by Jim Wolfe, IAMU Electric Services Coordinator
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a hundred times, “I wish our board understood what we do every day.” Getting members of your utility boards or councils educated on the workings of a utility can be very challenging.
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a hundred times, “I wish our board understood what we do every day.” Getting members of your utility boards or councils educated on the workings of a utility can be very challenging.
Many of the individuals that are appointed to boards or elected council members have some kind of root in the community. They want to keep rates low and serve the community in the best way possible. Sometimes the lack of understanding how the utility works fosters poor decisions by governing boards and councils. Training can be hard to facilitate due to costs and the ability to get everyone to attend a meeting outside of the scheduled monthly meetings. APPA has included this important topic into the agenda at their national conference in Minneapolis this summer.
This year’s APPA National Conference will again hold preconference sessions on the Saturday and Sunday prior to the conference. These will be held in Minneapolis on June 6th and 7th. On Saturday there will be a full day session titled “The Electric Utility Business From Inside Out.” This seminar will provide a non-technical overview of the local public power system and operations. This might be a good one day crash course for a new board member or give current members an explanation of what happens every day. Other half day sessions will be held Saturday. These include: Overview of Utility Financial Operations, Planning for Long Term Utility Effectiveness, and Understanding Utility Cost Structure and Impact on Customer Rates. Sunday’s sessions will include: Duties, Responsibilities, and legal Obligations of Public Power Governing Boards, Boards Role in Monitoring Utility Performance, and 3 other sessions dealing with the effects of EPA’s CO regulations, distributed generation, energy efficiency, and their impacts.
This conference is held in a different city every year and we are fortunate to be within a half day drive of it. Ask your boards and councils to consider taking the time to become a better informed member of your utilities governing board or council by attending one or two of these sessions. All of the information about preconference sessions and registration can be found on APPA’s Public Power website or CLICK HERE for information.
This year’s APPA National Conference will again hold preconference sessions on the Saturday and Sunday prior to the conference. These will be held in Minneapolis on June 6th and 7th. On Saturday there will be a full day session titled “The Electric Utility Business From Inside Out.” This seminar will provide a non-technical overview of the local public power system and operations. This might be a good one day crash course for a new board member or give current members an explanation of what happens every day. Other half day sessions will be held Saturday. These include: Overview of Utility Financial Operations, Planning for Long Term Utility Effectiveness, and Understanding Utility Cost Structure and Impact on Customer Rates. Sunday’s sessions will include: Duties, Responsibilities, and legal Obligations of Public Power Governing Boards, Boards Role in Monitoring Utility Performance, and 3 other sessions dealing with the effects of EPA’s CO regulations, distributed generation, energy efficiency, and their impacts.
This conference is held in a different city every year and we are fortunate to be within a half day drive of it. Ask your boards and councils to consider taking the time to become a better informed member of your utilities governing board or council by attending one or two of these sessions. All of the information about preconference sessions and registration can be found on APPA’s Public Power website or CLICK HERE for information.
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