The GVEA board of directors met on Monday, March 31. There was predictably a couple hours of discussion to which members weren't invited, but topics were Healy 2, the closure of the Flint Hills Refinery, and the trucked natural gas project. You can see the agenda on their website. All board meetings now have info available.
We know a little more about the Flint Hills impact, as the Fairbanks Daily News Miner had an article last week about how and why energy costs were expected to increase.
My understanding is that the trucked natural gas project is likely to result in more expensive gas than hoped, around$17/mcf instead of the $10-$12/mcf previously bandied about. If $12 is equivalent to $2/gal for fuel oil, then you can do the math.
As an aside, there will be an Interior Energy Open House Wedgewood hosted by state agencies AIDEA and AEA. Also, the FNSB granted a $7.5 million revolving loan to the Interior Gas Utility Board (IGU) with lots of fiscal controls on expediture. This $7.5 million was part of the settlement over valuation and back taxes that Alyeska Pipeline owed the FNSB, pending appeals. And the governor is trying to stack the deck against the next assessment, but that's another story.
Other issues included:
Approval of a 3.4% increase in the utility rate, effective I believe June 1. This was attributed to the debt interest on Eva Creek. While this expected increase, it is also hoped that the energy charge would go down at least equal based upon the free wind energy.
Ft. Knox, asking what GVEA would charge to transmit Matanuska Electric power across GVEA's lines. Apparently, Ft. Knox thinks they might get cheaper power than from GVEA directly.
The board did approve the Early Capital credit Retirement proposal you can see on the agenda. First come, first serve is the policy, but the board (and myself, here) would like to see some outreach so it isn't just those in the know that take advantage of it.
GVEA is also getting prepped for the annual meeting April 30. This year, there will be no freebies for registration to save $. In many respects, the CEO is heading an effort to cut the fluff within the company. There will probably be fewer cookies at the meeting too. OK with me. There will still be must-be-present-to-win raffles.
This was the first meeting where a board member was actually 2 way audio and video from a remote location. While not ideal, it makes it possible to attend meetings that have either been unsatisfyingly audio only or have a board member be a no-show. Most board members don't miss meetings, a good thing of course. Eventually, we might be able to get them live-streamed, but some on the board are currently not at all receptive.
The GVEA board changed their May meeting as the one calendared fell on Memorial Day that comes early this year. So the May meeting will be May 19 instead.
