Meeting of Commissioners of
Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County, Washington
December 3, 2024
A meeting of Commissioners of Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County was held at 1200 Fort Vancouver Way on Tuesday, December 3, 2024.
Present: President Jim Malinowski, Vice President Nancy Barnes, Secretary Jane Van Dyke Commissioners, CEO/General Manager Lena Wittler, Director of Communications and Corporate Citizenship Erica Erland, Director of Finance Melissa Ankeny, Director of Employee Resources Nichole Reitzenstein, Director of Energy Resources Steve Andersen, Director of Engineering Cal Morris, Director of Operations/Interim Director of Water Gene Morris, General Counsel John Eldridge, Director of Information Services Jeff Groff, Public Information Officer/Media Specialist Dameon Pesanti, Community Engagement Specialist Morgan Van Fleet, Security Manager Greg Eckhart, Materials and Purchasing Manager Cathy Wannamaker and Assistant to CEO/General Manager Margaret Anderson.
Others present in person or via digital conference (phone or video): Director of Customer Service Lisa Fix, Gordon Matthews, Sherry Erickson, Rick Marshall, Peter Harrison and Tom Gordon.
Press Present: Sarah Wolfe – Columbian
At 9:00 a.m., President Malinowski called the meeting to order for the transaction of formal business and the agenda was approved as presented (Materials B).
Public Comment
There were no comments.
Full written comments if provided are available upon request – please email [email protected] for a copy.
Consideration of the Minutes of November 20, 2024
The minutes were approved as presented.
Consideration of Accounts Payable
The board, by a unanimous vote, approved the following payment amounts as listed on the Letter of Transmittal dated December 3, 2024 from the District Auditor (Materials C):
Electric Revenue Fund – $13,008,532.51
Water Revenue Fund – $2,178,110.59
Generating System Fund – $596,576.71
For a total of $15,783,219.81
Consideration of Bid Award No. 681 – Replacement 15KV Drawout Vacuum Circuit Breakers
Materials and Purchasing Manager Cathy Wannamaker reviewed the memo dated December 3, 2024 detailing the bid results (Materials D). Commissioner Van Dyke moved to recommend that Bid No. 681 be awarded to the low evaluated bidder Eaton Corporation in the amount of $190,502.00 plus applicable taxes. Commissioner Barnes seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Consideration of Resolutions to Approve the 2025 Electric, Generating and Water Budgets
Director of Finance Melissa Ankeny provided the board with an overview of the proposed 2025 budgets for the Electric, Generating and Water Systems (Materials E). Ms. Ankeny reviewed with the board the staff recommended use of the low income tax credit and the use of 2017 surplus funds for Clean Energy Transformation Act assistance programs.
Commissioner Malinowski opened the public hearing for comments, hearing no comments Commissioner Malinowski closed the public hearing.
Commissioner Barnes moved to approve the resolution adopting the 2024 Generating System budget as presented. Commissioner Malinowski seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Commissioner Van Dyke moved to allocate $192,917 tax credit as follows:
• Emergency Heat Repair – $50,000
• Weatherization Relate Repairs – $50,000
• Miscellaneous Energy/Water Related Repairs – $25,000
• Operation Warm Heart – $32,917
• Community Grant Program – $35,000
Commissioner Barnes seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Commissioner Barnes moved to use $1,358,047 of the 2017 surplus for Clean Energy Transformation Act assistance programs for 2025. Commissioner Van Dyke seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Commissioner Barnes moved to approve the resolution adopting the 2025 Operating and Capital Budgets for the Electric Utility system as presented. Commissioner Van Dyke seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Commissioner Van Dyke moved to approve 2025 Operating and Capital Budgets for the Generating system as presented. Commissioner Barnes seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Commissioner Barnes moved to approve the 2025 Operations and Capital Budgets for the Water Utility system as presented. Commissioner Van Dyke seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
The board thanked staff for all the hard work on the budget for 2025.
October Financials
Director of Finance Melissa Ankeny addressed the board (Materials F). Weather was warmer and drier than normal, which resulted in electric revenues and off system sales above budget. October residential sales were 97.1% of budget, commercial sales were 100.1% and industrial sales were 91.6% of budget. October ended the month with a net income of $2.66 million compared to a budgeted net income of $1.6 million and with a year-to-date net income loss on budget at $4.9 million.
The Water System ended October with 648 new customers, which is a growth rate of 1.88% year-to-date. October ended with a net income of $399,000 compared to a budgeted net income of $650,000 for a year-to-date net income of $3.5 million compared to a year-to-date budgeted net income of $1.8 million.
September Wholesale Operations
Director of Energy Resources Steve Andersen addressed the board (Materials G). Mr. Andersen provided an update on power supply noting that October Slice generation was 22 aMW below budget and loads in October were 17 aMW below budget. October Slice production was 119 aMW, 18.3% less than the budget of 141 aMW and 11.7% less than The Energy Authority forecast of 133 aMW.
Combine Hills I generation was 7.9 aMW, which was 26% less than the budgeted 10.6 aMW. Generation was 0 MW approximately 42% of all hours. Combine Hills II generation was 14.2 aMW, 11% less than the budgeted 16.1 aMW, and generation was 0 MW approximately 44% of all hours.
October net metering was 3.1 aMW which was a capacity factor of 13%, there are 3,273 net metering customers which is a 10.5% increase over October 2023. There have been 161 battery systems installed by net metering customers.
Commissioner Reports and Comments
Commissioner Barnes reported on her attendance at the Washington Association of County Leaders where she was a panel moderator.
Commissioner Van Dyke reminded everyone that Tuesday, December 17 would be Commissioner Malinowski’s final meeting and encouraged folks to attend a reception in his honor starting at 11:30 a.m. that day.
Staff Reports
CEO/General Manager Lena Wittler reported on Clark Public Utilities’ mutual aid assistance with Snohomish PUD for the recent windstorm.
Director of Engineering Cal Morris reported on the circumstances surrounding the intermittent outages on Saturday, November 30.
Final Board Comments
There being no further board comments, the meeting was adjourned at 10:21 a.m.