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Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Meeting Minutes <br />July 12, 2022 <br />Page 4 <br /> <br />HydroCorp for tracking tests and sending notices to residents, while staff has been testing <br />devices. <br /> <br />Ms. Slominski then asked for commission input on the four outcome statements in her <br />memo that staff had created during their strategic planning meeting. <br /> <br />Chair Dietz asked if staff could utilize customer emails on file to contact individuals during <br />an outage. Ms. Slominski responded that with the implementation of AMI it will be <br />possible to identify which customers are out of service and potentially use that data. <br /> <br />Commissioner Westgaard said he didn’t think there were more important topics than <br />those selected by staff. <br /> <br />Commissioner Bell agreed and shared his hope for the future to see specific initiatives <br />with goals centered around AMI. Ms. Slominski responded that AMI was an important <br />topic in planning discussions. <br /> <br />Commissioner Bell also noted that electric vehicle infrastructure will become a bigger <br />issue and recommended staff have that in mind for future initiatives. <br /> <br />Chair Dietz asked if there had been requests for installing a solar garden. Staff responded <br />that they didn’t believe there had been. There was discussion. <br /> <br />The Commission had no further recommendations on strategic plan initiatives. <br /> <br />5.0 BUSINESS ACTION <br /> <br />5.1 Financial Report – May 2022 <br /> <br />Ms. Karpinski presented the May 2022 Financial Report. She highlighted a 1% increase in <br />electric usage compared to May 2021 and a less than 1% decrease in usage year to date. <br />She also noted a 26% decrease in water usage from the previous May and a 10% decrease <br />year to date. <br /> <br />Ms. Karpinski added that due in large part to the increased cost in Purchased Power <br />ERMU had accrued and billed a little over $1 million dollars for the 2022 Energy <br />Adjustment Clause. <br /> <br />Chair Dietz had clarifying questions. Staff Responded. <br /> <br />Ms. Karpinski affirmed Chair Dietz’s question that most of the $1.6 million variance in <br />electric expenses is due to Purchased Power. <br /> <br />38