4.4. ERMUSR 11-17-2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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~i Elk River Municipal Utilities 13069 Orono Parkway • P.O. Box 430 Elk River, MN 55330-0430 November 10, 2009 To: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission John Dietz Jerry Gumphrey Daryl Thompson From: Troy Adams Subject: Review and Consider After-Hours Electric Reconnects Phone: 763.441.2020 Fax: 763.441.8099 At the October 2009 commission meeting, the commission voted to eliminate the after-hours electric reconnect stipend. Also, after-hours reconnects were to be handled on a case by case basis and not offered as a service. Going forward, when an after-hours reconnect would occur, the employee called out would be compensated per the existing call-out policy. The commission also directed staff to survey other utilities to compare how after-hours reconnects are handled. Of some 20 municipal utilities surveyed, only three do not provide after-hours electric reconnects. These three are Spring Valley, Waseca, and Fairmont. Fairmont just had a vote in October to eliminate the after-hour reconnects. Of the others providing the service, there were numerous reasons given why they provide the after-hours reconnect service. One reason is for the rare chance the wrong meter were to be disconnected and the incurred liability the utility would have for not correcting that issue until the next business day. Another reason is utility liability during inclement weather. Based on the feedback from the utilities surveyed, only Chaska was paying a stipend to the employees for an after-hours reconnect. The others pay call-out time per their company policies. The service charge to the customer for an after-hour reconnect varied significantly. The charges ranged from $35 to $150. Owatonna had the low charge of $35 and knew it needed to be raised. There was a common theme that these utilities didn't want to loose money by offering the service of after-hours reconnects. Elk River Municipal Utilities charges the customer $100 for an after-hours reconnect. The average cost to ERMU is higher than. this. There is currently one foreperson, four lead linepersons, and five linepersons in the after-hours on-call rotation. The average wage of the ma~cimum wage for these 10 employees in the on-call rotation is $34.56/hr. This results in an average after-hours reconnect utility cost of approximately $160 for a typical two hour minimum call-out, the employer related taxes, and a truck. Many times the on-call employee will reconnect multiple customers during one call-out. So, this cost would actually track lower per reconnect over time.