5.3 ERMUSR 2-11-2020 - Laserfiche WebLink

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mandated trainings,the 2020 safety training scheduleincludessome newsafety trainings thatwere a direct result of thesafety committee membersidentifying the needs of their departments and the trainings that would benefit them. Review of the safety manual is on hold until later in 2020. Employee Recognition Workgroup Another action item to come out of the organizational effectiveness survey was to implement an effective cross-organizational recognition program. An employee workgroup was created to develop ideas and work through the budgeting and approval processes required to implement solutions. Similarly, the workgroup was comprised of an employee from all departments: office, water, electric, and tech services. The workgroup also included an operations manager and an administrations manager.This group developed and then went through the process to receive commission approval for a new employee milestone recognition program. Theme 3: Strategic Thinking Create a culture of strategic thinking and ensure line of sight from mission to vision. Conservation Improvement Program (CIP) Redevelopment In 2019, staff has been working with Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association (MMUA) and the Minnesota Rural Electric Association (MREA) in a joint effort to modernize CIP. The proposed improvements to CIP would allow for local flexibility to achieve savings goals while providing statutory approval to incorporate beneficial and efficient electrification into the program. These efforts stalled due to misalignment of goals between the Senates position and the House and the Administrations position. For 2020, the focus has shifted to the Governors Clean Energy First plan effectively putting CIP modernization on hold. It is likely that CIP modernization will be a part of any energy policy moving forward this session, but CIP will not be the driver in what gets done. Load Management Programs Staff had been working with the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA) on a load management (LM) program that could replace the legacy LM program ERMU had built based on the Great River Energy (GRE) LM program and communication/control system. For two reasons, MMPA has backed away from adding any LM programs similar to the GRE legacy programs. First, those types of LM programs are not financially viable in the current Mid-continent Independent System Operator (MISO) energy, demand, and transmission markets. That means under current and foreseeable market conditions, there is not a financial incentive for the investment; this potentially could change due to changes in regulations, grid congestion, or capacity prices. Second, there was not uniform interest from all the MMPA member cities. The MMPA then voted to not continue to explore LM. Both considerations are also relevant for ERMU at the distribution system and retail rates level, meaning ERMU would not achieve ROI with a legacy style LM program. This initiative has been tabled for future consideration after Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) has been explored. ______________________________________________________________________________ Page 4 of 9 87