04-17-2008 ERMU MIN - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 6 Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission April 17,2008 business and so had purposely bid very low. They are a good contractor and they have done many successful projects for us. John Dietz moved to award the bid to Michels Pipeline Construction for the installation of the underground cable in the Brentwood area. Jerry Gumphrey seconded. Motion carried 3-0. 6.5 Review and Consider 1st Quarter 2008 Write-Offs The first quarter of write-offs were reviewed. When these are written off our system they are turned over to Advantage Collection Agency to further pursue. The collection agency's success rate is about 21%. Staff started collecting social security numbers and deposits in July of 2007 so it should become easier to locate for collection in the future. Staff recommends approval of the write-off list for the first quarter of 2008.John Dietz noted that there were some trash items listed and thought that the city was able to assess those. Staff responded that is the case and the city is still given the option to pursue that with these amounts. John Dietz also asked if the utility can assess any of these. Staff responded that we can for water,but not for electric. A significant portion of the write-offs are for renters and so we can assess the landlord if we choose. For a home owner,it needs to be done before the home is sold and we are not always able to identify it as uncollectible before the parties move out. John Dietz motioned to approve the write-off listing presented. Jerry Gumphrey seconded. Motion carried 3-0. 6.6 Review&Consider Cogeneration Agreement There are a couple of small electric generators on Elk River Municipal Utilities system that operate intermittently. As the renewable energy fad becomes more popular with other technologies,we will see more of the smaller electric generators on our system. The Public Utilities Commission(PUC)has developed a uniform statewide contract for small cogeneration projects less than 40KW that utilizes net metering. Although Elk River Municipal Utilities does not fall under the PUC guidelines,we should have a contract for such applications. The PUC contract was modified with minor corrections including Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission substituted for Public Utilities Commission. Staff recommends adoption of this blanket agreement. Jerry Gumphrey motioned to adopt the blanket agreement as presented. John Dietz seconded. Motion carried 3-0. 6.7 Review GRE's Power Cost Adjustment Elk River Municipal Utilities will continue to see some significant PCA(power cost adjustment)on its power bills from Great River Energy. The Elk River Municipal Utilities keeps a separate PCA account that is zeroed out annually. As Great River Energy charges or rebates the PCA,we pass it on to our customers as a positive or negative charge. Bryan Adams explained the