Mesa staff report lower electric supply costs, request locating hires as fiber rollout increases workload

Scott Boucher, the city’s energy and sustainability director, told the Mesa City Council on April 24 that the Energy Resources Department projects lower electric supply costs for the coming fiscal year after executing new contracts and beginning a power purchase agreement with Salt River Project.

Why it matters: the council received detailed budget and performance briefings that could affect customer bills, reliability and staffing. Staff presented commodity forecasts, performance measures for electric reliability and gas emergency response, and budget requests to support a significant increase in underground utility locating tied in part to the city’s fiber-to-home rollout.

Boucher summarized the department’s public purpose as providing “safe, reliable, affordable and sustainable electric and gas utility services.” He said Mesa’s utility has shown strong reliability compared with peers and highlighted a safety milestone: the utility had recorded 2,443 days without a lost-time accident.

Anthony Cadorn, program manager, presented a four-year comparison of average residential supply costs and told the council that the department now projects its supply costs to be about 0.6% below SRP for the coming year.…