FMPA Weekly
A weekly e-newsletter for FMPA members
Aug. 30, 2010
LAST WEEK
ARP Executive Committee
The ARP Executive Committee met last Thursday and approved action items including: 1) FMPA’s short-term hedging strategy, 2) the amended Executive Committee by-laws for having committee member alteates, and 3) a settlement offer to the city of Lake Worth.
Short-Term Hedging Strategy Approved
The ARP Executive Committee voted last Thursday to approve a new FMPA Short-Term (FST) hedging strategy and make it a part of a revised Natural Gas and Fuel Oil Policy. The updated strategy is not designed to remove price volatility but to protect ARP members from sudden natural gas price spikes, while allowing the Agency to more fully participate in the market when prices decline. The FST methodology sets quantitative triggers when to purchase and sell hedge positions. The new strategy was developed with input from the ARP Business Model Working Group and the Audit and Risk Oversight Committee. It was originally presented to the ARP Executive Committee in February 2010 when the Committee decided to monitor FST on paper for six months. At Thursday’s meeting, staff presented the results of that monitoring, as well as a projection of how the strategy would have performed in actual market conditions from October 1998 through present. The historical analysis showed that the FST strategy would have produced an average of 4.51% savings over the 12-year period.
FMPA-Lake Worth Conflict Resolution
FMPA’s ARP Executive Committee and the Lake Worth City Commission met last Tuesday for a special joint public meeting to resolve a disagreement about who should pay for natural gas transportation on the pipeline lateral serving the city’s Smith Plant. The meeting provided an opportunity for the two groups to have a dialogue on the issue, and each group presented a proposal for settling the matter. The ARP Executive Committee discussed the matter at its meeting last Thursday. A motion was made to accept Lake Worth’s settlement offer, and the motion failed. A motion was made to make official FMPA’s settlement offer, and that motion was approved.
Electricity Conservation Advisory Program
Participants in the Electricity Conservation Advisory Program (ECAP) met last Wednesday via conference call and reviewed a proposed calculation methodology. Participants decided to make some adjustments and do some back-testing to help finalize the system. The development team is scheduled to meet again Sept. 13 at 9 a.m. to discuss the updated calculation methodology and exchange updates on other action items. Details of the program will also be presented at the Florida Municipal Power Pool’s Executive Committee meeting this Wednesday. The objective of ECAP is to communicate with retail customers during times of peak energy usage to encourage customers to voluntarily reduce energy consumption. Interested cities are welcome to join the development effort. Contact: Mark McCain
FPL Transmission Tariff
Michele Jackson and Ann Beckwith participated in a conference call last Wednesday with representatives from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Florida Power & Light (FPL) and FPL’s other wholesale transmission customers. This was the first in a series of technical conferences regarding FPL’s implementation of a cost-of-service formula rate for wholesale transmission service. A settlement hearing on the matter is scheduled for late-October.
RFQ for Backwash Tank Installation
FMPA received several responses last week to its request for qualifications for an upcoming bid to install a backwash tank at Treasure Coast Energy Center Unit 1. The bid is scheduled to be issued Friday, and responses will be due Sept. 28. The work is scheduled to take place during the plant’s outage in November and December. Contact: Jim Hay
FPL Meeting
Representatives from Florida Power & Light and the city of Vero Beach met with FMPA staff last Friday to discuss Vero’s contracts with FMPA for the St. Lucie, Stanton and Stanton II projects. FPL is investigating a potential purchase of Vero Beach’s electric utility.
Compliance Training
FMPA hosted a regulatory compliance training workshop last week for FMPA members and staff. The workshop, which was presented by Direct Line to Compliance, taught compliance officers and subject-matter experts how to read and understand the standards and document evidence appropriately. Representatives from 10 cities attended.
Network Updates
Carter Manucy, Jeff Hanson and Konrad Lisiewicz worked over the weekend on Aug. 21 and Aug. 22 to upgrade the network wiring and switches in FMPA’s Orlando office. Many of the switches were six years to 10 years old and in need of replacement. They also moved the Tallahassee office’s inteet connection from a DSL connection to a new switching circuit that will allow FMPA to run the Tallahassee office’s network remotely from Orlando and make the connection between the two sites more seamless.
Three Phase Times
FMPA’s Power Resources Division published the latest issue of Three Phase Times last week on the Member Portal. It includes information on the All-Requirements Project’s (ARP) system peak, hourly load comparisons, resource fuel mix, natural gas usage by resource, Cane Island Unit 4 project milestones and budget, natural gas market pricing and other performance information for ARP. Contact: Tom Reedy
Congratulations
Jody Finklea’s wife, Sena, gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Trason Gabriel Lamar Finklea, last Wednesday at 10:34 a.m. Trason was bo at a weight of 8 lbs. 14 oz. and a length of 21.75 inches. Congratulations to the proud family and best wishes to little Trason.
THIS WEEK
Member City Visits
Bud Boudreaux, Fred Bryant and Nick Guarriello visit Ocala and Newberry on Monday.
FMPP Open Access Transmission Tariff
Frank Gaffney, Michele Jackson, Joe McKinney, Richard Montgomery, Tom Reedy, Florida Municipal Power Pool’s Tom Washbu and representatives from Lakeland and Orlando Utilities Commission meet Tuesday in the Board room at 8 a.m. to discuss the potential development of an Open Access Transmission Tariff for the Pool.
Good Guys
The Good Guys, a group of CEOs from some of the region’s largest consumer-owned electric utilities, meet Wednesday in the Board room at 10:30 a.m.
FMPP Executive Committee
The Florida Municipal Power Pool (FMPP) Executive Committee meets Wednesday in the Board room at 11:30 a.m. or immediately following the Good Guys meeting.
All-Requirements Project Load
The weekly update of the All-Requirements Project historical load graph has been posted on the Member Portal. The graph is updated through Aug. 29. Contact: Jim Atz
COMING UP
Labor Day
FMPA’s offices will be closed next Monday for Labor Day. Have a safe and happy holiday weekend.
Utility Education & Trade Show Days
The Florida Municipal Electric Association’s (FMEA) annual Utility Education & Trade Show Days is scheduled for Sept. 14 in Palm Beach Gardens and Sept. 15 in Gainesville. The event brings together professionals from the energy industry for top-notch speakers and a review of the latest in utility products and services. Topics covered will include customer service, safety and training, transmission and distribution and lineworker skills. For more information or to register,