NEPPA eNewsletter

Next year is going to be a big year for NEPPA as we celebrate our 50th year! We are asking YOU, the members, to help us in gathering old photos, mementos, plaques, or anything you think that best describes or illustrates what NEPPA is or what we do!

Please contact Courtney Crouse at ccrouse@neppa.org if you would like to contribute!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving! I would like to devote this article to the NEPPA community. One of Webster’s Dictionary’s definitions of community is: "a unified body of individuals such as a body of persons of common and especially professional interests scattered through a larger society." While this describes one level of NEPPA members it is a little sterile in reference to the actual spirit and workings of our relationships.

In 1965 the New England public power community came together to reinforce their bonds and to strengthen their individual operations. This was prior to the creation of the EPA and OSHA. New England public power communities realized that they were all in the same boat and that in an effort to provide education and to protect public power from growing privatization, the common interest needed a place to house, organize and direct public power utilities on crucial industry issues. In 1971 and 1973 when OSHA and the EPA came into being, these common bonds were crucial to the survival of public power in New England.

As we begin to celebrate our 50th Anniversary it is a great time to reflect on how NEPPA’s mission and offerings have grown. Throughout 2015 we will attempt to do justice to the people, events and actions that have allowed the public power community to flourish for the past 50 years. From our origins to our four prongs of services today (Education, Government Relations, Mutual Aid, and Communications), we will recognize the steps that got us here.

Our celebration/homage to the past will be integrated into all of our 2015 interactions. In this publication you will find requests for historical stories, photos, equipment and memorabilia to help us record and reflect the milestones. It is crucial that you respond and help us provide the most well-rounded retrospective we can.

As a newbie who has been a part of other communities who have celebrated significant anniversaries, I can tell you that I expect that many of the moments we will recognize will probably evoke emotions from the personal investments that we and our predecessors had in creating them. These moments and history are the foundation of our community or (dare I say) family. Like the police and fire communities, there exists a special bond of brotherhood. Like the Thanksgiving dinner we all just shared with our individual families, as we go through 2015 when we recognize these moments, we will remember all of the love, fights, triumphs and failures that families experience.

These moments are what create our bonds. These moments maybe state significant times when the ties between the six states were tested or reinforced. Like snapshots they will record our ever-changing family and communities. So, I ask you to take a few moments and review our requests for stories, photos, etc. and share with this family what you have. We will take good care of what we receive and return them to you in the same condition.

Additionally, there will be plenty of opportunity for you to participate. Please watch our 2015 e-Newslines and website for polls and results on what you and your brothers and sisters find significant for us to remember or reflect upon. We want to represent every element of our community/family, so please participate.

Finally, keep a look out for our special anniversary logo!

Happy and safe holidays and be prepared to celebrate in 2015!

Each year, APPA presents two prestigious awards that recognize outstanding utilities that embody the spirit of the Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments (DEED) program. These awards are an opportunity to impress your customers, community and industry colleagues with your utility’s accomplishments.

The two awards being given are:

Award of Continued Excellence (ACE)

The Award of Continued Excellence recognizes a DEED member utility that has demonstrated continued commitment to the DEED program and its ideals. Nominations are evaluated on involvement in the DEED program (i.e. grants, scholarships, etc.), commitment to energy-efficiency; investigation/use of renewable resources; and support of public power. This award is presented during APPA's annual Engineering and Operations Technical Conference.

Energy Innovator Award (EIA)

The Energy Innovator Award recognizes utility programs that have demonstrated advances in the development or application of creative, energy-efficient techniques or technologies, provide better service to electric customers or projects that increase the efficiency of utility operations or resource efficiency. Judging criteria also includes transferability and takes into account project scope in relation to utility size. This award is presented during APPA's annual National Conference.

The deadline for submission for both awards is January 31, 2015.

The Municipal Electric Association of Massachusetts has announced that Sandra Richter, Public Communications Manager for the Middleborough Gas & Electric Department, has been named the 2014 Communicator of the Year by the Communications and Energy Services Group.

Winners of the award demonstrate exceptional leadership and communication skills, and contribute to the betterment of MEAM member utilities. Recognized as an advocate who has earned a reputation as being highly credible with a variety of diverse audiences, each award recipient consistently uses communication strategies that demonstrate creativity and innovation in a public utility environment.

Sandy was nominated by her General Manager, Jackie Crowley, who listed a number of recent achievements including developing the department’s website and social media presence; expanding the natural gas public awareness program; evolving the customer newsletter, the Messenger, together with an increasing participation in local events, to be more community-focused; and playing a key role in this year’s town-staged emergency drill.

"The MEAM Communicator of the Year Award was established to recognize communication and leadership excellence within the Public Power industry," said Jackie Pratt, the MEAM Communications & Energy Services president. "Sandy Richter is a true leader and is deeply respected by her peers. Sandy’s experience and voice are huge assets to the MEAM-CES group. I can’t think of a more deserving person to be named our inaugural MEAM Communicator of the Year."

MEAM was formed in 1953 and includes all 40 municipally owned electric utilities in the state, advocating and supporting their management and mutual interests for the benefit of their citizen-owners. The MEAM Communications and Energy Services group brings together utility professionals to share and monitor information in these fields for the advancement of public electric utility service.

NEPPA held its Annual Membership Meeting on November 7, 2014 at the NEPPA Training Center in Littleton, MA. The meeting was well attended by members of the Northeast Public Power Association including utilities and affiliates from all around New England. 

The meeting began with Calvin Ames, NEPPA’s President, welcoming the group and delivering his President’s report. Following that Calvin was joined by Mark Kelly to go over the by-law changes. Afterwards, Kristin DiGirolamo, NEPPA’s Controller, presented the 2015 Association Budget. Mike Kirkwood, NEPPA’s Treasurer, informed us of the change in NEPPA’s investment strategy and policy. Then Larry Brownell, NEPPA’s Executive Director, delivered the 2015 business plan for NEPPA. Sharon Staz gave the legislative activities update and the 2015 outlook for NEPPA followed by Mike Cloutier addressing the group about the recent revival of the 2014 rodeo. Lastly, Mark Kelly spoke about the 50th anniversary plans for 2015.

Just prior to lunch, the affiliates who had elected to do so had the chance to stand up in front of the group and share what their companies do and what they can offer the utilities.

The following people stood up to represent their companies:

• Pasi Miettinen from Sagewell, Inc.
• Chris Eaton & Brian Evans-Mungeon from Utility Services
• Chris Pollart from Rubin + Rudman, LLP
• Sarah Glover from InsightAtlast, LLC
• Greg Phipps from Tangent Energy
• Dave Breckon from Electroswitch Corp.
• Shane Fleming from Electricomm
• John Young from ABB Inc. C/O Primary Lines, Inc.
• Chris Guyette from Graybar Electric

Afterwards, everyone had lunch and visited with the affiliates who had set up their booths in the garage.

Matrix SME became a corporate member of NEPPA on Monday, November 17, 2014! Matrix SME is an electrical contractor who is focused on substations and T&D. The company is located at 15 Wisconsin Avenue, Norwich, CT 06360. The primary contact person is Irving Silverman, who is the Operations Manager for New York and New England. He can be reached at isilverman@matrixsme.com or 860.319.0984(phone) or 860.319.0986(fax).

NEPPA welcomes Sagewell, Incorporated as an associate member as of Monday, October 27, 2014! Sagewell develops programs to help municipal utilities decrease peak load and increase revenue. The company is located at 100 Cambridge Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140. Their primary contact is Pasi Miettinen. He can be reached at pasi@sagewell.com or by phone at 617.963.8140.

Tangent Energy Solutions became an associate member of NEPPA on Wednesday, November 5, 2014! Tangent is an energy services company providing capacity and transmission cost-management services to community-owned utilities. The company is located at 206 Gale Lane, Suite C, PO Box 1140, Kennett Square, PA 19348. The primary contact is David C. Turner who is the COO. He can be reached at dturner@tangentenergy.com or 610.444.2800, ext. 203(phone) or 610.444.2822(fax).

On November 10, 2014, the NEPPA Safety Trainers assembled in Littleton, Massachusetts at the NEPPA Training Center for their annual meeting. Each year the trainers meet to discuss important issues they all face and any regulation updates that need to be shared to help ensure that all NEPPA training sessions are current with all related regulations. Techniques that make training sessions both interesting and relevant are also shared.

As in past years, the group discussed many important topics. One subject this year was an effort to incorporate the new OSHA updates into all the NEPPA safety offerings. The programs are continuously being worked on, updated, and saved to the NEPPA server. Each trainer will be able to download each of the programs for 2015 to their respective computers to ensure that all the latest requirements will be covered in their sessions. Videos that are pertinent to the subject material are also being added to make each program fresh and interesting.

The group welcomed a new full-time trainer added since last year’s meeting: Jason Lavallee was in attendance for the first time. Jason has primarily been covering the new Hoisting License requirements but will be visiting many of the NEPPA members in 2015 and teaching many of NEPPA’s classes.

All of NEPPA’s trainers once again recommitted themselves to conduct the highest quality training possible recognizing the importance of training line workers to work in the safest manner possible. One aspect of a good safety meeting is to have all participants involved and to eliminate any type of distractions, such as side discussions that may not be related to the topic at hand. It is not only recommended but  extremely desirable to have managers and supervisors attend our meetings! 

 As an organization, NEPPA is truly fortunate to have such a dedicated team of people who take their job seriously. It is truly a privilege for me to work with this group who care so deeply for the people they are trying to assist to "Go home at the end of the day...safe!"

Steve Socoby

NEPPA Director of Training

In This Issue:

• Election Overview: Lame Duck Session, FERC Nomination Hearing on Colette Honorable...
• FERC & Capacity Markets: NE Senators Blast FERC on Lack of Oversight; Sen. Schumer Take Aim at NY Capacity Markets; FERC Requests RTO’s to File "Fuel Assurance" Reports...  
• Energy Policy: Senate Bill on Demand Response in RTO Markets, Sen. Whitehouse Introduces Carbon Tax... 
• Reliability: Republican Leaders Question FERC on Reliability Impacts of EPA’s Power Plan; NERC Highlights Winter Reliability Concerns...

President Obama and congressional Democrats suffered a resounding defeat in the Nov. 4 mid-term elections, which ushered in a new Republican Senate majority (53-44) and a stronger GOP House (244-188).  One Senate seat is yet to be determined with incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu (LA), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENR), in a Dec. 6 run-off against her Republican challenger, Congressman Bill Cassidy (R).   In the House, three unresolved races remain. 

Immediately following the election, GOP leaders in the House and Senate acknowledged it will be important for them to show that they can govern, and avoid partisan brinksmanship, if they expect to maintain the Senate and win the White House in 2016. 

Congress will reconvene for the remainder of its "Lame Duck" session on Dec. 1 and will remain in session through the weekend of December 13, at the latest. 

The scope of legislative activity is focused on three major bills: defense authorization legislation, a federal funding bill, and tax "extender" legislation that will continue some expired and expiring tax benefits for businesses, including renewable energy tax credits.  Negotiations on the extenders bill will determine whether some of these provisions will be extended permanently or continue through only 2014 or through both 2014 and 2015. 

In addition, Senate ENR will hold a confirmation hearing for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) nominee Colette Honorable on Dec. 4.  If confirmed, she will replace John Norris, who left FERC in Aug. 2014. 

To read the complete legislative update including the following topics, click the links below: