NEPPA eNewsletter
August 2015
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We are pleased to announced that for the first time NEPPA will have an app available for download that will keep you up to date on all Annual Conference speakers, events and activities! Please keep an eye out for more information to be released in a few weeks. ##SHARELINKS##
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For this year's Annual Conference, don't forget to tweet @NEPPA_Littleton with the hastag #NEPPA50thAC
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While affiliates set up in the exhibit hall, the delegates were able to enjoy our keynote speaker, Jay Blake, who spoke of his company, Follow A Dream, and described his personal journey overcoming a tragic accident in his life. See more on Jay’s story here:
Following Jay, concurrent topics were presented before and after the break: "The Benefits of VAR Support on your Distribution System" with Troy Cherry & Rich Miller of Varentec and "Mobile Technology" with John Morrall of Insightatlast and Gil Finch and Jon Patterson of Groton Electric Light, "The Benefits of the Cut-Out Mounted Re-Closer" with Dave Kearns of E.L. Flowers and "LED Lighting" with Rob Millard of Cooper Power Systems. All were very well attended and brought lively discussions to the sessions.
Lunch, sponsored by Arthur J. Hurley Company, Inc, kicked off the afternoon with Red Sox tickets donated by AJ Hurley. It was then that the exhibit hall opened and attendees roamed the floor during the afternoon, catching up with vendors exhibiting the latest equipment and technology the industry has to offer. Outside vendors featured trailers, bucket trucks and other industry items. In addition, a display for the Benevolent Fund was set up to raise money for the NEPPA charity that supports injured lineworkers and their families; almost $500 was raised for this important fund!
The afternoon would not be complete without demonstrations. Hydron providing a demo on Ox Blocks, and generators were featured by Milton CAT, both taking place outdoors.
The day wrapped up with raffle prizes (donated by the vendors) being drawn and Scott Zolak of the New England Patriots paying a visit to all!
Many thanks to Okonite, AJ Hurley and Marmon Utility/Hendrix Wire & Cable for sponsoring this important event!!
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A big thank you to all the affiliates and sponsors who helped make this years E&O a great success! Sponsors: Arthur J. Hurley Co., Inc. Marmon Utility - Hendrix The Okonite Company Affiliates: ABB Inc. ALTEC
Arthur J. Hurley Co., Inc.
AVCOM, Inc.
Burndy Electrical
C.U.E.S., Inc.
CRC, Inc.
Cummins Northeast
Cushing, Jammallo + Wheeler Inc.
D&D Electrical Sales, Inc.
D.C. Bates Equipment
E.L. Flowers (SPEAKER)
Eastcom Associates, Inc.
Eaton Cooper Power Systems
EDI
ElectriComm, Inc.
Electro Industries/Gauge Tech
Electroswitch Corp
Elster Solutions
Evluma LED Lighting
Fleet Electric Service
GE Digital Energy
Graybar
HDE
High Purity Northwest, Inc.
Hi-Line Utility Supply
Hydron Inc.
IBEW LU#104
INSIGHT Atlast (SPEAKER)
James A. Kiley Company
LVA Sales
Marmon Utility - Hendrix
Milton CAT
Mirra Co., Inc.
Mohawk LTD
Mpower Innovations
Northeast Power Delivery Group
Northern Data Systems
Power Sales Group
Powertech Associates
RBG, Inc.
Robinson Sales, Inc.
Robison Enterprises
Rypos
Schweitzer Engineering Labs
SGC Engineering
Shamrock
Sherman & Reilly
Sicame Corporation
Siemens
Sprypoint
Storm King Power Sales, LLC
Stuart Irby
TCI of NY LLC
The Okonite Company
Tri State Truck Center
VF Imagewear, Inc./Bulkwark FR/Action Apparel Inc.
Wartsila N.A.
WESCO Distribution Inc.
Workplace Safety Solutions, Inc.
Yale Electric East LLC
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This year at the E&O Conference & Expo 2015 we had some great raffle prizes! Raffle prizes included:
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT
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Greetings, Municipal and Rural Electric Utilities, Corporate and Affiliate Members:
 I would be remiss if I did not apologize for my absence from the e-newsletter for the past two issues. As the Interim Director, I have been attempting to ramp up on the issues important to our members and our industry in general, and have missed the opportunity to share my thoughts with you -- for that I am sorry.As NEPPA continues through our 50th Anniversary Celebration, I wish to update you on recent developments within the organization and the greater community that we serve.
It is time for us to return to our core competence of Safety and Training Education; Mutual Aid Coordination; Government Relations; and Communication/Dissemination of Information. To this end, initiatives that we have begun and will continue into 2016 include, but are not limited to:
The NEPPA community is flourishing. Our corporate and affiliate membership continues to grow and offer our utility members products and innovations to meet the challenges of the 21st century. I thank you all for your support, knowledge and volunteering in helping us achieve the goals of our organization and its members.
In addition to our growing affiliate membership, we continue to focus our attention on soliciting membership from those few municipal and rural utilities that have not joined our fraternity. It is our goal to achieve full utility membership in New England by the end of 2016. Only through membership is one able to help mold the future direction of our various committees and initiatives and goals for Public Power in New England.
Through the efforts of our Executive Committee and the Executive Search firm, Dacri and Associates, we are diligently and thoughtfully interviewing candidates for the vacant Executive Director’s position. We believe we will have a new Director in place by the end of the third quarter of 2015, helping guide our Association for the next 50 years.
Our 50th Anniversary Celebration will be in full view at our Annual Conference, August 23-26, at the Mt. Washington Resort, N.H. Please join us in sharing your reflections and thoughts on both the past and future 50 years of public power in New England and enjoy the festivities, programs and camaraderie that this special conference will afford all.
I thank you all for the privilege and honor of serving as your Interim Executive Director for these past few months and look forward to meeting with you at the Annual Conference and/or interacting with you on issues of mutual interest.
Best Regards,
Savas C. Danos
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AROUND NEW ENGLAND
 Lyndonville Electric Department manager Ken Mason, the face of the village-owned utility for nearly 40 years, has announced he will step down effective June 1, 2016. Hired as a superintendent on May 24, 1976, Mason took over as manager in August 1978. Since that time, Mason said he has seen the utility grow from about 3,500 meters (customers) to about 5,500 meters today, and from a five megawatt load to a current draw of approximately 12.5 MW.
Born in Hanover, N.H., Mason's father was in the military, which meant he traveled all over the world as a kid. The family finally settled in Massachusetts, and after serving in the Air Force and attending college, he found his way to Lyndonville to take the job at LED.
When he retires next June, Mason will be 69 years old and figures it's just time.
"I have two grandchildren that I want to spoil and I want to spend a little more time bothering my wife," said Mason. "She wants to start going on vacation, and when you manage a utility like this, you kind of act like the mother hen. You want to be around because whatever happens is going to end up on your desk."
Despite adding over 2,000 meters since he arrived, and having a budget in excess of $10 million, Mason points with pride to the fact that in 40 years LED has added only one employee to the payroll, which now stands at 17.
"The biggest thing I've done since I've been here," said Mason, "is getting the VELCO 115 kilovolt substation which we energized Dec. 16, 2010."
Mason said the addition of the Hill Street substation has greatly increased reliability for the utility as a whole.
"Prior to that we were on what they call a radial feed line out of St. Johnsbury," Mason explained. "So when that line went down, our whole system went flat until it was repaired. Now with the substation, all four of our substations are fed independently out of it. We used to have a minimum of five or six outages a year just because of our feed, let alone what we had on our system. That 115 kV line has only gone down once in 25 years. So our reliability is just so much greater."
"Ever since he's been here, that's been his goal and he achieved that," said Clay Bailey, LED financial manager. "Outside of the utility he's a great representative of Lyndonville Electric. He's represented us at VELCO and before the public service board. Whatever topic arises, maybe it has something to do with hydro or maybe it has something to do with rate setting, he can go in there and put the point across. That's been his greatest strength."
"Ken is very good at the job he does and he has the interests of the ratepayers at heart," added village municipal administrator Justin Smith. "I've known him personally since I was about 10 years old. He coached me in little league and his son and I went to school together. It was definitely interesting working alongside someone I used to know as coach Mason or Mr. Mason."
"I think with Ken he's going to tell you how he feels," said Smith. "He's definitely going to give you his opinion on what he thinks is the best way to handle a situation. And I think his decisions are most often motivated by trying to keep rates in a place where the people in this area can afford them."
Of all the ice storms, snow storms, floods and other weather events to pass through the Kingdom in his 40 years, Mason said it was the storm of July 16, 2013, that caused the most havoc for LED.
"That was the worst storm we had," said Mason. "It was a straight-line wind thunderstorm that started out in Sheffield and came right through our system. We had people out for three or four days and it cost us a little over $100,000 to restore service."
Mason said that getting out and working with the operations staff in tough situations is one of the things he'll miss the most about the job.
"When we have outages, everyone in this utility works the outage," Mason said. "I may be the manager, but I know how to run a chainsaw real well and I don't ask my line crews to do anything that I wouldn't do with them. If I ask them to work long hours, I'm going to work long hours myself."
"Treat everyone equally," said Mason, "always tell the truth." These are the two principles he has relied on to guide him through nearly 40 years running the department.
"The thing I will miss the least is dealing with state and federal regulators," Mason volunteered. "I think the longer you go the worse it gets. For a small utility like this, the demand on us administratively to provide paperwork and documentation ... that's the thing I will not miss at all."
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Belmont Light is pleased to announce that over 200 residents have participated in its Energy Efficiency Grant Program since the program’s launch in October 2014. Program participants receive no-cost weatherization reviews and opportunities for big savings on energy efficiency products and services. Funding is still available for customers who act quickly. According to Communications Coordinator Becca Keane, over 60% of the grants originally available through the program for weatherization services have been claimed. She also explained that the energy savings potential for participating customers is substantial. Residents who have been through the weatherization program can expect to save between 10% and 30% on their heating and cooling costs annually. Oil-heated homes that installed heat pumps will reduce their heating oil use by hundreds of expensive gallons per year. Keane also reminds customers that the energy efficiency measures they take in their own homes can lead to economic and environmental benefits for the wider Belmont community, like lower electricity costs and reductions in air pollution.
General Manger Jim Palmer is likewise excited about the progress of the program and its benefits to customers. He reported that over 10% of the oil heated homes in Belmont have participated in the program, a participation rate that Palmer says is impressive for energy efficiency initiatives.
The Energy Grant Program also allows residents access to energy efficiency funds that have never been available through Belmont Light before -- at a time when many customers need it most. "Energy costs in New England have escalated significantly over the past few years," Keane stated. Opportunities like the Energy Grant Program help customers better manage increasing costs. "Taking energy efficiency measures now will help save money when higher winter energy costs eventually return, so we are encouraging even the busiest of customers to sign up," she added.
The Energy Efficiency Grant Program provides Belmont Light customers with two savings opportunities:
Weatherization Grants (35 still available) that provide residents with $1,500 worth of weatherization products and services for a co‐pay of just $299. Homes must be heated with oil, electricity, propane, pellets, or other fuels to qualify (homes heated with natural gas are eligible for weatherization benefits through their gas provider and the Mass Save® program).
Heat Pump Grants (32 still available) ranging between $500 and $1,500 are available for Belmont residents to put toward high efficiency heating and cooling heat pump systems. These grants are available for homes currently heated with any fuel type.
Grants are allocated on a first‐come, first‐served basis and require a pre‐approval. Grants will remain available until they are all claimed. All Belmont residents who are interested in the program should visit www.BelmontLightEnergyGrant.com or contact Sagewell, Inc., the program administrator, at 617‐963‐8141 or support@sagewell.com.
Belmont Light received energy efficiency funding from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources through a competitive grant process. The award from the state will also fund the installation of 100 new LED streetlights in Belmont.
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ASSOCIATION HAPPENINGS
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NEPPA welcomes Keene State College OSHA Training Institute Education Center as an associate member as of Wednesday, July 15, 2015! Keene State College OSHA Training Institute Education Center is a Region 1 OSHA Training Institute Education Center conducting OSHA's premier standards, outreach trainer courses, and over 40 technical OSHA education in six New England states. Eight professional development certificates are available through Keene State College + the national Public Sector Safety & Health Fundamentals Certificate Program. The college is located at 175 Ammon Drive, Manchester, NH 03103. The primary contact person is Diane Malachowski who is the Program Director for the OSHA Training Institute Education Center. She can be reached at dmalachowski@keene.edu or 800-449-6742 (phone) and 603-645-0080 (fax). ##SHARELINKS##
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CALENDAR
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August 23-26, 2015
Mount Washington Resort
Bretton Woods, N.H.
Registration for the conference is now open! To register, please print out a brochure found here.
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The 9th Annual Northeast Public Power Lineworker's Rodeo will be held September 17 & 18, 2015, at the NEPPA Training Center in Littleton, Mass.
If you are interested in registering a team, sponsoring this great event, or just interested in learning more, please click here!    ##SHARELINKS##
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EDUCATION & TRAINING UPDATE
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Our Training Department has two new contract trainers. Peter Crowley, a career lineworker from Vermont, and Tom O’Connor, a former lineworker and General Line Foreman from Reading Light Department, have joined the NEPPA team as contract trainers. Both of these gentlemen bring a great deal of experience and knowledge to the NEPPA training staff. We look forward to working with both trainers as NEPPA moves forward in its endeavor to provide the best safety and technical training possible. I would also like to inform the NEPPA membership that we will be providing OSHA Certification training for all of our trainers in the near future. Our goal is to have all our trainers certified in OSHA Regulations by early next year. We have had contact with Keene State College and their OSHA Training Institute Education Center, which will be the source of this training. It is also our goal to bring OSHA Compliance to all NEPPA systems and to ensure that all our training reflects that intention. Stay safe! ##SHARELINKS##
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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
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In This Issue:
NEPPA Legislative Committee in High Gear on Capacity Market Issues
The last several months have seen a flurry of communications activity by the NEPPA Legislative Committee, as the 114th Congress began action on the first broad energy bills debated since 2009. The commitment by House and Senate leaders to develop bipartisan measures provided the first real legislative opportunity for NEPPA members to promote a "fix" to the region’s Forward Capacity Market problems.
NEPPA members and their attorneys were part of a small working group that developed an "Electric Resource Choice" amendment (also called self supply) that APPA and its members in organized markets are actively lobbying. The amendment would do the following:
A) In RTO regions that have not yet implemented a mandatory capacity market (MISO, SPP, CAISO), the legislation would prevent such a move unless there is unanimous support by the states in the region. Currently, the decision by the RTO to implement a mandatory capacity market can be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regardless of whether states, which have jurisdiction over retail rates, support such a move;
B) In regions that have already adopted a mandatory capacity market (NE-ISO, ISO-NY, PJM), the legislation would prevent the RTO from adopting or continuing to implement existing rates (or practices or procedures affecting rates) that impair the ability of a load-serving entity to meet its capacity obligations through a resource it owns, builds, controls, or for which it has a contract for capacity.
Representatives of the NEPPA Legislative Committee came to Washington, D.C. June 17-18 to meet with their congressional delegation, and with key House and Senate energy committee staff, advocating inclusion of the Electric Resource Choice amendment. The meetings included those Members of Congress that sit on the energy committee in each chamber: Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Joe Kennedy (D-MA), and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Angus King (I-ME).
The visits went well, but also underscored the complexity of the issues and conflicting information coming from generators, RTOs and others.
Since then, the Committee has convened by conference call every two weeks or so, under the leadership of Committee Chair Mike Kirkwood, Pascoag Utility District, to get legislative updates from Morgan Meguire, share information about regional efforts to address capacity market defects, and strategize about "next steps."
While NEPPA has not yet had success in getting a congressional sponsor for the "Electric Resource Choice" amendment, the Legislative Committee will use the upcoming congressional recess (Aug. 7 - Sept. 4) to continue meeting with delegation Members on this critical issue.
To read the complete legislative update including the following topics, click the links below: ##SHARELINKS##
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On July 22, 2015, Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) unveiled the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s broad, bipartisan energy bill. Focused on a wide range of national energy opportunities and challenges, the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 shows what is possible when Senators work together and strive to reach agreement. The Energy Policy Modernization Act builds on recent technological breakthroughs and promises to bring substantial benefits to American families and businesses while protecting the environment. It will save energy, expand domestic supplies, facilitate investment into critical infrastructure, protect the grid, boost energy trade, improve the performance of federal agencies, and renew programs that have proven effective. The end result will be more affordable energy, more abundant energy, and more functional energy systems throughout the U.S. to strengthen and sustain our energy renaissance. Best of all, the Energy Policy Modernization Act achieves these goals in a fiscally-responsible manner.
To read more of the article, please click here.
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