The challenges of a modern electric utility are many. New technology has reinvented the way you operate on a daily basis and promises to keep those changes coming. A challenging regulatory environment and door-to-door solar panel salesmen only add to the things that utilities have to respond to.

Hometown Connections, the utility services subsidiary of the American Public Power Association (APPA), and Katama Technologies, Inc. (KTI) announced a partnership to provide technology planning and implementation consulting services to public power utilities. The services will focus on utilities looking to deploy or upgrade Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), SCADA, and other electricity distribution automation systems. Through Hometown Connections, APPA members gain access to discount pricing on systems and services from the industry’s leading vendors, as well as consulting support in the areas of organization assessment, strategic planning, market research, and workforce solutions.

The 2016 RP3 Application period will be opening soon! Registration for the 2016 application is available here and the application questions can be previewed here. Applications for 2016 should be submitted using the RP3 Designation Online system through Sept. 30, 2016. Utilities applying in 2016 will be designated in 2017.

The Senate entered 2016 with Energy and Natural Resources Committee leaders pushing hard for passage of the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015, S. 2012. Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) surprised observers by getting floor time nearly first out of the gate. The rapid advancement of the bill shows the determination of energy committee leaders and their willingness to set aside differences on the most controversial issues.

See ya, February! Goodbye and good riddance! Glad to see you gone! Winter in East Tennessee is the worst of all possible inevitable's. Not bitter cold like Minnesota, but certainly cold enough to make outdoor activities, especially driving, uncomfortable at best.

If it’s the middle of March at the Tennessee General Assembly, it’s crunch time. With a mid-April target adjournment date, committees are beginning to close. Tempers are becoming short, anxiety rising. Many bills that have been lingering around for weeks will soon meet their final resolution, some of them quietly taken off calendars while others will meet a public fate of a committee vote that goes against them. In January every bill has hope and promise as the session begins, but eventually legislative reality sets in.

4 Months to go to the 50th Anniversary of TMEPA! We're getting closer to the 50th Anniversary/Annual Meeting of TMEPA, and it's really exciting preparing for this exceptional meeting. Your Annual Meeting Committee has completed the agenda and, as usual, it's full of exceptional speakers, outstanding topics and a special round table of TMEPA Distinguished Retired System Managers talking about the origins of TMEPA. It's the best opportunity available for networking and interaction with other municipal systems and managers from across the state. We'll be sending the initial information out soon so keep your eyes on the "inbox." Click on Learn More for a special representation of our coming meeting.

At every Annual Meeting a very special group of our friends across the industry unite with us to bring an outstanding meeting to Tennessee Municipal Electric Systems. Quite frankly, we couldn't bring in the speakers addressing topics important to each of you, have the many opportunities for special events, provide all the outstanding food and drink and give you the opportunity to learn and network without their help. We encourage you to give these folks the opportunity to meet your system needs. They'll be represented at the annual meeting and most will have an exhibit.

Even though the five board members of the Paris Board of Public Utilities are appointed by the mayor — of a city with a population of just over 10,000 — the utility serves all of Henry County. That's 21,000 electric customers and more than 1,500 miles of electric lines. The BPU was formed in 1938 after electric and water facilities were purchased from KY-TN Power and Light. Today, BPU has 75 employees: 29 in the electric department, 21 in water/wastewater, 15 office employees and ten in engineering/metering.

Have an important meeting or event coming to your town? Let us know and we'll put it on the TMEPA Calendar. Stay up to date with all the TMEPA meetings and other events around the state and even nationally for TMEPA Member Systems.

The TMEPA Spring E & O Conference will be in Knoxville at the Crowne Plaza on April 7 and 8. The program is excellent, and for the first time for the Spring Conference we will have Sponsor Exhibitors. Some highlights of the event include: "Current R & D Activities in Distribution," "Wireless Internet: A Solution with No Strings Attached" and "Violence in the Workplace." We are also proud to provide an afternoon tour of the Buffalo Mountain Wind Farm -- a special thank you to Mark Meigs and Cristian Cagle-Brooks for giving us this opportunity. The registration materials are included. We hope you will all make plans to attend.

As the TMEPA Staff and Annual Meeting Committee are finalizing preparations for the big 50th Annual Meeting at the Omni Hotel in Downtown Nashville, plans are also being made to hold another annual TMEPA event along with it. Board member training will be held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting to increase the value and attendance of system board members at the meeting. Usually TMEPA’s board training is held as a one-day stand-alone session, bringing TMEPA managers and system board members to Nashville for the training. This requires many system board members to take an additional trip or day off off in service of their utility. The special 50th Annual Meeting presents a unique opportunity for board members to attend the Annual Meeting while getting the information they need to run a municipal electric system.

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