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Home My WebLink About10 Public Hearing District Code Misc. Fees AGENDA ITEM #10 Page 1 of 3 MEETING DATE: July 7, 2021 TO: Board of Directors FROM: Michael Salmon, Chief Financial Officer SUBJECT: Public Hearing related to changes to District Code, Appendix C, and Miscellaneous Fees. APPROVED BY______________________________ Brian C. Wright, General Manager RECOMMENDATION: A) Conduct a Public Hearing on proposed change to the miscellaneous fee schedule. B) Adopt Ordinance 2021-03 changes to district code, Appendix C, Miscellaneous Fees: a) add a flat fee for Residential Solar Installations and b) New account setup, removing the $30 discount for last meter read. BACKGROUND: The Board periodically reviews and updates the District Code to include new or changed Board policies, new applicable laws, regulations and District procedures. Modification to District Code and fees is solely within the purview of the Board. Board action is required to make changes to District Code. Staff has identified two recommend changes to District Code, Appendix C, Miscellaneous Fees. On June 2, 2021, the Board scheduled a Public Hearing for July 7, 2021. This Public Hearing Notice was properly advertised in the Sierra Sun Newspaper. Item A. Flat Fee for Residential Solar Connections The District is currently experiencing residential solar installs throughout our service territory. In 2020, the District received 25 applications and in 2019, the District received 11 applications. The District is anticipating an increase in solar connections due to the State of California’s solar requirements for all new single family residences to install solar. Solar Application Process:  Solar application and engineering design is received  $500.00 deposit is collected  Billable work order is created  Engineer reviews and approves the project  Electrician inspects project upon customer request  Meter is reconfigured for solar net metering Page 2 of 3  Engineer gives Town of Truckee approval to final solar permit  Work order is closed out  Final invoice is created and customer is billed or refund check is issued Staff is recommending a flat fee be established for residential solar connections to increase efficiency. These services are routinely done and billed to customers on a time and materials basis. To install a residential solar meter, staff is recommending a flat fee of $550. Install Solar Time & Materials Costs Proposed Fixed Charge Average $510.29 $550.00 Maximum $801.32 Minimum $211.10 Other agencies within California have similar programs and use flat rates to charge their customers for connections:  Lodi Electric - Effective July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021 o Single Phase (60 to 200 Amp): $ 676 o Three Phase (200 to 400 Amp): $ 1,126 o Three Phase (>400 Amp): Actual cost based on time and material  Lassen Municipal Utility District o Single Phase: $300 o Three Phase & Above Commercials: $700  Roseville Electric Utility o One Rate for Both Single Phase & Three Phase: $811 Item B. Account, new account setup, removing the $30 discount for last read The new account setup fee (electric and water) has remained at $60 for over a decade. The fee schedule included a ‘$30 discount for last read’ which was established to provide a discount when a customer chose the bill cycle read date rather than their move in date. This avoided an additional trip to the service location for the PUD to obtain a reading from the meter. At present, there is no cost savings to the District by offering a last read to a customer as our advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) provides a daily automated read remotely. The physical need to read a meter is obsolete with the District’s investment in new meter technology, we no longer have the need to physically go to a property and read a meter. While the cost of this meter read is no longer incurred, the cost of software licensing and establishing a new account remains above the $60 fee charged. We estimate on average minimum of 1.2 hours to establish a new account (electric and water) for a customer. At current customer service representative average fully weighted rate which includes Page 3 of 3 payroll overhead costs, a new account setup averages a cost of $75.98. This does not include cost burdens for software/hardware systems or facilities. While cost analysis justifies an increase, we do not recommend an increase to the $60 fee at this time, due in large part to the District’s consideration of the continued pandemic. We are recommending the following edit to the Miscellaneous Fees: Account, new account setup, electric and water (no charge for automatic transfers, no special read) $60. Objectives and Goals These items are in support of the following objectives and goals identified by the District: 1.05.020 Objectives: 4. Provide reliable and high quality electric supply and distribution system to meet current and future needs. 6. Manage the District in an effective, efficient and fiscally responsible manner. 1.05.030 Goals: 1. Responsibly serve the public. 1.4. Develop and implement high standards of customer service. 6. Manage the District in an effective, efficient and fiscally responsible manner. 6.6. Develop appropriate financial procedures to assure responsible financial management. FISCAL IMPACT: For Flat Fee for Residential Solar Connections, the direct financial impact is difficult to quantify. For customers, some will pay slightly more, many slightly less, all will benefit from a more streamlined process and known up front cost for solar. For District staff, there will be operational efficiency improvements in processing Residential Solar, with an estimated 3-4 hours per. This will improve customer service and allow for resources shift to other duties. For the new account setup fee, the $30 last read fee represented less than 2% of all total setup fees in 2015 and 2016. For 2017 to present, that number represented less than 1% of all setup fees. There are less than 25 customers impacted in any given year from an average of 1,230 new accounts set up per year. For customers, this represents a minimal impact. For District staff, this streamlines the process, standardizing a $60 setup fee for all new customers. ATTACHMENTS: a) Ordinance 2021-03 Adopting Amendments to the District Code Appendix C b) District Code, Appendix C, Miscellaneous Fees (with proposed amendments)