NEPPA eNewsletter
July 2015
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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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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT
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Annual Conference
August 23-26, 2015
Mount Washington Resort
Bretton Woods, N.H.
Don't miss out on NEPPA's biggest event this year!! Our 50th Anniversary Annual Conference will be held at Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, N.H., August 23-26, 2015. We are very excited about the agenda and all the special activities we have planned for you!
To see more information or to download a registration, please click here!
9th Annual Northeast Public Power Lineworker's Rodeo
September 17 & 18, 2015
NEPPA Training Center
Littleton, Mass.
On September 17, NEPPA will conduct the 9th Lineworker's Rodeo. Last year 10+ teams from around New England competed for supremacy. For more information about this event and how to become a sponsor or enter a team, please visit here!
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AROUND NEW ENGLAND
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Georgetown Municipal Light Department recently participated in a safety day for students at the Perley School. 1st Class Lineworkers TJ Middleton and Jesse Cote displayed the lineworker equipment and reminded students to stay safe around electricity.  ##SHARELINKS##
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The American Public Power Association presented the town-owned utility with a Diamond Reliable Public Power Provider designation. The diamond level is the highest of the three levels of the designation. The designation recognizes public power utilities that demonstrate proficiency in four key disciplines: reliability, safety, workforce development and system improvement. Criteria within each category are based on sound business practices and represent a utility-wide commitment to the safe and reliable delivery of electricity. BELD earned a score of 98 out of a possible 100 in the review. Light Department General Manager Bill Bottiggi said they are honored to receive the designation. "Our utility staff puts in a lot of hard work to serve this community," Bottiggi said. This designation "represents a much needed recognition of this hard work." The designation has been awarded for a decade, and is currently held by less than 10 percent of the country’s more than 2,000 public power utilities. It lasts for three years. Kenneth Stone, BELD's energy services and accounting manager, serves as an executive committee member of the review panel for the designation. Stone said that utilities that have received the designation "are implementing best practices for the industry and are a testament to public power’s commitment to serving the community." The designees were presented Monday during the association’s annual engineering and operations technical conference in Sacramento, Calif. BELD is one of five Massachusetts public power utilities to hold the designation. The others are in Holyoke, Mansfield, North Attleboro and Westfield. The more than 2,000 community- and state-owned utilities represented by the Arlington, Va.-based American Public Power Association serve more than 48 million people, or about 14 percent of the nation’s electricity customers. To read more please click here! ##SHARELINKS##
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Energy New England (ENE), LLC, an energy cooperative based in Foxborough, Mass., announced that the Westfield Gas & Electric Light Department (WG&E) will be joining the ENE family of customers beginning September 1, 2015. WG&E is an 86 MW electric system that provides natural gas and electric service to its customers in Westfield, Mass. Westfield becomes the 21st customer of the ENE Wholesale Power group, who has provided power supply and risk management services since 1998, and has seen continued growth over the past 5 years in their customer base. "The addition of Westfield continues to strengthen the position of ENE in the power supply services market and we are excited to have them join us as a new customer, said John G. Tzimorangas, President and CEO of ENE. "We have the unique opportunity to work with individuals who are well versed in the power supply area and look forward to assisting Westfield in maintaining their high quality of service and rates for their customers. We certainly intend this relationship to be productive and for ENE to provide a high level of service to Westfield to help them meet their goals."
The WG&E Light Department, founded in 1899, serves approximately 17,800 customers in the City of Westfield, and the utility also provides natural gas and Internet services to those customers.
Formed in 1998, ENE’s customer base has grown significantly over the past few years, and is recognized leader of both power supply and demand side services to the public power community. The company works with more than 35 municipal systems on a dedicated basis in the provision of one or more supply or demand-side services. In addition, it manages more than 1000 MW of load and 560 MW of generation throughout New England.
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Energy New England, LLC (ENE), an energy cooperative of municipal electric utilities operating throughout New England, announced that Vincent J. Ragucci, III has joined ENE as Executive Vice President. Ragucci will be responsible for state and local government projects and establishing ENE in sectors beyond the municipal utilities with the same outstanding services that has allowed ENE to grow in the past 5 years. These areas include state agencies, higher educational entities, regional organizations, local government and businesses that could benefit from the services provided by ENE. Vincent also previously served during the past 5 years as an outside board member at Energy New England. "I am excited to join the outstanding team of professionals at Energy New England and for the tremendous opportunity that it will allow for me to assist communities and businesses in saving money through our procurement, energy efficiency and conservation services," said Ragucci.
Ragucci previously managed Parsons Brinckerhoff’s (PB) State & Local Government Affairs activities and served as a strategic business developer across all of the United States. Vincent served as the corporate liaison for PB with its state, city and local communities involving transportation, water and waste water, land development and power projects.
Vincent also brings experience from positions at CH2M HILL, where he served as Director of State and Local Government Affairs in the U.S. and Canada, with Covanta Energy and with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (Boston Harbor Project), where he provided government, community, media and public relations support for infrastructure and power related public-private partnership projects. One of his proudest accomplishments included developing a 120 MW Power Cogeneration Study and Project for Braintree Electric Light Company (BELD), a municipal power generator in Braintree, Mass.
John G. Tzimorangas, President and CEO of ENE, said, "Vincent comes to the ENE team after serving on the Board for 5 years and will be applying his knowledge of the organization and its services with his significant business relationships to provide business opportunities that were previously unattainable. This hire will give ENE an opportunity to represent their customers and public power in a more strategic and involved level."
Vincent has also served over the past 25 years as a liaison to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities, International City & County Management Association (ICMA), and National Association of Counties (NACO). Mr. Ragucci brings 25 years of professional experience in the areas of government and public relations, public policy and legislative affairs, corporate strategy, business and project development and in elected and appointed public service.
ENE Chairman William G. Bottiggi commented, "I am excited to add such a high quality individual to lead our effort helping public power promote our mission on the legislative front. Vin brings a high level of success in his career working with state, local and national officials to bring beneficial outcomes to all the parties involved."
As one of the youngest officials ever elected in the City of Everett and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Vincent served 5 consecutive terms as a local elected official as an elected city councilman and was elected by his council peers as City Council President in 1991.
Ragucci holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass. He has also completed a certificate program from Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass., at the McCormack Business School’s Center for Corporate Community Relations. Ragucci resides in North Reading, Mass., with his wife, Stacy, and son, Vincent IV.
About Energy New England, LLC: Energy New England, LLC (www.energynewengland.com) is a leading provider of wholesale and retail energy services. The company conducts more than $300M in structured transactions annually, and has also grown to become the leading provider of conservation and efficiency services for the public power community in the region. The company’s customer base has grown exponentially over the past few years. Its comprehensive portfolio includes power supply and risk management services, energy and water conservation services, energy brokering, and renewable energy solutions. Energy New England has customers situated throughout New England as well as other power pools. The company works with an increasing number of utilities, independent power producers, industrial, commercial and institutional facilities, municipalities and non‐profits.
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Big things are happening up in Vermont. During the past 8 months the Town of Stowe Electric Department, Hyde Park Water & Light Department, and Hardwick Electric Department have been "exploring opportunities to incorporate local solar generation into their electric power portfolios." With the new state law that requires a certain percentage of their electricity to come from local renewable generation, they knew they had to do something to make that possible while making it financially available. So, they found an available plot of land, Nebraska Valley gravel pit, in Stowe, Vt. On May 28, residents of Stowe voted on whether to authorize Stowe Electric to pursue zero-interest loans, which then had to be obtained in only a few days after the vote. In the end, Stowe residents voted 91-45 to go solar.
Matthew Rutherford, Stowe’s Electric’s manager of regulatory compliance, goes on to say "(he) was encouraged by the vote, even though only 3.7 percent of Stowe’s registered voters cast ballots," because it shows a contingent in town "shares the same ideas about renewable clean energy as Stowe Electric does."
Stowe has a long road ahead of them, but they are in no rush. They have roughly three months to answer all the lingering questions, including, "Will the bonds be interest-free, or something very close to it?" Once they have more details, they have to return to the voters to hold another vote. Ellen Burt, Stowe’s Electric general manager, said, "I’m feeling better about proceeding at a more comfortable pace now. At the next vote, we’ll be able to tell them more; we’ll have all the information".
To read more about this project please visit the links below:
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ASSOCIATION HAPPENINGS
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NEPPA welcomes OMICRON as an associate member as of Wednesday, June 3, 2015! OMICRON provides diagnostic test instruments for testing substation equipment -- protective relays, transformers and circuit breakers. They also provide training, analysis of test results and 24/7 support. The company is located at 60 Hickory Drive, Waltham, MA 02451. The primary contact person is Wayne Bishop, who is the Marketing Manager for the company. He can be reached at wayne.bishop@omicronusa.com or 781.672.6212 (phone). Storm King Power Sales, LLC became an associate member of NEPPA on Tuesday, June 2, 2015! Storm King Power Sales, LLC is a manufacturer's representative for electric utility industry. The company is located at 4 Kemble Avenue, Cold Spring, NY 10516. The primary contact person is John Scherer, who is the owner and sales engineer. He can be reached at stormkings@gmail.com or 845.809.5844 (phone) and 845.809.5845 (fax). NEPPA Welcomes Bulwark as an associate member as of Wednesday, June 17, 2015! Bulwark is an Arc rated/Flame Resistant Apparel Manufacturer . The company is located at 22 Old Farm Road, Somers, CT 06071. The primary contact person is Peter Kumiega, who is the New England Sales Manager. He can be reached at peter_kumiega@vfc.com or 860.218.4159 (phone).
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CALENDAR
EDUCATION & TRAINING UPDATE
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On June 17 and 18, Northeast Public Power Association held its 17th Annual Lineworker Apprenticeship Skills Assessment Rodeo at the NEPPA Training Facility in Littleton, Mass. It was attended by 82 apprentices from throughout the northeast who competed in 10 separate events in the NEPPA pole yard. Times were recorded but points were most important and they were awarded for working safely and under control while working from the pole. The first day started with the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, which was once again supplied by the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Electric Plant of Wakefield, Mass. That was followed by a time of recognition for all the veterans in attendance. A moment of silence was then observed in remembrance of all those heroes who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Finally came the playing of our National Anthem, which was performed live on guitar by Jay Del Signore, husband of Colleen Delsignore of the NEPPA Staff, which signaled the beginning of the event. The apprentices then finished as many of the events as possible on the first day to help ensure that they could get all 10 accomplished during the two-day event.
The second day started with the students immediately going to work to finish their remaining events. The Top Overall Performer was Will Maxeiner from Norwich Public Utilities in Norwich, Conn.
The weather was perfect and a few visitors arrived to show their support for their respective apprentices who were able to showcase their skills in a friendly competition. The faithful crew from Pascoag Utility District of Pascoag, Rhode Island once again worked over a very hot grill to supply the contestants with food and refreshments on both days.
The 2015 Rodeo was again a huge success due largely to many of NEPPA’s members assisting in various ways such as supplying digger/derrick trucks to get poles set and Wellesley Municipal Light Plant for supplying a bucket truck and a worker to assist in the Hurt Man Rescue Event. An event like this is not possible without the help of many of NEPPA’s members and we thank them so very much!
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Overwall Winner – Will Maxeiner – 3rd Year
 Hurt Man Rescue
Corey Hurley – 1st Year
 Dead End Insulator Change Out
Rob Rambone – 1st Year
 House Service Change Out
Will Maxeiner – 3rd Year
 Transition Climb
Grahm Andruskiewicz – 1st Year
 Cut Out Change Out
Rob Rambone – 1st Year
 Fall Protection Climb
Rob Rambone – 1st Year
 Insulator Change Out
Brandon McAuliffe – 2nd Year
 Double X Arm Change Out
Will Maxeiner – 3rd Year
 Bucket Rescue
Brandon McAuliffe – 2nd Year
 Install/Remove Street Lights
Ed Flint – 2nd Year
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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
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In This Issue:
NEPPA Representatives Lobby the Hill
On June 17, NEPPA representatives went to D.C. to meet with a number of staff from Northeast offices and from committees with energy jurisdiction, to urge support for adding public power’s proposed "fix" to mandatory capacity markets.
NEPPA attendees included: Brian Forshaw, Chief Regulatory and Risk Officer, Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative (CMEEC) of Connecticut; Judy Gove, Business and Community Development Manager, New Hampshire Electric Cooperative (NHEC); and Sharon Staz, Former General Manager, Kennebunk (ME) Light and Power (KPLD).
The group attended meetings with staff from the following offices: Sens. Angus King (D-ME), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Chris Murphy (D-CT); and Reps. Joseph Kennedy (D-MA) and Peter Welch (I-VT); along with majority and minority staff to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and majority staff, House Energy and Commerce Committee (E&C).
While the New England delegation is extremely concerned about the FCM’s effect on consumers and the regional economy; it remains a "heavy lift" to get the fix added.
To read the complete legislative update including the following topics, click the links below: ##SHARELINKS##
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THE LEARNING CORNER
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ABB Capacitor Application Seminar September 15, 16 & 17, 2015
Quebec City, Canada
We have a great team of speakers that will focus on the technical application for capacitors and the associated equipment. We will cover utility distribution and transmission, volt-var smart management, as well as industrial power factor and harmonics. No sales pitches, just the technical information.
For more information or to register, please click here! ##SHARELINKS##
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