The April edition of the APPA Washington Report features an info-graphic that highlights Public Power’s legislative priorities, including Clean Power Plan, tax-exempt financing, wholesale power markets, grid security, and the role of renewables and distributed generation. Click on "learn more" for this easy to digest piece.

Tennessee’s Columbia Power & Water Systems has been deploying steadily a number of integrated information systems that utilize volumes of data to improve customer services and utility operations. Central to this effort are the capabilities of the meter and operational data management system from ElectSolve Technology Solutions and Services. In 2009, as CPWS began deploying the advanced metering information system from Honeywell Elster (then Elster Solutions), CPWS selected the ODM/MDM system from ElectSolve.

Tornadoes are nature’s most violent storms. Spawned from powerful thunderstorms, tornadoes can cause fatalities and devastate a neighborhood in seconds. A tornado appears as a rotating, funnel-shaped cloud that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground with whirling winds that can reach 300 miles per hour. Damage paths can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long. Every state is at some risk from this hazard. Some tornadoes are clearly visible, while rain or nearby low-hanging clouds obscure others. Occasionally, tornadoes develop so rapidly that little, if any, advance warning is possible. Before a tornado hits, the wind may die down and the air may become very still. A cloud of debris can mark the location of a tornado even if a funnel is not visible. Tornadoes generally occur near the trailing edge of a thunderstorm. It is not uncommon to see clear, sunlit skies behind a tornado.

If you read our monthly articles for the TMEPA Overlook, you know we are big fans of storytelling. In fact, storytelling is the basis of content marketing, which is what we help our clients do. But why is this an effective tactic? There is plenty of science that explains why storytelling works, and we may dive into that in a future article. For now, let’s focus on how you can use the power of storytelling to communicate with your customers — about everything from safety programs to rate increases.

Allow me to share a story passed along to me by a good friend and Citadel classmate, Rowe Moody. With the celebration of Easter just behind us, I think you will find it inspiring: A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art. When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

At the time of this publication, the Tennessee General Assembly should be just about done with its business for the year. The state $34.8 billion state budget passed last week without much hassle, probably due to a large surplus that allowed legislators to allocate new money to areas such as education and transportation. Because municipal utilities including electric systems are self sufficient, the state budget rarely has anything it in that could effect the state’s public utilities. Nearly every issue before the legislature has been resolved for good or bad, with some of them needing just the final approval of the full House or Senate after getting worked out among the parties in committee. Below are some of the lingering issues that have been resolved in the past month since our last Legislative Update. Next month we’ll update you on every bill or issue affecting municipal electric systems in this year’s legislative session. Until then, here’s the latest.

Only 3 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". Information is also on our website at www.tmepa.org. Look in the left column...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.

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.

For the first time Member System Board Members can participate in both the Annual Meeting and complete the TMEPA Board Member Training Program as a break out session. The normal cost is part of the registration fee to attend the 50th Annual Meeting at the Omni Hotel in Downtown Nashville. 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 serve as a municipal electric system board member. We already have board members signing up so hurry before the class is filled.

For the first time in the History of the E & O Group we had sponsors and exhibitors at the Spring meeting, and the response was wonderful! We gathered at the beautiful Crowne Plaza Hotel in Downtown Knoxville on April 7 and 8. We had over 90 in attendance, who represented Municipal power providers from all across the state. We believe this may have been one of the largest E & O Spring meetings that has been held.