Tom and I visited Kiowa on Tuesday for the new city orientation. We went over the monthly billing and then had a demonstration of the dashboard and showed them how they could monitor their load and SPP prices. KMEA will start serving the City of Kiowa on
January 1st. We welcome Kiowa as the newest member of KMEA and we look forward to serving them well into the future. Our thanks to Lou, Marlo, and Lynette for their hospitality.
Wow how things have changed in the electric generation industry. In years past natural gas was not looked at as a baseload product, but rather a supplement, when it came to electric generation. Today all that has changed.
Natural gas has not only become a strong force in the energy industry, the Energy Information Administration reports that natural gas has become the cheapest source of power production. The EIA has calculated that to build a 1000 Megawatt gas fired power plant it would cost approximately $869 million. To construct a 1000MW coal plant would cost $2.72 billion and $4.64 billion for a nuclear plant of equal size.
Compressed natural gas powers more vehicles, busses and business fleets across America today than ever before. Exporting liquid natural gas has expanded the industry a great deal as well. Exploration for crude oil and natural gas may be down but production has kept the commodities at or near historic lows.
Yes it all looks good now for the consumer but how long will it last? That is a question I wish we could answer. Diversity is still the key to managing a smart power supply portfolio.
We wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate Glenn Rodden who is set to become Baldwin City’s next city administrator after a unanimous vote by the city council. Both sides found the opportunity to be an ideal fit with Glenn’s 16 years of experience as a city administrator in cities of similar size. Additionally, Baldwin City was attracted to Glenn’s experience with and preference for a city that owns its utilities, like Baldwin City.
Glenn originally hails from a small town outside of Chicago and graduated from Northern Illinois University with undergraduate and master’s degrees in public administration. After serving as assistant city manager of Streator, Ill, and then interim city manager, Glenn made Kansas his new home when he accepted the city administrator position in Seneca. Glenn later became city manager in Holton and most recently, city administrator in Beloit, where he has served since 2009.
Glenn will begin his duties in Baldwin City February 1. Please join us in congratulating Glenn on his new position as city administrator for Baldwin City.
After suddenly being kicked off the grid in the wee hours of Monday morning, December 14th, the City of Jetmore saw firsthand the value of having behind the meter generation. According to City Administrator, Michael Ort, the city’s newly installed generator picked up the city load, running from 1:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
“We completed the testing on the new engine and generator on November 20th. As luck would have it, it was just in time for us to put it to good use. We are very pleased and grateful to have the new engine online, ready to serve the residents of Jetmore.” Jetmore recently invested $995,000 installing a 2.5 MW opposed piston engine and generator set, a new breaker, controls, switchgear, piping, a diesel day tank, and associated equipment.
The City of Erie is the second city to achieve a historic milestone this year. 2015 marks the city’s 100 year anniversary of providing electric power to the residents of Erie. Only 45 member cities have reached the centennial milestone since KMEA began keeping records.
KMEA was privileged to honor the city with the presentation of an engraved plaque to Mayor Darrell Bauer at a recent city council meeting.
Even with the EIA reporting on Thursday a larger than expected withdraw volume from storage, natural gas prices continue to fall. US gas in storage fell 76 Bcf to 3,880 Bcf for the week ending December 4th. The withdrawal from storage was above consensus expectations of a pull between 59 Bcf and 63 Bcf.
Weather forecasts continue to indicate relatively weak demand. WSI’s 11 to 15 day forecast from Thursday showed above average temperatures across much of the central and eastern US. Analysts in the industry note that it’s going to be very warm in all the wrong places as the midcontinent and eastern US are typically the large consumers of natural gas this time of year.
Since November 1st, midcontinent daily index prices have averaged around $1.95 per MMBtu, with $1.705 being the lowest price posted during this time, and $2.155 being the highest price posted. Last year for this same time period, $3.21 was the lowest price posted and $4.695 was the highest posted price.
The projected average for the NYMEX futures monthly contracts is $2.66 per MMBtu for the next 24 months. During the winter months the futures contracts are forecasted to be around $3.00, and during the non-peak months they are projected to fall to around the $2.30 – $2.40 mark.
Left to right: Marty Springer and Don Cawby
Marty Springer, Power Plant Superintendent for the City of Osawatomie, celebrated his retirement with a reception on November 20th, among city officials and local residents at Osawatomie’s Memorial Hall. City Manager, Don Cawby, presented a proclamation recording Marty’s role in the city’s history.
Marty got his start with the city in 1977 as a power plant operator and was promoted to Power Plant Superintendent in 1995. Over the course of Marty’s 38-year career, he was responsible for maintaining and operating the water treatment plant as well as the power plant and transmission facility.
In addition to Marty’s dedicated service to Osawatomie, he was also devoted to public power, serving as a representative of Energy Management Power Project 1 of KMEA and other public utility organizations. Please join us in congratulating Marty on an outstanding career and best wishes in his retirement.
The City of Garnett has recently completed the replacement of a city distribution line from their south substation to the newly constructed hospital. The new line includes the addition of one new circuit and the upgrades of two 4160 circuits and one 2400 circuit. The new circuit was built with 477 ACSR wire to allow the city to tie into the north substation in the future which would allow the city to be fed from both directions. The poles and the three circuits that were upgraded date back to 1942. The new line is about one mile in length and cost approximately $500,000.
In addition to electrical upgrades, the city is installing a new sewer pump station to service the north side of Garnett. A 10 year improvement plan has been approved by the City Commission, which will see a minimum of $100,000 per year spent for improvements to Garnett’s collector system.
Finally, the City Commission has hired Ponzer & Youngquist Engineers to develop plans for a new water treatment plant. A preliminary plan has been provided for commission review. Their engineer and the city’s water plant superintendent have been busy touring new water plants to make sure they recommend the right facility for Garnett.
The City of Jetmore has come a long way since January of 2014 when they chose KMEA to be their power supplier.
In late 2014, after a lengthy RFP process, the City of Jetmore chose Farabee Mechanical as their supplier and installer of a reconditioned Fairbanks-Morse generator. Farabee, along with others, installed a 2.5 MW opposed piston engine and generator set, a new breaker, controls, switchgear, piping, a diesel day tank, and associated equipment. The generator is capable of serving the vast majority of the city’s required capacity as well as their energy needs in an emergency situation. The city invested approximately $995,000 in this project. Initial startup and testing is scheduled this month.
For those of you I have not had the pleasure to meet, I am Dixie Riedel, Director of Natural Gas, for KMGA. Among the more impactful and enjoyable opportunities I have is traveling to KMGA communities to provide personal consultation to our members. Whether it’s answering questions about a city’s natural gas system, calculation of rates, discussing services KMGA provides, or a host of other items of interest, city visits are always fruitful.
This Thursday, November 19th, I visited the City of Kechi and met with City Clerk, Laura Hill, and Finance Director, Mitch Kolf. After leaving Kechi,
I travelled to the City of Walton and met with City Clerk, Stephanie Ashby. Each city was interested in a review of their process for calculating rates. After evaluating each cities process, I recommended some changes to ensure that each city captures all costs associated with their natural gas supply when calculating rates. I also created and provided spreadsheets to each city in order to simplify their rate calculation process for their end-use customers.
Thanks to both cities for their hospitality, trust, and support. As I mentioned before, city visits always prove to be worthwhile and productive.
