January 9, 2024
SUMMARY
Happy New Year! I hope everyone was able to enjoy the holiday season. As we close the chapter on another year, I want to thank the staff and the board for their hard work, dedication, and commitment to our valued members. As I’ve stated before, our number one goal is to remain mindful that as a cooperative, our priority is to serve our members. Together, we have accomplished great things, and we look forward to a bright future. Some of last month’s activities for the organization included outage restoration, reaching our financial goals by year-end, and attendance at several business meetings.
The following are brief updates on HEA’s current business activities and strategic goals that have taken place over the last month. As always, a more detailed report will be given on the day of the meeting.
SAFETY
Unfortunately, we did have an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable incident in December. The full safety report is included in this month’s Board packet.
FINANCIAL OVERVIEW
Operations and maintenance expenses of $9.44M exceeded operating revenue of $8.96M in November generating a net monthly operating loss of $0.47M. November storm activity incurred approximately $0.21M in outage response labor and equipment costs and contributed towards the loss. Total positive year-to-date margins of $945,403 trail budgeted expectations by only $0.278M despite delays in reaching an agreement with Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) regarding compensation for the contribution AEEC’s BESS has made to the Railbelt. HEA’s Modified Debt Service Coverage (MDSC) through November is 1.34.
On December 8th, the RCA approved HEA’s request for a 3.5% across-the-board rate increase through the Simplified Rate Filing (SRF) process. This impacts energy rates only and is estimated to increase residential customers’ total bill by approximately 2%. Additionally, the Cost of Power Adjustment (COPA) for Q1 ’24 was submitted and is expected to increase to $0.08868/kWh from $0.08191/kWh. This is an 8.27% increase. The Small Facilities Purchased Power Rate (SFPPR) is projected to decline from $0.09819 to $0.09113.
RELIABILITY
Distribution – The Diamond Ridge Meter Changeout project is complete, and we are in the process of identifying the project successes and failures, as well as completing the billing.
The total number of beetle-kill trees taken in 2023 was 977. An additional 523 danger trees were taken during distribution right-of-way (ROW) clearing. Even with clearing efforts, the trees that continue to topple on our distribution facilities due to strong winds or heavy snow over recent months demonstrate why keeping our rights-of-way clear is critical to maintaining reliable service, increasing safety, and reducing the fire hazard.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Engineering Services, New Service Applications – the chart below plots new service applications since 2017. There were two new service applications in December which is well below the average of seven for this month over the last 6 years. The 428 applications received in 2023 are 14% less than the last two years for cumulative applications through this month.
Member Relations – Planning for the 2024 Annual Meeting is ramping up. The meeting will be held on Thursday, May 2, 2024, at Homer High School. Candidacy packets will be available at this month’s Board Meeting.
CYBER SECURITY & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
Social media fraud peaks over the holidays with criminals focusing on click-link fraud, home break-ins, identity & credit card theft. Here are a few resolutions to protect yourself for the new year when using social media:
- Change your social media password at least once per year.
- Sign up for “Two Factor Authentication” on Facebook or “Two Step Verification” on TikTok to prevent identity cloning.
- Never click on purchasing links in social media as the fraudulent websites now look exactly like the reputable ones. Always manually enter the URL in a browser.
- Turn off geolocation tracking within social media apps as thieves use it to bypass credit card protection and to know when you are not at home.
- Never post while on vacation, wait until you are back to prevent home break-ins.
- Change privacy settings to None, Friends, or Friends of Friends and never leave them default or public to prevent identity theft.
- Never accept a friend request from someone that is already a social media friend as these are usually identity theft clones.
By not oversharing information you can protect yourself and still use your favorite social media platforms without worrying about your safety.
BUSINESS & COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS
Legislative Update – the first session of the 33rd Alaska Legislature convenes on January 17, 2024. Please be sure to watch for emailed updates from Alaska Power Association’s (APA) Deputy Director Michael Rovito, who will be keeping us appraised of all state and federal legislative activities.
In addition, the 2024 APA State Legislative Conference will be held January 31 – February 1 in Juneau. More details will be discussed during the board meeting on Tuesday.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING APPROVALS | January 9, 2024
Regular HEA Board Meeting
- Regular Meeting Minutes of December 12, 2023