Speaking of the Cost of Power Adjustment (COPA), GVEA recently filed its latest quarterly report for COPA. It might take a while to download. They notice the increase in both oil and anticipated coal increases and having less cheap intertie power available. They see a $5.6mm deficit in collection. Expect our COPA to go up substantively.
They also filed their latest Simplified Rate Filing (SRF), which they can submit, as I recall, every 6 months. It comes with much less notice and filing requirements, but they can only increase rates a small amount with each SRF request. Their latest SRF tariff requestwas just approved.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
Regulatory Commission of Alaska website upgrade
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) has upgraded their website with a lot of fine features for finding out about utilities' issues before the RCA. I urge all those who can take 15-30 minutes to browse a subject or utility and see what goes on and how the process works. Power to the people and hats off to the RCA for making their regulatory of model of openness.
And if you think GVEA has issues
Just to let folks know that, by contrast to Matanuska Electric Association (MEA) and Chugach Electric Association (CEA), GVEA is quite stable as far as board, membership, and executive administration relations.
MEA tried to ram a coal fired power plant down the members' and communities' throats, but finally appears to have reconsidered.
CEA has had a running back-and-forth battle between two camps on the board of directors. They recently appointed a new board member to fill a vacancy who I was told really has no idea what a cooperative is and put her on a committee to get the current CEO. This is politics at its base and it hurts the utility. The members get riled up by some factions claiming the IBEW union, who represent the employees, are taking over.
The Chugach board's latest move is a special board meeting called for this coming Wednesday to fire General Manager Bill Stewart. No reason given except they want to go in a different direction, with no hint of what that direction might be. Rebecca Logan (new appointed board member, Uwa Kalenka and Elizabeth Vazquez will comprise the committee to search of a new GM. I'm told that many good employees are bailing out. This sounds to me like a majority of the board is on a political purge. Ray Kreig, former board member, has been most active in engineering this takeover by avowed anti-union board members. I certainly admire activism and the espoused goal of more openness, but have seen no indications that the recent or future board actions empower the members.
When they aren't fighting internally, they sue each other. MEA doesn't generate any of its own power, relying on AML&P, Homer Electric, and Chugach for their generation.
Not to say, while all this acrimony goes on, they don't try to get together, with recent reports that Chugach is investigating merger with AEL&P and still working on a joint agency to deal with upcoming supply issues.
Now if they could only get Fire Island wind project off the table. Non-renewable resource costs aren't getting any cheaper, nor are climate change impacts going away without some serious mitigation.
MEA tried to ram a coal fired power plant down the members' and communities' throats, but finally appears to have reconsidered.
CEA has had a running back-and-forth battle between two camps on the board of directors. They recently appointed a new board member to fill a vacancy who I was told really has no idea what a cooperative is and put her on a committee to get the current CEO. This is politics at its base and it hurts the utility. The members get riled up by some factions claiming the IBEW union, who represent the employees, are taking over.
The Chugach board's latest move is a special board meeting called for this coming Wednesday to fire General Manager Bill Stewart. No reason given except they want to go in a different direction, with no hint of what that direction might be. Rebecca Logan (new appointed board member, Uwa Kalenka and Elizabeth Vazquez will comprise the committee to search of a new GM. I'm told that many good employees are bailing out. This sounds to me like a majority of the board is on a political purge. Ray Kreig, former board member, has been most active in engineering this takeover by avowed anti-union board members. I certainly admire activism and the espoused goal of more openness, but have seen no indications that the recent or future board actions empower the members.
When they aren't fighting internally, they sue each other. MEA doesn't generate any of its own power, relying on AML&P, Homer Electric, and Chugach for their generation.
Not to say, while all this acrimony goes on, they don't try to get together, with recent reports that Chugach is investigating merger with AEL&P and still working on a joint agency to deal with upcoming supply issues.
Now if they could only get Fire Island wind project off the table. Non-renewable resource costs aren't getting any cheaper, nor are climate change impacts going away without some serious mitigation.
GVEA transition
GVEA will have a new CEO/president real soon - Brian Newton. Steve Haagenson has retired, Chief Finance Officer John Grubich is also moving on to other pastures outside Alaska. The new executive team will have their hands full, as the capital spending binge of the new tie line from Healy to Fairbanks, the biggest battery backup in the world "BESS", and two new oil fired generation units in North Pole have pretty much broke the bank. Our board approved all these expenditures and plan on having management to ask for more rate hikes. Expect these increases to be substantial. The assertion will likely include increased fuel costs, but as far as generation goes, we already pay for those increases through the 'cost of power adjustment" or COPA.
Maybe they are going to look at some internal cost cutting that has thus far been sacrosanct. We might even end up with a less glitzy and less costly annual meeting actually focused on real issues and less P.R. Feel free to contribute ideas and suggestions.
Maybe they are going to look at some internal cost cutting that has thus far been sacrosanct. We might even end up with a less glitzy and less costly annual meeting actually focused on real issues and less P.R. Feel free to contribute ideas and suggestions.
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