Archive for category: General Information

We wanted to call your attention to a recent article published in APPA’s Public Power Daily titled Public power ranks high in J.D. Power customer satisfaction study. Most everyone is familiar with J.D. Power. It’s the most recognizable firm that conducts surveys of a wide range of customer satisfaction indicators in a number of different industries, ranging from automotive, cellphone, computer manufacturers, and yes, utilities, just to name a few.

For 17 years J.D. Power has conducted a customer satisfaction survey on U.S. electric utilities. APPA points out that four public power utilities are among the eight highest ranked utilities according to the J.D. Power report. These are midsize to large utilities, however, whatever the size of a utility, it’s an interesting read and may provide insights that all can glean about customer satisfaction in our industry.

We wanted to take this opportunity to introduce Michael Ort, the new City Administrator of Jetmore. Michael assumed his position this past fall, so he and his wife, Jennifer, and their four children have already begun to settle into the Jetmore community.

Michael grew up in central Missouri and most recently lived in Kansas City. Michael’s path to city administrator started in 2011 after he left behind his career driving trucks to return to school to finish his degree in History at Columbia College and earn his MPA at American Public University.

After only a few short months on the job, Michael saw firsthand the value of having behind the meter generation, when the city was suddenly kicked off the grid December 14th. Jetmore’s newly installed generator picked up the city load from 1:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

City Administrator of Jetmore is Michael’s first position in city government and he is excited and grateful for the opportunity to serve the good people of Jetmore in this capacity.

 

This has been a busy but very productive week. On Tuesday staff attended the KMU Day at the Capitol along with the staff of KMU, KPP, and other city representatives.  It was a great opportunity to learn about the issues affecting public utilities that will be considered during this year’s legislative session. The most prominent issue is the State budget and how the lawmakers plan to close the gap between income and spending not only in the current fiscal year but in the coming years. There are several issues on the utility front not the least of which is the EPA Clean Power Plan. We heard from Gary Mason of the KDHE about how KDHE and KCC are working together to craft a plan for Kansas that is acceptable to the EPA. We learned of other issues including new water rules and regulations and the latest on Kansas’ approach to Cyber security for power plants. We also attended a KMEA Executive Committee meeting on Wednesday in Topeka and an EMP3 meeting on Thursday in Seneca. What a great week and we really enjoyed seeing everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

Paula Campbell, Senior Energy Controller for KMEA is celebrating her 25 year anniversary with the Agency and we would like to take this opportunity to recognize her contributions. Paula plays an integral part in managing the loads and generators of the KMEA member cities. Yet much of what she does is behind the scenes, so few people understand the key role she plays.

As Senior Energy Controller, Paula has the day-to-day responsibility of helping manage the EMP groups along with contract power from numerous sources including GRDA, SPA, KCPL, Westar and SECI. With the new SPP IM, Paula’s responsibilities have changed along with the market. She has become more active in attending monthly meetings, manages the 120+ generators within the EMP groups and working with meter agents to verify accuracy of load and generation data submitted to the SPP market.

Many people are not aware that Paula volunteered to go on call 24/7 back in November 1997 when the Nearman unit went off-line and power prices spiked. The days of working normal business hours had come to an end. Paula covered the on-call responsibility by herself until a second full time energy controller was added in 2006.

For Paula, her relationship with the cities is the most rewarding aspect of her job. Her excellent communication skills have helped her build trust and camaraderie between KMEA and the member cities she serves. “I truly value the friendships I have developed over the years,” Paula recently commented.

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.