NEPPA eNewsletter
March 2013
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If you are attending the APPA Rally this year with NEPPA, please take note that TODAY is your last day to RSVP for the important phone call we are holding prior to the event to go over talking points and scheduled meetings. Please RSVP by March 1 to cmiller@neppa.org or 978.540.2200 so you can receive the materials and call-in phone number. ##SHARELINKS##
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Spring is traditionally a time of change and NEPPA is no exception. As the New England public power industry continues to change, so does NEPPA leadership. This month Vinnie Cameron is retiring from Reading, MA. Vinnie has been a long-time Board member and is stepping down as NEPPA Treasurer. During his tenure he oversaw our Audit Committee and was involved with decisions like our new Training Center in Littleton. For those who don’t know Vinnie, he is an avid golfer and a hockey dad. I would like to thank him for his long service to NEPPA and we are all the better because of his efforts. The NEPPA board will be approving a person to fill Vinnie’s seat and naming a new treasurer on March 1. Look for those announcements next month in our Newsline. I want to extend my congratulations to Dave Schofield from Peabody, who has just been named General Manager at Georgetown! Dave recently completed the Public Utility Management Program and Dave impressed the instructors and fellow students. One element that is always changing is NEPPA’s efforts in representing our members’ interests to elected and appointed leaders. This past month, NEPPA met with Congressmen Richard Neal and John Larson to discuss tax exempt financing. To do this, we collaborated with MMWEC and CMEEC. In 2011, this issue was not on NEPPA’s radar; however, this year we have added gas market issues. With the generators in our market moving more and more to natural gas as a source of power generation, these issues will probably be around for a long time to come. If you are interested in becoming more involved in NEPPA’s federal efforts, please see the Rally announcement in this publication. NEPPA members will be having a full meeting, scheduled for the week of March 11, in Washington. It is not too late to attend and you will be led by experienced participants and our friends at Morgan Meguire, so there is no reason not to! As we begin to come out of this traditional New England winter, we begin to review the 2013 educational offerings and what we should do for 2014. This means reviewing current classes for relevance and member requests for new offerings. One request we have received is to create a class for non-operations managers to learn the basics of crew functions. In the past, one such request resulted in the development of customer service classes. Please take a few minutes at your utility and discuss any educational needs you have that are not being met. Please email suggestions to myself (lbrownell@neppa.org) or Steve Socoby (ssocoby@neppa.org). We will review the requests with our trainers in March and then begin development. All new classes will be published in our annual Education & Training Catalogue this August. In 2012 we were proud of the efforts of our Education and Training Committee and staff at reaching out to meet the needs of our members. In 2013, we want to expand this outreach past education and training to any member needs. One of the groups we really want to hear from is engineers. Whether you are on staff at a utility or an outside consultant, we would like to know what we can do to help you better collaborate with your peers and meet your needs. There are not a lot of opportunities for continuing education and forums for electric utility engineers and we would like to know what we can do to ensure the same quality of service that we provide to the rest of the industry. Please feel free to contact me. With all of these changes, staffing the NEPPA training department can be challenging. You will see in this publication an article/announcement seeking safety and technical trainers. If you know someone who would be a good trainer please ask them to contact us. The positions are flexible and a great opportunity to give back to the industry that has provided for all of us. One last note on change relates to communications and our website. Later this year we will be launching a new website and one of the goals of this new site is to improve two-way communications. That means we would like to hear from you! Please let us know what you would like to see out of our new site or any ideas for improvements. This site will be in place for a while, so any suggestions or feedback you have is welcome. Please contact Courtney Crouse, our Communications Manager at ccrouse@neppa.org for any comments or suggestions. Thanks for your continued membership and support! ##SHARELINKS##
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The Holyoke Gas & Electric Department on behalf of all NEPPA members has recently awarded the wood pole bid to Cox Industries for all pentachlorophenol- and CCA-treated wood poles and Bridgewell Resources for all copper napthenate-treated wood poles. The award is effective immediately through the entire 2013 calendar year. Utilities wishing to purchase pentachlorophenol or CCA poles can contact Gary Dudek at Cox. His phone number is (803) 492-7728 (office) or (803) 535-9202 (cell). He can be emailed at gdudek@coxwood.com. Utilities wishing to purchase copper napthenate poles can contact Jonathan Halterman at Bridgewell Resources. His phone number is (800) 851-0104, ext. 81. He can be emailed at jhalterman@bridgewellres.com. If anyone has questions, contact: ##SHARELINKS##
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NEPPA is currently looking to add to its contract instructors. We are seeking both safety and technical instructors. These positions are part-time, based on scheduling needs and individual availability. They include travel, which is reimbursed. A qualified safety trainer will have crew experience, general knowledge of industry safety standards and procedures, be comfortable speaking in front of groups and have the ability to manage a classroom. A qualified technical trainer will have a background or education in engineering for electric utilities, general knowledge of industry technical standards, be comfortable speaking in front of groups and have the ability to manage a classroom. Instructors will be trained on NEPPA’s classes/content and presentations. Instructors are required to adhere to the prescribed curriculum. If interested, please contact Steve Socoby at (978)-540-2204 or by email at ssocoby@neppa.org. ##SHARELINKS##
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We would like to thank Mark Johanson from Greenlee Utility, a Textron Company, located in Rockford, IL, for donating the following equipment: Without the help from our members, NEPPA would not be what it is today. All donations contribute to furthering the education and training that we offer.
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Elster c/o Primary Lines Inc. became an Associate Member of NEPPA on Jan. 11, 2013. The company is located at P.O. Box 86 in Dedham, MA 02026. They may also be reached at 781.775.6307. The primary contact is David Brooks, Sales Director, and he may be reached at david.brooks@us.elster.com. Elster provides intelligent metering and communication solutions engineered for electricity, gas and water utilities in the traditional and Smart Grid markets. Their manufacturer's representative for the Northeast public power utility market is Primary Lines, Inc. The company is located at 5169 Briarwood Drive in Macungie, PA 18062. The contact is John Young and he may be reached at 610.751.6307. ONLINE Utility Exchange became an Associate Member on Jan. 18, 2013. Their office is located at P.O. Box 1489 in Winterville, NC 28590. The primary contact is Scott Munn and he may be reached at 866.630.6400, by fax at 800.838.9830 or by email at smunn@onlineis.com. The billing contact person is Mike Gibson, who may be reached at michael@onlineis.com. ONLINE provides a unique applicant screening tool that has successfully reduced or eliminated bad debt for more than 1,000 utilities nationwide. Convergent Energy + Power became an Associate Member of NEPPA on Jan. 31, 2013. Their company is located at 1065 Avenue of the Americas, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10018. The primary contact is Johannes Rittershausen and he may be reached at 212.849.4895 or by email at jrittershausen@convergentEP.com or info@convergentEP.com. Convergent Energy + Power provides capital solutions for infrastructure constraints using targeted energy storage assets that reduce on-peak load and create additional benefits for utilities or end users. You can go to www.convergentEP.com for more information or you may email the following people if you have any questions: Frank Genova: fgenova@convergentEP.com; Chris Streeter: cstreeter@convergentEP.com; Jim Tarpey: jtarpey@convergentEP.com; Artie Kressner: akressner@convergentEP.com. Burlington Safety Lab, Inc. became an Associate Member on Jan. 15, 2013. The company is located at 2009 Rt. 130 N. in Burlington, NJ 08016. Peter Senin is the main contact and he may be reached by phone at 800.220.2120, by fax at 609.387.3406 or by email at psenin@burlingtonsafety.com. If you need to reach the billing department, you may contact Thad J. Papciak at tpapciak@burlingtonsafety.com. Burlington Safety Lab is a NAIL certified test lab for rubber goods, line hose, hot sticks and grounding cable assemblies. They are a distributor for Salisbury, Steel Grip, Oberon and CESG/Novax. They also assemble/test custom grounding cables to customers’ requirements. ##SHARELINKS##
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May 16-17, 2013 For more information, click here. ##SHARELINKS##
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April 10-12 For more information, click here. ##SHARELINKS##
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April 23 For more information, click here. ##SHARELINKS##
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March 11-13 For more information, click here. ##SHARELINKS##
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NEPPA is pleased to announce a new addition to our team, Paul Carson, as one of our Technical Trainers. Paul comes to us from Reading Municipal Light Department, where he was the Operations Division Manager for 34 years. While there, Paul ran the line crews, meter group, station crews and engineering group. Paul is excited to be able to get the chance to give back to NEPPA members and share his experiences and knowledge. ##SHARELINKS##
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By Elizabeth K. Nevitt and Lori Pickford On March 11-13, NEPPA members will be in Washington D.C. to lobby their members of Congress on issues of interest to their utilities. NEPPA will host a breakfast briefing on Tuesday morning (3/12) in the Wilson Room in the Grand Hyatt, where Morgan Meguire will brief NEPPA members and their elected boards before going to Capitol Hill. NEPPA members will lobby the Hill on Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday. Each state is scheduling meetings with its respective members of Congress. Morgan Meguire is in the process of preparing talking points and leave-behinds for use in preparation for these congressional meetings. The legislative issues we plan to discuss include threats to municipal bonds, cyber security, hydropower, LIHEAP funding and implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial services bill, among others. NEPPA can expect a full schedule, beginning with APPA’s Welcome Reception at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Grand Hyatt’s Constitution Ballroom. Morgan Meguire looks forward to seeing the NEPPA Team in DC! To read the complete legislative update including the following topics, click the links below: Sequester Deadline Looms with No Deal in Sight Obama Lays out Agenda in State of the Union Address White House Issues Cyber Order House Intelligence Committee Holds Hearing on Cyber; CISPA Reintroduced Senate Energy Committee Holds LNG Hearing House Unanimously Passes McMorris Rodgers Hydro Bill Energy Think Tank Would Change 2005 Transmission Siting Provision ##SHARELINKS##
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