Water and Light Commission updates DER interconnection rates, approves summer water-plant internship

The Water and Light Commission on Feb. 18, 2026, approved updates to its distributed energy resource interconnection rates and authorized hiring a budgeted summer intern at the water treatment plant, while staff briefed the commission on a switch failure that caused outages and reported water-quality tests well below regulatory limits.

The commission accepted staff recommendations to publish updated interconnection rates for 2026 and to file a distributed energy resource interconnection booklet with the department business office, an item Jordan, a utility staff member, described as the annual update to a policy adopted in February 2018. "This is gonna be your annual distributed energy resource interconnection filing," Jordan said, adding that the rates from MMPA were attached and that the materials would be published and mentioned in the utility newsletter. The motion to accept the updates passed on a roll call vote.

Why it matters: the interconnection booklet documents the department's process for connecting cogenerators and small power producers and the published rates provide customers and potential interconnectors with the administrative steps and costs they will face.

The commission also approved a budgeted summer internship at the water treatment plant. Brian, the water treatment plant operator, told commissioners the position would cover plant operations, distribution system principles, machinery mechanics and building and grounds maintenance; the position is limited to 100 full-time days and budgeted for 2026. Brian said, "I’d like to offer $20 an hour to generate interest and lure the best possible candidates." Commissioners moved and approved hiring a student for the internship.

Staff provided operational updates. Jordan noted upcoming customer-efficiency work and a demonstration with a Frontier energy auditor to support commercial audits and customer handouts. Corey reported that the Tyler software implementation is underway in the introduction and identity-provider integration phases and could take about 12 to 18 months to complete.

Golstad summarized recent outage work and equipment inspection after a pad-mounted switch failure on Feb. 5. He said the Circuit 3 outage began at 12:49 p.m. and lasted about 38 minutes, affecting roughly 1,900 meters; subsequent, shorter outages followed as crews isolated and repaired damaged switch components. "We had an outage on Circuit 3 that was caused by pad mount switch failure," Golstad said, and staff ordered replacement parts and sent oil samples for testing to determine whether oil contamination contributed to the failure.

On water quality, Brian told the commission that all required February samples were collected and that laboratory results for haloacetic acids and trihalomethanes were under 50% of the maximum contaminant level, including the running annual average. "We're doing real well there," he said.

Votes at a glance - Approval of minutes from Feb. 4, 2024 — passed (unanimous roll call). - Bills and payroll — passed (unanimous roll call). - Distributed energy resource interconnection updates and rate publication for 2026 — passed (unanimous roll call). - Water treatment plant summer internship (budgeted position, up to 100 days at $20/hr) — passed (unanimous roll call). - Motion to adjourn — passed (unanimous roll call).

The commission heard several informational items and set follow-ups on equipment testing (oil tests on switches) and partnership materials for customer energy audits. The meeting adjourned after routine business.