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 Monday,
September 16, 2024 in the LWL conference room. Present were Commissioner Peter Cooper, Commissioner Ralph Ross, Commissioner Linda MacNeil, Director of Finance Lori Hogan, Line Supervisor Justen Elliott and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of the September 3, 2024 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting was reviewed. Commissioner Ross made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner MacNeil.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0
APPOINTMENTS:
1. Justen Elliot presented the BOC a briefing including pictures regarding the recent overhead line work completed to replace a pole that was beginning to lean at an unsafe angle. The pole is located two (2) spans from the grounding bank equipment on the supply side. The property was accessed along the easement through the Merrill property and property damage resulted as off-road open lag construction line vehicles were needed to safely make the repairs. All property damaged was restored to a condition better than found prior to construction activities. The property owner was contacted, and the repairs were reviewed on-site and discussed with no outstanding concerns expressed by the landowner at that time.
2. Mr. Elliott stated that he will need to bring a contractor back onto the system to remove the wires that cross the river behind Shaw’s Supermarket. Access restrictions prevent LWL from using wheeled vehicles to access the pole nearest the river edge. This project will not be scheduled until the river/water freezes likely early next year when the wires will be dropped to the ice and pulled across.
3. Commissioner Cooper welcomed Mr. Stan Faryniarz and Mr. Craig Kieny to the BOC meeting representing Daymark Energy Advisors. Note: Daymark has provided power supply consulting advice to LWL since LWL entered the NE wholesale energy market as a participant in 2004.
Mr. Faryniarz presented the BOC with a power point presentation titled “Energy Procurements and NEPOOL Transmission” that he and Mr. Kieny would be referring to throughout their discussion in preparation for a fall 2024 procurement.
Mr. Kieny referred to a graph that depicted forward market price trends over the past year and through 2027. The data illustrated that except for the winter months (Nov-Mar) spot market (actual daily prices) prices are well below forward prices and stable. There is some market consternation with regards to the current political climate as to the availability of local/domestic supply, especially fossil fuel production. Real time spot market prices are averaging about $30/MW with forward pricing averaging around $70/MW. This is making procurement difficult to gauge and is leading to shorter term contracts and higher pricing.
Mr. Faryniarz stated that LWL’s current hedge ratios are set at 90% (winter) and 85% (summer). This approach will establish a good budget figure though it leaves little room for LWL to take advantage of the lower daily spot market prices which have trended much lower than forwards. He suggested that the BOC could drop its hedge rations by 5%. This action would still provide stability for rates/budgets, should the spot market prices rise suddenly while taking advantage of market prices when they drop. This approach would still minimize LWL risk to market fluctuation.
Following some back-and-forth discussions regarding power supply hedge fractions the BOC agreed to drop LWL hedge fractions by 5 percent from a ratio of 90/85 to 85/80.
Mr. Kieny asked the BOC about how much of the open power supply resources Daymark should solicit and that any solicitation should happen before November.
Mr. Considine stated that typically LWL has secured volumes up to the hedge limit for the next three (3) fiscal years 2025-2027 in quantities of 100%, 50% and 25% respectively.
There was some additional discussion, it was agreed that a solicitation during the first week of October 2024 would be requested for FY 2025-2027 in volumes of 100%, 50% and 25% of the open resource to meet LWL’s new hedge fractions.
Mr. Kieny asked the BOC what price(s) they would be comfortable to lock in these resources under a contract with the successful bidder.
Mr. Considine stated that the contracts that are dropping off are priced between $75MW and $88/MW. If we stayed within these limits, it would help the budget/rates.
The BOC after some discussion, reached a consensus that if the bid prices come in around the projected $70/MW LWL should accept the low bid proposal.
4. Mr. Kieny advised the BOC that LWL’s NEPOOL Transmission Costs of (Open Access Transmission Tarriff) OATT beginning January 2025 are scheduled to increase by about $400,000 or 20%. This is the result of generally behind the meter load peak shaving renewables like solar and energy storage units that are dropping network transmission loads. The drop in the load means less money for transmission providers that were guaranteed a certain return on their investment if they made significant reliability improvement to their infrastructure. ISONE is raising the OATT cost to provide transmission providers this guarantee.
The only way that LWL can reduce this cost is to reduce load at the time of National Grids monthly peak event. The proposed solar and battery storage projects that LWL have under consideration will lower LWL peak loads leading to potentially lower transmission costs
Mr. Considine stated that he is leery about ISONE future action about these costs as they will not lose money. As more and more units are installed behind the meter, he is not confident that ISONE will not change the rules of the game to satisfy their position.
Following some back-and-forth discussion Mr. Faryniarz and Mr. Kieny thanked the BOC for their patronage over all the years and exited the meeting at 2:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR of FINANCE and HUMAN RESOURCES REPORT:
Mrs. Hogan advised the BOC that she has been working on LWL’s water service line inventory as required under the Lead and Copper Rule Revised statute and has reduced the number of unknowns significantly. She has been working with front office staff and the water operators to gather information to provide to the NHDES. A meeting with the NHDES contractor will be scheduled soon to review LWL new data.
SUPERINTENDENT/ GENERAL MANAGERS REPORT:
Mr. Considine advised that at the Town of Littleton Selectboard meeting on Monday, September 9, 2024 they voted unanimously to establish a wellhead protection zone and restrict the property at the end of Lafayette Avenue as a drinking water supply zone. In addition, they voted to place the property under the management and stewardship of the LWL BOC to place protection in place to further safeguard this drink water supply.
Signage will be developed over the next several weeks to properly post the property along the Rail Trail. Once posted, LWL with contractor assistance and volunteers will clean up the debris and refuge left behind by the inhabitants of the previous “encampment”.
Mr. Considine presented the quote to overlay/pave the front parking area (section B). This will complete the principal parking area between the fence and the pavement completed pavement joint) at 65 Lafayette Avenue in the amount of $ 27,700. This project was previously approved by LWL BOC during the 2024 Capital development meeting earlier this year and is under budget.
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.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 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 LWL conference room.