The Board meets on the first and third Monday of each month. Meetings begin at 1:00 p.m. and are held in the department conference room at 65 Lafayette Ave, Littleton. Board meetings are open to the public and time is allotted for public comments at each meeting.
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The regularly scheduled business meeting of the Littleton Water and Light (LWL) Board of Commissioners (BOC) began at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17, 2023 in the LWL conference room. Present were Commissioner Peter Cooper, Commissioner Ralph Ross, Commissioner Linda MacNeil, Director of Finance Lori Hogan and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of the January 4, 2023 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting were reviewed. Commissioner Ross made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner Cooper.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0
APPOINTMENTS:
Mr. John Guerin, representing Tangent Energy Solutions, presented the BOC a power point presentation with a goal of improving LWL system reliability and resiliency by installing a battery/energy storage system. The system would be located likely near a distribution substation and managed by Tangent. LWL would not incur any out – of – pocket costs and would share in the savings associated with lowering monthly and annual expenses attributed to transmission costs.
Commissioner MacNeil inquired as to what happens to the batteries when they are removed from the system?
Mr. Guerin stated that they are recycled but does not know how they are recycled.
Commissioner MacNeil stated that these are some of the questions that she will be asked and would like to know the answer to the method as to how the batteries are recycled.
There was some back-and-forth discussion as to how the shared saving would be calculated and the monthly documentation involved.
Mr. Guerin stated that he would like to demonstrate the Tangent software for the BOC. This is the software that Tangent would use to monitor/manage the system as to when the system operates (discharges/recharges) and will produce the monthly shared savings documents.
The BOC agreed that the proper venue to showcase/demonstrate Tangent’s load management software was during a regular business meeting. Mr. Guerin stated that he would contact Mr. Considine when they are ready to proceed, he thanked the BOC for their time and exited the BOC meeting at about 1:45 p.m.
CUSTOMER & PUBLIC CONCERNS:
1. The Christmas lights on the tree in front of the library and wreaths on the Industrial Park Bridge will be taken down when arrangements are made. The lighted spheres along Main Street will remain through the winter season.
2. The Town of Littleton advised Green Street Power Partners that without having a public hearing they would not execute a property lease regarding the old landfill property. The property is being considered/proposed by Green Street for the installation of a 5 MW PV solar array that would be interconnected to LWL overhead electric system. A town vote would not happen until March 2024 (Note: LWL BOC informed Green Street last fall that the lease/proposed project would most likely need public/town meeting discussion/approval).
GENERAL/OTHER BUSINESS:
1. Geosphere Environmental informed LWL that it has almost expended the amount authorized to acquire NHDES permitting of Lafayette Well B. Over the past three (3) year (initial contract signed in Jan 2020) a lot has happened cost wise and an additional $35,000 is requested to complete the project. A letter detailing the expenditure to date and the cost overrun was provide by Geosphere.
The BOC agreed that though the project needs to continue further explanation is required prior to approving additional funding. The BOC asked that Geosphere provide answers to the following concerns: what is the final water budget, project conclusion/results, when will the well be permitted. They would like their questions addressed before action is taken to address the projected shortfall.
2. Daymark Energy asked LWL to consider hedging its open wholesale power supply position for 2024 as natural gas prices have declined. They did acknowledge that future/forward market prices are not trending with gas prices and well above real time prices as the markets are still not comfortable with the geopolitical environment.
Several informational graphs were reviewed and discussed with the BOC that annotated 2022 actual power supply costs and 2023 budgeted relative to the spot market.
Mr. Considine stated that even though the current budget/electric rates can accommodate the higher forward prices locking in for the sake of locking is not a valid course of action. Our goals are to provide an economical rate/service if the market warrants. Locking in prices at more than twice our current contracts does not achieve these goals if there is another viable alternative.
Following some discussion, the BOC agreed not solicit future power supply bids at this time for 2024 -2025.
MEETING ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business to come before the board Commissioner Ross made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner MacNeil.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
Meeting adjourned at 2:50 p.m.
The regularly scheduled Commissioner’s meeting is held twice monthly on the first and third Monday, at 1:00 p.m., in the Department’s conference room.