[00:00:01]
ORDER.THIS IS THE ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION.
UM, PLEASE RESPOND IF YOU'RE VICE CHAIR WHITE.
AND ALSO NOTE, PLEASE USE PACKET V THREE, WHICH INCLUDES ITEM ONE V TWO OF THE MINUTES.
AND, UM, I THINK EVERYBODY THAT WAS POSTED ON THE WEB, RIGHT? V THREE? YES.
[PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL ]
WILL THE PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS.I THINK WE HAVE A NUMBER OF SPEAKERS HERE.
DAVID? YEAH, I HERE, GO AHEAD.
I'M DAVID LEVEK, A CITIZEN HERE IN AUSTIN.
I WANNA RECOGNIZE THAT YOU ALL HAVE DONE A GREAT JOB ACHIEVING HIGH LIABILITY AT LOW COST FOR OUR CITY OVER MANY YEARS.
AND I'M COMING TO ASK A FEW QUESTIONS SO WE CAN ENSURE THAT, THAT THAT TREND CONTINUES.
MY FIRST QUESTION IS, WHAT IS THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF LOAD REQUEST OF AUSTIN ENERGY BETWEEN 2020 AND 2030? SECOND QUESTION, WHAT IS AUSTIN ENERGY'S PREDICTED LOAD GROWTH BETWEEN 26 AND 2030? THIRD QUESTION, HOW MANY PEOPLE WORK IN CUSTOMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS? FOURTH QUESTION.
HOW MUCH OF THE ANNUAL BUDGET IS DEDICATED TO CUSTOMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS RELATIVE TO OTHER DEPARTMENTS? FIFTH QUESTION.
WHAT IS THE DOLLAR PER MEGAWATT HOUR RATE A E IS PAYING DURING EACH OF THE FOUR CP INTERVALS SINCE 2020 SIXTH.
WHY HAS AE NOT PROCURED ANY NEW UTILITY SCALE, SOLAR OR WIND SINCE 2021? SEVENTH QUESTION.
WHY DID AUSTIN ENERGY INCREASE RATES BY 5% INSTEAD OF ITS TARGET 2% IN 2025? AND EIGHTH? QUESTION, WHAT ARE THE ASSUMPTIONS THAT AUSTIN ENERGY USES TO MODEL THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF EACH OF ITS SUPPLY AND DEMAND OPTIONS? THANK YOU.
SO IT MAY BE BETTER IF YOU TYPE THOSE UP IN AN EMAIL AND SEND IT TO NIKKI.
DEFINITELY I'LL SEND IT TO YOU, NOT TO NIKKI.
I'M AN, UH, AUSTIN ENERGY RATE PAYER.
I'M A MEMBER OF THIRD ACT TEXAS.
I'M HERE TO OPPOSE AUSTIN ENERGY PROPOSAL TO THE AUSTIN CITY COUNCIL ON NOVEMBER 18 TO GIVE A DEPOSIT FOR A NEW GAS PLANT.
AUSTIN ENERGY PRESENTED AN ALARMING PICTURE OF THE AIR CODE, REALTIME ELECTRICITY COST FOR SEPTEMBER 22ND, ASKING COUNCIL TO PRO, UH, TO APPROVE A 15 MILLION IN NONREFUNDABLE DEPOSIT FOR A NEW GAS PLAN OR SIMILAR AMOUNT TO TRY TO OUTBID THE LIKES OF GOOGLE META OR MICROSOFT FOR A SECOND HAND.
UH, GAS TURBINE TY UP SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF FUNDS IN AN UNPRODUCTIVE WAY FOR MANY YEARS OF HOPING TO OUTCOMPETE THE BEST FUNDED COMPANIES IN THE WORLD.
FOR ANY EQUIPMENT WORTH HAVING IS NOT A SOUND STRATEGY.
THIS IS VERY IMPRACTICAL IDEA.
BESIDES BEING A BAD ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH DECISION, AUSTIN ENERGY IS SAYING THAT ONCE THEY HAVE THIS GAS PEAKER AROUND 2030, THAT WE ARE GOING TO HARDLY USE IT TO LIMIT EMISSIONS AND THAT THEY WILL, THEY COMMISSION IT IN 2035 TO COMPLY WITH THE NO, THERE'S ZERO CARBON PLEDGE.
THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY ECONOMIC SENSE.
LET, LET ME SUGGEST THAT YOU, THAT YOU ARE MUCH BETTER OFF PLANNING TO PUT IN EFFECT A VIRTUAL, UH, PLAN STRATEGY, INCLUDING NOT ONLY RESIDENTIAL, BUT ALSO COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS.
THIS IS A PLAN THAT CAN START EXECUTION IN A FEW MONTHS AND WILL PRODUCE POSITIVE RESULTS RIGHT AWAY, NOT IN FIVE, THREE YEARS TIMES, AND WILL BE A ZERO-CARBON,
[00:05:01]
UH, PLAN FROM THE START.FURTHERMORE, AUSTIN ENERGY COULD SEEK PARTNERS TO PROVIDE THE PPP EQUIPMENT.
SURE, THOSE PARTNERS WILL NEGOTIATE SOME KIND OF REVENUE SHARING, BUT IT WOULD GIVE ADI ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO ADDITIONAL REVENUE TO AUSTIN ENERGY WITHOUT ANY CAPITAL EXPENDITURES, MAINTENANCE OR THE DEPRECIATION COSTS.
THIS WILL GREATLY ENHANCE THE RESILIENCY PLAN FOR THE AUSTIN ENERGY CUSTOMERS.
PRICE VOLATILITY IN AUSTIN ENERGY, LOW SUN IS A REAL ISSUE, BUT WITH THE RIGHT BPP STRATEGY, IT PLAYS IN YOUR FAVOR BY ALLOWING AE TO BUY WHEN THE ELECTRICITY PRICE IS VERY LOW AND EVEN SOMETIMES NEGATIVE, AND SELL IT WHEN IT'S VERY HIGH, WHICH HAPPENS EVERY DAY.
THE COST OF GAS IS ONLY GOING UP PARTICULARLY WITH THE CURRENT FEDERAL LNG EXPORT STRATEGY.
WHILE THE SOLAR AND BATTERY COSTS ARE GOING DOWN, I HAVE NO FUEL COST.
HELLO, GOOD EVENING COMMISSION NAS ENERGY STAFF.
I'M A DISTRICT FOUR RESIDENT, FORMER AUSTIN ENERGY EMPLOYEE, AND I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON ENERGY AND CLIMATE ISSUES IN AUSTIN FOR GOING ON 20 YEARS.
UM, I AM SPEAKING IN SUPPORT OF ITEM 12, THE COMMISSION'S, UM, RECOMMENDATION RELATED TO THE GENERATION RESOURCE AND CLIMATE PROTECTION PLAN AND THE POTENTIAL PURSUIT OF NATURAL GAS PEAKERS, UM, COMMISSION.
I JUST WANNA POINT OUT THAT AS PART OF THE STAFF UPDATE ON THE RESOURCE GENERATION CLIMATE PROTECTION PLAN AND, AND JUST A BIT, UM, THE STAFF WILL BE SHARING A SLIDE THAT SHOWS THE GENERALLY DOWNWARD TRAJECTORY OF CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS FROM AUSTIN ENERGY'S, UH, GENERATION FLEET FROM ITS STACK EMISSIONS.
UM, AND I JUST WANNA POINT OUT THAT IT IS VERY CLEAR THAT WHEN YOU CLOSE DOWN OR RAMP DOWN FOSSIL FUEL POWERED POWER PLANTS, EMISSIONS GO DOWN.
WHEN YOU INTRODUCE NEW FOSSIL BASED GENERATION EMISSIONS GO UP.
SO JUST TO TO HIGHLIGHT THIS, YOU'LL NOTICE THAT IN, UM, IN 2007, TOWARDS THE END OF 2007 GOING INTO TWO, 2008, THE HOLLY POWER PLANT, A NATURAL GAS FIRE PLANT, UM, SHUT DOWN.
UM, AND THEN YOU SEE A MUCH, MUCH LARGER EMISSIONS DROP BETWEEN 2020 AND 2022 WHEN BOTH DECKER WAS, WAS CLOSED AND REACH BEGUN TO BE IMPLEMENTED WITH AT FAYETTE.
AND THEN YOU'LL SEE IN 2010 WHEN A COUPLE NEW UNITS AT SAND HILL ALSO A GAS PLANT CAME ONLINE, EMISSIONS WENT UP A LITTLE BIT.
SO I JUST WANNA POINT THIS OUT TO YOU SO THAT YOU'LL PAY ATTENTION TO THAT CHART WHEN IT'S PRESENTED.
AND I WANNA MAKE THE POINT THAT IF WE REVERSE OUR YEARS IN THE MAKING TREND OF WEANING OURSELVES OFF OF FOSSIL FUELS, GUESS WHAT? EMISSIONS WILL RISE JUST LIKE THEY HAVE IN THE PAST.
THEY WILL CONTINUE TO GO DOWN IF WE CONTINUE TO, IF PHASE OUT FOSSIL FUELS.
I'M A LITTLE BIT CONCERNED BASED ON SOME OF THE LANGUAGE IN THE PRESENTATION THAT WAS POSTED ONLINE AND CONVERSATIONS I KNOW THAT ARE HAPPENING IN THE COMMUNITY AND WITH COUNCIL AND AUSTIN ENERGY, THAT AUSTIN ENERGY MIGHT BE LOCKED INTO PURSUING NEW FOSSIL GAS P UH, PEAKERS DESPITE ITS COMMITMENT IN THE RESOURCE PLAN.
AND SO I SUPPORT THE COMMISSION'S RECOMMENDATION THAT AUSTIN ENERGY MEAN ITS COMMITMENT TO GENUINELY AND ROBUSTLY CONSIDER ALL OTHER OPTIONS BEFORE MOVING FURTHER DOWN THE PATH TO NEW INVESTMENTS IN FOSSIL FUELS.
HI, I'M MATTHEW WELDON, UM, CHEMICAL ENGINEER BY EDUCATION.
UH, I'VE WORKED IN THE SEMI DONE A CAREER CYCLE IN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING.
I ALSO DID A TERM ON THE ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION, UH, FROM, UH, 2018, UH, FOR A STANDARD TERM.
AND, UH, I WANTED TO SPEAK IN FAVOR OF ITEM 12 AND PARTLY JUST, YOU KNOW, ACKNOWLEDGING THE CHALLENGE AUSTIN ENERGY ALWAYS HAS IN TERMS OF BALANCING, UH, OUR VARIOUS AMBITIONS, SOME OF WHICH ARE EASILY ARTICULATED IN DOLLARS AND CENTS, SOME OF WHICH, UH, ARE NOT.
AND UH, I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT I AM SUPPORT OF THE RESOLUTION, BUT LARGELY JUST IN TERMS OF AS AN INTERMITTENT, SOMEWHAT KNOWLEDGEABLE, BUT INTERMITTENT OBSERVER.
SOMETIMES IT'S NOT CLEAR WHAT THE PROBLEM STATEMENT IS AND WHAT IS BEING SOLVED.
SO I JUST WANTED TO, UH, REFOCUS EVERYBODY'S ATTENTION TO, YOU KNOW, IMAGINE YOUR IDEAL AUDIENCE AND
[00:10:01]
ESTABLISH CLEAR, UH, PROBLEM STATEMENTS SO THAT WHEN WE'RE DISCUSSING THE PURPOSE OF THE POWER PLANT, IT'S OBVIOUS HOW IT SOLVES THE PROBLEM AND WHAT THE OTHER ALTERNATIVES ARE THAT COULD BE SUBSTITUTED AND WHAT THEIR COST AND BENEFITS WOULD BE IN COMPARISON.I THINK WE'RE THROUGH WITH PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS APPROVAL OF
[APPROVAL OF MINUTES ]
MINUTES.ANY UPDATES TO THE MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING IN NOVEMBER? BY THE WAY, WE'VE HAD COMMISSIONER WHITE OR VICE CHAIR WHITE JOIN, NO UPDATES TO THE MINUTES.
AND WE HAVE THREE HANDS ON ONLINE.
[Items 5-6 & 9-10]
TWO THROUGH 10, I BELIEVE.THIS IS THE LATEST VERSION, CHAIR TUTTLE.
I HAD QUESTIONS ABOUT ITEM TWO AND SEVEN, WHICH ARE SOMEWHAT RELATED, I THINK, SO I JUST HAD A COUPLE QUESTIONS ABOUT THOSE.
I ALSO HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THOSE ON TWO AND SEVEN.
DID YOU HAVE A SIGN? I HAD TWO AND SEVEN.
KABI, YOU HAVE YOUR, YOUR HAND UP.
ANY QUESTIONS ON ANY OTHER ONES? UH, YES.
UH, NUMBER THREE AND NUMBER FOUR.
OKAY, SO LET'S TALK ABOUT 5, 6, 8, AND NINE.
AND NUMBER 10, PAM? I THINK SHE SAID N 10.
SORRY, I, MY HAND WAS JUST, WELL ACTUALLY ON THE NEW REVISED ONE, THERE'S ONLY NINE AND 10 IS A STAFF BRIEFING.
PERHAPS IS IT ON ANOTHER PAGE? NUMBER 11 IS A STAFF BRIEFING AND THE RECOMMENDATION IS ON NUMBER 12.
SO THE CONSENT NOVEMBER, THE CONSENT ITEMS ARE TWO THROUGH 10, AND THEN YOU'VE PULLED 2, 3, 4, AND SEVEN.
UM, I, I GUESS I ALSO WANNA PULL MY, UH, NUMBER EIGHT PLEASE.
OKAY, SO LET'S CALCULATE THAT.
5, 6, 8, 9, 5, 6 AND EIGHT, NINE.
I BELIEVE WHAT'S STILL ON CONSENT IS 5, 6, 9, AND 10.
I HAVE ITEMS 2, 3, 4, 7, AND EIGHT PULLED.
WHO ASKED FOR EIGHT? I ASKED FOR EIGHT.
OKAY, SO YOU'RE SAYING 5, 6, 9, AND 10 AND YEAH, 5, 6, 9, AND 10.
I WILL MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE.
SO NIKKI, YOU GOT CYRUS AND CHRIS.
[2. Recommend approval authorizing a contract for customer satisfaction and benchmarking studies for residential and business utility customers for Austin Energy with J.D. Power, for an initial term of two years with up to three one-year extension options in an amount not to exceed $1,100,000. Funding: $320,000 is available in the Operating Budget of Austin Energy. Funding for the remaining contract term is contingent upon available funding in future budgets.]
HIT TWO.I'M NOT SURE WHO'S, OKAY, GOOD EVENING.
UH, ELAINE SKA, VICE PRESIDENT OF TECH AND DATA.
AND I THINK SOME OF THE QUESTIONS MAY BE FOR
[00:15:01]
ITEMS TWO AND SEVEN, AND SO I'LL TRY TO ANSWER THOSE.AND IF THERE ARE MORE SPECIFIC DETAILS ON ITEM NUMBER SEVEN, I MAY PHONE A FRIEND.
SO ON TWO, THIS IS A CONTRACT WITH JD POWER, UM, TO DO SOMETHING CALLED BENCHMARKING SURVEYS.
CAN YOU JUST, JUST, CAN YOU JUST EXPLAIN WHAT THAT IS AND WHY IS IT A GOOD IDEA TO PAY TO, UM, SPEND SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF MONEY ON THESE BENCHMARKING STUDIES? WHAT DOES IT, WHAT DOES IT GET THE, YOU KNOW, THE CUSTOMERS OF AUSTIN ENERGY? WHAT DOES, WHAT DOES IT GET US? OKAY.
UM, WELL I'LL TRY TO ANSWER THAT AND SANDRA MAY COME UP, UH, FOR SUPPORT AS WELL.
UM, SO JD POWER IS, YOU KNOW, A GLOBALLY RECOGNIZED NAME FOR, ACROSS A VARIETY OF INDUSTRIES TO DO CUSTOMER BENCHMARKING AND, UH, CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.
SO THEY REACH OUT TO SEGMENTS OF BOTH OUR RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS, UM, AND GET INFORMATION THAT IS FED BACK INTO A MODEL, UM, THAT DELIVERS SCORES TO US AND ALLOWS US TO BENCHMARK HOW WE ARE AS A UTILITY PROVIDING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, UM, BOTH WITHIN OUR REGION AND ACROSS WITH OTHER UTILITIES OF OUR, OUR SAME SIZE.
SO WE USE THAT, UM, AGAIN FOR BENCHMARKING PURPOSES TO SET KIND OF STRATEGIC PLANNING DISCUSSIONS AROUND THINGS THAT WOULD HAPPEN THAT WOULD ALLOW US TO IMPROVE THAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.
SO I, I GUESS MY OBVIOUS QUESTION IS, SO THIS IS NOT, YOU'VE ALREADY HAD A CONTRACT WITH JENNY POWER TO DO THIS.
DO YOU HAVE AN EXAMPLE FOR US OF SOMETHING THAT YOU LEARNED THROUGH THE BENCHMARKING STUDY THAT LED YOU TO IMPROVE SERVICE THAT WAS BENEFICIAL TO CUSTOMERS? WAS IT WORTH THE, I'M TRYING TO GET, WAS IT WORTH THE MONEY SPENT? YES.
HI, SANDRA ESCOBIDO, VICE PRESIDENT OF CUSTOMER ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT.
UM, AND I OVERSEE THE JD POWER CONTRACT.
UM, SO YES, A PERFECT EXAMPLE IS WE'VE BEEN WITH JD POWER FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW, AND SO EVERY YEAR WE KINDA GET A SENSE OF WHERE WE ARE RELATIVE TO OUR SIZE UTILITIES ACROSS MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS AT RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL AS WELL.
SO A GREAT EXAMPLE IS, UM, IN THE COMMERCIAL SIDE, UM, WE GET MEASURED ON SIX DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS AND WE WENT FROM, I BELIEVE, LAST IN THE PAC COMMERCIAL ONE TO EIGHT.
WE WERE LIKE NUMBER EIGHT OUT OF EIGHT.
UM, AND WE WENT TO NUMBER ONE, NUMBER TWO, SORRY, OVER THIS LAST YEAR BECAUSE OF CHANGES WE'D MADE IN THE COMMERCIAL PROGRAM AND THE SERVICE SUPPORT MODEL THAT WE BUILT OUT.
SO WE USE THIS TO SAY WHERE DO WE NEED TO SPEND SOME TIME AND ENERGY AND STRATEGIC DIRECTION TO SEE IF WE CAN CONTINUE TO BENCHMARK AND ALIGN WITH WHAT OTHER UTILITIES ARE OFFERING IN OUR SAME SPACE, IN OUR SAME REGION.
AND SO YOU DO THIS ON RESIDENTIAL AS WELL? WE DO IT FOR BOTH, YES.
UM, AND THEN I DON'T KNOW IF OTHER PEOPLE HAVE QUESTIONS ON TWO.
I, I HAD SOME SIMILAR QUESTIONS JUST ON SEVEN.
I WAS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE DIFFERENCE IS BETWEEN TWO AND SEVEN.
LIKE WHY DO WE HAVE TWO DIFFERENT CONTRACTS TO BASICALLY LOOK AT HOW WE'RE DOING IN THESE, IN THESE SERVICES? WHY, WHY DO WE NEED A SEPARATE CONTRACT ON SEVEN? SO, JD POWERS IS, UM, AGAIN, AT A HIGHER LEVEL, UM, VERY SPECIFIC THINGS, ATTRIBUTES THAT THEY'RE LOOKING FOR WITHIN THE MODEL.
UM, THE, UH, CREATIVE CONSUMER RESEARCH ARE, ARE MORE GRANULAR SURVEYS.
AND SO THEY'LL ACTUALLY REACH OUT TO CUSTOMERS WHO HAVE CONTACTED US THROUGH EITHER, UH, THROUGH THE THREE ONE ONE CALL CENTER OR OUR UTILITY CONTACT CENTER, OR HAVE VISITED ONE OF OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE LOCATIONS IN PERSON.
AND THEY'RE GETTING SURVEYS, INFORMATIONS ABOUT THEIR VISIT, ABOUT THEIR INTERACTION.
UM, AGAIN, VERY SPECIFIC TO THAT INTERACTION THAT THE, THE TEAMS CAN THEN TAKE BACK AND MAKE OPERATIONAL CHANGES.
THEY ALSO DO S UH, SURVEYS FOR OUR WEATHERIZATION PROGRAMS. THEY DO AD HOC SURVEYS AS NEEDED, UM, AND FOCUS GROUPS.
SO AGAIN, A LITTLE BIT MORE GRANULAR VERSUS THE, AND I I ASKED THE SAME QUESTION.
DO YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE WHERE THESE SURVEYS LED TO AN IMPROVEMENT IN YOUR GUYS' SERVICE THAT, YOU KNOW, MADE IT WORTH THE $320,000? I CAN, I, I AM NOT SURE OF ONE RIGHT OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, BUT, UM, I DO KNOW THAT THE INFORMATION FROM AFTER CALL SURVEYS IS TAKEN, UM, AND PRESENTED BACK TO THE CUSTOMER CARE OPERATIONS MANAGERS, UM, TO MAYBE CHANGE CALL SCRIPTS OR OTHER THINGS THAT, THAT NEED TO BE UPDATED BASED ON CUSTOMER FEEDBACK.
[7. Recommend approval authorizing a contract for customer satisfaction market research for Austin Energy with Creative Consumer Research LLC, for an initial term of one year with up to four 12 month extension options in an amount not to exceed $1,500,000. Funding: $200,000 is available in the Operating Budget of Austin Energy. Funding for the remaining contract term is contingent upon available funding in future budgets. ]
ANYTHING ELSE TO ADD? YEAH, I THINK WE CAN GO THROUGH A HOST OF EXAMPLES, BUT A, AS ELAINE INTRODUCED, THEY'RE AT THE MICRO LEVEL AND THAT IS MAYBE JUST EVEN THE WORDING THAT WE'RE USING AS PER, AS PEOPLE WOULD UNDERSTAND THE WAY WE ORIGINALLY SENT OUR LANGUAGE OUT.AND THEY HAVE SUBSCRIBED TO A PROGRAM WHETHER THEY WOULD BE CHARGED THE FEE ON THAT DAY OR AFTER
[00:20:01]
THAT DAY AT A TIME LIKE THAT.AND SO TO US IT MAKES SENSE, BUT WHEN CUSTOMERS, UM, PROVIDE, PROVIDE INFORMATION BACK ON THOSE SURVEYS, AND IT ALSO COULD BE A SMALL DISTINCTION BETWEEN WHAT WE WROTE IS VERY CLEAR, BUT THE WAY OUR CSRS ARE ARTICULATING THAT OVER THE PHONE, UH, MAY NOT BE TO A CUSTOMER'S UNDERSTANDING.
AND WE HAVE FOUND THAT THESE ARE THE AREAS WHEN YOU COMBINE THIS KIND OF, UH, FEEDBACK AND INFORMATION, IT ACTUALLY SETTLES DOWN FRUSTRATION AND ESCALATION CALLS FROM CUSTOMERS THEN SAYING IF THEY'RE NOT GETTING WHAT THEY WANT, THEN THEY NO LONGER GO THROUGH THE OPERATIONAL, UM, PROCESSES TO GET IT RESOLVED.
LIKE FOR AN EXAMPLE, THEY MIGHT FEEL THAT I CAN'T GET THEM THE UTILITY TO DO WHAT I WANT, SO I'M GONNA WRITE THE MAYOR OR WHATEVER.
AND SO THESE ARE SMALL CLUSTER GROUPS AND USUALLY WHEN WE SOLVE THEM WE DON'T EITHER, WE DON'T GET REPLIES BACK ON THOSE INFORMATION.
SO WE FEEL THAT Z YOU KNOW, NOT HEARING ANYTHING ELSE IS GOOD.
SO IT WORKED, BUT IT'S MOVED DAY BY DAY ON MICRO BUSINESSES OF WHAT WE DO.
UM, AND WE ALSO, IN FACT, WE FIND OUT WHAT WE ARE THE LEADERS ON, WE GET ON SOME OF THOSE AFTER CALL SURVEYS.
WE KNOW THAT IF ONE PERSON CALLS AND GIVE US GOOD NEWS ABOUT IT, THAT REALLY MEANS WE REALLY HIT ABOUT 10,000 PEOPLE.
'CAUSE IF, IF IT'S GOOD, MOST PEOPLE DON'T SAY ANYTHING.
MOST PEOPLE COMMENT ON THE NEGATIVE.
BUT IF IT'S GOOD, THAT HELPS US NOT REDIRECT RESOURCES AND FUNDS IN ONE AREA OF A PROJECT AND WE, WE CAN BETTER USE AND MORE EFFICIENCY THOSE FUNDS SOMEWHERE ELSE.
THANK I SEE A HAND FROM
I JUST, UM, I, I, I HEAR YOU THAT MAYBE THIS CAN BE SOMEWHAT USEFUL, BUT IT SEEMS A LITTLE AMORPHOUS AND, UM, I DON'T KNOW.
I JUST LOOK AT OTHER CITY DEPARTMENTS BEING ASKED TO TIGHTEN THEIR BELTS, UH, IN THE NAME OF AFFORDABILITY.
AND, UM, I KNOW IN THE CONTEXT OF AUSTIN ENERGY'S BUDGET, THIS MIGHT, YOU KNOW, WE'RE LOOKING AT 2.6 MILLION, MAYBE THAT'S, UH, NOT A LOT IN THE CONTEXT OF WHAT AUSTIN ENERGY SPENDS, BUT IT'S CERTAINLY SIGNIFICANT IN TERMS OF OTHER PROGRAMS IN THE CITY THAT ARE BEING CUT OR, UM, YEAH, JUST HAVING TO DO WITHOUT RESOURCES.
SO, UM, I WOULD LOVE TO SEE SOME MORE AFFORDABLE OPTIONS FOR SURVEYING CUSTOMERS.
UM, THAT DOESN'T COST QUITE SO MUCH MONEY.
YEAH, I JUST WANNA ECHO THOSE CONCERNS.
I HAD SIMILAR ONES WHEN VIEWING THE TWO CONTRACTS AND QUESTIONS ABOUT WHETHER THESE SERVICES WERE REDUNDANT IN ANY WAY AND WHETHER IT MADE SENSE TO HAVE TWO DIFFERENT VENDORS DOING THESE SERVICES.
AND THE MESSAGING THAT WE'RE GETTING FROM CUSTOMERS IS THAT THEY WANT US TO BE THOUGHTFUL AND STRATEGIC ABOUT SPENDING.
SO I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE THAT ENTERS THE ANALYSIS AND ARE NOT JUST ROUTINELY RENEWING THESE CONTRACTS.
I, I WONDER IF YOU COULDN'T JUST SKIP EVERY OTHER YEAR, OR IS THERE SOME WAY TO SAVE MONEY ON THIS? FEEDBACK IS IMPORTANT AND YOU'VE MADE PROGRESS ON THE FIRST ONE AND THE CALL CENTER, YOU KNOW, IS PROBABLY PERPETUALLY A CHALLENGE, UH, FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS.
BUT COULD YOU SAVE MONEY BY SKIPPING EVERY OTHER YEAR? UM, AND I'LL TURN TO SANDRA AGAIN FOR THE JD POWER SURVEY ON THAT, ON THE, UH, CREATIVE CONSUMER RESEARCH SURVEYS.
YOU KNOW, THAT'S AN UP TO SPEND.
AND SO WE, UM, I CAN GO BACK TO MY TEAMS AND MAKE SURE THAT, THAT THE IN, IN CONJUNCTION WITH OUR BUSINESS PARTNERS, THAT WE'RE ONLY DOING THE SURVEYS THAT, UM, ARE TRULY BRINGING VALUE AND, AND, YOU KNOW, CONTINUALLY MAKE SURE THAT, THAT WE, WE'VE GOT GOOD SPEND ON THAT.
AND SO THAT'S THE UP TO, UM, YOU MAY HAVE MORE INFORMATION ON THE JD POWER.
I WOULD SAY THAT IS THE SAME APPROACH THAT'S TAKEN FOR JD POWER.
IT IS AN UP TO SPEND AND IT'S REALLY DEPENDENT ON WHAT WE ARE INTERESTED IN, IN THE DIMENSIONS THAT THEY, UM, SUPPORT US IN.
SO RIGHT NOW IT'S A SIX DIMENSIONAL, UM, SURVEY THAT WE GET INFORMATION ON EVERY YEAR.
I DON'T KNOW ABOUT GOING TO EVERY OTHER YEAR.
UM, BECAUSE IT IS GOOD TO SEE WHERE WE'RE BENCHMARKING AND WHERE WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS.
SO THE SIX DIMENSIONS, FOR INSTANCE, THAT JD POWER USES IS BILLING AND PAYMENTS, WHICH IS PRIMARILY MY SPACE, BUT IT ALSO LOOKS AT, ARE WE RECOGNIZED, UM, FOR OUR CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP, ARE WE RECOGNIZED FOR OUR COMMUNICATION? DO DO CUSTOMERS REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT AUSTIN ENERGY DOES AS A WHOLE? SO IT'S ONE OF THE KEYS TO WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO FROM A STRATEGIC VISION PERSPECTIVE IN TERMS OF HOW DO WE MOVE THE NEEDLE AND HOW DO WE BECOME, UM, THE LEADER IN, IN OUR SPACE.
AND SO, UM, BUT IT IS AN UPT SPEND AS WELL.
SO WE CAN ACTUALLY GO BACK AND LOOK AT WHICH SURVEYS HAVE WE COMMISSIONED, UM, OUTSIDE OF THE STANDARD SURVEYS.
'CAUSE SOMETIMES WE'RE INTERESTED IN A PARTICULAR AREA, SO MAYBE SMALL BUSINESS OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
AND WE'LL COMMISSION SURVEYS TO FIND OUT A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHERE BENCHMARKING EXISTS IN THAT SPACE.
AND SO WE'RE CERTAINLY LOOKING AT THOSE THINGS.
UM, AND WHERE, WHERE WE'RE BEING GOOD FISCAL STEWARDS OF THAT FUND.
[00:25:02]
CYRUS, UM, DOES THAT MEAN, ARE WE ON A TIME CONSTRAINT IN TERMS OF GETTING THIS TO COUNCIL NOW? IS THIS SOMETHING WE COULD WAIT A MONTH ON AND GET? UM, FOR JD POWER, WE ARE ON A TIME CONSTRAINT BECAUSE WE AREN'T ABLE TO ACCESS OUR DATA, UM, UNTIL WE ARE UNDER CONTRACT AGAIN.SO WE HAVE OUR 2025 DATA AVAILABLE, BUT WE AREN'T ABLE TO DO THE DISSECTION AND, UM, THE ANALYSIS AND ALL THE THINGS WE NEED TO UNTIL WE'RE BACK UNDER CONTRACT WITH THEM.
AND, SORRY, ONE OTHER QUESTION ON THE JD POWER, I'M CONFUSED.
'CAUSE IN THE FISCAL NOTE IT SAYS FUNDING THE AMOUNT OF 320,000 IS AVAILABLE, BUT THEN ON THE BACK IT SAYS IT'S BASICALLY A YEARLY FOR TWO 20.
I CAUGHT IT LIKE AN HOUR BEFORE WE CAME IN HERE AND IT WAS LIKE, IT, IT SHOULD SAY TWO 20 PER YEAR.
AND THEN WHAT ABOUT ON NUMBER SEVEN? IS THAT SOMETHING WE COULD DELAY OR ARE WE IN A SIMILAR, SIMILAR, THAT CONTRACT EXPIRES IN FEBRUARY AS WELL.
OTHER QUESTIONS? I, YOU KNOW, I HEAR L WELL, I HAD A HOW THIS WORKS HERE, AM I ON? YEP.
UH, AT FIRST I WAS CONCERNED THAT THIS LOOKED LIKE A LOT OF OVERLAPPING WORK, BUT AS YOU'VE EXPLAINED IT, IT'S TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS AND ONE TELLS YOU HOW YOU'RE DOING COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE WORLD.
AND TWO IS HOW YOU'RE DOING INTERNALLY AND YOU CAN ATTACK PARTICULAR INTERNAL QUESTIONS AND ISSUES.
SO THEY, NOW SOME ARE DIFFERENT.
UH, IF THEY COULD SAVE MONEY, THAT'S GREAT, BUT I THINK THEY'RE, THEY'RE BOTH IMPORTANT AS YOU EVALUATE YOUR WAY FORWARD.
SO I'M OPEN FOR SUGGESTIONS ABOUT HOW TO HAVE SOME BASE LEVEL OF THIS, BUT ASK THAT THERE BE SOME MORE SCRUBBING OR ANOTHER LOOK AT HOW TO SAVE MONEY.
I THINK THE COMMUNITY IS A LITTLE BIT, UM, IT SENT A MESSAGE WITH THE VOTE ON THE PROPOSITION ABOUT TIGHTENING BELTS.
AND SO THAT'S JUST ONE THOUGHT.
UM, HOW WOULD WE SUGGEST TO DO THAT WITH THIS, UM, CESAR PERHAPS LIMITING THE NUMBER OF TIMES THAT CAN BE RENEWED? I DON'T KNOW IF YOU HEARD THAT LIMITING THE NUMBER OF TIMES THAT CAN BE REVIEWED.
IS THAT, UM, COULD YOU EXPLAIN MORE WHAT YOU MEAN ON THAT? JUST LIMITING THE SCOPE OF THE SURVEYS OR HOW OFTEN IT'S DONE? HOW MANY YEARS, UM, BEFORE THEY HAVE A NEW RC BEFORE THEY HAVE TO DO A NEW RCA.
AND I APOLOGIZE I DIDN'T INTRODUCE MYSELF THE FIRST TIME.
CARRY OVER TO THE, UH, CHIEF CUSTOMER OFFICER.
WHAT I WOULD SUGGEST IS THAT WE HEAR YOUR MESSAGE VERY CLEARLY AND I WOULD ASK, UM, MAYBE FOR YOU TO CONSIDER, NOT TO BE SO PRESCRIPTIVE, BUT UM, ALLOW US TO, UM, TAKE WHAT YOU'VE GIVEN TO US AND MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN PRIORITIZE WHERE WE CAN MAKE THOSE CUTS.
ONE OF THE THINGS I WOULD ASK AS YOU DO YOUR CONSIDERATION, EVEN IF YOU GO BEYOND THAT RECOMMENDATION TONIGHT AND YOU, YOU DECIDE TO BE MORE SPECIFIC, UM, FOR US, WHEN YOU THINK OF THE TENS OF THOUSANDS AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMERS, UM, THERE'S A LARGE PERCENT OF PERCENTAGE OF OUR CUSTOMERS, THEY CAN'T MAKE IT TO COMMISSION MEETINGS.
THEY CAN'T PHYSICALLY GET TO THE LOCATIONS OF WHERE WE INTERACT OUR BUSINESS.
BUT WHEN THEY'RE CALLING US FOR THEIR NEEDS AND THOSE AFTER CALL SURVEYS AND HEARING FROM THEM, AGAIN, WE SAY AT THE MICRO LEVEL, WHEN THEY'RE IN A PRESCRIPTIVE PROGRAM, THEY'RE NOT THINKING ABOUT THE OTHER 20 PROGRAM OFFERINGS THAT WE HAVE.
AND SO I WOULD HATE TO, UM, LOSE THE ADVANTAGE OF WAITING TO TWO OR THREE YEARS AND HAVE AN INTERIM YEAR, BUT WE WERE INEFFICIENT BECAUSE WE COULD HAVE ACTUALLY REDIRECTED OUR RESOURCES IN ANOTHER DIRECTION WITH THAT FEEDBACK IF WE HAD IT REAL TIME.
SO I WOULD SAY IF THERE'S A WAY FOR YOU TO GIVE SOME CONSIDERATION, UM, WE WOULD PREFER FOR YOU NOT TO BE TOO PRESCRIPTIVE, BUT WE HEAR FROM A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE THAT WE HAVE A, WE HAVE A TASK HERE AND WE'RE NOT IGNORING THE NEED FOR US TO TIGHTEN THE BELTS, MAKE SURE THAT OUR EXPENDITURES ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACES.
BUT WE WOULD, WE WOULD REALLY NOT WANT TO HAVE SOME CUSTOMERS THAT WE HEAR FROM THROUGH THOSE MEDIUMS, NOT HEAR THEIR VOICE.
I MEAN, ONE THING WE COULD DO IS JUST ASK FOR A PRESENTATION LATER IN THE YEAR ON THESE CONTRACTS AND WHAT THEY FOUND AND THAT MAY HELP BUILD SUPPORT FOR IT.
OR ALTERNATIVELY SAY THIS WASN'T A GOOD USE OF FUNDS.
UM, SO WE COULD CONSIDER GOING AHEAD AND IMPROVING IT, BUT ASK FOR A, A PRESENTATION.
[00:30:01]
UM, AND THOSE WHO DON'T WANNA VOTE FOR IT, DON'T HAVE TO VOTE FOR, YOU KNOW, DON'T HAVE TO VOTE FOR IT.SO DO WE HAVE A MOTION TO PASS? DO YOU WANNA DO TWO AND SEVEN OR TWO SEPARATELY? UH, I CAN DO 'EM TOGETHER.
I'D MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE IN TWO AND SEVEN, BUT WITH THE UNDERSTANDING WE'LL GET A PRESENTATION LATER ON THE YEAR OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THOSE CONTRACTS.
ANY COMMENTS ONLINE? I DON'T SEE ANY HANDS UP.
I DON'T SEE YOUR HAND AND VOTING AGAINST.
SO ONE AGAINST AND THE REST FOUR, COMMISSIONER ALVAREZ HAS JOINED US.
I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU SAW HIM.
COMMISSIONER, YOU WANT TO UNMUTE? YEAH, I'M SORRY.
I MADE, I, UH, I WAS TROUBLE LOGGING IN, SO I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA GET LOCKED OUT, BUT LUCKILY I DID.
[Items 3 & 4]
HAVE, ARE THREE AND FOUR SEPARATE OR ARE THEY A GOOD DISCUSSION TOGETHER? UH, I PULLED NUMBER THREE.I JUST DON'T EVEN, I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT.
I WAS HOPING SOMEBODY COULD EXPLAIN IT.
UH, DAVID, TOM CHESON, VICE PRESIDENT OF ELECTRIC SYSTEM ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL SERVICES.
AND SO THE FIRST QUESTION I THINK IF I'M HEARING THAT IS JUST AN OVERVIEW OF NUMBER THREE.
THREE IS CONTRACTS FOR ENGINEERING SERVICES AE STAFF AUGMENTATION, ENGINEERING RELATED ENGINEERING SERVICES, ELECTRIC SYSTEMS, TECHNICAL SERVICES, ROTATION LIST, HDR.
DO YOU WANT TO ASK QUESTIONS? I, YEAH, THERE'S, THERE'S A BUNCH OF WORDS HERE, BUT LIKE, NONE OF THEM REALLY SEEM TO SAY WHAT THE MONEY'S FOR.
CAN YOU OF COURSE, OF COURSE BE A LITTLE, UH, SO THIS, THIS IS AN ENGINEERING SERVICES CONTRACT THAT IS USED ON BEHALF OF THE, THE ENTIRE UTILITY.
UH, PRIMARILY, UH, IT, IT, IT'S, UH, VERY CAPITAL HEAVY EITHER THROUGH, UH, KAYAK, UM, YOU KNOW, REIMBURSEMENT ON THE DISTRIBUTION SIDE OR ON TCOS REIMBURSEMENT ON THE TRANSMISSION SIDE.
UM, BUT IT DOES COVER, UM, ANY TYPE OF EXTERNAL SUPPORT THAT WE NEED, UM, YOU KNOW, WITH, YOU KNOW, UH, WITH VARIOUS PROJECTS, YOU KNOW, WHETHER IT'S REGULATORY OBLIGATIONS THROUGH ERCOT.
AND I'LL GO INTO DETAILS A LITTLE BIT MORE, MORE ABOUT IT.
UM, OR JUST, YOU KNOW, THE DAY-TO-DAY PROJECTS TO BRING CUS UM, POWER TO CUSTOMERS.
UM, AND SO IT INCLUDES ANYTHING FROM, YOU KNOW, DISTRIBUTION, ENGINEERING SUPPORT, UH, TRANSMISSION ENGINEERING, SUBSTATION ENGINEERING, NETWORK ENGINEERING, UM, SURVEYING, PERMITTING, UM, YOU KNOW, AND SO FORTH.
UM, AND IT, THIS CONTRACT WAS ORIGINALLY, UH, SET UP IN, UH, UH, 2021.
UM, AND THEN, UH, COMING RIGHT OUTTA COVID, ONE OF THE THINGS I KNOW THAT WE SAW IS THAT, YOU KNOW, COSTS WERE GOING UP QUITE A BIT, ESPECIALLY ON THE, ON THE LABOR SIDE.
UM, SO WE, WE, UH, DID AN EXTENSION AND THEN WE, UM, CAME BACK IN IN 24 TO ASK, UH, A LITTLE BIT MORE.
JUST, WE HAVE OBVIOUSLY A LOT OF WORK HERE IN AUSTIN.
THE REQUEST OF THIS CONTRACT IS MERELY JUST A, UM, UH, ONE MORE STOP GAP JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT WE DON'T HAVE ANY TYPE OF GAP WE HAVE RUN INTO BEFORE WHERE, UM, THERE WAS AN OVERLAP BETWEEN THE NEW CONTRACT, THE OLD CONTRACT, AND IT REALLY KIND OF PUT THE UTILITY IN, IN A BIND.
AND SO IT'S JUST MAKING SURE THAT WE HAVE ENOUGH TO CARRY US OVER BECAUSE WE'RE GETTING READY, UH, MOST LIKELY THIS MONTH, UM, TO, UH, WE'RE WORKING, PURCHASING A STATE IN THERE TO GO OUT FOR A NEW, UM, ENGINEERING SERVICES CONTRACT.
UM, AND WE ESTIMATE THAT WILL BE COMPLETE IN, UM, JUNE.
UM, THOUGH LAST TIME WE DID FIND THAT IT TOOK A LITTLE WHILE TO DO ALL THE NEGOTIATIONS AND SO FORTH.
SO AGAIN, FROM A STOPGAP STANDPOINT, WE JUST DON'T WANNA GET CAUGHT IN BETWEEN.
SO THAT IS THE REQUEST HERE IS TO ADD $15 MILLION TO THE EXISTING CONTRACT WHILE WE, UM, MOVE FORWARD WITH A NEW SOLICITATION.
UM, SO IT SOUNDS LIKE IT'S JUST GENERAL ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR ANY OF AUSTIN ENERGY'S NEEDS.
UM, YOU MENTIONED THAT THIS STARTED IN 2021, UH, PRIOR TO 2021.
UM, WAS THERE, WERE THERE MORE LIKE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTS OR WHAT WAS THE UH, PRIOR TO 2021, WE, WE HAD A, UH, UH, IT WAS A THREE YEAR ENGINEERING SERVICES CONTRACT WITH ONE, UM, FIRM.
UM, ONE OF THE THINGS WE LEARNED IS THAT WE NEED TO GO AHEAD AND BRING IN MULTIPLE FIRMS. SO THIS ONE IS WITH TWO FIRMS. UM, AND, AND THEN EVEN PRIOR TO THAT, WE HAD, UM, YOU KNOW, FOR THE LAST, YOU KNOW, 10, 15 YEARS, SO HAVE HAD, UH, JUST KIND OF REOCCURRING ENGINEERING SERVICES
[00:35:01]
CONTRACT TO COVER ANY NEEDS OF THE UTILITY.DOES THIS INCLUDE, UH, ENGINEERING FOR POWER PRODUCTION? UH, NOT, IT'S NOT SPECIFICALLY USED FOR THAT.
IF, IF, IF THEY HAD A NEED, IT'S SOMETHING WE DEFINITELY COULD PULL FROM, BUT THAT HAS NOT, UH, IT HAS NOT COME UP HISTORICALLY.
AND SO THERE WAS NEVER A POINT IN WHICH THESE PROJECTS WERE CON CONTRACTED OUT INDIVIDUALLY? THAT'S CORRECT, YES.
JUST THE, SHE, I MEAN, EVEN ON THE DISTRIBUTION SIDE, UM, ALONE, WE HAVE ABOUT A THOUSAND PROJECTS AT ANY, UH, GIVEN TIME IN THE QUEUE.
UM, I THINK WE'RE ACTUALLY DOWN TO 700.
WE'VE BEEN MAKING HEADWAY THERE, WHICH IS GREAT.
AND THEN, YOU KNOW, WE, WE WOULD HAVE, YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, ANYWHERE FROM, YOU KNOW, 50 PLUS ON THE, UM, OF VARIOUS SIZES ON THE TRANSMISSION SUBSTATION PLUS ALL THE, UH, REGULATORY, UM, YOU KNOW, REQUIREMENTS THAT, THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT COME IN.
AND AGAIN, AS WE CAN'T CONTROL, YOU KNOW, AT THE END OF THE DAY WHEN CUSTOMERS ASK FOR POWER OR WANT TO CONNECT TO THE ERCOT GRID, UM, AND SO WE'RE ABLE TO SCALE UP AND SCALE DOWN TO MEET DEMAND.
SO I KNOW WHEN YOU SAY THE WORD KAYAK, YOU DON'T MEAN THE BOAT, YOU MEAN SOMETHING TO DO WITH CONTRIBUTION? YES, SIR.
THAT IS CORRECT IN LIEU OF CONSTRUCTION, BUT CAN YOU JUST EXPLAIN THAT TERMINOLOGY 'CAUSE OF WHAT IT MEANS IN A PRACTICAL SENSE? SURE.
SO, SO KAYAK IS A CUSTOMER NATIVE OF CONTRIBUTION.
AND SO THAT, UH, MEANS SINCE 20, UH, IN PARTICULAR SINCE, UM, OCTOBER 1ST, 2014, OUR LINE EXTENSION POLICY IS, UM, ANYBODY COMING IN REQUESTING POWER IN AUSTIN, UM, THEY HAVE TO PAY FOR WHATEVER IT TAKES TO BRING THEM POWER.
AND, UM, AND SO, UM, UH, BECAUSE OF THAT WE REFER TO IT AS KAYAK.
AND SO IF IT, IN ORDER TO BRING, UM, SERVICE TO A CUSTOMER, IF IT'S, UM, A THOUSAND DOLLARS, THEN THEY, THEY HAVE TO PAY A THOUSAND DOLLARS, UH, UH, BEFORE WE'LL RELEASE THAT TO CONSTRUCTION.
IF IT'S MORE, IT'S MORE, THE WHOLE POINT IS THAT'S WHAT KAYAK IS, BUT WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH THIS KAYAK? OH, I JUST, JUST BECAUSE, UM, WITH THAT IS SOME OF THE PROJECTS ARE ON THE DISTRIBUTION SIDE, AND I JUST WANTED TO MENTION THAT FROM A, UH, A LOT OF TIMES THERE'S QUESTIONS LIKE, WHO'S FUNDING THIS AND SO FORTH.
I JUST WANNA MENTION THAT A, A GOOD PORTION OF THIS IS IT'S VERY, UH, CAPITAL INTENSIVE OR HEAVY.
AND, UM, UH, SOME OF IT'S PAID BY THE KAYAK SIDE, AND THEN SOME OF IT'S PAID BY TCOS.
SO JUST, I WAS TRYING TO GET AHEAD OF THAT QUESTION.
OTHER QUESTIONS ON THREE OR FOUR? DO SO, SORRY, ARE YOU ASKING QUESTIONS ON FOUR? I DON'T KNOW IF KAY, BUT DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ON FOUR AS WELL, OR? I DO, BUT YOU CAN GO FIRST, CYRUS.
UM, AS SOMEONE WHO, WHO USED TO OFFICE RIGHT DOWN THERE ON EAST AVE, THIS LOOKS LIKE A VERY COMPLEX, UH, PROJECT.
UM, SO I DON'T REALLY HAVE A QUESTION, BUT JUST, UH, I UNDERSTAND WHY IT MIGHT COST THIS AMOUNT BECAUSE THIS SEEMS REALLY COMPLICATED, UH, ESPECIALLY, YOU KNOW, BEARING A BUNCH OF STUFF UNDER THE GROUND.
I ASSUME IT'S PART OF, IT'S GOING UNDER THE RIVER, IS THAT WHAT'S HAPPENING? NO, SIR.
NO, THE UNDERGROUND PORTION IS THROUGH THE PARKLAND, SO WE DON'T DISTURB THE PARKLAND.
BUT YES, AS YOU STATED, KIND OF, UM, DOWN THERE ALONG THE RIVER, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT, UH, FIRST STREET AND SO FORTH, IT IS VERY, VERY, VERY CONGESTION.
UM, AND SO, UH, THIS WAS A PATH THAT WE, THAT WE FOUND WORKING WITH, UM, UH, CAPITAL DELIVERY SERVICES THAT WE, THAT WE THINK IS DOABLE AND, AND, UH, WE WANT TO DO THE MICRO-TRENCHING IN ORDER TO MINIMIZE ANY IMPACT TO THE PARKLAND.
SO, BUT THE SUBSTATION WE ALREADY ADDED AND THEN WE'RE JUST SORT OF CONNECTING IT TO THE WHOLE NETWORK IS THAT WE'RE JUST EXPANDING ITS REACH.
IT'S ALREADY, IT'S BEEN ONLINE, UM, ALREADY FOR MANY YEARS.
THAT I DIDN'T REALLY HAVE A QUESTION.
JUST, THIS SEEMS REALLY COMPLICATED,
SO, UM, THAT EXPANDING TO SERVE NEW LOAD, UH, CAUGHT MY EYE.
AND SO, I MEAN, I, AND UNDERSTAND THAT AS IT STANDS, THE LINE EXTENSION POLICY DOESN'T, UM, DOESN'T INCLUDE BUILDING THE SUBSTATION, BUT WHY, WHY IS THIS NOT BEING COVERED BY THOSE NEW LOADS? SURE.
THIS, THIS, THIS WOULD, UM, BE IN LINE WITH OUR GETAWAYS, WHICH IS BRINGING, UH, UH, BULK POWER OUT OF THE SUBSTATION TO A POINT WHERE IT CAN BE, UH, UTILIZED.
UM, IT, IT'S ONE OF THOSE THINGS IS, YOU KNOW, NORMALLY IF THERE'S A PRO, YOU KNOW, AS YOU CAN SEE, I MEAN, THIS MAY TAKE SOMEWHERE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF A YEAR, YOU KNOW, TO BUILD AND, AND, UH, BUT IT IS NEEDED TO DO THAT.
BUT ALSO TIED INTO THE EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE THAT WE, THAT WE HAVE, UH, THE GETAWAYS, UH, WE, WE, UH, UH, UH, DO IN MANY CASES TAKE THOSE ON INTERNALLY.
AND THEN FROM THERE, THEN ANY CUSTOMERS THAT TAP OFF OF THAT, THEY WOULD'VE TO PAY FOR THAT, UH, INFRASTRUCTURE.
THIS IS A SIGNIFICANT UNDERTAKING FOR AN INDIVIDUAL SERVICE.
IF, IF SOMEONE JUST WANTED TO, YOU KNOW, GET POWER, YOU KNOW, GET POWER DOWN THERE.
SO YOU JUST SAID IN MANY INSTANCES, ARE THERE INSTANCES THAT AAU DOES NOT COVER THAT COST? IT JUST DEPENDS ON WHERE THE REQUEST
[00:40:01]
IS.IF IT'S, IF IT'S A, UM, A LARGE SERVICE COMING IN THAT IS REQUESTING ALL THE POWER AND IT'S FOR ONE, YOU KNOW, ONE CUSTOMER, THEN THAT CASE THE CUSTOMER WILL BE, YOU KNOW, PAYING FOR IT.
THIS IS FOR THE, UH, GENERAL COMMUNITY.
AND SO IT'S NOT GONNA SERVE JUST ONE CUSTOMER.
AND IN THOSE CASES, THE GET THE GETAWAYS, WE DO, UM, UH, BUILD THEM UP TO A POINT, WHETHER IT'S OVERHEAD OR UNDERGROUND.
IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, IT'S UNDERGROUND BECAUSE IT'S DOWNTOWN.
IT ALSO GIVES US THE OPERATIONAL FLEXIBILITY IN ADDITION TO SERVING NEW LOAD, UM, JUST TO, TO MAINTAIN RELIABILITY.
I HAVE ADDITIONAL CONDUITS THAT WE CAN TIE CIRCUITS TOGETHER AND REROUTE POWER FOR MAINTENANCE AND, AND, UH, OTHER PURPOSES.
I'VE BEEN REQUESTING FOR A FEW MONTHS A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE LAND EXTENSION POLICY.
I HOPE OTHERS MIGHT, UH, BE INTERESTED IN THAT AS WELL.
UM, I JUST SEE THIS AS A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF MONEY BEING SPENT TO SERVE NEW LOAD.
AND THEN THERE'S OTHER THINGS THAT ARE, UM, PUT DIRECTLY ON THE CUSTOMER, PARTICULARLY RELATED TO IF YOU WANT TO GET SOLAR ON YOUR HOME AND YOUR NEIGHBORS ALL HAVE SOLAR, THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU'RE, YOU'RE IN IT FOR A FEW THOUSAND DOLLARS POTENTIALLY.
IT, IT FEELS LIKE THERE'S NOT, UH, AT ALL CONTINUITY THROUGH THE POLICY, BUT I, I AM NOT SAYING YOU'RE NOT FOLLOWING IT, UM, JUST SEEMS LIKE MAYBE A LITTLE PROBLEMATIC THAT, THAT WE'RE ALL GONNA PAY FOR THESE NEW LOADS.
DO YOU WANNA RESPOND TO THAT? UH, THE ONLY THING I'D SAY IS, UM, IT WAS ACTUALLY THIS TIME LAST YEAR, I KNOW RUSTY UMIS AND I PRESENTED ON THE LINE EXTENSION POLICY TO UC.
UM, SO I THINK I'M, I THINK WE HAVE THAT AND, AND, UM, THAT MAY BE, THAT MAY BE A GREAT START.
UM, JUST BECAUSE I KNOW WE DID A PRESENTATION ON THIS ABOUT ONE YEAR AGO TO EEUC.
AND IT HASN'T, IT HAS NOT CHANGED SINCE 2014.
YEAH, NO, I MEAN, I, I HEAR YOU AND I, I GUESS I'M TALKING ABOUT LIKE US DISCUSSING LIKE, IS IT, IS IT HOW IT SHOULD BE? AND I REALIZE THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS ITEM IS, AND, BUT IT'S RELATED.
OTHER QUESTIONS? THREE OR FOUR? OKAY, LET'S BREAK THIS APART FOR THREE.
DO WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND? NO APPROVAL.
ALL IN FAVOR? ON THREE, YOU SAY? AYE.
WE SEE ALL FOUR HANDS AND ALL OF OUR HANDS HERE PASSED NUMBER FOUR.
AND SECOND, I'LL, I'LL MOVE APPROVAL.
YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR HAND UP ON THAT ONE? ABSTAIN ON THIS ONE? ABSTAIN.
OKAY, NIKKI, DID YOU GET THAT? OKAY, THANK YOU.
SO WE HAVE FOUR OUT OF THE WAY, AND THEN I THINK WE GO TO NUMBER
[8. Recommend approval authorizing an amendment to a contract for continued repair, servicing, and water treatment parts for the plant demineralizer system and as needed rental of a temporary mobile demineralizer unit for Austin Energy with MPW Industrial Services Group Inc. d/b/a MPW Industrial Water Services Inc. to increase the amount by $500,000 for a revised total contract amount not to exceed $1,150,720. Funding: $500,000 is available in the Operating Budget of Austin Energy. Funding for the remaining contract term is contingent upon available funding in future budgets. ]
EIGHT.MY NAME IS KEN SNY, VICE PRESIDENT POWER PRODUCTION, AND I'M HERE TO ANSWER QUESTION NUMBER EIGHT.
I REALLY DON'T REALLY HAVE A QUESTION.
I JUST AM NOT GONNA VOTE FOR IT.
SO I DIDN'T WANT IT BUNDLED WITH THE OTHERS.
WELL WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND ON THAT OR ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? SO, SORRY, I DO HAVE A QUESTION.
CAN YOU, UM, CAN YOU JUST DESCRIBE THAT HIGH PURITY? I'VE NEVER HEARD OF THIS HIGH PURITY WATER EMERGENCY DOESN'T SEEM LIKE THE THING YOU'D NORMALLY SAY.
I'M HAVING A HIGH PURITY WATER EMERGENCY
WHAT? I DON'T, I DON'T REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS.
WHY DID, SO WE COULDN'T OPERATE SAND HILL FOR A TIME BECAUSE OF THIS, BUT WHAT, WHAT IS IT? IT'S A SYSTEM.
UH, WHEN, WHEN YOU HAVE A SYSTEM DEFICIENCY IN WATER QUALITY, IT'S A FAULT SYSTEM OR A FAULT, UM, THAT'S ISSUED BY THE SYSTEM THAT, UH, WILL SHUT THE UNIT DOWN IF YOU DON'T RECTIFY THE SITUATION.
SO IF YOUR WATER QUALITY LEVELS FALL BELOW A THRESHOLD, THEN THE SYSTEM WILL FAULT.
IT GIVES YOU A PERIOD OF TIME TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE.
AND IF YOU DON'T RESOLVE IT WITHIN A SPECIFIED PERIOD OF TIME, THE THE SYSTEM WILL, UH, SHUT DOWN TO PROTECT ITSELF.
BECAUSE YOU HAVE CERTAIN, YOU HAVE, BECAUSE OF DISCHARGE, YOU HAVE TO MEET CERTAIN STANDARDS.
AND SO IT'S, OR, OR JUST BECAUSE WATER QUALITY GOING INTO THE SYSTEM, WATER QUALITY USED THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM, UH, AND IT IMPACTS BOTH REGULATORY AND OPERATIONAL ASSISTANCE.
THE WATER HAS TO BE A CERTAIN QUALITY.
SO YOU CAN USE IT FOR COOLING OR FOR, THAT'S CORRECT.
[00:45:02]
I SEE NONE.DO WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND? I'LL MOVE APPROVAL SECOND BY ALL ALL IN FAVOR? AYE.
UH, EVA? I DON'T SEE A HAND ON THAT.
SO I THINK WE'RE THROUGH ALL THOSE ITEMS. NUMBER 11
[11. Staff Briefing on the implementation of Austin Energy’s Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan to 2035 by Lisa Martin, Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer. ]
IS A STAFF BRIEFING FROM LISA MARTIN, UM, AES RESOURCE GENERATION AND CLIMATE PROTECTION PLAN UPDATE.GOOD EVENING, CHAIR, TUTTLE, VICE CHAIR, WHITE AND COMMISSIONERS.
AUSTIN ENERGY'S CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER HERE TONIGHT TO PROVIDE YOU WITH THE SEMI-ANNUAL UPDATE ON THE RESOURCE GENERATION AND CLIMATE PROTECTION PLAN TO 2035.
COULD YOU PUT THE MICROPHONE CLOSE? I CAN.
HOW'S THAT? BETTER TEST ONE, TWO.
ALRIGHT, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THAT CHANGES.
SO AUSTIN ENERGY IS COMMITTED TO TRANSPARENCY WITH REGARDS TO OUR PROGRESS ON THIS PLAN, AND THE PLAN SPECIFICALLY SAYS THAT WE'LL PROVIDE AN ANNUAL UPDATE ON THE PROGRESS WE'VE MADE, THE CHANGES WE'RE SEEING, AND THE ACTIONS NEEDED TO MOVE FORWARD TO MEET THE COMMUNITY'S VALUES.
AND SO AS PART OF THAT UPDATE, WE'LL ALSO HAVE THE SEMI-ANNUAL, UH, UPDATE ON THE PROGRESS TO KEY GOALS, WHICH WE PROVIDE IN JULY AND JANUARY EVERY YEAR.
AND THAT'S WHERE WE'RE GONNA START TODAY.
STARTING WITH THE OVERARCHING GOAL AND THE PLAN, WHICH IS ACHIEVING A 100% CARBON FREE GENERATION AS A PERCENTAGE OF LOAD BY 2035, YOU CAN SEE THE HISTORICAL DATA HERE WHO ARE CURRENTLY SITTING AT 65%.
AND THE TEAM AND I ARE VERY HAPPY TO SEE THE STABILIZATION TO THE DROP THAT WE'VE BEEN SEEING IN RECENT YEARS, WHICH OF COURSE WE KNOW IS DUE TO MULTIPLE FACTORS INCLUDING CURTAILMENTS AND CONGESTION.
THE GOAL IS ALWAYS TOP OF MIND AND WE MEASURE EVERYTHING WE DO IN TERMS OF HOW IT WILL IMPACT THIS GOAL.
THAT LAST SLIDE WAS CARBON FREE AS A PERCENTAGE OF LOAD, BUT THE QUESTION OFTEN COMES UP HOW DO WE LOOK IN TERMS OF OVERALL STACK EMISSIONS? SO NOW LET'S LOOK AT THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF THIS 2025 PRELIMINARY DATA SHOWS THAT WE'VE MADE TREMENDOUS PROGRESS OVER THE PAST YEARS AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE AT RECORD LOW AS SHOWN ON THE GREEN GRAPHS TO THE LEFT.
AND AGAIN, I'LL HAVE MORE ON THIS IN THE NEXT SLIDE.
OF COURSE, YOU ALSO MAY RECALL WE HAVE SOME NEW GUARDRAILS ADOPTED IN THE 2035 PLAN.
AND ONE OF THOSE IS CARBON INTENSITY, WHICH IS MEASURED IN POUNDS OF CARBON PER MEGAWATT HOUR OF ENERGY GENERATED.
SO KNOWING THAT THIS CAN FLUCTUATE FOR VARIOUS REASONS, WHEN WE WORK TO ESTABLISH THAT GOAL, WE USED A THREE YEAR AVERAGE OF THE LATEST DATA THAT WAS AVAILABLE AT THE TIME WE, UM, PROPOSED THE GOAL.
SO THIS IS, UH, THE GUARDRAIL IS SET AT THE AVERAGE OF 2021 TO 2023.
UM, SEEING THAT OUR RESULTS ARE BELOW THE GUARDRAIL ACROSS ALL OF OUR GENERATION, WHICH IS THE GRAPH IN THE TOP RIGHT, MEANS THAT THE ENERGY WE GENERATE CONTINUES TO COME FROM A MAJORITY OF CARBON FREE RESOURCES.
AND, UH, SO WE'RE REALLY PROUD OF THAT.
UM, WHEN NARROWING INTO JUST LOCAL GENERATION, WHICH IS THE BOTTOM RIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT UPTICK IN THE INTENSITY.
THIS PAST YEAR, OUR TEAMS HAVE DUG INTO THE DATA, AND IT APPEARS THIS IS RELATED TO A FEW FACTORS.
IN PART, IT WAS A MILD WEATHER YEAR RESULTING IN LOWER LOADS.
SO IN TURN, OUR LOCAL RESOURCES GENERATED LESS IN 2025 THAN THEY DID IN 2024.
ADDITIONALLY, WE HAD SOME OUTAGES AT THE SANDHILL COMBINED CYCLE, WHICH REQUIRED US TO RELY ON THE PEAKERS A LITTLE MORE THAN WE TYPICALLY WOULD HAVE, UM, AND MORE THAN WE DID IN 2024.
SO THIS METRIC, AS YOU KNOW, IS A RATIO.
AND SO THE MATH WORKS OUT SUCH, SUCH THAT THE OVERALL METRIC WENT UP, GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT I JUST DESCRIBED IN 2025.
AND SO THIS IS PARTLY WHY WE'RE INTERESTED IN HAVING MORE EFFICIENT PEAKERS IN OUR PORTFOLIO.
WE'RE OPERATING AT A DEFICIT OF LOCAL GENERATION OPTIONS.
AND SO MORE EFFICIENT OPTIONS WOULD GIVE US A MORE FLEXIBILITY AND WOULD HELP US TO REDUCE THE CARBON INTENSITY.
I'M SORRY, LISA, CAN I JUST ASK A QUESTION ABOUT THE MATH? CERTAINLY.
OR WHAT'S INCLUDED? SO, CAR, CARBON DIOXIDE, INTENSITY, ALL GENERATION, THAT'S THE AMOUNT OF CO2.
DOES THAT INCLUDE ALL THE, THAT INCLUDES THE NUKE AND ALL THE RENEWABLES.
YOU CONTRACT ACROSS THE ENTIRE PORTFOLIO? ACROSS THE PORTFOLIO.
AND THEN BELOW THAT IS ON, SO THAT'S ONLY THE GENERATION WITHIN BASICALLY TRAVIS COUNTY.
BUT WOULD THAT, WOULD THAT ALSO INCLUDE, UH, IS THAT ONLY FOSSIL FUEL GENERATION OR DOES THAT INCLUDE, YOU KNOW, YOU'VE GOT SOME, IT INCLUDES THE SOLAR.
I JUST DIDN'T KNOW WHAT INCLUDED.
[00:50:01]
YEP.UM, AND SO THIS SLIDE WAS PREVIEWED FOR, UH, YOU DURING PUBLIC COMMENT.
UM, THIS SLIDE SHOWS THE 20 YEAR HISTORY OF STACK EMISSIONS FROM A PEAK NEAR SIX TO TODAY'S VALUE OF UNDER 2.5.
YOU CAN SEE A VERY SIGNIFICANT 60% REDUCTION OVER TIME.
JOSH, DID YOU HAVE A QUESTION? I, I DID.
I WAS, IT WAS A SIMILAR COMMENT THAT IT'S A CYRUS DID THAT, UM, DID THE LOCAL GENERATION INCLUDE, UM, FAYETTE, THE WAY IT'S CONSIDERED ECONOMICALLY LOCAL GENERATION DOES NOT INCLUDE FAYETTE.
AND WRAPPING UP THIS SECTION, I HAVE A SUMMARY OF EACH OF THE CUSTOMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS GOALS.
THE WHEEL CHARTS YOU SEE HERE SHOW PROGRESS TOWARDS THE 2027 OR THE 2030 GOALS, WHICH ARE THE NEAR TERM GOALS IN EACH ONE OF THESE.
AND YOU CAN SEE HOW MUCH WORK THE TEAM HAS BEEN PUTTING IN DESPITE GROWING CHALLENGES.
THE 2035 PLAN PRIORITIZES CUSTOMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS.
AND THESE RESULTS SHOW HOW WE'RE STAYING TRUE TO OUR COMMITMENTS AND OUR COMMUNITY'S NEEDS.
AND I DO HAVE MORE DETAILED SLIDES ON EACH OF THESE IN THE BACKUP FOR REFERENCE, BUT IN THE INTEREST OF TIME, WE LEFT THAT AS BACKUP.
NOW I'M GONNA, UM, STICK WITH PROGRESS WE'VE MADE, BUT I'M GONNA SHIFT GEARS A BIT AND SHARE MORE ON THE PROGRESS WE'VE MADE IN FORMS IN THE FORM OF KEY IMPLEMENTATION WINS.
SO I HAVE THESE BROKEN OUT BY THE FOUR MAJOR KEY ACTIONS IN THE 2035 PLAN.
AND ALTHOUGH THERE'S A LOT OF INFORMATION ON EACH SLIDE, I'M JUST GONNA HIT THE HIGHLIGHTS AND THEN LEAVE THE REST FOR YOU TO REVIEW AT YOUR LEISURE.
SO FIRST AND FOREMOST, IN THIS PLAN, WE PRIORITIZE CUSTOMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS.
FISCAL YEAR 25 WAS A RECORD HIGH FOR NEW LOCAL SOLAR WITH 18 MEGAWATTS OF INSTALLED CAPACITY.
IN THAT YEAR ALONE, ENERGY EFFICIENCY EFFORTS ACCOUNTED FOR AN ADDITIONAL 24 MEGAWATTS OF ENERGY SAVINGS.
AND AS YOU KNOW, THE CITY ADOPTED THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL ENERGY CONSERVATION CODE AND WE STREAMLINED THE CUSTOMER SOLAR INTERCONNECTION EXPERIENCE, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THE EXPIRING FEDERAL RESIDENTIAL TAX CREDITS.
COMMISSIONER BRADEN, I JUST WANTED TO ASK MORE ABOUT THAT LAST ITEM.
'CAUSE THAT WAS A BIG FOCUS, YOU KNOW, TRYING TO GET EVERYTHING UNDER THE WIRE.
WHAT WERE YOU ABLE TO STREAMLINE? BECAUSE I, I'M, I JUST WENT THROUGH THAT PROCESS AND I'LL, I'LL RELATE THAT TO YOU.
I REMEMBER MORE DIRECTLY, BUT I'M TRYING TO FIND OUT, WELL, WHAT KIND OF IMPROVEMENTS WERE MADE IN THAT LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS TO, TO GET MORE PEOPLE ACROSS THE GOAL LINE? YEAH, SO I'LL JUST SUMMARIZE TO SAY THAT, UM, IN ORDER TO GET A CUSTOMER INTERCONNECTED, DEPENDING ON WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO, IT'S A, IT'S A COLLABORATIVE PROCESS BETWEEN, UM, UH, RICHARDS TEAMS AND CUSTOMER ENERGY SOLUTION WHERE THEY HAVE THE SOLAR INSPECTORS, BROCKS TEAMS, AND ELECTRIC SYSTEM FIELD OPERATIONS WHERE THEY HAVE TO DO THE DISCONNECT AND THE RECONNECT OF ELECTRIC POWER.
UM, AND ALSO, UM, THE, UM, AUSTIN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES WHERE THEY REVIEW, UM, AND, UH, INSPECT THE WORK THAT'S DONE BY THE CONTRACTOR.
AND SO WE ESTABLISHED, UM, REGULARLY SCHEDULED MEETINGS AND AN ONGOING SPREADSHEET TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF THE, UM, WORK GROUPS WERE COLLABORATIVELY WORKING TOGETHER AND KNOWING WHERE EVERY, UM, PROJECT IN THE QUEUE WAS, UM, WAS IN THE QUEUE SO THAT THEY COULD KEEP IT MOVING FORWARD, KNOWING THAT THERE WAS A LOOMING EXPIRATION DEADLINE.
UM, AND THEY ALSO, I BELIEVE, UM, RAMPED UP, BROUGHT IN SOME RESOURCES FROM DIFFERENT PLACES TO RAMP UP THE NUMBER OF, UH, TIME SLOTS THEY HAD AVAILABLE.
AND THEN THERE WAS A LOT OF COMMUNICATION TO THE CONTRACTORS, BECAUSE AS A HOMEOWNER YOU CAN'T, WELL, YEAH, I WOULD IMAGINE VERY FEW HOMEOWNERS ARE GONNA GO INSTALL THIS FOR THEMSELVES, UM, UNLESS THEY ALSO HAPPEN TO BE, UM, AN ELECTRICIAN.
AND SO, UM, AND SO WE DID A LOT OF OUTREACH TO THE CONTRACTORS TO LET THEM KNOW THAT, YOU KNOW, CALL THIS GROUP, THEN THIS GROUP, LET'S WORK YOU THROUGH THE PROCESS.
SO IS THAT A FAIR SUMMARY? OKAY.
UM, CAN YOU REMIND US THE NAME OF THE CONSULTANT HIRED? IS THAT SOMETHING? I DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S PUBLIC.
UM, AND I THINK IT SHOULD BE EVALUATION MEASUREMENT AND VERIFICATION CONSULTANT.
IT IS EVALUATION MEASUREMENT AND VERIFICATION CONSULTANT.
UM, AND THE NAME OF THE CONSULTANT, I'M GONNA GET CARRIE TO LOOK IT UP AND COME BACK TO YOU AS WE GET TO THE END BECAUSE I AM DRAWING A BLANK.
DID THAT GO THROUGH US OR? IT DID COME THROUGH THIS GROUP AND AT THE MOMENT, I'M JUST CAN'T REMEMBER, I'M DRAWING A BLANK, BUT CARRIE SAY CLEAR RESULTS, BUT OH YEAH, IT WAS, I THINK IT WAS CLEAR RESULTS.
ALRIGHT, MOVING ON TO THE, UM, NEXT, UH, KEY ACTION IS DEVELOPING LOCAL SOLUTIONS.
AND THESE TWO START WITH OUR CUSTOMER SIDE SOLUTIONS.
UM, SO, UH, IN TERMS OF DEMAND RESPONSE, IF ALL CITY FACILITIES ARE ABLE TO, TO PARTICIPATE IN A DEMAND RESPONSE EVENT, WHEN CALLED, THAT'S AN ADDITIONAL 6.4 MEGAWATTS THAT WE CAN SHAVE
[00:55:01]
OFF OF PEAK LOAD.AND THAT IS DUE TO THE HARD WORK OF, UM, CARRIE'S TEAMS PULLING, UM, PULLING IN A NUMBER OF CITY FACILITIES.
AND THEN OF COURSE THE SOLAR ON CITY FACILITIES.
RFQ WAS LAUNCHED LAST MONTH AND THAT A MARK IS ACTIVELY UNDERWAY.
OF COURSE, WE CAN'T TELL YOU ENOUGH THAT WE SIGNED A BIG 20 YEAR BATTERY STORAGE CONTRACT FOR 100 MEGAWATTS, FOUR HOUR BATTERY STORAGE SYSTEM, AND WE HAVE A SECOND CONTRACT UNDER NEGOTIATION.
AND THEN WE COMPLETED THE FEASIBILITY PHASE FOR PEAKER EVALUATION, AND WE LAUNCHED THE ALL RESOURCE RFP TO HELP PROVIDE FOR CONTINUED LOCAL NEEDS.
SO A LOT OF WORK HAPPENING HERE, UM, NOT TO MENTION ALL THE TRANSMISSION WORK THAT IS UNDERWAY.
UM, AND YOU'LL SEE A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THAT COMING UP.
COMMISSIONER BRAYDEN? NO, GO AHEAD.
YEAH, I WAS CONCERNED ON, OF COURSE, FOCUSING ON THE PEAKER FEASIBILITY PHASE.
UH, THAT WAS BRIEFLY DISCUSSED, I GUESS AT A-E-E-O-C.
IT WASN'T DISCUSSED HERE AT ALL.
AND I'M, I'M CONCERNED THAT WE'RE RUSHING THROUGH THESE STEPS TOO FAST BECAUSE LATER IN YOUR PRESENTATION, WE'RE ALREADY IN THE DEVELOPMENT PHASE AND I'M NOT SEEING A LOT OF TIME OR OPPORTUNITY FOR, FOR THE OTHER BETTER THINGS TO GET DEVELOPED AND FOR THESE TO BE MORE FULLY DISCUSSED.
SO THAT'S, SO I HEAR YOU, MY OBSERVATION,
I DO HAVE A SLIDE, UM, COMING UP TALKING ABOUT THE PROCESS AND EXPLAINING VARIOUS PHASES OF THE PROCESS.
UM, WHAT WE'RE ESSENTIALLY DOING IS WORKING THINGS IN PARALLEL SO THAT WHEN WE HAVE THE RESULTS OF THE ALL RESOURCE RFP, WE CAN USE THOSE RESULTS TO HELP MAKE THE BEST DECISION, BUT WE ALSO WILL KNOW WHAT OUR OPTIONS ARE WITH REGARDS TO, UM, PEAKERS AS WELL.
SO, UM, THAT, UH, PRESENTATION IS AVAILABLE PUBLICLY ON, UM, A TXN ON THE ARCHIVES.
AND SO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO SEE THE PRESENTATION ABOUT THE FEASIBILITY STAGE, WHICH IS REALLY JUST AN EXPLORATORY INITIAL PHASE, UM, AND YOU KNOW, THAT PRESENTATION IS AVAILABLE.
UH, ANOTHER QUESTION ON OVER ON THE OTHER COLUMN, SOLAR ON CITY FACILITIES, DO YOU HAVE ANY SENSE OF SCALE AND HOW, HOW MUCH THAT CAN PRODUCE? OR ARE YOU WAITING TO SEE WHAT DEVELOPERS BRING YOU BACK ON THE SECOND PHASE OF THIS? I WOULD BE, UM, SPEAKING OUT OF MY WHEELHOUSE IF I TOLD YOU QUANTITIES OR NUMBERS.
UM, AND I'M NOT A HUNDRED PERCENT CERTAIN IF THAT INFORMATION IS PUBLIC.
SO, UM, BUT I DO KNOW THAT THE RFQ IS OUT RIGHT NOW.
UM, AND THAT, UM, CERTAINLY THE, THE, IT'S A TWO PHASE, IT'S AN RFP AND THE FIRST PHASE IS QUALIFICATIONS.
AND SO, UM, IT'S, YOU KNOW, CONTINUING THROUGH THE SPRING HERE, THERE, THERE WERE SEVERAL, SEVERAL HUNDRED SITES.
I, ANOTHER THING THAT WAS REALLY EXCITING WAS TO SEE THAT YOU CALLED FOR THE ROOFS AND IN MANY CASES THE PARKING LOTS.
AND I'M REALLY HOPING THAT SOMEONE WILL GRAB THAT AND RUN WITH IT, UH, THAT WE CAN START TO SEE PEOPLE ACTUALLY PUTTING SOLAR IN PARKING LOTS THAT WOULD, YEAH, IT'S A REALLY, UM, A BIG PROCESS, GOOD COLLABORATIVE EFFORT BETWEEN A NUMBER OF CITY DEPARTMENTS AND, UM, WE ARE NOT THE LEAD, BUT WE DO HAVE, UM, A, YOU KNOW, A MAJOR ADVISORY ROLE IN IT.
CAN WE GET THE LINK ON THE PEAKER FEASIBILITY STUDY? HAPPY TO GET THAT SENT OUT.
CYRUS, LISA, I ALSO HAD CONFU THAT SAME BULLET POINT ON PEAKER FEASIBILITY.
I THINK, YOU KNOW, WE HAD SOME DISCUSSIONS WITH YOU.
I THINK THIS CAUSED A LOT OF, UM, CONFUSION IN THE COMMUNITY AND, AND AMONG CERTAIN COMMISSIONERS.
BUT, UM, SO YOU'VE PUT OUT AN ALL AN, AN ALL SOURCE RFP, ALL RESOURCE RP MM-HMM.
ALL RESOURCE RP, WHICH COULD INCLUDE PEAKERS.
IT COULD, AND THEN YOU'VE, BUT YOU'VE ALREADY DONE YOUR PEAKER FEASIBILITY PHASE.
BUT WHAT IF THE CONFIGURE, WHAT IF THE ALL RESOURCE RFP COMES BACK WITH PEAKERS THAT HAVE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT, YOU KNOW, OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES? I MEAN, YOU STILL MIGHT HAVE TO DO ANOTHER FEASIBILITY STUDY, RIGHT? DEPENDING ON WHAT COMES BACK OR SO, OR YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'VE CHECKED THAT BOX AND IT'S DONE.
SO IN THE ALL RESOURCE, RFP, UM, HAS THE INTENTION OF SAYING ANYONE WHO CAN OFFER US LOCAL RESOURCES OF ANY TYPE, RIGHT? AND I RECALL WHEN WE WERE DEVELOPING AND AMENDING THE, UM, GEN PLAN, YOU PARTICULARLY BROUGHT FORTH SOME OF THE TECHNOLOGY TYPES IN THERE, RIGHT? SO IT TALKS ABOUT LONG AND SHORT DURATION STORAGE, IT TALKS ABOUT FUEL CELLS, IT TALKS ABOUT, UM, SOLAR, WIND, ALL OF THE ABOVE, RIGHT? INCLUDING PEAKERS, UM, ANY OF THOSE OFFERS THAT COME FORWARD, WE WOULD BE DOING A FULL ANALYSIS, RIGHT? ECONOMIC MODELING, QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THOSE OFFERS.
UM, THE IDEA UNDER THE R UM, RFP IS THAT WE WOULD BE ENTERING INTO A POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENT.
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT YOU DO DURING THE FEASIBILITY PHASE, IT'S A, IT'S AN EXPLORATORY PHASE WHERE YOU ASSESS A POTENTIAL, UM, SITE OPPORTUNITIES AND YOU'RE
[01:00:01]
ALSO CONSIDERING OWNERSHIP AND FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS.AND SO, UH, WE HAD TALKED, UM, IN THE PAST, AND I WANNA BE, I WANNA LEAVE THIS OPTION OPEN, THAT OWNING, UH, GENERATION GIVES US MORE CONTROL OVER HOW IT'S OPERATED, NOT ONLY IN THE IMMEDIATE TERM, BUT IN THE LONG TERM.
UM, AND YOU CAN ALSO, YOU KNOW, SHUT IT DOWN WHENEVER YOU NEED TO.
AND SO, UM, ONE OF THE REASONS THAT WE'RE DOING THE INITIAL FEASIBILITY PHASE FOR PEAKERS IS FOR THAT OWNED OPTION, WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY AN ALTERNATIVE THAT YOU WOULD COMPARE TO A POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENT OPTION, WHERE SOMEONE, IN THAT CASE, WE MIGHT BE ASKING SOMEONE TO BUILD SOMETHING HERE LOCALLY THAT WE MAY NOT HAVE A LONG TERM STAKE IN.
SO WE HAVE TO TAKE THAT INTO CONSIDERATION.
SO THE, SO THE PEAKER FEASIBILITY PHASE THAT YOU'VE DONE IS MORE, IF YOU DECIDED TO OWN YOUR OWN PEAKERS, THIS IS THE ANALYSIS YOU'VE DONE VERSUS THE ALL RESEARCH RFP, SOMEBODY ELSE WOULD DEVELOP IT.
ONE OTHER THING I DIDN'T EVEN SEE WITH A CHECK MARK ON IT, 'CAUSE IT'S HIDING UP THERE IN THE PICTURE, BUT THE AVOID RETIRING LOCAL GENERATION PREMATURELY IS A, IS A BIG RED FLAG.
SO HOW IS THAT, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FLOATING UP THERE? THE, UM, IN THE GRAPHIC UP THERE, UH, JUST SIMPLY AS AN INFOGRAPHIC TO REPRESENT WHAT SOME OF THE COMPONENTS ARE IN THE PLAN.
SO WITH REGARDS TO THE MAJOR KEY ACTION DEVELOPED LOCAL SOLUTIONS, THERE ARE A NUMBER OF PARAGRAPHS THAT HAVE SUB KEY ACTIONS, AND ONE OF THEM IS TO AVOID RETIRING LOCAL GENERATION PREMATURELY.
AND IT ESSENTIALLY SPEAKS TO, UM, THE IDEA THAT IF WE HAVE THESE RESOURCES AND UM, WE SHOULD LOOK TO, UM, KEEP THEM, THERE WERE SOME PARTS OF MODELING THAT SHOWED THAT IF YOU RETIRED ALL OF YOUR LOCAL GENERATION, THE RELIABILITY RISK HOURS SHOT UP PRETTY DRASTICALLY.
AND SO, UM, THIS WAS A, A KEY ACTION THAT SAYS, WATCH THIS CAREFULLY WHILE LOOKING FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO, UM, MAKE THEM CLEANER, UM, AND MORE EFFICIENT, LESS EMISSIONS, LESS EMITTING.
SO DO YOU SEPARATE ACTUALLY DISMANTLING THEM FROM NOT USING THEM? BECAUSE I, ARE YOU REALLY SAYING THEY COULD BE SITTING THERE AND NOT USED FOR QUITE A LONG TIME, BUT WHEN THE NEED ARISES AND YOU HAVE RELIABLY RISK OR SOME KIND OF HUGE PRICE RISK, THEN YOU'D FIRE A UP? UM, I MEAN, THAT IS A POSSIBILITY, RIGHT? IF WE END UP GETTING SUFFICIENT CARBON FREE RESOURCES LOCALLY TO COVER OUR NEEDS, THEN YOU WOULD BE USING THEM.
I MEAN, YOU ALWAYS DO USE THEM AS A LAST RESORT RIGHT NOW IN THE STACK OF, UM, OF RESOURCES AVAILABLE.
BUT, UM, TO COMMISSIONER BRADEN'S QUESTION, THIS IS, THIS IS JUST A KEY ACTION THAT IS WRITTEN IN THE PLAN, RIGHT? UM, AND SO THE INFOGRAPHIC IS JUST ILLUSTRATIVE.
THE, UH, KEY IMPLEMENTATION WINS THAT WE'VE HAD OVER THE LAST YEAR ARE WHAT WE'VE HIGHLIGHTED WITH THE CHECK MARKS, BUT WE'RE STILL MY INTENTION ANYWAY, I UNDERSTAND WE'RE STILL WORKING ALL OUT TO REPLACE THOSE WITH RENEWABLE GENERATION IN ORDER TO RETIRE THEM.
WE ARE WORKING TOWARDS 100% CARBON FREE AS A PERCENTAGE OF LOAD.
AND, AND IF THAT MEANS RIGHT, THAT WE END UP HAVING, UM, ADDITIONAL LOCAL RESOURCES THERE AS A BACKSTOP AND AS AN INSURANCE, BUT TO CHAIR TUTTLE'S POINT, BUT NOT USING THEM EXCEPT AS THE VERY LAST RESORT, RIGHT? THIS IS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE DON'T LEAVE OURSELVES WITHOUT A BACKSTOP AND AN INSURANCE POLICY.
AND, AND I WOULD JUST ENCOURAGE YOU TO GO AND LOOK AT THAT PARTICULAR SECTION OF THE PLAN BECAUSE WE WERE TRIED TO BE VERY TRANSPARENT AND CLEAR ABOUT WHAT EACH ONE OF THOSE ACTIONS MEANT.
UM, AND THAT WAS SPECIFICALLY IN RESPONSE TO SOME OF THE MODELING, UM, WHAT WAS SHOWING US WHEN WE, WE HAD PORTFOLIOS WHERE WE SHUT DOWN ALL OF OUR EXISTING GENERATION AND IT CREATED GREAT RISK, UM, TAIL RISK AT THE END.
SO YEAH, I DO THINK IT WAS A KEY PART OF THE PLAN WAS THE IDEA, UM, DON'T RETIRE SOMETHING TOO EARLY UNTIL YOU HAVE THE STUFF IN PLACE, BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOU CAN REALLY PUT CUSTOMERS AT RISK.
AND, YOU KNOW, AS AN EXAMPLE, UM, WE WANNA, WE WANT AS A, AS A UTILITY, WE WANNA HAVE, WE WANNA HAVE OUR OWN BLACK STAR CAPABLE RESOURCES.
AND AT THE MOMENT, THAT'S, THAT'S DECKER.
SO IF YOU RETIRE THOSE BEFORE YOU'VE DEVELOPED OTHER BLACK STAR RESOURCES OR WE'VE FIGURED OUT A WAY TO GET, TO ALLOW STORAGE TO PROVIDE THAT RESOURCE, THEN YOU'RE REALLY, YOU KNOW, YOU COULD BE PUTTING YOURSELF AT A REAL DISADVANTAGE.
RIGHT? SO, BUT I I JUST WANNA EMPHASIZE, WE'RE STILL WORKING TO BE ABLE TO RETIRE THOUGH.
AND UNDER CERTAIN MODELING CONDITIONS, ESPECIALLY IN 2023 KIND
[01:05:01]
OF VOLATILITY YEARS, THAT WAS A NO-NO, IT JUST COULDN'T WORK, UH, BECAUSE OF LACK OF TRANSMISSION AND OTHER THINGS.SO I, I GUESS I READ THE WORDS, BUT I, I WANT TO KEEP FOCUSING ON BETTER SOLUTIONS.
WE'RE ALL WORKING TOWARDS THE, THE, THE CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE.
ALRIGHT, SO EVERYONE WANTS TO WORK FORWARD, BUT THERE WAS A CHART THAT YOU CREATED A COUPLE YEARS AGO NOW, I GUESS IT'S GONE BY FAST.
THE HOW WE GOT HERE, AND I THINK THAT PLAYS INTO DON'T RE WITH CYRUS'S POINT IS DON'T RETIRE UNTIL YOU TRULY HAVE THE REPLACEMENT.
DO YOU WANNA DESCRIBE THE CONGESTION COSTS THAT WERE ABOVE AND BEYOND? YEAH, SO THE, HOW WE GOT HERE SLIDE WAS KIND OF CREATING A SUMMARY OF THE THINGS THAT HAD CHANGED SINCE THE 2030 PLAN WAS ADOPTED IN 2020.
AND, UM, SHORTLY THEREAFTER, WE RETIRED THE DECKER STEAM UNITS.
UM, AND AS PART OF ONE OF THE COMMITMENTS IN THE PLAN, UM, AND, UH, WITH THE THOUGHT THAT WE'D BE ABLE TO BRING IN, UH, YOU KNOW, ALL THE CLEAN ENERGY WE NEEDED FROM, UH, YOU KNOW, WEST TEXAS, THE COAST, THE PANHANDLE, ET CETERA, UM, CONGESTION GOT WORSE AND WORSE OVER TIME, UM, AS THE REST OF THE ERCOT BUILD GRID CONTINUED TO BUILD OUT.
AND WE SAW THAT IN PARTICULARLY HIGH, UM, PRICED YEARS, A LOT OF VOLATILITY AND A LOT OF, UM, HIGH WEATHER YEARS.
MOST OF THIS HAPPENED IN THE SUMMER.
UM, BUT THE CONGESTION COSTS IN 2022 WERE ABOUT 135 MILLION AND 154 MILLION IF MEMORY SERVES.
UM, SO IT WAS RIGHT IN THAT RANGE.
UM, AND ALL OF THOSE COSTS, OF COURSE, ARE PASSED DIRECTLY TO THE CUSTOMERS, UM, THROUGH THE POWER SUPPLY ADJUSTMENT.
AND SO, UM, THIS WAS, IT WAS KIND OF A WARNING SIGN TO SAY WHEN WHEN YOU GET, UM, THAT TYPE OF LOAD ZONE PRICE SEPARATION, THE ERUPT MARKET IS TELLING YOU NOT ONLY DO YOU NEED MORE SUPPLY HERE LOCALLY, AND IF YOU CAN'T BRING IT IN FROM THE OUTSIDE, YOU NEED TO HAVE IT HERE LOCALLY, BUT ALSO, UM, WHICH IS, WHICH IS RESULTS IN THE HIGHER COST AND, UM, RISK TO AFFORDABILITY, BUT ALSO IT'S, IT'S A SIGN OF A RELIABILITY RISK BECAUSE THE WHOLE MARKET IS BASED OFF OF TRYING TO, UM, DISPATCH THE MOST ECONOMICALLY AND ALSO AVOID THE RELIABILITY RISKS.
RIGHT? AND, AND THOSE WERE TERRIBLE YEARS.
I, THEY WERE TERRIBLE YEARS AND, AND WE'RE FORTUNATE TO HAVE SOME, HAD SOME MILD YEARS JUST BUILDING THE FUTURE ON THOSE YEARS ALONE.
BUT, BUT ON WHAT'S GOING ON NOW AND ON THE POTENTIAL FUTURE YEAH.
UH, TRANSMISSION ACROSS THE STATE.
SO I WANNA REASSURE YOU THAT WHEN YOU, ANYTIME YOU MODEL, YOU USE THE LATEST, UM, UH, SYSTEM TOPOLOGY.
SO WHAT IS THE, WHAT DOES THE GRID LOOK LIKE? WHAT ARE ALL THE KNOWN BUILD OUTS THAT ARE COMING IN OVER THE COURSE OF THE HORIZON THAT YOU ARE MODELING? SO IT'S NOT LIKE YOU TAKE A SNAPSHOT OF, OF WHAT THE GRID IS IN 2023 AND YOU SAY THAT IT'S GOING TO STAY THAT EXACT SAME WAY OVER THE 10 YEAR HORIZON.
YOU, YOU TAKE ALL THE, UH, TRANSMISSION, BUILD OUT THE GENERATION, UM, THE LOAD GROWTH, ALL OF THAT COMES INTO PLAY AND EVERY TIME WE DO ANY TYPE OF MODELING, WE TAKE THE LATEST, UM, INTO CONSIDERATION, UH, FOR THE BEST KNOWN RECOMMENDATIONS AT THAT TIME.
I THINK CHRIS, NOW I'M SORRY, I'VE ANSWERED MY QUESTION.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS BY THE WAY I GET YOUR QUESTIONS IN DURING THIS SEGMENT, BECAUSE I THINK THE WAY IT WAS POSTED, OUR DISCUSSION ON 12 IS GONNA BE JUST US AND IT MAY NOT INCLUDE AUSTIN ENERGY, SO THIS NEEDS TO BE, I THINK, SAY WHAT
I, I DIDN'T KNOW THIS, I JUST WAS INFORMED.
SO KIND OF ASK YOUR QUESTIONS.
I'M UNCLEAR ABOUT THAT TECHNICALITY.
I I WAS UNCLEAR TOO, BUT WE'LL JUST KEEP MOVING.
OUR THIRD KEY ACTION IS CONTINUE OUR COMMITMENT TO DECARBONIZATION.
AND SO A COUPLE OF HIGHLIGHTS HERE.
WE'VE RENEWED A 165 MEGAWATT WIND, PPA, UM, THAT WAS SET TO EXPIRE, AND WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN KEEP THOSE, UH, POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS GOING.
UM, WE LAUNCHED A, A RECENTLY LAUNCHED A NEW RFP TO TRY TO CAPTURE SHOVEL-READY PROJECTS BEFORE FEDERAL TAX CREDITS EXPIRE IN THE COMING YEARS.
AND AS WE'VE ALREADY SEEN TOTAL STACK EMISSIONS CONTINUE TO BE AT A RECORD LOW.
I, I'M NOT, I SHOULD BE LOOKING TO, UM, QUICK QUESTION ON THE SECOND BULLET.
UM, WHY SPECIFICALLY DID YOU ASK FOR WIND VERSUS WIND AND SOLAR? WAS THERE, WAS THE THOUGHT YOU HAVE ENOUGH SOLAR? LIKE WHAT WAS THE REASON? NO, AND ACTUALLY I THINK VICE CHAIR WHITE ASKED ME THIS QUESTION WHEN
[01:10:01]
WE EVER ORIGINALLY, UM, TALKED ABOUT THIS.UM, THE THOUGHT WAS THAT, UM, THERE IS A, THERE ARE, WE WERE STARTING TO GET A LOT OF, UM, WIND DEVELOPERS, UH, KIND OF KNOCKING ON OUR DOOR, TELLING US LIKE, HEY, WE'VE GOT THESE PROJECTS THAT ARE COMING READY.
UM, AND THERE WITH THE GROWTH OF, UM, OIL AND GAS ELECTRIFICATION, UM, IN WEST TEXAS, WE THOUGHT THAT, UH, THESE PROJECTS MIGHT BE VIABLE.
AND WE TRIED TO KEEP THE RFP AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE, UM, SIMPLY BECAUSE WE'RE TRYING TO ACT QUICKLY BECAUSE THEY, YOU, YOU KNOW ABOUT THE RULES ABOUT THE FEDERAL TAX CREDITS, RIGHT? SO THEY NEED TO EITHER BE INITIATING CONSTRUCTION, UM, UH, HERE BEFORE THE SUMMER, OR THEY NEED TO BE COMPLETE BY, UH, 2027, END OF 2027, I THINK.
UM, SO IT WAS REALLY ABOUT SIMPLICITY.
UM, AND IT'S, IT'S NOT THAT WE DON'T WANT SOLAR.
UM, WE, YOU KNOW, WE TEND TO DO JUST KIND OF A RENEWABLES RFP EVERY YEAR AS WELL.
AND SO, UM, WE WILL BE DOING THAT HERE SOON ANYWAY.
UM, WHEN, WHEN YOU TRACK THE, UH, STACK EMISSIONS AND THE CO2 INTENSITY, DO YOU TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ANY PURCHASES OFF THE, AT THE ERCOT MARKET THAT ARE OUTSIDE OF THE PORTFOLIO? NO.
OR ARE THOSE SIGNIFICANT ENOUGH THAT, OR INSIGNIFICANT THAT THEY DON'T REALLY MATTER? SO WE ARE ONLY TALKING ABOUT, UM, STACKS THAT WE, UM, OWN FULLY OR ARE CO-OWNERS FOR, AND WE ONLY TALK ABOUT OUR SHARE OF THEM.
SO, UM, WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT EMISSIONS IN THE ERCOT PORTFOLIO, BUT, BUT I MEAN, WHEN YOU BUY OFF THE ERCOT MARKET THAT'S OUTSIDE OF THE PPAS THAT ARE ALREADY IN PLACE, THOSE AREN'T, THOSE AREN'T TRACKED, THEY'RE NOT TRACKED IN THESE NUMBERS, NO.
NOW, THE, UH, THE WIND RFP IS ALREADY CLOSED, IS THAT THE CASE? THE PROPOSALS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED AND THE TEAM IS ANALYZING THEM.
UH, SO IT'S ACTIVE, BUT THE OFFERS ARE ALREADY IN.
ARE THERE, ARE THERE LIVE THINGS TO BE WORKING ON? I MEAN, I KNOW YOU CAN'T TELL ME ABOUT PARTICULAR PROJECTS, BUT IS THERE SOME GOOD RESPONSE TO IT? UM, HOW WOULD YOU I'LL BE HONEST, I HAVEN'T SEEN THE SUMMARY FROM THE TEAM YET, THE STAFF THAT'S WORKING ON IT.
UM, BUT I THINK THERE'S, UM, THERE WAS GOOD RESPONSE.
I MEAN, IN TERMS OF JUST NUMBERS MM-HMM
SO NOW THEY'RE EVALUATING, I THINK THERE WERE MORE THAN A DOZEN DIFFERENT PROPOSALS.
I CAN'T QUITE TELL IF IT WAS PROPOSALS OR PROPOSERS.
YOU KNOW, A LOT OF TIMES ONE, ONE ENTITY WILL OFFER MULTIPLE MM-HMM
I, YEAH, WE MIGHT'VE EVEN HAD A DOZEN DIFFERENT PROPOSERS, BUT WE DEFINITELY HAD AT LEAST A DOZEN PROPOSALS TO LOOK AT.
AND ON THE LA NEXT TO LAST ITEM, UH, EFFORTS TO EXIT COAL, IS THERE ANY REALISTIC THING YOU'RE WORKING ON OR ARE WE, WE, WE ARE, WE, WE DO CONTINUE OUR EFFORTS AS IT'S STATED THERE.
UM, AS YOU KNOW, THOSE CONVERSATIONS ARE CONFIDENTIAL, AND SO THERE'S ONLY SO MUCH I CAN SHARE MM-HMM
UM, BUT, UH, YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE POINTS THAT WAS BROUGHT UP JUST A MOMENT AGO, IT STILL RINGS TRUE.
IT'S WRITTEN IN THE PLAN AND, AND WE KNOW IT, WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE SUFFICIENT REPLACEMENT GENERATION FOR TO, TO REPLACE THAT HOLE IN OUR PORTFOLIO, BOTH, UM, AS A, UH, CONTRIBUTOR TO, WELL, MOST, A LOT OF IT IS FROM A FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE.
IS THERE ANY PROSPECT FOR, ESPECIALLY SOLAR DEVELOPMENT AT FAYETTE OR SOMETHING? I MEAN, YOU GOT A GREAT TRANSMISSION SYSTEM THERE.
YEAH, I DON'T KNOW THAT I CAN SPEAK TOO MUCH ABOUT ANYTHING SPECIFIC.
RELATED TO THAT, I WAS LOOKING FORWARD THROUGH YOUR CHARTS.
I DON'T SEE ANYTHING ON TRANSMISSION.
AND A NUMBER OF FOLKS ARE EXCITED ABOUT THE NEW 7 65 STEP TRANSMISSION LINES.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN TELL US ON THAT? YEAH, SO, UM, THE 7 65 KV TRANSMISSION LINES, SO HIGH VOLTAGE TRANSMISSION LINES THAT ARE, UM, PROPOSED BY A NUMBER OF TRANSMISSION SERVICE PROVIDERS.
UM, THE THREE MAIN, UH, TRUNKS, I'LL CALL THEM, GO ACROSS, UM, FROM, FROM, YOU KNOW, EAST TO WEST, UH, ACROSS THE STATE.
UM, AND THEY'RE CALLED, IT'S THE PERMIAN PORTION OF THE STEP PROJECT.
UM, THIS CAME OUT OF THE, UH, ERCOT REGIONAL TRANSMISSION PLAN, WHICH, UM, SAYS THAT WITH THE AMOUNT OF PEAK LOAD THAT THEY'RE ANTICIPATING AND FORECASTING FOR 2030, UM, SPECIFICALLY THE AMOUNT
[01:15:01]
OF LARGE LOAD AND THE, UM, A LOT OF ELECTRIFICATION OF OIL AND NATURAL GAS, THAT WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO MOVE POWER ACROSS THE STATE IN A VERY EFFICIENT WAY.ONE OF THE MAIN GOALS OF THOSE, UM, TRANSMISSION LINES ARE TO BRING POWER WEST, WHICH SOUNDS COUNTER, BUT PRIOR TO THE SUN RISING, UM, UH, WHEN, YOU KNOW, WHEN ONCE THE SUN'S UP AND THE WIND IS BLOWING FULL SPEED, THERE'S PLENTY OF POWER, UM, UH, ON THAT SIDE OF THE STATE, BUT THEY'RE SEEING PRICE SIGNALS WHERE THE PRICES ARE GOING HIGHER, UM, IN THE BEFORE SUN RISE, UM, HOURS.
UM, THAT SAID, POWER FLOWS BOTH WAYS.
UM, AND SO THERE ARE THREE, LIKE I SAID, TRUNK LINES, IF YOU WILL, UM, THAT, UM, HAVE BEEN PROPOSED, UH, TO THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS.
AND THEN JUST RECENTLY IN THE LAST, UM, ERCOT BOARD MEETING, UM, THERE WERE TWO SUB PROJECTS THAT, UM, INTERCONNECT THE ENDS OF THOSE, UH, THREE, UM, 7 65 TRANSMISSION LINES.
SO, UH, THEY CALL IT THE EASTERN LOOP AND THE WESTERN LOOP TO TRY TO MAKE IT MORE OF A, IF YOU WILL, A MESH.
AND THEN FROM THERE, 7 65 STEPS DOWN TO THE OTHER VOLTAGES THAT WE USE, UM, HERE.
AND SO, UM, THE EASTERN LOOP IS, UM, BEING BUILT BY SOME OF OUR NEIGHBORING UTILITIES.
UM, AND, UH, AS WE, YOU KNOW, I, I THINK THAT THAT WILL ULTIMATELY, DEPENDING ON TIME OF DAY AND SEASON, BRING MORE POWER IN.
UM, BUT AS WE HAVE, UM, SEEN, LET'S JUST GO BACK TO WHEN THE CREST LINES WERE BUILT, UM, YEARS AGO TO BRING A LOT OF THE RENEWABLES FROM WEST TEXAS AND THE PANHANDLE.
UM, EVENTUALLY WHEN YOU BUILD CAPACITY THERE, YOU KNOW, THE OTHER SIDE COMES AND FOLLOWS AND FILLS IT UP, AND THEN SO THOSE GOT QUICKLY CONGESTED.
SO THE ERCOT GRID WILL CONSTANTLY BE DYNAMIC.
UM, BUT WE CONTINUE TO DO OUR WORK ON INCREASING OUR IMPORT CAPACITY AT OUR BOUNDARIES.
UM, YOU'LL RECALL, I I'VE ALWAYS WARNED US TO NOT LOOK AT TRANSMISSION AS THE SILVER BULLET BECAUSE WE ONLY HAVE CONTROL OVER SO MUCH OF IT.
AND SO THE FACT THAT THERE IS ADDITIONAL TRANSMISSION BEING BUILT ACROSS TEXAS TO ALLOW MORE POWER TO MOVE IS A GOOD THING.
UM, BUT THE MARK, THE GRID WILL CONTINUE TO BE DYNAMIC.
AND SO I THINK IT'S PART OF THE SOLUTION.
BUT, UM, I WOULD, THE, SOME OF THE CONVERSATION I'VE BEEN HEARING IS, WELL, THAT MIGHT BE THE SOLUTION, AND I WOULD HESITATE TO PUT ALL OF OUR EGGS IN THAT ONE BASKET, BUT I DO THINK IT WILL HELP BRING MORE POWER, UM, DURING CERTAIN TIMES OF THE YEAR.
CYRUS, YOU'RE GRABBING THE MICROPHONE.
I'M JUST, I WAS JUST GONNA MAKE THE POINT, UM, AND TELL ME IF THIS IS TRUE.
THOSE 7 65 LINES ARE COMPLICATED.
THE ROUTES ARE GONNA BE CONTROVERSIAL AND A LOT OF PEOPLE ALREADY ARE CONCERNED ABOUT CERTAIN ROUTES, AND IT'S GONNA BE, IS IT SORT OF FIVE TO SEVEN YEARS BEFORE THEY, THEY'LL BE UP AND OPERATIONAL? WHAT, WHAT'S THE TIMELINE? I, I HAVEN'T SEEN THE TIMELINE MYSELF, UM, DIRECTLY.
UM, BUT THAT WOULD, WOULD BE ALIGNED WITH WHAT I GENERALLY THINK ABOUT IN TERMS OF TRANSMISSION.
AND, AND YOU'RE RIGHT, IT HAS TO GO THROUGH THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION TO DETERMINE, I MEAN, THERE, YOU CAN LOOK IT UP ONLINE AND SEE, YOU KNOW, CONNECT THIS SUBSTATION TO THIS SUBSTATION, BUT EXACTLY WHERE IT'S GOING THROUGH WHOSE LAND IS ALWAYS VERY CONTROVERSIAL.
UM, AND SO WE WILL CONTINUE, UH, I'M SORRY, ONE SECOND.
I WAS JUST GONNA SAY WE'LL CONTINUE TO DO OUR WORK, UM, AND YOU'LL SEE ONE OF OUR, UM, KEY ACTION WHEN I, WHEN I EVENTUALLY GET TO THE, THE ACTIONS WE NEED, UM, SI SECTION OF THIS DECK.
UM, ONE OF THEM IS WE HAVE A, UM, SOME TRANSMISSION SUBMITTALS TO, UM, ERCOT, UM, AND THEN EVENTUALLY THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS ON SOME OF OUR MAJOR PROJECTS RELATED TO IMPORT CAPACITY AS WELL.
AL YOU HAVE MORE, I THINK, UH, CYRUS, THE, THE ORIGINAL ERCOT WAS TALKING ABOUT 2030 AND, AND PEOPLE ARE SAYING, WELL, MAYBE THAT'S A LITTLE OPTIMISTIC.
MAYBE IT'S A FEW YEARS LONGER, BUT EVEN THAT IS PRETTY EXPEDITIOUS AND IT'S, IT'S ALSO IN THE TIMEFRAME THAT ONE COULD BUY A PEAKER AND BUILD IT SOMEWHERE.
SO IT, YOU KNOW, YOU KIND OF LOOK AT THAT, BUT THE, THE IRONY IS THAT THIS COULD ALSO SUPPORT E EVEN THOUGH THE OIL PATCH IS ELECTRIFYING, WHICH IS IRONIC, THEY COULD BE PULLING OUR SOLAR AND WIND THAT WE'RE SOMETIMES SELLING AT A DISCOUNT AND PROVIDING A BETTER MARKET FOR THE RESOURCES THAT WE HAVE NOW.
SO EVEN IF THOSE THINGS DON'T FLY FLOW TO AUSTIN FINANCIALLY, THEY COULD, THAT COULD, THAT COULD HELP US WITH EQUALIZATION OF PRICING JUST IN THAT WAY.
SO THERE, THERE'S A LOT THAT YOU ARE CORRECT.
THERE'S LOT OF, A LOT CAN BE LOOKED AT HERE, A LOT OF VARIABLES AND DYNAMIC ASPECTS OF THE GRID.
SO IS MY MEMORY CORRECT, I THOUGHT CREZ TOOK FROM 2005 START REALLY BASED START TO 2013 TOTAL COMPLETION.
ANYBODY, IS THAT ABOUT RIGHT, JOSH?
[01:20:01]
IS THAT ABOUT RIGHT? OKAY.UM, SO, AND THAT WAS CONSIDERED RECORD TIME FOR THAT MUCH $7 BILLION WORTH OF TRANSMISSION, RIGHT? DO YOU, IS THERE ANYTHING DIFFERENT WITH THIS SE 7 65? 'CAUSE THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK'S THE SAME, IT'S ALL WITHIN STATE THAT HOW IT'S PAID FOR IS THE SAME.
WHAT IS DIFFERENT THAT WOULD LEAD US TO EXPECT IT TO NOT BE AS FAST AS CREST WAS DONE? IT'S HIGHER VOLTAGE.
I MEAN, I DON'T, YOU HAVE SOMETHING, SOUNDS LIKE TAMMY'S GOT SOMETHING TO SHARE.
I JUST WANTED TO COMMENT A LITTLE BIT ON THE CREZ.
SO THE LAW WAS PASSED IN 2005, UM, AND THEN THE COMMISSION WENT THROUGH A PROCESS, A FAIRLY PROTRACTED PROCESS SELECTING, UH, THE UTILITIES WHO WERE GOING TO, UH, BUILD THE CRESS LINES.
AND SO YOU DIDN'T REALLY START THE, THE CCN ROUTING CASES UNTIL ABOUT 2009.
AND SO THEN YOU, YOU DID SEVERAL YEARS OF THOSE CASES AND THEN THEY, THEY FOLLOWED UP WITH THE CONSTRUCTION.
SO THAT WAS KIND OF THE SEQUENCING.
AND HERE I THINK IT'S MOVED A LITTLE BIT FASTER.
UM, YOU KNOW, THERE'S NOT GONNA BE THE PROCESS OF DETERMINING WHICH UTILITIES REALLY ARE GONNA BE BUILDING.
THEY'RE, THEY'RE NOT OPENING IT UP LIKE THEY DID TO NEW ENTRANCE.
AND SO I THINK THERE'S THAT, AND I THINK SINCE THAT TIME AS WELL, UM, THE, UH, THE LAW HAS CHANGED AND THOSE ROUTING CASES HAVE TO BE DONE NOW IN 180 DAYS, WHERE BEFORE THEY HAD A YEAR.
SO WHAT YOU'RE SAYING IS TO DO THOSE ROUTING CASES, ACTUALLY FOUR YEARS FOR EZ BUILD OUT FROM 20 2009 TO 2013? I DON'T, I THINK THEY, THEY MAY HAVE BUILT THOSE A LITTLE BIT FASTER BECAUSE I THINK WE STARTED THE, THE ROUTING CASES IN 2009.
BUT I THINK THIS IS, THIS IS GONNA BE DIFFERENT.
I DON'T THINK YOU CAN NECESSARILY SAY IT'S POTENTIALLY GONNA BE FASTER ON THE FLIP SIDE MM-HMM
UM, BECAUSE YOU ARE LOOKING AT A TYPE OF INFRASTRUCTURE THAT WE DON'T HAVE IN ERCOT, RIGHT? THERE ARE NO OTHER 6, 7 65 LINES.
AND SO, UM, YOU'VE CERTAINLY GOT ISSUES POTENTIALLY WITH EQUIPMENT PROCUREMENT, DIFFERENT THINGS, ADDITIONS THAT MAY NEED TO BE MADE TO OTHER SUBSTATIONS.
AND YOU ARE ALSO PROCURING A MUCH LARGER RIGHT OF WAY THAN WERE DONE FOR THE CRE LINES.
SO IT, IT'S, YOU KNOW, THAT, THAT THOSE CONDEMNATION PROCESSES AND ALL OF THAT, YOU KNOW, MAY TAKE ADDITIONAL TIME AS WELL.
SO I, I GUESS WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS, UH, WE CAN CERTAINLY LOOK TO CRE AS, AS KIND OF, YOU KNOW, SOMETHING THAT, UM, THAT, THAT GIVES SOME GUIDANCE.
BUT I DO THINK THIS IS VERY NOVEL FOR ERCOT AND, UH, THEY ARE MOVING, YOU KNOW, RELATIVELY FAST AT THIS POINT, BUT I GUESS WE'LL KIND OF HAVE TO SEE HOW SOME OF THAT PLAYS OUT.
AND LISA, WHEN WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO PROVIDE AN ANSWER TO THE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE AND US ABOUT HOW MUCH IT'S NOT GONNA BE THE SILVER BULLET THAT SOLVES EVERYTHING, RIGHT? I THAT MAKES SENSE, BUT HOW MUCH DOES IT HELP? WHEN WILL YOU HAVE AN ANSWER FOR THAT? UH, I DON'T EVEN KNOW THE ANSWER TO WHEN I'LL HAVE AN ANSWER FOR THAT, TO BE HONEST.
I'VE ASKED MY TEAM TO TAKE A LOOK AT IT.
IT DEPENDS, RIGHT? IF YOU, IF YOU WERE TO GOOGLE OR JUST DO A WEB SEARCH ON THE ERCOT STEP PROJECT, YOU KNOW, UH, 7 65 KV, YOU'D GET SOME, YOU KNOW, A A OVERALL MAPPING OF WHERE THE, UM, HIGH VOLTAGE TRANSMISSION LINES ARE GOING.
BUT THEN WHAT, WHEN I WAS STARTING TO READ THE, UM, REPORT, THERE'S A SERIES OF ADDITIONAL UPGRADES TO, UH, THE, YOU KNOW, THE, THE NEXT LEVEL DOWN VOLTAGE.
I THINK THERE MIGHT BE SOME 1 38 IN SOME CASES.
UM, AND SO REALLY IT'S ALL OF THAT THAT ALSO INCLUDES THE, UM, UPDATES AND HOW MUCH OF THAT WILL GET BUILT OUT.
AND WHEN, UM, WILL THEN YOU COULD THEN RUN A POWER FLOW STUDY TO FIGURE OUT WHERE'S THE POWER GONNA ACTUALLY GO DURING WHAT TIME OF YEAR.
SO IT WOULD BE A RANGE OF AN ANSWER ANYWAY.
UM, BUT I HAVE ASKED THE TEAM TO TAKE A LOOK AT IT, UM, AND TO LET ME KNOW, YOU KNOW, WHAT KIND OF INFORMATION THEY CAN GLEAN FROM WHAT THE PROPOSALS ARE OUT THERE.
BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, IT'S, IT'S A, IT'S ESSENTIALLY A PORTFOLIO OF PROJECTS, UM, THAT IS MORE THAN JUST THE 7 65 KV LINES THAT YOU SEE THERE AS WELL.
LOTS OF UPGRADES TO SUBSTATIONS AND OTHER TRANSMISSION LINES AS WELL.
JUST KNOW FROM THAT LONG ANSWER THAT DIDN'T FEEL ALL THAT SATISFYING, THAT IT IS DEFINITELY ON OUR RADAR
[01:25:01]
CAREFULLY.SO, OTHER QUESTIONS, WE'LL PAUSE HERE FOR A SECOND.
YOU STILL HAVE A NUMBER OF MORE TO GO THROUGH? OH, JUST 30 MORE SLIDES.
UM, AND BE HERE FOR ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE.
ALRIGHT, SO OUR FOURTH KEY ACTION IS FURTHERING OUR CULTURE OF INNOVATION.
AND SO SINCE THE PLAN ADOPTED, UM, ADOPTION, WE STRENGTHENED OUR R AND D PARTNERSHIPS.
UM, AND WE ALSO, UH, HAD ENGAGEMENT WITH A NUMBER OF, UM, NUCLEAR, UH, RESEARCHERS AND MANUFACTURERS.
UM, WE ALSO KEEP SOLAR STANDARD OFFER AS SUCH AN INNOVATIVE, UM, PATH.
UH, IT LAUNCHED ITS FIRST COMMERCIAL PROJECT FOR 370 KILOWATTS, UM, AND A NUMBER MORE IN THE QUEUE.
AND THEN WE REVIEW, WE REVIVED.
I'M VERY PROUD OF OUR TEAM FOR REVIVING THE GEOTHERMAL PILOT AFTER SEVERAL REGULATORY AND FINANCIAL UNCERTAINTIES, UM, OVER THESE LAST SLIDES, WHICH I THINK WE SPENT A FAIR AMOUNT OF TIME ON.
THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING US TO DO THAT.
THERE'S A REALLY A LOT TO BE PROUD OF.
UM, AND I THINK THAT COLLECTIVELY ACROSS ALL OF AUSTIN ENERGY IN COORDINATION WITH ALL OF OUR STAKEHOLDERS, WE'RE, WE'RE REALLY MAKING A DIFFERENCE.
THESE SLIDES SHOW HOW MUCH WORK HAS BEEN GOING ON AND HOW WE'RE DELIVERING ON SO MANY OF THE COMMITMENTS IN THE PLAN.
WHEN DO YOU THINK WE CAN HAVE AN UPDATE ON THE VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS? UH, VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS ARE COMING IN A COUPLE OF DIFFERENT WAYS.
I THINK YOU'RE GONNA HEAR SOMETHING ABOUT THAT WITH REGARDS TO, UM, DEMAND RESPONSE AND BATTERY INCENTIVES, UH, SOMETIME OVER THIS YEAR.
AND THEN ALSO, UM, WITH REGARDS TO THE DERM SYSTEM, WHICH, UM, WE ARE, I THINK WE'RE DOING AN RFI ON THE DERM SYSTEM, SO THERE'S, THERE IS WORK HAPPENING THERE.
I I DIDN'T GIVE YOU AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST OF EVERYTHING WE'RE DOING.
THERE'S SO MUCH FOCUS ON THE GEN PLAN ACROSS OUR UTILITY.
UM, BUT IT IS, IT'S ON THE LIST AS WELL.
CYRUS, UM, JUST REMIND US ON THE GEOTHERMAL PILOT.
SO THE FIRST, THE FIRST LOCATION DIDN'T WORK OUT.
NOW YOU HAVE A SECOND LOCATION? WE HAVE A SECOND LOCATION.
IS THAT, IS THAT ALREADY BEING, WHERE ARE WE IN THE PROCESS? WE ARE HOPING THAT WE WILL BE BREAKING GROUND HERE IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.
I MEAN, WE'RE HOPING THEY'RE BREAKING GROUND HERE.
IT'S A POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENT.
CAN, CAN YOU GIVE US AN UPDATE ON THAT? WHEN IT, WHEN IT HAPPENS OR WHEN IT OH, I, YEAH, WE'LL BE WAVING ALL KINDS OF FLAGS.
ALRIGHT, NOW I'M GONNA SHIFT TO THE SECOND PART OF THE PRESENTATION, WHICH IS THE CHANGES WE'RE SEEING, UM, WHICH IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT, UM, THAT WE'RE MAKING ALL THIS PROGRESS BECAUSE OF THE EVER EVOLVING ENERGY LANDSCAPE.
AND SO EVEN OVER THE LAST ONE YEAR, WE'VE SEEN LOTS OF CHANGES.
THIS SECOND SECTION OF THE UPDATE DESCRIBES THOSE CHANGES IN SEVERAL WAYS.
AND FIRST, WE'RE GONNA CHECK IN ON OUR KEY RISKS.
SO THE 2035 PLAN HIGHLIGHTS EIGHT KEY RISKS, AND YOU CAN SEE THEM IN THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND YOU CAN ALSO SEE THEM IN THE EVOLVING ENERGY LANDSCAPE SECTION OF THE PLAN.
AND WE TOOK SOME TIME TO REASSESS EACH ONE.
THE OUTCOME IS SUMMARIZED HERE FOR BREVITY.
THE MAIN TAKEAWAY IS THAT EVERY RISK THAT IS IN THE PLAN HAS EITHER INCREASED OR REMAINED STEADY, SAID ANOTHER WAY.
THERE REALLY ISN'T THAT MUCH EXTRA ROOM TO BREATHE.
WE STILL NEED TO TAKE ACTION ON ALL OF OUR KEY ACTIONS.
WE ALSO ASKED OURSELVES WHAT KEY RISKS HAVE EMERGED OR SHARPENED SINCE THE PLAN WAS ADOPTED.
AND WE HAVE THREE NOTABLE ONES TO ADD, AND THESE WON'T BE ANY SURPRISE TO YOU.
THE FIRST IS, THE FEDERAL LEVEL POLICIES HAVE DRASTICALLY CHANGED THIS YEAR WITH RENEWABLE TAX CREDITS EXPIRING AND FEDERAL GRANTS BEING WITHDRAWN.
THE UNCERTAINTY COMPLICATES OUR LONG-TERM PLANNING AND OUR INFRASTRUCTURE DECISIONS TO SAY THE LEAST.
NUMBER TWO IS OUR LARGE CUSTOMER LOADS.
THEY'RE ON THE SCENE NOW MORE THAN EVER, AND THEY ARE CREATING UNCERTAINTY IN DEMAND FORECASTING.
THEY RAISE THE RISK OF STRANDED INVESTMENTS AND THEY, UH, AND ALSO RISKS OF SYSTEM VOLATILITY.
UM, WHILE WE ARE TAKING ACTIVE ACTION TO MITIGATE THAT RISK, IT'S STILL SOMETHING THAT HAS TO GO ON OUR REGISTER.
UM, THEY ARE CERTAINLY RAISING THE EXPECTATIONS FOR RAPID SERVICE DELIVERY, ADDING YET ANOTHER PRIORITY TO ALREADY HEAVY WORKLOAD.
AND THE THIRD ONE IS AN INCREASE IN LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENTS ON ITEMS LIKE POLE INSPECTIONS AND WILDFIRE PLANS.
AND THEY HAVE IMPACTS AS WELL, ESPECIALLY ON OUR WORKLOAD.
UM, SO WE'RE GONNA ADD THESE THREE RISKS TO THE REGISTER.
UM, AGAIN, WE'RE TAKING ACTIVE, UM, ACTION, UH, TO MITIGATE THESE RISKS IN A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT WAYS.
AND I THINK WE'VE TALKED ABOUT THAT A NUMBER OF TIMES HERE.
BUT WE'LL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THEM AND MITIGATE THEM AS WE IMPLEMENT THE PLAN.
CAN YOU DISCUSS A LITTLE BIT ABOUT STRANDED ASSET RISK? BECAUSE
[01:30:01]
THE DEMAND FORECAST ARE ALL OVER THE MAP, THERE'S CONCERN ABOUT A BUBBLE AND IF IT IMPLODES, HOW DO WE MAKE SURE THAT THE AUSTIN ENERGY CUSTOMER SET ISN'T STUCK WITH HUGE AMOUNT OF STRANDED ASSETS WERE BUILT FOR? YEAH.PLANT AND PLANTS, AI PLANTS THAT AREN'T BUILT EVENTUALLY.
FIRST AND FOREMOST, WHENEVER UM, A CUSTOMER SAYS THEY WANT TO CONNECT TO THE ELECTRIC GRID AND, YOU KNOW, BE SERVED BY THE ELECTRIC GRID, UM, IF THEY'RE ABOVE THE OR COT THRESHOLD 75 MEGAWATTS, THEY HAVE TO GO THROUGH A FULL INTERCONNECTION STUDY TO SEE WHAT UPGRADES ARE NECESSARY, UH, BEFORE THEY CAN GET PERMISSION TO INTERCONNECT.
AND IF THEY'RE BELOW 75 MEGAWATTS, THE UH, RESPONSE IS, THE RESPONSIBILITY LIES ON THE UTILITY.
BUT WE HAVE SIMILAR STUDIES, UM, THAT WE DO TO DETERMINE WHAT UPGRADES ARE NECESSARY.
SO FIRST AND FOREMOST, WE WON'T PROMISE TO GIVE YOU POWER UNLESS THE APPROPRIATE UPGRADES ARE MADE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN MAINTAIN RELIABILITY ON THE GRID.
UM, AND THEN THE QUESTION ABOUT STRANDED ASSETS AND STRANDED COSTS REALLY COMES INTO PLAY.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU BUILT THAT? UM, BUT THEN THE, UH, CUSTOMER DIDN'T COME TO FRUITION AND, UH, YOU KNOW, YOU NOW HAVE THE COST OF THOSE ASSETS.
AND SO, UM, OUR, UH, POLICY IS TO MAKE THOSE, PUT THOSE COSTS ON THE CUSTOMER WHO WANTS, WE'RE TALKING LARGE LOADS, RIGHT? SO, UM, WE'RE NOT TALKING MOM AND POP SHOPS, WE'RE TALKING, UM, UH, BUT, BUT SOME OF THOSE ARE, ARE AGAIN, BELOW THAT 75 MEGAWATT THRESHOLD.
SO OUR POLICY IS TO MAKE THOSE CUSTOMERS PAY FOR THAT UPGRADE UPFRONT.
ALL RIGHT, SO ONE LAST OBSERVATION IN TERMS OF THE CHANGES WE'RE SEEING IS WE DID AN UPDATE, A CHECK-IN ON OUR TECHNOLOGY READINESS ASSESSMENT.
SO THIS SLIDE SHOWS WHERE THINGS ARE WITH VARIOUS TECHNOLOGIES.
UM, THE RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN CALLS FOR AN ALL OF THE ABOVE APPROACH TO GENERATION RESOURCES WITH A PRIORITY ON CLEAN ENERGY AND CONTINUING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION.
AND SO WE'RE CONTINUOUSLY ASSESSING TECHNOLOGY UPDATES THAT COULD HELP US REACH OUR 2035 GOALS.
AND YOU CAN SEE WHERE WE'VE, UM, DROPPED EACH TECHNOLOGY INTO VARIOUS, UM, READINESS PHASES WITH MONITORING BEING THE LEAST READY, PILOTING, THEN MARKET TESTING, WHICH MEANS LIKE WE'RE DOING AN RFP, UM, UH, TO DEPLOYING.
NOW WE'RE GONNA SHIFT GEARS FOR THE LAST TIME TO THE KEY ACTIONS NEEDED SECTION OF THE PRESENTATION.
SO GIVEN OUR PROGRESS AND THE CHANGES WE'RE SEEING, THESE ARE THE STEPS WE'RE TAKING TO MEET OUR COMMUNITY'S VALUES OF RELIABILITY, AFFORDABILITY, AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY.
OUR IMPLEMENTATION PRIORITIES FOR 2026 ARE SHOWN HERE ON THE FIRST TWO COLUMNS WITH SOME OF OUR LONG-TERM SUM OF THEM.
THERE'S A LOT OF LONG-TERM GOALS SHOWN IN THE FAR RIGHT COLUMN.
WE HAVE AN UPDATED DEMAND RESPONSE PROGRAM FOR BATTERIES COMING OUT SOON, AND MUCH WORK TO DO ON ALL THE RFPS WE HAVE ACTIVE, WHICH YOU SEE MOST OF THAT HERE IN THE NEAR TERM.
AND THEN WE'RE ALSO HOPING TO BREAK GROUND.
SO YOU HELPED PRE PREVIEW A LOT OF THIS FOR ME.
UM, SWITCHING TO THE MIDDLE COLUMN BY MIDYEAR, WE'LL BE LOOKING TO MAKE STRIDES TO SUBMIT SOME OF OUR KEY TRANSMISSION PROJECTS TO ERCOT, UM, FOR APPROVALS.
AND ALSO LOOKING AT ENHANCEMENTS TO EXISTING GENERATION, INCLUDING BIDDING INTO THE ERCOT BLACK START, RFP.
WE'RE ALSO WORKING ON THAT PRE-DEVELOPMENT PHASE FOR A NUMBER OF UTILITY SCALE GENERATION OPPORTUNITIES.
THIS SLIDE, UM, HELPS ILLUSTRATE SOME OF THE WORK FOR UTILITY SCALE GENERATION.
SO THIS SLIDE SHOWS THE FOUR PHASE APPROACH TO UTILITY SCALE GENERATION AS SET FORTH IN THE 2035 PLAN.
AM GOING TO READ THIS SLIDE STARTING AT THE RIGHT, WHICH IS THE CLOSEST TO COMMERCIAL OPERATION.
UM, SO ALL OF THESE PROJECTS ARE SOMEWHERE IN THE PIPELINE, UM, WITH HOPES TO COME TO FRUITION.
SO TO PUT THE PROCESS INTO PERSPECTIVE, OUR GEOTHERMAL PILOT AND OUR FIRST BATTERY STORAGE PROJECT ARE IN THE DEVELOPMENT PHASE, WHICH IS PHASE THREE.
THAT'S THE ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL PHASE PRIOR TO ACTUALLY DOING CONSTRUCTION.
UM, NOW MOVING TO PHASE TWO, THE SECOND BATTERY STORAGE PROJECT IS UNDER NEGOTIATION AND WE'LL SEEK COUNCIL APPROVAL IN THE COMING MONTHS.
THAT'S PART OF THE PRE-DEVELOPMENT PHASE.
AND THEN AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE PRE-DEVELOPMENT PHASE, WE HAVE THE LOCAL LANDFILL SOLAR, THE ERCOT WIND RFPS, THE ALL RESOURCE RFP, AND DUE DILIGENCE ON MORE EFFICIENT PEAKERS.
IN THIS PHASE, WE REFINE WHAT WE KNOW FROM OUR FEASIBILITY WORK AND WE NARROW OUR OPTIONS TO DEVELOP A RECOMMENDATION FOR COUNCIL.
AND THIS IS THE PHASE WHERE THE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT RAMPS UP AGAIN.
SO THIS SLIDE SUMMARIZES AT A VERY HIGH LEVEL SOME MAJOR UPCOMING MILESTONES REGARDING ALL OF THAT UTILITY SCALE GENERATION TO KIND OF BE TRANSPARENT AND HELP YOU UNDERSTAND
[01:35:01]
WHEN YOU MIGHT EXPECT TO SEE VARIOUS THINGS COME FORWARD.SO IN TERMS OF THE ALL RESOURCE RFP, I'M JUST GONNA FOCUS ON THE GREEN FOR A MOMENT.
PROPOSALS ARE DUE IN LATE JANUARY, SO LATE THIS MONTH, AND WE ANTICIPATE THAT ANALYSIS WILL TAKE TWO, MAYBE THREE MONTHS.
AND THEN ONCE WE DEVELOP A SHORTLIST, EXCUSE ME, OUR TEAMS WILL PRE-POSITION CONTRACTS TO BRING, UH, VIABLE RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL FOR APPROVAL, WHICH IS TYPICAL PROCESS FOR ALL OF OUR RFPS.
WE ANTICIPATE THAT THE EARLIEST DATE FOR ANYTHING COMING OUT OF THE ALL RESOURCE RFP WOULD BE SOMETIME IN MAY.
UM, IN THE MEANTIME, WE'RE CONTINUING TO DO OUR PRE-DEVELOPMENT WORK ON ALL THE OTHER EFFORTS NOTED ON THE PREVIOUS SLIDE.
AND NOW I'M TALKING A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT WE SEE IN BLUE.
WE'RE, UM, WE ARE GONNA BRING, UM, RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE PROJECTS AS THEY BECOME VIABLE WITH BATTERIES, SOLAR LANDFILL AND WIND PPAS MORE LIKELY TO COME SOMETIME THROUGHOUT THE SPRING.
UM, AND WE DON'T, UH, WE'LL ALSO PLAN TO DO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PRETTY EXTENSIVELY, UM, IN FEBRUARY, MARCH AND APRIL.
AND WE'RE AT THE BEGINNING PLANNING STAGES OF WHAT THAT WILL LOOK LIKE.
UM, AND WE DON'T ANTICIPATE, UH, ANY RECOMMENDATION ON PEAKERS IF WE ULTIMATELY NEED TO DO THAT COMING FORWARD UNTIL WE HAVE FULL RESULTS OF THE ALL RESOURCE RFP.
SO YOU WON'T SEE ANY OF THAT PRIOR TO, UH, MAY.
WE HAVE A VERY BUSY, BUSY YEAR AHEAD AND LOTS OF CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES TO NAVIGATE.
UNFORTUNATELY, THE PLAN WAS BUILT WITH THAT FLEXIBILITY IN MIND AND LOTS OF ACTIONS TO TAKE ACTION ON.
AND WE'VE BEEN DOING THAT AND WE'LL CONTINUE TO WORK ON THAT.
UH, AND SO CHAIR TUTTLE, THAT CONCLUDES MY ANNUAL REPORT, UM, FOR IMPLEMENTATION.
AND I'LL TAKE ANY REMAINING QUESTIONS THAT YOU HAVE, ANYTHING ONLINE.
CYRUS, UM, THE ONE THING THAT'S PART OF THE GENERATION PLAN THAT YOU DIDN'T TALK A LOT ABOUT, UM, WERE THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EQUATION, WHICH IS THE TRANSMISSION.
I MEAN, I KNOW YOU MENTIONED IT, BUT WHAT, UM, YOU HAVEN'T GIVEN US KIND OF A TIMELINE FOR, YOU KNOW, AND I KNOW THERE'S PROBABLY MULTIPLE TRANSMISSION PROJECTS, BUT YOU MENTIONED THAT YOU'LL BE BRINGING SOMETHING TO ERCOT SOON.
WHAT'S, WHAT'S YOUR TIMELINE FOR TRANSMISSION PROJECTS COMPARED TO THE, THE LOCAL GENERATION? YEAH, SO, UM, WE ARE, UM, A LITTLE BIT, TRANSMISSION PROJECTS TEND TO TAKE LONGER, RIGHT? NORMALLY THEY'RE IN THE FIVE TO EIGHT YEAR TIMEFRAME, IS WHAT THE GENERAL RULE OF THUMB IS.
AND, UM, UNTIL THAT INFORMATION IS, UM, FULLY PUBLIC, UH, THROUGH THE ERCOT PROCESS, WE HAVE TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT SHARING THAT INFORMATION, OF COURSE, INTERNALLY, UM, ACROSS, SO WE, WE TEND TO KEEP IT A LITTLE BIT SILENT IN, IN A LOT OF THESE, UM, TYPES OF PRESENTATIONS, WHICH ARE, ARE, UM, PUBLIC TO YOU, BUT NOT FOR EVERYBODY, RIGHT? UM, AND SO, UM, WE, AGAIN, THE PLAN TALKS ABOUT A FOCUS ON TRANSMISSION IMPORT CAPACITY.
WE HAVE SOME MAJOR PROJECTS, UM, THAT ARE IN THE, UH, INITIAL PLANNING STAGES.
UM, AND THEN WE ANTICIPATE THAT WE'LL BE SUBMITTING THEM TO RPG, UM, SOMETIME MID THIS YEAR.
UM, AND UM, I BELIEVE THE FIRST ONE HAS, I THINK IT'S AROUND THE 2030 TIMEFRAME THAT IT WOULD BE BEING BUILT.
SO JUST, UM, YOU WOULD TAKE IT TO RPG, IT WOULD GO THROUGH THAT RPG PROCESS AND HOPEFULLY EVENTUALLY IT WOULD GET TO THE ERCOT BOARD AND THEN TO THE PUC.
SO IT'S DIFFERENT TYPES OF PROJECTS REQUIRE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF APPROVALS.
AND SO NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO GO TO THE ERCOT BOARD, DEPENDS ON THE SIZE OF THE PROJECT, AND THEN IT WOULD NEED TO GO TO THE PUC, UM, IF IT REQUIRES A CCN.
AND SO ANYTHING THAT WOULD GO OUTSIDE OF OUR, OF OUR CITY LIMITS, UM, IF WE DON'T HAVE THE, I'M GONNA SAY THIS, RIGHT, IF WE DON'T HAVE THE LANDOWNER RIGHT, OR THE RIGHTS TO, TO THE LAND AGREEMENT WITH THE LANDOWNER, THEN WE HAVE TO GO FOR A CCN.
WE ANTICIPATE THAT BECAUSE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT OUR BOUNDARIES, WHICH MOST OF THEM ARE OUTSIDE OF THE AUSTIN CITY LIMITS, UM, THAT A LOT OF OUR PROJECTS WOULD HAVE TO GO FORWARD FOR C CNS.
SO JUST REALISTICALLY, ANY POTENTIAL LARGE SCALE TRANSMISSION IMPORT PROJECTS WOULD BE AFTER THE, THIS TIMEFRAME? AFTER MAY? YEAH, ABSOLUTELY.
SO MAYBE TAM, IS TAMMY STILL HERE? SO IS STEP 7 65 KB, IS IT LIKE CHRIS, WHERE THERE WERE NO CCNS AND THAT ACCELERATED? OR IS IT JUST AN ACCELERATED CCN PROCESS? THERE? THERE WERE, THERE WERE A LOT OF CCNS IN THE CREZ PROCESS.
I WORKED ON MANY OF THEM PERSONALLY.
SO, AND, AND YOU WILL BE SEEING THEM AGAIN.
ACTUALLY, THERE'S JUST, THERE WAS AN ARTICLE
[01:40:01]
IN A, IN A, IN A NEWS CLIP TODAY THAT TALKED ABOUT, UH, PUBLIC MEETINGS THAT ENCORE AND LCRA ARE ALREADY STARTING.I THINK THERE'S, THERE'S ANOTHER PROJECT THAT A EP AND CPS ARE, ARE DOING, UH, THROUGH, THROUGH THE HILL COUNTRY, WHICH WILL ALSO GET A LOT OF ATTENTION.
SO, UM, I I, IT LOOKS LIKE THOSE UTILITIES ARE IN THOSE, THOSE COMMUNITY INPUT STAGES.
AND, UH, WE'LL BE GATHERING THEIR ROUTING OPTIONS.
AND I SUSPECT WE'LL BE FILING, UM, YOU KNOW, APPLICATIONS WITH THE PUC PROBABLY IN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS OR SO.
THE, THE IMPORTANT THING I THINK IS THAT EACH OF THOSE WIRES ALREADY HAS A UTILITY ATTACHED TO IT, SO, OH, YEAH.
IS THAT, WELL, I'M, IF YOU JUST GO TO THE FINAL SLIDE, WHAT I'M SAYING, THEY ALREADY HAVE A COMMITMENT THAT ENCORE OR CENTER POINT OR SOMEBODY IS PLANNING TO BUILD THIS LINE.
THEY DON'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE BIDDING PROCESS.
IF THERE'S NO MORE QUESTIONS ON THIS, WE CAN MOVE TO 12.
IS THAT WHAT EVERYBODY WANTS TO DO? OKAY.
[12. Discussion and possible action regarding a recommendation urging the Austin City Council to follow the steps laid out in the Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan to 2035 to fully examine clean energy alternatives prior to any investment in gas peakers. (Braden, White, Reed)]
AND ACTION ITEMS RECOMMENDATION, URGING AUSTIN CITY COUNCIL TO FOLLOW THE STEPS LAID OUT IN THE AUSTIN ENERGY RESOURCE GENERATION AND CLIMATE PROTECTION PLAN TO 2035.SO CYRUS AL
I, I WAS, YOU HAD SAID SOMETHING ABOUT LIMITING DISCUSSION, OR, NO, ACTUALLY, I THINK, UH, NOT QUITE SURE.
LISA OVERRULED AND SAID THAT SHE'LL BE GLAD TO HELP US OUT.
UH, WELL, FIRST OF ALL, YES, CYRUS AND KAI AND I HAVE WORKED ON THIS, AND WE'RE KIND OF ALL EQUAL WORDSMITHS BY THE TIME WE GOT DONE WITH ALL THE EDITING.
SO, UM, THIS, THIS CAME ABOUT AS A RESPONSE TO THE REQUEST FOR ACTIONABLE, UH, PLANS ON PEAKERS TO BE PRESENTED TO NEXT MONTH'S OR THIS MONTH'S E-A-E-U-O-C MEETING ON THE 20TH.
AND WE TOOK ACTIONABLE TO MEAN SOME KIND OF PLAN THAT YOU COULD ACTUALLY SPEND MONEY ON.
UH, THERE WAS EMPHASIS ON HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST TO GET IN LINE FOR PEAKERS.
SO THIS IS A RESPONSE TO THAT IN, IN FURTHER TALKING WITH LISA AND OTHERS, THAT AUSTIN ENERGY, THEY'RE NOT READY TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THE PEAKER PROPOSAL YET.
SO THE URGENCY OF THIS IS KIND OF DIMINISHED, BUT I THINK THE, THE IMPORTANCE OF IT IS STILL THE SAME.
THAT, UH, WE'RE BELIEVING THAT A FULL REVIEW OF ALL THE PO, ALL THE OTHER ALTERNATIVES NEEDS TO BE TAKEN BEFORE WE COMMIT TO ANY NEW GAS PLANTS.
AND, UH, SO THE RECOMMENDATION WOULD STATE THAT, AND THEN, UH, HOPEFULLY IT WILL, IT WILL ALSO, UH, GIVE US A BENCHMARK OF, OF THE KIND OF COMMITMENT WE WANT TO SEE TOWARDS RENEWABLE ENERGY OPTIONS TOWARDS, UH, TRANSMISSION OPTIONS.
THINGS THAT WOULD ALLEVIATE THE, THE ISSUES THAT AUSTIN ENERGY FACES WHEN THEY SHUT DOWN GAS, UH, GENERATION IN TOWN.
UH, THERE WAS A, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY A PROBLEM IN SHUTTING DOWN DECKER, ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU HAVE 700 MEGAWATTS THAT ISN'T THERE.
WELL, WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT THAT? TRANSMISSION IS A BIG POSSIBILITY, BUT ALSO IN TOWN GENERATION AND BATTERY.
SO IF I COULD JUST WALK YOU THROUGH THE, UH, RECOMMENDATION IF YOU HAVEN'T HAD TIME.
YEAH, I'M JUST, I JUST WANNA MAKE CLEAR THAT THERE WAS AN INITIAL, UH, RESOLUTION THAT WAS POSTED SEVERAL DAYS AGO.
UM, WE DID SOME ADDITIONAL WORK ON IT.
SO WHAT AL PASSED OUT IS THE LATEST VERSION, AND I DON'T KNOW, IS IT POSTED? AND THEY GOT, OKAY.
AND IT'S, SO WE CAN TAKE ACTION ON THE LATEST VERSION.
SO IN CASE YOU'RE CONFUSED, PLEASE LOOK AT THE LATEST VERSION, WHICH, UM, V THREE, I THINK V THREE ON THE V THREE, WHICH AT LEAST, UM, I'M NOT IN ANY WAY SAYING AUSTIN ENERGY APP NECESSARILY APPROVES OF THIS, BUT AT LEAST WE GOT THERE.
WE GOT, WE HAD CONVERSATIONS WITH US, AND WE GOT SOME INPUT FROM THEM THAT LED TO, TO, YOU KNOW, THESE, SOME OF THESE REVISIONS.
CAN I JUST WANNA CLARIFY ON THE REVISIONS, THE RECOMMENDATION, UH, THAT HAS, WAS POSTED THIS AFTERNOON IS VERSION TWO.
I SENT OUT AN UPDATED MATERIALS PACKET, VERSION THREE, WHICH INCLUDED VERSION TWO OF THE RECOMMENDATION.
SO WHAT EVERYONE HAS IN THEIR EMAIL POSTED ONLINE AND IN FRONT OF YOU THAT WAS HANDED OUT AS VERSION TWO OF THE RECOMMENDATION.
CAN SOMEONE POINT OUT THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VERSION ONE AND VERSION TWO? 'CAUSE I READ, I SPENT SOME TIME ON VERSION ONE AND NOT AS MUCH ON VERSION TWO, JUST 'CAUSE OF THE TIMING.
GEE, I'D HAVE TO SHOW YOU THE WORD DOC AND THEN WE'D HAVE TO MAKE, ARE
[01:45:01]
THERE SUBSTANTIVE DIFFERENCES THAT THERE ARE, THERE A GINORMOUS NUMBER OF CHANGES, BUT, UH, WE MET SEPARATELY AND TOGETHER WITH LISA MARTIN AND KEN SNIPES AND TALKED THIS THROUGH.AND WHAT WE GENERALLY TRIED TO DO IS TO, TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CHANGED THE LANGUAGE TO MUCH MORE ACCURATELY REFLECT WHAT'S IN THE GENERATION PLAN.
UH, SO, UH, THE FIRST VERSION I, I WROTE WAS SOME POETIC LICENSE.
AND, UH, WE TRIED TO RESTRAIN THAT AND MAKE IT, IT'S A LITTLE LONGER AND I CAN, I CAN SHOW YOU SOME POINTS IN THERE.
THE, UH, THE FIRST ONE IS A FULL REVIEW OF ALL RESOURCES, RFP TO CONSIDER ALL THE ALTERNATIVES FOR GENERATION AND ENERGY MANAGEMENT WITHIN THE LOAD ZONE.
AND IN VERSION ONE, I HAD ALSO ADDED IN TRANSMISSION, WELL, THAT'S NOT LEGITIMATELY PART OF THE, OF THAT RFP.
SO WE, WE TOOK IT OUT, BUT WE CREATED ANOTHER SECTION DOUBLE BELOW THAT COULD TALK ABOUT TRANSMISSION WITHOUT IT BEING IN THE RFP.
SO, UH, THE IMPORTANT THINGS ARE TO LOOK AT THE RFP FOR ALL RESOURCES AND FIND THE, THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY FORWARD.
UH, THE SECOND WAS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE COMMITTED TO ALL FOLLOWING ALL THE STEPS OF THE GENERATION PLAN, BECAUSE IT SEEMED THAT THE, UH, THE DISCUSSION ABOUT PEAKERS AT A-E-U-O-C COMPLETELY GOT PAST THE, IT WAS NOT PRESENTED HERE AND KIND OF CAUGHT US ALL BY SURPRISE.
SO WANNA MAKE SURE THAT THOSE STEPS ARE CALLED OUT AND, AND FOLLOWED, YOU KNOW, ACCURATELY.
AND THE THIRD PART IS TO HAVE ROBUST COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, UH, ON ALL OF THESE STEPS AND POTENTIALLY HAVE SOME EVENING MEETINGS WHERE THE PUBLIC COULD MORE LIKELY ATTEND.
AND THEN WE ADDED A FOURTH ITEM THAT THEN TALKS ABOUT TRANSMISSION.
BECAUSE IF YOU SHUT DOWN A THOUSAND MEGAWATTS OF POWER, YOU CAN EITHER GENERATE IT LOCALLY OR YOU CAN BRING IT IN.
SO TRANSMISSION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY, UH, SOLUTION, AND ESPECIALLY WITH THIS NEW HIGH VOLTAGE GRID THAT WOULD BE, START TO BE IN PLACE BY 2030.
UM, SO I DON'T THINK ANY OF THE SENSE OF IT CHANGED, BUT IT, IT'S MORE, THE WORDING IS MORE IN, IN TUNE WITH THE GENERATION PLAN.
UH, THEN LOOKING AT THE ALTERNATIVE, UH, THE ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES, ECONOMIC MODELING OF VIABLE ALTERNATIVES OVER 25 YEARS.
I, I HAD ORIGINALLY ASKED FOR 10.
I THOUGHT, WELL, 10 IS PRETTY SHORT FOR A 25 YEAR PROJECT.
SO THAT WORDING CHANGED, UH, MODELING OF THE CARBON EMISSIONS AND OTHER AIR POLLUTION EMISSIONS FOR EACH OPTION THAT DIDN'T CHANGE.
AND, UH, THE ANALYSIS THAT WE'VE ALL TALKED ABOUT THROUGHOUT THIS EVENING AND INTERRUPTED LEAST COUNTLESS TIMES ABOUT THE 7 65 GRID AND THE POTENTIAL THAT IT BRINGS.
I MEAN, IT, IT HAS A POTENTIAL TO EQUALIZE, UH, ENERGY PRICES ACROSS THE STATE CONSIDERABLY AND TO BRING A LOT OF ENERGY TO OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
SO THAT'S IN OUR MIND, AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY SOLUTION INSTEAD OF PEAKERS, UH, TO REVIEW THE, UH, BATTERIES THAT WE HAVE ON ORDER AND SEE HOW MUCH THEY CAN CONTRIBUTE IF YOU HAD MORE BATTERIES.
UH, AND THEN THE CAPABILITY FOR BLACKSTAR IS, IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT.
AT LEAST IN THE SHORT RUN, WE COULD POTENTIALLY, PERHAPS WITH SOME ENGINEERING MOVE THE BLACK STAR CAPABILITY OF SANDHILL.
I'M NOT SURE WHAT'S INVOLVED, BUT THAT'S, THAT'S A QUESTION.
AND MAYBE BY 10 YEARS FROM NOW, BATTERIES WILL BE RESPECTED AS BLACK STAR CAPABLE TOO.
I MEAN, YOU'VE GOTTA RUN LONG ENOUGH TO GET WHATEVER GENERATOR YOU'RE TRYING TO START UP AND RUNNING.
SO, UH, THOSE ARE THE THINGS THAT ARE REQUESTED.
THE RATIONALE IS THAT IT'S REALLY OUR JOB AS THE EUC TO ADVISE COUNSEL ON THESE MATTERS AND TO REALLY DIG INTO 'EM.
AND CLIMATE CHANGE IS SERIOUS HAPPENING AND GETTING WORSE.
WE'RE ALREADY AT THE 1.5 DEGREES C AND NOT DOING MUCH ABOUT IT.
UH, WE WANT TO FOLLOW UP ON WHAT MAYOR WATSON DID, WENT TO THE COP CONFERENCE IN BELI, BRAZIL, AND TALKS ABOUT CITIES BEING THE INNOVATORS THAT CITIES HAVE TO CARRY THE LOAD.
'CAUSE THE INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENTS AND THE STATE GOVERNMENTS AREN'T DOING THE JOB.
AND I BELIEVE THAT WE'VE BEEN AN INNOVATOR FOR DECADES NOW, AND, UH, WE NEED TO KEEP THAT UP.
SO THAT'S PART OF OUR RATIONALE.
UM, AT THE END, WHAT WAS PROBABLY ADDED WAS THE, UH, SOME LONG QUOTES
[01:50:01]
FROM THE RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN ITSELF.THAT IS THE, UH, AS PART OF THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS, THE APPROVAL IS REQUIRED.
AND THEN IT SPELLS OUT FEASIBILITY, PRE-DEVELOPMENT, CONSTRUCTION, UH, WITH REGULAR UPDATES TO CITY COUNCIL FOLLOWING THE FEASIBILITY PHASE BEFORE MOVING FORWARD TO PRE-DEVELOPMENT.
AND CONSEQUENTLY GATHERING COUNCIL FEEDBACK AND INCORPORATING COMMUNITY INPUT BEFORE BRINGING FORWARD ANY, UH, UH, ANY ANYTHING FOR APPROVAL.
SO JUST TRYING TO ADD THAT LANGUAGE IN SO IT'S MORE SPECIFIC THAT REALLY THE, THE DIFFERENCE OF IT.
SO IN, IN MY VIEW, WE MAY NOT NEED THIS RESOLUTION TONIGHT, BUT WE NEED THE COMMITMENT TO DOING ALL OF THIS WORK, UH, THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF THIS WHOLE YEAR.
AND SO IT'S KIND OF A, A BENCHMARK, UH, I THINK TO APPROVE IT OR TO, BUT I ALSO, WE WANTED TO HEAR ALL OF YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE MATTER TOO.
'CAUSE WE DON'T, WE CAN TALK TOGETHER AS A SMALL GROUP.
WE CAN'T TALK TOGETHER AS A BIG GROUP VERY OFTEN.
AND THIS IS IMPORTANT TO HEAR WHAT EACH OF YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS.
AND MY VIEW OF THIS IS, THIS RESOLUTION IS NOT SAYING CITY COUNCIL, YOU ARE NOT, YOU SHALL NEVER APPROVE NEW PEAKERS.
WHAT IT DOES SAY IS, BEFORE YOU COMMIT TO NEW PEAKERS, MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS ANALYSIS AND FOLLOW THE GEN PLAN AND DO THESE STEPS FIRST.
SO I THINK THAT'S, IN MY VIEW, THAT'S WHAT IT SAYS, RIGHT? AND, AND LET'S SEE WHAT OTHER OPTIONS ARE OUT THERE.
AND LET, LET'S MAKE SURE WE LOOK AT ALL THE, ALL THE OPTIONS WE'RE SOLVING.
UH, COUPLE HANDS UP THERE, DAVE.
JOSH, I THINK I HAVE HAD HER HAND UP FIRST.
UH, YEAH, I MEAN, I JUST KIND OF WANTED TO ADD LIKE, YOU KNOW, UM, JUST REMINDER LIKE WE WE'RE AN ADVISORY BODY TO CITY COUNCIL, RIGHT? AND SO THIS RESOLUTION IS, UM, I THINK AT THIS POINT IN PARTICULAR, NOT, UM, YOU KNOW, THE WAY WE'VE, WE'VE STRUCTURED IT AND WRITTEN IT, IT IS NOT SAYING THAT AUSTIN ENERGY, UH, ISN'T DOING THESE THINGS, BUT IT IS OUR ROLE AS A BODY TO, UM, ADVISE THE COUNCIL AS IMPORTANT.
UM, THINGS MIGHT BE COMING FORWARD, INCLUDING IMPLEMENTATION OF ESTABLISHED PLANS.
THERE ARE SO MANY PLANS AT THE CITY, AND PEOPLE COME AND GO FROM THEIR, YOU KNOW, SEATS AND OFFICE AND, UM, YOU KNOW, UNFORTUNATELY THEY DON'T ALL HAVE THE TIME TO READ EVERY PLAN, UH, WORD BY WORD, LET ALONE REMEMBER IT FROM, FROM YEAR TO YEAR.
SO, UM, I DON'T THINK THAT THIS IS A VERY CONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION IN THAT REGARD.
IT REALLY IS JUST KIND OF REMINDING THEM THAT LIKE, HEY, THIS THING IS GOING TO BE COMING UP.
THIS IS, UH, THERE'S A PROCESS FOR THIS THAT WAS APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL.
HERE ARE THE KEY, UM, YOU KNOW, PIECES OF THAT PROCESS AND THAT YOU SEE IS REMINDING YOU TO, YOU KNOW, MAKE SURE THAT THEY'RE ALL FOLLOWED, UM, IN THEIR ENTIRETY AND, UM, YOU KNOW, WHATEVER, WHATEVER THE OUTCOME MAY BE.
UM, SO YEAH, I JUST JUST WANTED TO PUT THAT OUT THERE THAT LIKE, THIS IS NOT, UM, I DON'T THINK AT THIS POINT, ESPECIALLY LIKE, YOU KNOW, AE HAS SAID THAT THEY WANNA FOLLOW THE PLAN.
THIS IS JUST KIND OF A, YEAH, LET'S, LET'S FOLLOW THE PLAN AND THESE ARE THE KEY PIECES.
I MEAN, I GUESS AS I HEAR Y'ALL TALKING ABOUT IT, LIKE, I, I GUESS I'M JUST CONFUSED.
I MEAN, IF IF YOU'RE, IF YOU'RE NOT SAYING THAT HE'S NOT FOLLOWING THE PLAN, THEN KIND OF LIKE, WHAT, WHAT IS LIKE, I'M JUST, I'M JUST THINKING LIKE IF MY COUNCIL MEMBER'S OFFICE REACHES OUT AND ASKS LIKE, OKAY, VOTED FOR THIS THING, ARE THEY DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT? LIKE, WHAT'S GOING ON? LIKE, I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M GONNA BE ABLE TO TELL THEM.
LIKE, LIKE, 'CAUSE I KNOW, I KNOW THIS LIKE CITY, LIKE THEY'VE GOT A BUNCH OF STUFF LIKE ON THEIR PLATES AND LIKE, IF IT'S JUST LIKE, OH, HERE'S A REMINDER TO JUST DO THE THING YOU'RE ALREADY GONNA DO, OR THAT'S ALREADY HAPPENING.
LIKE, I, I DON'T KNOW, I'M HESITANT TO JUST SEND SOMETHING ELSE THEIR WAY.
LIKE, I JUST, I'M JUST CONFUSED AS TO WHAT, WHAT IF Y'ALL ARE, IF Y'ALL ARE, IF YOU HAVEN'T FOUND SOMETHING THAT'S LIKE GOING TO MISS, LIKE WHAT ARE, WHAT, WHAT ARE WE, WHAT ARE WE DOING? YEAH, FAIR POINT.
UM, I THINK, YOU KNOW, THINGS WERE GOING IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION, UH, YOU KNOW, IN THE KIND OF NOVEMBER, UH, SORT OF TIMELINE.
AND IT WASN'T UNTIL VERY RECENTLY THAT IT WAS, UM, YOU KNOW, THAT, THAT, THAT WE WERE TOLD THAT, THAT THAT DIRECTION WAS CHANGING, THAT THE PLAN WAS GONNA BE
[01:55:01]
FOLLOWED.SO, UM, THERE WAS DEFINITE, UM, YOU KNOW, UH, DISCUSSION AT CITY COUNCIL WITH AUSTIN ENERGY ABOUT, UH, MOVING FORWARD FOR APPROVING ACRE SPENDING PRIOR TO THESE OTHER, UM, YOU KNOW, PRIOR TO THE PROCESS BEING FOLLOWED, RIGHT? THE, UM, ALL SOURCE RFPI THINK AT THE THAT POINT HADN'T EVEN BEEN ISSUED.
AND, UM, THERE WAS DISCUSSION ACTIVELY HAPPENING ABOUT, YOU KNOW, APPROVING, UH, SPENDING TO BE ABLE TO, YOU KNOW, PUT DOWN A DEPOSIT ON PEAKERS.
SO, UM, YOU KNOW, I'M PERSONALLY, I'M GLAD TO SEE THAT THINGS ARE BACK ON TRACK, BUT, YOU KNOW, A COUPLE MONTHS AGO THEY WERE OFF TRACK, NOW THEY'RE BACK ON TRACK.
UM, I THINK THIS IS JUST KIND OF LIKE A REMINDER TO LIKE, UM, STAY ON TRACK SINCE IT WASN'T, YOU KNOW, UM, A FOREGONE CONCLUSION IN THE VERY RECENT PAST.
I MEAN, I DON'T THINK AUSTIN ENERGY IS SO MUCH OFF TRACK.
UH, IT WAS JUST COUNCIL DEMANDING THAT THEY GET IN THE PEAKER QUEUE REAL QUICK AND, AND IF YOU PUT DOWN THE MONEY TO GET IN THE PEAKER QUEUE, YOU PRE-COMMITTED TO, THAT'S THE ANSWER.
AND, UH, YOU THEN YOU HAVE BYPASSED EVERYTHING.
SO THIS IS A RESPONSE TO THAT, BUT I, I THINK IT'S ALSO JUST A GOOD REMINDER OF WHAT WE ALL WANNA FOCUS ON THIS YEAR, WHETHER IT NEEDS TO BE VOTED ON.
I THAT'S, I GUESS UP TO THE WILL OF THE GROUP, BUT, WELL, I GUESS I, I'M JUST WONDERING, THERE'S SO MUCH ACTIVITY THAT WE ALL AGREE AUSTIN ENERGY'S DOING, AND, UH, IT'S GREAT PROGRESS.
THE BATTERIES, GEOTHERMAL, YOU KNOW, ET CETERA.
THE, ALL THE LOCAL RESOURCES, THE, THE BIG FIVE WE TALKED ABOUT IN THE GEN PLAN.
WHAT I, I GUESS GOES THROUGH MY MIND IS I THINK I CAN ASK, ANSWER THE QUESTION OF MY CITY COUNCIL MEMBER IF ASKED, WELL, TELL ME WHAT THIS MEANS IS TO ME.
I'D SAY THIS IS A REINFORCEMENT OF WHAT WAS IN THE PLAN, AND JUST A REMINDER TO, TO THIS MONITOR, MAKE SURE WE CONTINUE EXECUTING THE PLAN IN THE WAY IT WAS INTENDED.
MY QUESTION WOULD BE IS IF THIS RESOLUTION WOULD PASS, IS IT REALLY GONNA COST AUSTIN ENERGY ANY EXTRA EFFORT? AND SO THAT'S WHAT I'D ASKED LISA, IS, YOU KNOW, IF IT'S JUST REINFORCING, HEY, THEY'RE DOING IT.
THEY WE'RE JUST ARTICULATING THAT FROM THE COMMISSION AND IT DOES NO HARM.
LISA MARTIN, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AUSTIN ENERGY, UM, THIS WON'T BE A SURPRISE TO ANY OF YOU.
I THINK I'VE SHARED THIS WITH EVERYONE WHO'S ASKED.
MY POSITION IS THAT THIS RECOMMENDATION IS UNNECESSARY.
THAT WE DON'T NEED AN, A RECOMMENDATION FROM THE ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION TO, UH, TELL COUNCIL THAT WE SHOULD BE FOLLOWING THE PLAN, WE SHOULD BE FOLLOWING THE PLAN, AND WE ARE FOLLOWING THE PLAN.
AND, UM, TO YOUR POINT, UH, I, I DON'T THINK THAT THE LANGUAGE IN THE RESOLUTION, UH, ALIGNS WITH WHAT'S IN THE PLAN.
AND SO WOULD IT BE EXTRA WORK? I THINK THAT IT'S, UH, CERTAINLY SOME PORTIONS OF IT MIGHT BE.
UM, AND, AND SO I'M, I'M WARY ABOUT ANY OF THESE, UH, BULLET POINTS BEING CONSIDERED BARRIERS TO, YOU KNOW, ADDITIONAL BARRIERS TO DOING THE WORK THAT IS DEFINED IN THE PLAN.
LISA, CAN YOU SHARE WITH US WHICH POINTS, UH, YOU FEEL LIKE DON'T ALIGN? UH, VICE CHAIR WHITE.
COULD YOU REPEAT YOUR QUESTION PLEASE? YEAH, IT WAS JUST YOU, YOU SAID THAT SOME OF THESE, UH, POINTS DON'T ALIGN WITH THE PLAN AND, AND WE REALLY, UH, TRIED TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY DID.
SO CAN YOU SHARE WHICH PIECES YOU SEE AS NOT ALIGNED WITH THE PLAN? CERTAINLY.
UM, I WILL JUST SHARE THAT AT A HIGH LEVEL.
THE SECOND SET OF ITEMS ONE THROUGH FIVE THAT SPEAKS TO THE DETAILS THAT ARE INCLUDED IN THE ANALYSIS.
AND I WANNA BE VERY CLEAR WHEN I SAY THIS, AUSTIN ENERGY DOES ANALYSIS, ECONOMIC MODELING ON EVERY PROPOSAL WE BRING FORWARD, RIGHT? BUT THOSE DETAILS ARE NOT SPECIFIED IN THE PLAN IN THIS EXACT WAY.
AND SO TO TELL MY ENERGY MARKET OFFICE AND THE LARGER AUSTIN ENERGY TEAM EXACTLY HOW TO MODEL, UM,
[02:00:01]
AND WHICH ANALYSES TO BE DONE AS THEY BRING FORWARD A PROPOSAL TO COUNCIL GOES BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THE PLAN.CAN YOU PLEASE SCROLL TO THAT SECTION SO WE CAN LOOK AT IT WHILE WE'RE GUESSING? UP, UP A LITTLE IF POSSIBLE.
SO WE CAN SEE ONE THROUGH FIVE THERE.
I GUESS WE CAN'T, SO YOU'RE SAYING THESE, THESE ARE NOT THINGS THAT YOU'RE ALREADY LOOKING AT.
THAT'S WHY I SAID I WANNA BE VERY CAREFUL WITH MY WORDS HERE.
WE ANALYZE EVERY PROJECT THAT WE BRING FORWARD BEFORE TO MAKE A RECOMMENDATION TO COUNSEL, BUT THIS INFORMATION THAT'S IN HERE IS NOT LAID OUT IN THE PLAN.
AND SO I COULD SEE A SITUATION WHERE SOMEONE WOULD SAY, WELL, PROVE TO ME THAT YOU MODELED IT IN THIS FASHION IN THAT WAY.
I WILL ALSO JUST OFFER, AND I, I WANNA, I WANNA HESITATE FROM GETTING TOO GRANULAR IN HERE, BUT A 25 YEAR MODEL IS A VERY LONG TIME IN TERMS OF WHAT KIND OF CERTAINTY ONE HAS ABOUT WHAT THE TOPOLOGY LOOKS LIKE, WHAT THE, UH, ADDITIONAL GENERATION, THE LOAD FORECASTING.
THAT'S A VERY FAR, UH, TIMELINE, UM, TO ASK OF, OF EVEN THE BEST MODELING EXPERTS.
AND WE DO HAVE SOME VERY EXCELLENT MODELING EXPERTS.
OKAY, SO NUMBER ONE IS A PROBLEM.
ARE THERE OTHERS ON THIS LIST THAT YOU SEE AS THINGS THAT YOU'RE NOT ALREADY DOING? 'CAUSE I THINK, YOU KNOW, WE CAN MAKE EDITS.
THERE'S
UM, MY POSITION IS THAT THE RESOLUTION IS UNNECESSARY TO TELL US TO FOLLOW THE PLAN WHERE WE ARE FOLLOWING THE PLAN.
IT'S YOUR CHOICE WHETHER Y'ALL WISH TO EDIT IT.
UM, JUST TO CLARIFY, JUST TO CLARIFY SOMETHING YOU SAID EARLIER, UM, THIS RESOLUTION, THIS RECOMMENDATION IS WHAT I HEARD IS TO UM, REMIND COUNSEL, NOT AE, BUT TO REMIND COUNSEL TO STICK WITH THE PLAN.
AND CAN I JUST ASK A, A QUICK QUESTION ABOUT, UM, JUST THINKING BACK TO WHEN THE PLAN WAS BEING DEVELOPED, I THOUGHT THAT HAVING PEAKERS WAS PART OF THE PLAN.
IS THAT, AM I RECALLING, IS ERRONEOUSLY OR IT'S OBVIOUSLY PEAKERS ARE A LITTLE DIFFERENT THAN BUILDING A NEW POWER PLANT THAT'S GONNA RUN 24 7, RIGHT? SO GIVES YOU MORE FLEXIBILITY IN TERMS OF HOW AND WHEN YOU DEPLOY IT.
SO I DUNNO IF YOU CAN JUST EXPLAIN THAT OR IS IT KIND OF UP IN THE AIR BASED ON, ON, UH, GENERATION DEMAND? UM, SO I DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S AN EASY QUESTION OR NOT, BUT AT LEAST, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU COULD ANSWER THAT FOR ME.
I, I THINK PEAKERS ARE THE PLAN IS THE GAS PEAKERS, I'M SORRY, GO AHEAD.
AL UH, PEAKERS ARE PART OF THE PLAN AS PROVIDED AS KIND OF A LAST RESORT THAT PEAKERS ARE THERE IF YOU CAN'T GET THERE, UH, TO THE LEVEL OF, OF IN, IN LOW ZONE POWER THAT YOU NEED WITHOUT THEM.
SO, UH, WHAT WE'RE REQUESTING IS THAT YOU DO A REALLY THOROUGH ANALYSIS TO SEE WHAT OTHER OPTIONS THERE ARE POSSIBLE, NOT JUST KIND OF SKIP PAST THAT AND GET TO PEAKERS AND, AND TO CAESAR'S POINT, IT'S MORE THAT COUNT AUSTIN ENERGY ISN'T PARTICULARLY, UH, NOT FOLLOWING THE PLAN.
UH, COUNCIL PUT PRESSURE ON THEM TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING THAT COULD GET IN LINE TO BUY PEAKERS.
AND IF THAT WERE DONE, THAT WOULD PRE CONCLUDE THAT.
WELL, THAT'S THE RIGHT ANSWER.
SO I GUESS WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IN THIS CASE, UH, TRYING TO REMIND COUNSEL THAT THERE'S A LOT OF STEPS IN THE PLAN TO BE TAKEN BEFORE ANYTHING ABOUT PEAKERS CAN BE DECIDED.
AND THEN IF AT THE END OF THE DAY THAT'S THE ONLY OR BEST SOLUTION, THEN THAT'S IN THE PLAN.
[02:05:02]
I, I GUESS JUST SOME ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS IS LIKE IF, IF THE, IF THE RESOLUTION'S MORE FOR CITY COUNCIL, LIKE I, I GUESS MAYBE LISA WAS SAYING THAT SOME OF THESE THINGS, IF THEY'RE DIFFERENT THAN THE PLAN, BUT IF IT'S TRYING TO TELL THE CITY COUNCIL TO FOLLOW THE PLAN, BUT IF SOME OF THESE THINGS, PARTICULARLY THE ONE THROUGH FIVE WE'RE SEEING HERE DIFFER FROM THE PLAN.LIKE, I'M JUST, I'M JUST CONFUSED AS TO IF, IF THERE NEEDS TO BE LIKE A MASS, LIKE A BIGGER REWRITE OR SOME OF THESE OTHER, SOME OF THIS STUFF NEEDS TO BE TAKEN OUT OF, OF SOMETHING LIKE, I GUESS IT'S LIKE IF, IF IT'S LIKE TELLING THE CITY COUNCIL TO FOLLOW THE PLAN, BUT, BUT HAVING THINGS IN HERE THAT ARE NOT IN THE PLAN OR DIFFER THAT DIFFER FROM THE PLAN, THAT'S JUST CONFUSING.
WELL THAT'S, THAT'S A FAIR CHALLENGE.
ONE POTENTIAL IS TO TAKE THAT OUT, TAKE THE ANALYSIS OUT, AND JUST ONE THROUGH FOUR TO ME IS THE, IS THE IMPORTANT PART OF THE RECOMMENDATION.
IT'S SAYING DO THESE STEPS, MAKE SURE YOU DO ANALYSIS OF THESE THINGS.
UM, SO THAT WOULD BE ONE POTENTIAL TO NOT CREATE CONFUSION.
YEAH, I THINK I WOULD JUST GO AHEAD.
I WOULD JUST ADD TO THAT, THAT LIKE THE PLAN, EVEN THOUGH IT'S LIKE 60 SOME PAGES LONG IS FAIRLY GENERAL.
SO, YOU KNOW, THE WORD ANALYSIS COULD MEAN A LOT OF THINGS.
SO WE TRIED TO, UM, LIST SOME OF THE, YOU KNOW, THE THINGS THAT WERE, UM, INCLUDED IN THE ANALYSIS DURING THE PLANNING PROCESS, UM, THINKING THAT THEY WOULD LOGICALLY BE INCLUDED.
AT THIS STAGE WHEN YOU'RE ACTUALLY TRYING TO GET MORE DETAIL, UM, YOU, YOU, YOU WOULD WANT, YOU WOULD WANT AN EVEN DEEPER DIVE INTO THE DETAILS OF HOW A RESOURCE IS GONNA PERFORM.
UM, SO THAT WAS THE INTENTION, UM, NOT, NOT TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT, BUT TO JUST LIST SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WOULD BE INCLUDED AND HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN THE PAST PART OF THE PROCESS.
I THINK SOME OF THE OPPORTUNITIES, ESPECIALLY WHAT WE ENUMERATED IN, IN THREE IN SECTION THREE IS THESE ARE THINGS THAT HAVE COME TO LIGHT AS OPPORTUNITIES AFTER THE PLAN WAS WRITTEN.
SO WE ARE TAKING THE LIBERTY OF ASKING THAT THEY BE ANALYZED.
NOW, STRICTLY SPEAKING, JOSH, THEY'RE, THEY'RE NOT IN THE PLAN 'CAUSE THEY DIDN'T EXIST IN THE, WHEN THE PLAN WAS WRITTEN.
SO, YOU KNOW, IT'S A, PERHAPS THE ANSWER IS TO TAKE THOSE THINGS OUT OR, I MEAN, YEAH, AND I'M NOT SAYING, SORRY, I MIGHT SUGGEST THAT THEY'RE NOT IN THE PLAN.
'CAUSE THE PLAN WAS WRITTEN TO PROVIDE FLEXIBILITY TO STAFF TO ANALYZE IN THE WAY THEY SAW FIT.
AND IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE COUNSEL HAS BEEN REMINDED THAT THIS PLAN EXISTS AND WHAT THE REQUIREMENTS ARE.
SO I FEEL LIKE THIS RECOMMENDATION IS KIND OF REDUNDANT AND UNNECESSARY.
THE MESSAGE HAS BEEN RECEIVED.
WELL, I THINK THERE IS QUITE A BIT OF A REACTION AFTER THE NOVEMBER MEETING.
SO IF THEY WEREN'T BEFOREHAND, I THINK THEY ARE NOW.
AND I, I JUST WANNA CLEAR LIKE I, LIKE I DO LIKE, I MEAN ON SOME LEVEL AT SOME POINT, LIKE I, I THINK THE THINGS IN PARTICULARLY NUMBER THREE ARE VERY IMPORTANT.
LIKE, LIKE THE 7 65, BUT LIKE WHATEVER, WHATEVER THAT MEANS FOR LIKE THE AUSTIN ENERGY, LIKE LOAD POCKET, LIKE THE LOAD POCKET PRICE SEPARATION ISSUES.
LIKE I THINK THESE ARE, THESE THINGS ARE IMPORTANT.
UM, AND YEAH, I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW LIKE TO THE EXTENT WE CAN OR THE EXTENT WE CANNOT KNOW, LIKE WHAT THE IMP IMPLICATIONS OF THAT, YOU KNOW, MIGHT BE.
BECAUSE IN MY MIND, LIKE THE, THE WHOLE THING AROUND GETTING LIKE, I MEAN ALLOWING ANY, OR WANTING TO GET MORE INSIDE FENCE GENERATION WAS TO LIKE, WAS TO FLATTEN THOSE OR WAS TO MAKE THOSE, YOU KNOW, PRICE DIFFERENTIALS, YOU KNOW, GO AWAY SO THAT WE'RE NOT PAYING HIGHER PRICES, YOU KNOW, FOR ELECTRICITY THAN WE'RE GETTING FOR OUR, YOU KNOW, UM, FOR OUR, FOR OUR GENERATION, WHICH A LOT OF IT IS IN, YOU KNOW, OTHER PARTS OF THE STATE.
SO I MEAN, I'M NOT SAYING THEY'RE NOT IMPORTANT AND I JUST LIKE, IF WE'RE GONNA BE CLEAR ABOUT FOLLOW, LIKE, I DON'T KNOW, I JUST DIDN'T WANT TO, THEY FOLLOW THE PLAN.
OH, IT INCLUDES THESE, IT IT DEFINITELY INCLUDES THESE THINGS.
LIKE IF THEY, IF THEY WEREN'T IN THE ORIGINAL PLAN, IF WE WANNA TELL CITY COUNCIL THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE A DIFFERENT PLAN OR A NEW PLAN OR ADDITIONAL PLAN OR SOMETHING ELSE TO LIKE LOOK
[02:10:01]
AT THESE THINGS, THAT'S SOMETHING ELSE.BUT LIKE, NOT THAT I'M SUGGESTING WE MAKE OFF, WE TELL AUSTIN TO DO THAT RIGHT NOW EITHER.
BUT I'M JUST SAYING LIKE, TO JUST BE CONSISTENT UPON LIKE WHAT THE SPECIFIED MEANING OF THIS IS VERSUS LIKE THE WORDING THAT'S IN IT.
YEAH, I GUESS I I'M SURE YOU'VE LOOKED AT THE PLAN AND SEEN THAT THAT LIKE, YOU KNOW, IT SAYS ANALYSIS IT, THERE IS, THERE IS NO DETAIL.
SO DOES THAT MEAN THAT WE, YOU KNOW, UM, WHAT WHAT DOES, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? RIGHT? IT DOESN'T, IT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING.
THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO PERHAPS PUT TOGETHER A LIST OF WHAT WE COLLECTIVELY THINK IS IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE IN THAT ANALYSIS.
LIKE IT'S, THIS ISN'T, THESE WORDS ARE NOT PULLED FROM THE PLAN BECAUSE THE PLAN SAYS ALMOST NOTHING ABOUT WHAT THAT ANALYSIS SHOULD LOOK LIKE, WHAT IT SHOULD INCLUDE.
I I DO THINK THAT WE NEED TO BE SENSITIVE TO MANAGEMENT BANDWIDTH, UM, AND AS WELL AS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER AND THEIR STAFF BANDWIDTH.
AND I'VE BEEN THE VICTIM OF THIS IN THE PAST YEARS AGO IN TECH WHERE YOU HAVE HIGHER LEVELS OF MANAGEMENT COME IN AND JUST CONSUME MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF TIME CHECKING ON EVERYTHING VERSUS LETTING YOU DO YOUR JOB.
UM, I JUST WANTED TO PUT THAT THERE BECAUSE WE'VE GOT A LOT OF ACTIVITY THAT'S GOING ON THAT WE, WE ALL SUPPORT AND IF THIS WINDS UP CREATING MORE WORK, THAT'S WHY I WAS ASKING ABOUT THE IMPLICATIONS IS, IS THIS SOMETHING THAT WOULD CONSUME IN SOME WAY OR DISTRACT? IF IT WINDS UP DISTRACTING, THAT'S LESS MANAGEMENT, LESS CITY COUNCIL STAFF, LESS CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS BANDWIDTH, THEN THEY CAN APPLY TO BALANCING BUDGETS AND, AND POLICE EMS, FIRE PARKS, YOU KNOW, ALL THOSE OTHER TASKS.
UM, SO IF IT'S REDUNDANT, AS LAUREN WAS TALKING ABOUT AND WE DON'T HAVE CLARITY IN THAT, IS THERE SHOULD BE A CONCERN THAT WE'RE CONSUMING BANDWIDTH.
CHRIS, I ALSO FEEL LIKE THIS SORT OF COMES ACROSS AS A PREEMPTIVE ADMONISHMENT FOR SOMETHING THAT THAT IS JUST BEING ANTICIPATED THAT WON'T BE DONE WHEN, WHEN, IT'S HARD TO TELL RIGHT NOW THAT IT WON'T BE DONE.
I MEAN, IT, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE DONE AND I DON'T KNOW, THAT'S JUST KIND OF THE WAY IT FELT TO ME.
COMMISSIONER ALVAREZ, YOU WERE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER I BELIEVE.
'CAUSE YOU
AND THAT'S WHY, I MEAN, I THINK PERSONALLY, I, GETTING BACK TO SOMETHING CYRUS SAID IS, UH, I WOULD FEEL COMFORTABLE IF WE DID JUST ONE, THE FIRST ONE THROUGH FOUR.
I KNOW THAT THERE'S A SECOND ONE THROUGH FIVE, BUT, UH, UM, I THINK THE MESSAGE CAN BE SENT RIGHT THROUGH SOME ANALYSIS, ANALYSIS WITHOUT GETTING TOO PRESCRIPTIVE AND, YOU KNOW, AND MAYBE NOT DESCRIBING THINGS EXACTLY HOW, UM, OUR UTILITY ACTUALLY DOES THE ASSESS THE, UH, ASSESSMENTS RIGHT.
UM, SO I THINK THE, THE CLEANER AND NEATER WE CAN MAKE IT THE BETTER, RIGHT? SO YEAH.
SO CYRUS IS HER ELDER STATESMAN.
WELL, I'M, I'M HESITANT TO MAKE THE MOTION IF, IF MY CO CONSPIRATORS DON'T AGREE
AND IT DOES SOUND LIKE LESS DETAIL ON THE DESCRIPTION OF ANALYSIS IS AT LEAST WHERE SOME FOLKS WOULD LIKE TO GO.
SO I, I WOULD RATHER, YOU KNOW, EITHER MAKE
[02:15:01]
THAT CHANGE NOW OR BRING IT BACK WITH THAT CHANGE.BUT I, IT, I WOULD APPRECIATE, YOU KNOW, DO WE JUST WANNA SAY ANALYSIS? LIKE IS THAT REALLY WHAT THIS BODY, THAT'S AS MUCH AS WE WANNA WEIGH IN.
I, I MEAN I JUST, I I AM A LITTLE TROUBLED BY THAT, BUT I WOULD, I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR IF THERE ARE, IF THERE'S ANYTHING THE FOLKS COULD SUPPORT IN, IN TERMS OF DEFINING THE ANALYSIS.
WELL I WAS GONNA SAY, GIVEN THE FACT THAT, UM, WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN IN IN JANUARY IS MORE RELATED TO THE, THE WIND RFP AND THE COMPLETION OF THE ALL ABOVE THE RFP, WE DO HAVE, YOU KNOW, WE CAN, WE DON'T NEED TO TAKE ACTION ON THIS TONIGHT.
WE COULD COME BACK AND MAYBE, UH, MAKE IT SIMPLER AND COME BACK NEXT MONTH.
THAT'S AN OPTION, UM, IF PEOPLE WANNA DO THAT.
AND THAT WOULD ALLOW US TO MAYBE, UH, TALK SOME MORE.
AND, UM, I, I, TO ME, THE PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH THE SECOND PAGE IS WE, WE SAY THE ANALYSIS SHALL INCLUDE THESE THINGS, WHICH IS, WHICH IS A LITTLE BIT DIDACTIC.
SO MAYBE WE NEED TO BE, YOU KNOW, AN ANALYSIS SHOULD INCLUDE MAY, YOU MAY WANNA INCLUDE SOME OF THESE FOLLOWING THINGS, WHICH ARE FACTORS.
THERE'S NEW THINGS THAT ARE GOING ON.
SO, UM, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU WANNA TRY TO UH, GET THROUGH THIS TONIGHT OR JUST COME BACK NO, I DON'T THINK AT EIGHT 17.
YEAH, WE WANNA TRY TO WORDSMITH THIS TONIGHT.
AND AND THE, THE IMMEDIATE ISSUE OF OF PUTTING DOWN $50 MILLION ON PEAKERS IS NOT GONNA HAPPEN IN JANUARY.
SO THAT THE STORM THAT CAUSED THIS TO HAPPEN IS KIND OF LAID BACK
AND BY THE WAY, AREN'T PEOPLE GONNA SHOW UP AT THE NEXT OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE TO REINFORCE THIS ABOUT THE CONCERN ABOUT MAKING SURE WE FOLLOW THE PLAN AND YEAH.
SO THAT MESSAGE WILL BE RESONATING AGAIN.
SO IN THE NEXT MEETING, I, I THINK IN PART THE IMPETUS FOR THE URGENCY, THE IMPETUS FOR THE URGENCY OF THIS IS DIMINISHED.
UH, AND THE, AS JOSHUA SAYS, THE CONFLICT BETWEEN FOLLOW THE PLAN AND THEN BEING PRESCRIPTIVE, WELL, WHICH IS IT? SO, WELL THESE ARE GOOD IDEAS THAT YOU OUGHT TO DO.
WELL, I THINK LISA SAID THEY'RE DOING 'EM, SHE'S GOT STAFF WORKING ON THIS 7 65 OPPORTUNITIES AND RIGHT NOW IT'S A LITTLE SKETCHY WHAT IT'S GONNA BE OR WHEN IT'S GONNA BE, BUT THERE'S A LOT TO LOOK AT TOO.
THERE'S A LOT THAT THE, THEY WILL FIND, I BELIEVE.
SO WE CAN LARGELY EXPECT THEM TO BE DOING MOST OF THIS WITHOUT US TELLING THEM TO DO MOST OF THIS.
SO, SO ARE YOU ARGUING NOW AGAINST THE RESOLUTION OR WHAT DO YOU SAY
BUT, UH, MAYBE FOR RIGHT NOW THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF UNDERSTANDING, THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF DISCUSSION.
I THINK WE'RE MOSTLY ON THE SAME PAGE.
UH, SO MAYBE LEAVE IT ON THE AGENDA FOR NEXT TIME AND WE CAN DETERMINE IF IT'S NEEDED OR NOT.
THEN WE CAN HAVE A FURTHER DISCUSSION.
SO THAT COULD BE UNDER FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS. YEAH.
SO LET'S INCLUDE THAT IN THE FUTURE.
AGENDA ITEMS, ANOTHER FUTURE AGENDA ITEM.
WHATEVER CAN BE WE ON TRANSMISSION JUST IN BROAD BRUSH.
UH, I KNOW YOU CAN'T UPDATE THE PLAN THAT WAS DONE A YEAR AGO, BUT, UH, IT'S A BIG PIECE OF THIS AND WE JUST WANT TO KEEP IT A, A LIVE CONVERSATION.
JUST BEFORE WE MOVE ON FROM THIS, UM, IF WE ARE GONNA EDIT, I, I WANNA, I WANNA EDIT IN A WAY THAT THAT ADDRESSES WHAT, WHAT FOLKS WOULD LIKE TO SEE HERE.
WOULD SOFTENING UP THE LANGUAGE OF LIKE, SHALL INCLUDE AND HAVE IT BE MORE OF A LIST OF LIKE, THESE ARE THINGS THAT WE THINK ARE IMPORTANT.
WOULD, WOULD THAT UM, FEEL BETTER TO FOLKS? NO, I MEAN I, I JUST DON'T THINK WE OUGHT TO TRY TO WORDSMITH IT NOW HERE.
IT'LL TAKE A LONG TIME PLUS IT'LL STILL BE DEEMED UNNECESSARY.
I'M TRYING TO GET SOME THINGS LIKE THAT GENERAL DIRECTION FOR, IS IT THAT WE NEED TO BE LESS DEFINITIVE OR IS IT THAT WE NEED FEWER THINGS IN THE LIST? I MEAN, JUST SPEAKING FOR MYSELF, I'M KIND OF IN A WAIT AND SEE LIKE, IS THIS A PROBLEM THAT WE NEED TO ADDRESS TODAY? IT SOUNDS LIKE THE
[02:20:01]
ANSWER'S NO IN THE FUTURE WILL IT BE, WE'LL FIND OUT.I THINK ALL OF THIS LIST REALLY SPEAKS TO THINGS THAT AT LEAST ME AND MANY OF US WANT TO SEE ACTIVELY WORKED ON AS WE GO FORWARD ON THE, ON ALL THE DIFFERENT RANGE OF THINGS THEY'RE WORKING ON.
SO IT REALLY SPEAKS MORE TO THE DESIRE FOR ONGOING ENGAGEMENT WITH THE PROCESS THAN SETTING OUT RIGHT NOW TONIGHT.
WHAT HAS TO BE, I THINK THAT'S A VERY GOOD POINT.
THAT THAT JUST MEANS CONTINUED CON CONSTRUCTIVE ENGAGEMENT.
MAYBE SOME ADDITIONAL CHECKPOINTS.
YEAH, I DUNNO, WE USE CHECKPOINTS, BUT, UM, ENGAGEMENT AT OUR MEETINGS.
SO THAT WOULD BE HELPING TO BUILD THE FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS. SO ARE WE TABLING THIS FOR RIGHT NOW? NO MOTION.
WE DON'T NEED TO TABLE IT, WE'RE JUST NOT PUTTING IT FOR A VOTE.
WE'RE NOT TAKING ACTION ON IT NOW.
I WOULD REQUEST WE KEEP IT ON THE AGENDA FOR NEXT TIME.
WE MAY CHOOSE NOT TO TAKE ACTION AGAIN, BUT AT LEAST IT WOULD GIVE US TIME TO THINK MORE ABOUT IT AND HAVE MORE DISCUSSIONS.
ANYTHING ELSE ON THIS TOPIC THEN? I JUST THANK YOU FOR AUSTIN ENERGY'S STAFF FOR ENGAGING WITH US AND HAVING THE DISCUSSION.
IT'S VERY HELPFUL TONIGHT AND THROUGHOUT LAST WEEK.
SO OUR REMAINING POINT IS FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS AND WE'VE KIND OF ARTICULATED THAT WE'D LIKE TO SEE HOW THIS IS PROGRESSING, THAT THE PLAN IS BEING FOLLOWED AND THE THE OUTPUTS FOR IT.
OTHERS, UM, THIS DOESN'T NECESSARILY HAVE TO BE A PRESENTATION, BUT I'VE HAD PEOPLE ASK ME, UM, WHAT IS AUSTIN ENERGY'S POLICY ON AS WE HAVE THE DISCUSSION, THE PUC ABOUT LARGE LOADS, LIKE WHAT PRESENTLY IS AUSTIN ENERGY'S POLICY.
IF YOU GET A LARGE LOAD THAT WANTS TO LOCATE IN THE AUSTIN SERVICE AREA, LIKE WHAT, WHAT IS AUSTIN ENERGY? YOU KNOW, WHAT IS OUR POLICY ON THAT? UM, IN TERMS OF, YOU KNOW, WHO PAYS FOR WHAT AND WHO DOES THE STUDIES THAT ARE NEEDED, ALL THE KINDS OF THINGS THEY'RE DISCUSSING IN THE PCI JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT AUSTIN ENERGY IS DOING IN TERMS OF THESE LARGE LOADS.
AND MAYBE YOU'RE NOT GETTING, YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW IF MAYBE THEY'RE NOT WANTING TO COME HERE 'CAUSE LAND IS EXPENSIVE, I DON'T KNOW.
BUT IF THERE'S, I DON'T THINK IT HAS TO BE A PRESENTATION, BUT IF YOU'VE GOT INFORMATION ON THAT, I THINK IT WOULD BE USEFUL TO KNOW.
I DUNNO, OTHER FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS ONLINE?
UM, JUST A DISCUSSION ITEM, NOT AS, AS WAS POINTED OUT THERE AS A PRESENTATION WE CAN WATCH, BUT I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE SOME DISCUSSION ABOUT THE LINE EXTENSION POLICY AND FOR US AS A COMMISSION TO REVIEW AND DISCUSS IF THERE'S CHANGES THAT MIGHT BE APPROPRIATE THAT ALIGN WITH POLICY PRIORITIES.
SO IT, THERE WAS A PRESENTATION FROM LAST YEAR THAT'S GONNA GET SENT TO YES, YOU ALREADY HAVE THAT IN YOUR EMAILS, BUT I THINK MY UNDERSTANDING IS VICE CHAIR WHITE IS SAYING SHE WANTS Y'ALL TO DISCUSS IT TO SEE IF CHANGES NEED TO BE MADE TO OUR EXISTING PLANS AND THAT WOULD BE A COMMISSION LED DISCUSSION AND THEREFORE YOU CAN SEND ME THAT REQUEST ALONG WITH A CO-SPONSOR AND THE POSTING LANGUAGE AND ANY BACKUP MATERIAL, UM, BEFORE JANUARY 26TH IN ORDER TO GET IT ON THE FEBRUARY AGENDA.
YEAH, I'M, I'M ACTUALLY NOT REQUESTING IT FOR FEBRUARY.
I DON'T KNOW IF I'LL BE ABLE TO BE AT THE MEETING.
WELL WHEN YOU DECIDE YOU DO WANT IT, UM, JUST PLEASE INCLUDE THAT INFORMATION AND WE CAN HAVE IT POSTED AS A COMMISSION LED DISCUSSION.
AND SO I KNOW I GOT THE PRE THE RECORDING YOU, YOU'RE SAYING YOU ALREADY SENT THAT TO EVERYBODY? YES.
[FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS]
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS? YEAH, I HAVE ONE, UH, MR. CHAIR.UM, I KNOW LAST YEAR, UH, THIS IS MY, UH, ANNUAL, UH, I WANNA ENCOURAGE TRANSITION TO STREETLIGHTS AND LED LIGHTING, YOU KNOW, BUT, UH, LAST YEAR THERE WAS A, UH,
[02:25:01]
STUDY ABOUT STREET LIGHTING AND I THINK IT WAS PUBLIC WORKS DOING IT.UM, BUT I ASSUME BOSTON ENERGY WILL HAVE A SAY IN KIND OF HOW THAT WORKS.
SO IF WE COULD HAVE A PRESENTATION ON THE RESULTS OF THAT PLANNING EFFORT WHENEVER, WHENEVER IT'S READY TO BE SHARED RIGHT.
OR WHENEVER IT'S, UH, THE PLAN IS FINISHED.
UM, SO IT'S NOT NECESSARILY FOR A DATE CERTAIN, BUT WHENEVER, WHENEVER THAT UH, STREET LIGHTING STUDY IS DONE, COULD WE GET A PRESENTATION ON IT? OKAY.
ALRIGHT, WELL WITH THAT, LET'S ADJOURN.