Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Financial And Operations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
DPU quarterly report: rising power costs, distributed‑generation surge and reliability metrics
Summary
DPU staff reported a roughly 9.5% average increase in cost of power over five years, noted drought impacts on hydro generation, a large influx of distributed‑generation applications ahead of a tax‑credit expiry on Sept. 30, and discussed SAIDI/outage metric presentation options.
Philo presented the Department of Public Utilities quarterly report at the Sept. 3 meeting, highlighting several operational and financial trends: a multi‑year increase in power costs, drought effects on hydro generation, growth in distributed generation applications tied to an expiring tax credit, workforce changes, and reliability metrics.
Cost trends and generation mix: Philo said the average cost of power has risen about 9.5% over the past five years. He noted San Juan Generating Station’s retirement and the need to rely more on market purchases. Drought and reduced runoff have lowered hydro contributions to the non‑carbon mix.
Distributed generation: Staff reported a surge in distributed generation interconnection applications tied to a tax credit that staff said expires Sept. 30; they expect applications to slow after that date. Board members asked about capturing behind‑the‑meter rooftop solar’s avoided carbon in the non‑carbon metrics; staff agreed to explore methods to estimate and present that data in future reports.
Reliability metrics and SAIDI: The board discussed how SAIDI is reported and whether to show separate lines for outages staff can control versus upstream delivery interruptions. Staff explained industry conventions for SAIDI and agreed it is feasible to tabulate upstream events separately to offer clearer comparisons with peer utilities.
Revenue and customer updates: Staff reviewed revenue sources including wholesale sales (~6%) and occasional water sales to local acequias, new hires and promotions, and noted the county fiscal year ends June 30. When Chair Gibson pointed out electric sales to LANL were well under budget, staff said a county customer named Lance has not been running near full capacity for nearly two years, explaining the discrepancy.
Next steps: Staff will refine financial graphs and consider additional metrics (e.g., estimated behind‑the‑meter offsets) for future quarterly reports, as requested by board members.
