGET TO THE COMMISSION.AND, UM, BASICALLY, YOU KNOW, WE RECEIVED GUIDANCE FROM THE CITY CLERK THAT WORKING GROUPS ARE, UM, INTENDED TO BE TEMPORARY, AND ONCE THEY PROVIDE THEIR RECOMMENDATION TO THE, UH, COMMISSION THAT THAT IS, YOU KNOW, SORT OF THE END OF THEIR, UH, I GUESS EXISTENCE.
AND SO THEY RECOMMEND THAT WE CREATE, UM, A, YOU KNOW, RECREATE REAPPROVE A BUDGET, UH, GROUP OR WHATEVER WE'RE GONNA CALL IT, UM, EACH TIME.
SO FOR THE, FOR THE, IF WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A BUDGET WORKING GROUP FOR, UM, EVERY, UH, BUDGET CYCLE, WHICH I RECOMMEND WE DO, UH, I THINK WE SHOULD JUST ADD THAT AS A SORT OF STANDING AGENDA ITEM, YOU KNOW, JANUARY MEETING, UM, AND JUST REAPPROVE A BUDGET WORKING GROUP IF THAT'S, IF THAT'S HOW YOU WANNA DO IT.
SO GO AHEAD, COMMISSIONER CHAPMAN.
SINCE I MADE THE RECCO SINCE I MADE THE RECOMMENDATION AND OTHERS JOIN ME, I'D LIKE TO JUST MODIFY ABSOLUTELY STANDING A AS A DISCUSSION ACTION ITEM.
UH, I'D JUST LIKE TO CLARIFY, CLARIFY, UH, JUST THE WORDING A LITTLE BIT.
THE APPROVAL OF THE CREATION OF A BUDGET AND AUDIT WORKING GROUP TO REVIEW AUDITS AND BUDGETARY MATTERS, INCLUDING THE 2324 AUSTIN ENERGY BUDGET TO THE COMMISSION, ALL OF WHICH IS NOT TO PRECLUDE US FROM TALKING ABOUT OR BRINGING FORTH RECOMMENDA, OTHER RELATED RECOMMENDATIONS.
UM, SO I, WHO, WHO WILL BE ON THE WORKING GROUP? WILL IT BE THE, THE SAME FOLKS? ALL VOLUNTEERS? ALL VOLUNTEERS.
AND THEN, UH, COMMISSIONER YNK, UH, YANKER WAS ON IT LAST TIME, WASN'T SHE? WELL, SHE'S WELCOME.
BUT I AM AM IT, WAS SHE REAPPOINTED? HAS SHE BEEN REAPP? OH, I DON'T KNOW.
UH, NO, I DON'T THINK, I'M NOT SURE.
SO WAIT, SO IS IT LESS THAN A QUORUM? AND, AND WE'RE WELCOME.
OTHER THAN AND MORE, MORE TO COME IF YOU'D LIKE.
SO I, I DON'T THINK WE, WE NEED TO TAKE A VOTE ON THAT, RIGHT? ROBIN? THAT'S NOT, I BELIEVE YOU DO.
WELL, MAN, I'M CRUSHING IT TODAY.
UM, OKAY, SO THEN I WILL ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE THE, UH, BUDGET AND AUDIT WORKING GROUP AS AMENDED BY, UH, COMMISSIONER CHAPMAN'S, UH, LANGUAGE REVISION.
[13. Discussion and possible action regarding the 2023-2024 City of Austin Budget recommendations.]
SO 13, THIS IS DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING 20 23, 24, CITY OF AUSTIN BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS.UM, AND ROBINSON OUT A NOTE ASKING FOR THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS.
WE DIDN'T SEE ANY AHEAD OF THE MEETING.
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY THOUGHTS THEY'D LIKE TO SHARE NOW? UH, ALL OF WHICH IS THE COUNCIL BECAUSE WE MISSED A MEETING, WE'RE A LITTLE BEHIND AND THE, OUR WORK GROUP DIDN'T MEET, UH, SO ALL OF WHICH IS, WE MAY HAVE RECOMMENDATIONS, BUT, UH, AND THEY MAY BE SUBMITTED LATE TO COUNCIL.
UH, BUT LET'S, SO ALONG THOSE LINES, IF WE DID RECOMMENDATIONS AT THE APRIL, IS THAT TOO LATE BASICALLY TO MATTER TO CITY COUNCIL? IS THAT THEY'RE DUE MARCH 31ST? UM, SO I I THINK WE CAN SUBMIT THEM LATE.
I DON'T, I JUST DON'T KNOW IF THEY WILL BE CONSIDERED OR PART OF THE PROCESS.
UM, SO I, I, I, I DON'T, UH, BUT THEY DO HAVE TO BE VOTED ON, UM, UM, BY THE COMMISSION.
SO YOU CAN CERTAINLY PUT THEM ON THE APRIL AGENDA, BUT I KNOW THEY ARE DUE, UM, UM, AND REQUESTED BY THE, UM, THE BUDGET OFFICE BY MARCH 31ST TO BE INCLUDED AS PART OF THEIR BUDGET PROCESS.
WHEN, WHEN DOES THE COUNCIL TAKE IT UP? SORRY? WHEN DOES THE COUNCIL TAKE UP THE, WHEN DOES THE CITY COUNCIL, CITY MANAGER PRESENT IT TO THE COUNCIL? I THINK, AS I RECALL, THAT'S HOW IT HAPPENS.
WILL IT BE IN APRIL? WILL IT BE AT THE COUNCIL'S APRIL MEETING? I'M SORRY, I I'M SORRY.
I WAS TALKING OVER SOMEBODY ELSE.
[02:55:01]
WILL THE CITY MANAGER PRESENT THE, A BUDGET TO THE COUNCIL? THE CITY MANAGER DOESN'T PRESENT IN HIS BUDGET UNTIL, UM, AUGUST.AND SO WHAT'S THE, SO IN THE AP MARCH DEADLINE NEXT AT THAT, UM, THE MARCH DEADLINE IS FROM THE BUDGET OFFICE AS THEY, UM, WILL INCORPORATE THAT TO GET INTO THE CITY MANAGERS, UM, UM, INTO THE DEPARTMENTAL BUDGETS.
UM, THIS IS ALL WHAT I RECALL FROM THE, FROM THE, FROM THE EMAIL MM-HMM.
UM, SO THEY WILL WORK WITH THE DEPARTMENT BUDGETS AS THEY PUT THEIR, THE OVERALL CITY BUDGET TOGETHER IN AUGUST, SIX MONTHS.
SO WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH THESE RECOMMENDATIONS IS IF BE INCLUDED, UM, AND THE CITY COUNCIL CAN TAKE THESE UP AS THEY MAKE THEIR DELIBERATIONS IN AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER.
BUT WE, WE WILL STILL HAVE AN, UM, THE AUSTIN ENERGY WILL PRESENT TO US THEIR PROPOSED BUDGET.
UM, WAIT, THE FINANCIAL FORECAST IS NEXT MONTH.
SO THESE ARE NOT ACTUALLY, YOU KNOW, BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS IN TERMS OF BUDGET.
THESE ARE, THESE ARE MORE, I BELIEVE, WHAT KIND OF BIG PICTURE IDEAS AND, UM, POLICY IDEAS THAT YOU AS A COMMISSION WOULD LIKE TO SEE.
THAT'S, THAT'S MY UNDERSTANDING OF THIS.
THAT WAS IN THE EMAIL FROM THE BUDGET OFFICE AND THE MEMO AND THE DEADLINE IS BECAUSE THEY CLOSED THE PORTAL AT THE END OF THE MONTH, THERE'S A PORTAL THAT YOU HAVE TO INPUT THESE INTO AND THAT CLOSES OKAY.
BUT CERTAINLY ANYTHING THAT WE RECOMMEND, UH, THE CITY MANAGER, I MEAN, IT'LL GET INTO THE RIGHT, RIGHT HANDS.
WE CAN COMMUNICATE PRESUMABLY, I MEAN, SOUNDS LIKE IT'S A SIX MONTH PROCESS.
I MEAN, IN IN YEARS PAST, WE'VE NOT BEEN AS, LET'S SAY, DILIGENT ABOUT, UM, YOU KNOW, TIMELY PROVIDING, UH, THIS TYPE OF POLICY RECOMMENDATION.
AND I THINK WE'VE STILL HAD INPUT, UM, YOU KNOW, THROUGHOUT THE BUDGETING PROCESS.
SO I, I DON'T THINK IT'S THE ONLY OPPORTUNITY TO COMMENT, BUT I, I DO THINK THAT WE'RE TRYING TO GET MORE IN LINE WITH THE, THE CITY'S PROCESS AND MEET, MEET THOSE DEADLINES AND BE ACTIVE EARLIER.
UM, SO, YOU KNOW, THAT'S JUST, WE CAN, WE CAN STILL CERTAINLY SUBMIT IT.
I MEAN, OUR MEETING WAS CANCELED LAST MONTH.
I DON'T THINK WE ARE THE ONLY COMMISSION THAT MIGHT HAVE CANCELED A MEETING.
UM, SO WE CAN CERTAINLY PUT ON NEXT MONTH AGENDA AND SUBMIT IT AND WE CAN LET THEM KNOW, UM, THE PORTAL MIGHT BE CLOSED.
UM, SO THEY MIGHT, YOU KNOW, THEY MIGHT NOT LIKE IT, BUT WE CAN STILL SUBMIT IT.
YEAH, I MEAN, I THINK THAT'S FAIR.
AND SO AS AN EXAMPLE, ONE THING I WANT TO MAKE SURE WE LOOK AT IS FEDERAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR FREE FEDERAL MONEY THAT CAN HELP THE AUSTIN ENERGY BUDGET TO DO GOOD STUFF.
SO WE COULD LOOK AT, YOU KNOW, SOME UPCOMING, I MEAN, I'M SURE THEY'RE LOOKING AT THAT ANYWAY, BUT THAT'S THE TYPE OF THING THAT SHOULD GO IN, I THINK SHOULD GO INTO OUR RECOMMENDATIONS.
AND THE PSI AND, AND THE PROGRAMS THAT ARE ENERGY EFFICIENCY PRO, THINGS LIKE THAT.
BIG PICTURE ITEMS WE CAN CERTAINLY LOOK AT.
SO WE'LL, WE'LL PUT THAT ON NEXT MEETING, NEXT MEETING'S AGENDA AND JUST SUBMIT IT LATE.
AND JUST KIND OF A COMMENT ON THIS, UH, JUST GOING BACK TO THE WORKING GROUP, I WOULD JUST SUGGEST, LIKE YOU, YOU MENTIONED FORMING THAT IN JANUARY.
I WOULD LIKE FORM THAT BACK IN THE FALL, LIKE SO THAT YOU CAN BE MORE TIMELY, WHICH IS, THAT WORKS FOR I THINK, A CHALLENGE.
[14. Discussion of report regarding City Council action on items previously reviewed by the EUC.]
ITEM NUMBER 14.THE REPORT REGARDING CITY COUNCIL ACTION ON ITEMS PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED BY THE EUC WAS CIRCULATED WITH YOUR MEETING MATERIALS.
UH, UH, LANETTA COOPER GAVE US A VERY THOUGHTFUL PAPER, UH, AND ALL OF WHICH IS, UH, UH, CERTAINLY SHOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE.
BUT, UH, THE ON ITEM PAGE FOUR I, UH, MAINTENANCE, UH, SHE MAKES, SHE MADE THREE RECOMMENDATIONS.
UH, SHE MADE THREE RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING, UH, SHARING THE POLICIES REGARDING MAINTEN, UH, MAINTENANCE, UH, ALI'S PROPERTY REGULATIONS.
I'D LIKE THAT INFORMATION TO BE SHARED WITH THE, WITH THE EUC, THE, THE THREE BULLET POINTS.
UH, SHE MADE THE NEXT MEETING FOR NEXT MEETING.
[03:00:01]
WHY DON'T, UH, JUST INFORMATIONAL RIGHT COM, WOULD YOU MIND, UH, SENDING THESE, THESE THREE BULLETS TO, UH, ROBIN AS A REQUEST? UM, OH, YOU'VE GOT IT.AND SO THIS IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE STAFF.
UM, THIS IS ASSOCIATED WITH ITEM NUMBER, UH, 11 ON THE WINTER STORM BRIEFING.
UM, AND THE, UH, THIS, I THINK THIS IS FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS, UH, RELATED TO THAT.
[FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS]
OKAY.THE FINAL ITEM, FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS. WE ARE STILL WORKING DOWN OUR VERY THOROUGH LIST THAT, UH, THE COMMISSION CAME UP WITH IN JANUARY.
AND, UM, SO RIGHT NOW I HAVE ON, JUST AS A PLANNING OUT OVER THE NEXT TWO MONTHS, WE'VE GOT, UH, THE FISCAL YIELD YEAR 24 FORECAST AND BUDGET PLANNING IN APRIL.
UM, AND THEN A CONVERSATION ABOUT CAC OR C I C ALSO SLATED FOR APRIL AND THE SOLAR AND STORAGE RFP IN APRIL.
UM, AND THEN IN MAY WE'VE GOT THE SECOND QUARTER FINANCIAL AND SECOND QUARTER OPERATIONS BRIEFINGS SLATED.
UM, IF, ARE THERE ANY OTHER AGENDA, I, FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS THAT, UM, ARE NOT CURRENTLY ON OUR MASTER LIST THAT WE'VE BEEN WORKING OFF OF? YES, COMMISSIONER TRU.
UM, I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A REPORT NEXT MONTH ON, UM, ANY PENDING, UH, LEGISLA LEGISLATION THAT'S DIRECTLY DIRECTED AT AUSTIN ENERGY.
I SAW THAT IN THE, UM, UH, MINUTES.
IT, IT, IT INDICATES THAT WE'D HAVE A LEGISLATIVE WRAP UP AFTER THE SESSION, UM, UM, ENDS.
UM, I'M SORRY, I'M VERY TIRED.
UM, BUT I, MY NOTES INDICATED WE ALSO TALKED ABOUT PERHAPS GETTING INTERIM, UM, AND THERE'S BEEN SOME NEWS ABOUT SOME VERY DIRECTED, UH, LEGISLATION AIMED AT AUSTIN ENERGY, AND I'D JUST LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THE STA STATUS IS ON THAT.
I ACTUALLY, UM, WE, WE DID DISCUSS PUTTING IT THAT AGENDA ITEM ON, UM, THIS MEETING OR NEXT, AND, AND I DECIDED NOT TO DO THAT.
UH, I, I THINK I, I WOULD, I WOULD PREFER TO HAVE, UM, AFTER THE CLOSE OF SESSION A, A BRIEFING ON, ON WHAT BILLS WERE PROPOSED AND, AND THEN WHAT ULTIMATELY PASSED.
UH, JUST BECAUSE I THINK, UM, THAT I, I, I GUESS I'M CONCERNED ABOUT, UM, CONVERSATIONS AND IT POTENTIALLY IMPACTING, UH, THE STRATEGY, UH, THAT AUSTIN ENERGY MIGHT HAVE AT THE CAPITOL, UM, IF IT'S DURING THE SESSION.
AND SO THAT'S JUST, IT'S A CONCERN THAT I HAVE.
UM, AND, AND, UH, YOU KNOW, BUT IF, IF, OBVIOUSLY I AM NOT, UM, IF, IF ANOTHER COMMISSIONER WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT, UH, ON THE AGENDA, THEN, THEN WE CAN MAKE THAT HAPPEN.
BUT I, I MIGHT WANT TO HEAR FROM AUSTIN ENERGY ON, ON HOW THEY, HOW THEY WOULD FEEL ABOUT THAT AND, AND IF THAT IS OF INTEREST TO YOU.
UM, WELL I, UM, I MUST SAY THAT I, IF I RECALL CORRECTLY, TWO YEARS AGO, I THINK MS. COOPER IS HIGHLY CAPABLE OF BEING VERY, UM, UH, POLITICALLY ASTUTE IN WHAT SHE TELLS US ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING.
AND, UM, YOU KNOW, I'M IN JUST A, UH, A RUNDOWN.
I MEAN, I CAN LOOK IT UP MYSELF, I KNOW HOW TO DO THAT.
I'VE TRACKED LEGISLATION FOR MANY YEARS, BUT I WOULD WOULD LIKE IT TO BE PRESENTED OF WHAT, YOU KNOW, HAS IT BEEN ASSIGNED A COMMITTEE, HAS THERE BEEN A HEARING, ET CETERA, UH, BY BILL NUMBER, IF NOTHING ELSE MM-HMM.
UM, ANY AUSTIN ENERGY? IS THAT SOMETHING WE CAN PUT TOGETHER OR YOU CAN PUT TOGETHER? I'M NOT IN
UM, I THINK THAT THERE'S, WE COULD PROBABLY PRESENT YOU MAYBE WITH SOME WRITTEN MATERIALS WE COULD CIRCULATE.
AGAIN, I WOULD ADVISE AGAINST ANY KIND OF PRESENTATION PUBLICLY.
UM, YOU KNOW, I THINK WE COULD GIVE YOU MAYBE SOME KIND OF STATUS REPORT.
UM, YOU KNOW, IF WE, IF WE WANNA DO ANYTHING ELSE, UH, I THINK WE'D HAVE TO CONSULT WITH OUR INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS OFFICE BECAUSE THERE IS A CITY DEPARTMENT THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, MANAGES THE CITY'S LEGIS LEGISLATIVE
[03:05:01]
ACTIVITIES.SO, SO COULD YOU PROVIDE A, A LIST OF RELEVANT BILLS ON THE STATUS JUST IN, IN WRITTEN FORM? YES, WE COULD DO THAT AND, AND CIRCULATE THAT TO THE COMMISSION.
COULD ALL OF WHICH IS, THERE'S NOT A WHOLE LOT OF COMMUNICATIONS NORMALLY BETWEEN MEETINGS, BUT IF, IF, IF YOU COULD PUMP OUT THAT INFORMATION, UH, WHATEVER IS PR PRESUMABLY PREPARE IT FOR CITY COUNCIL, UH, IF, IF YOU COULD INFORM US OF, OF THE STATUS ON A, ON A, I CAN LOOK INTO WHAT WE CAN DO, I CAN LOOK INTO WHAT WE CAN DO, BUT YOU KNOW, KEEP IN MIND I THINK THERE'S OVER 6,000 BILLS THAT HAVE BEEN FILED AND THE PERCENTAGE THAT WILL ACTUALLY PASS IS, UM, 8,000.
AND, AND AGAIN, THE, THE PERCENTAGE THAT ACTUALLY PASSES, I MEAN, I KNOW SOME OF THESE BILLS, UH, ARE, YOU KNOW, CONCERNING.
UH, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY, UM, IT'S REALLY BEST TO KIND OF DO, UH, AT THE AFTER SESSION REPORT SO YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.
CUZ THE OTHER THING IS, YOU KNOW, WE CAN PROVIDE YOU INFORMATION ABOUT A BILL THAT'S FILED COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE RIGHT AWAY.
UM, IT CHANGES, YOU KNOW, THERE'S SOMEONE, SOMEONE BEHIND THE SCENES IS DOING SOMETHING AS, AS YOU ALL KNOW.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, THE INFORMATION CHANGES SO RAPIDLY A LOT OF TIMES WITH SOME OF THESE BILLS THAT IT JUST, UH, I THINK IT'S, IT'S MOST BENEFICIAL AND EDUCATIONAL WHEN YOU, YOU KIND OF SEE AT THE END WHAT HAPPENED.
BUT AGAIN, WE'LL, WE'LL WORK ON PROVIDING, UH, THE APPROPRIATE INFORMATION THAT, THAT WE CAN PROVIDE.
UH, JUST WANTED TO SHARE THAT.
UM, I'M ON SOME SORT OF DISTRIBUTION LIST, SO I THINK EVERY, LIKE TWO, WELL, SOMETIMES IT'S EVERY WEEK, EVERY WEEK OR TWO.
UM, I'M COPIED ON AN EMAIL THAT, THAT COMES, UH, IT'S A MEMO OR MEMOS FROM BRI FRANCO FRANCO.
AND, UM, SHE'S LISTING ALL OF THE BILLS THAT, OR, OR, WELL MAYBE NOT ALL, BUT LIKE ALL A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF BILLS THAT THEY'RE TRACKING.
UM, YOU KNOW, THIS LAST ONE WAS AN 11 PAGE REPORT OF BILLS AND KIND OF, YOU KNOW, WHAT THEY TESTIFIED ON.
SO THAT JUST MIGHT BE A PLACE TO START.
UM, SHE SEEMS TO BE DOING THESE BRIEFINGS.
I KNOW SHE HAS DONE IT FOR OTHER COMMISSIONS.
UM, IT AT OTHER TIMES, I DON'T KNOW IF SHE'S AVAILABLE NOW, BUT, YOU KNOW, I THINK SHE HAS LIKE A, WHATEVER SHE, SHE HAS A, AN APPROPRIATE VERSION OF, OF KIND OF WHAT TO SHARE.
SO THAT MIGHT BE, AND UM, WHAT'S HER NAME? BREE.
I, SHE'S WAS ACTUALLY THAT SUGGESTION THAT IF THERE'S ALREADY SOMETHING BEING PRODUCED BY THE CITY OF AUSTIN THAT TRACKS SPILLS THAT AFFECTS THE CITY OF AUSTIN, WE JUST USE THAT AND NOT GET INTO THE NITTY GRITTY.
CUZ AS YOU SAY, THESE, YOU KNOW, WHO KNOWS WHAT THE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE OF S SP SIX AND SEVEN ARE GONNA LOOK LIKE.
BUT I DO THINK HER, I DON'T KNOW, I THINK HER PRESENTATIONS CAN GIVE A GOOD, LIKE, YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I MEAN.
JUST USE SOMETHING EXISTING RATHER THAN TRY TO CREATE, IT'S REALLY HARD TO PREDICT ALL THESE THINGS.
I, WE'LL LOOK INTO THAT DISTRIBUTION LIST AND SEE WHAT THE, UH, MAYBE THAT'S MAYBELL BE, BE, IS THERE OKAY.
UM, IT, IT WENT BACK TO KIND OF, TO THE QUESTION THAT DAVE HAD.
UM, ON THE, UM, RATE CASE FOLLOW UP.
UM, THERE'S, THERE WAS AN ITEM ON THERE ABOUT CREATING A STANDARD OFFER FOR SOLAR AND ACTUALLY KIND OF ADDRESSES, UM, DALE'S COMMENTS, UH, FROM EARLIER ABOUT USING ROOFTOP SPACE.
UM, AND, AND THAT WAS ONE OF THE COMMITMENTS, UM, THAT CAME OUT OF THE RAPE CASE.
UM, AND, AND I, UM, KNOW FROM, UH, I GUESS WHATEVER PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS THAT THE STAFF IS MOVING FORWARD WITH THAT AND THAT YOU, UC AND R M C ARE SUPPOSED TO BE INVOLVED.
SO I WOULD SUGGEST THAT WE, I THINK IT'LL BE A, PROBABLY A PRETTY SHORT BRIEFING AT THIS STAGE, BUT UM, WOULD BE AN OPPORTUNITY TO, YOU KNOW, HEAR WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND GIVE FEEDBACK PERHAPS.
AND THAT'S SEPARATE FROM THE SOLAR AND STORAGE RFP, RIGHT? THAT THAT WOULD BE SOME, YEAH.
SO IT'S, UM, LET ME PULL UP, UH, THIS WAS IN KIND OF, THERE WAS A WHOLE DOCUMENT OF OTHER ISSUES THAT, UM, AND, AND THAT'S WHAT WE KIND OF SAW SUMMARIZED ON THE SLIDE THAT, THAT WERE LIKE THINGS FOR AUSTIN ENERGY TO WORK ON.
AND SO, UM, THAT ONE WAS KIND OF UNDER THE VALUE OF SOLAR SECTION.
UM, THE LAST ONE, UPON APPROVAL OF
[03:10:01]
VALUE OF SOLAR TARIFF, AUSTIN ENERGY WILL INITIATE A PUBLIC STAKEHOLDER PROCESS TO DEVELOP A STANDARD OFFER PROGRAM FOR LOCAL DISTRIBUTED COMMUNITY.SOLAR PROCESS WILL INCLUDE PERIODIC UPDATES TO THE UC AND RMC FOR REVIEW AND FEEDBACK WITH THE INTENTION OF DEVELOPING A PROGRAM TO BE EFFECTIVE BY OCTOBER 1ST, 2023.
YEAH, I, I THINK, YEAH, WE'LL, WE'LL ADD THAT TO, UH, FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS. AND AS YOU SAY, UM, IF, IF, IF THE UPDATE IS, YOU KNOW, WE'RE JUST GETTING THIS UNDERWAY, THIS IS THE PLAN, UM, THEN THAT, THAT'S FINE.
ANY MORE FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS? ALL RIGHT.