OPALCO Candidates’ Forum: Live on Orcas and Online

— by Margie Doyle, updated at 9:30 p.m. —

Candidates for OPALCO Board Bios at https://www.opalco.com/resource-library/#rlfannualmeetingandelections2016

Last week, Orcas Power and Light Cooperative (OPALCO) hosted four candidate forums for the directors’ positions up for election this month. Beginning April 19, the candidates, OPALCO staff and moderator Steve Bowman of the League of Women Voters, held forums followed by informal Question and Answers at Shaw, San Juan, Lopez and Orcas Islands on four consecutive nights.

OPALCO staff reported that there were about 15 people at each event except Orcas, where there were about two dozen, including OPALCO administrative staff and other board members. Incumbent candidate Jim Lett (District 3) was not present at the April 22 forum on Orcas Island.

The candidates spoke and then addressed questions from the audience. On  Orcas Island, there were only four questions asked.

Introductory remarks

Jerry Whitfield, incumbent District 4, has served two years on the OPACLO board. He reported that OPALCO was “a great success story,” citing its “stability and successful decisions.” He said its financial situation was good and that year-end audits show that it has kept the increase in the cost of electricity at less than 5 percent  increase in recent years, and measured it against a 4.5 percent increase from the Bonneville Power Administration.

Whitfield also commented on the broadband progress, transferring the connection initiative from Island Network to Rock Island, which he described as “the internet company purchased and wholly owned by OPALCO. With Rock Island connecting 1,000 people and operating in an agreement with T-Mobile, it is “now at the point where there will be a banking relationship with the company itself,” Whitfield said.

Lauren Stephens (District 3) described herself as a 20-year Lopez resident and a small business owner. “I’m still working and come into contact with small commercial and residential businesses. I have many OPALCO accounts and deal with them regularly.”

Served on Lopez School Board for over 11  years and Fisherman Bay Sewer District board member, budgeting levy, bonding campaigns and capital operations, rate setting, policy development, risk management, personnel, qualified and bring a different voice to the board because I work and deal with small biz every day

Stephens says, “The choice to purchase Rock Island was excellent. It will benefit the county in the future. I’m an early adopter of fiber optic and put it in one of my buildings recently.”

She added that OPALCO could improve in customer relations and customer support, particularly with regard to Rock Island, and that “OPALCO could do some work with transparency.”

Dwight Lewis, District 3, a 42-year resident of Lopez, said that he is running because of his concern that OPALCO will continue to provide reliable and affordable electricity.

He is the business owner of  which has worked with OPALCO and installed 50 miles of cable. He enumerated the millions spent in recent years, saying that $24M has been spent on “the grid” with Rock Island compared to  $2.2M spent on the electricity “side” of OPALCO. “It will be 30 years before the principal is paid down. That’s one of the things I’m concerned about,” Lewis said.

Brian Silverstein, joins Stephens and Lewis in running for OPALCO’s District 3 position against incumbent Jerry Whitfield.

Silverstein moved to Lopez Island eight years ago after working for BPA for 33 years. He retired as Senior Vice-President of Transmission, “responsible for planning, rates, operations, construction and maintenance. He worked with municipalities, organizations, tribes and citizens and under his watch, 3 million killowatts of wind power was installed.

Over the last two years, Silverstein has attended many OPALCO board meetings and says he plans to “keep electric bills as low as possible” through:

• managing decisions before raising rates;
• keeping a portion of the rates to assist low-income members;
• considering “innovative rate designs to keep OPALCO sound.”

Silverstein said his goals include “completing the broadband buildout at cost and in time to protect electric customers; and rebuilding trust and transparency.”

Gabriel Jacobs  (running against Jerry Whitfield, incumbent District 4) of Shaw Island spoke of his concerns of “rising rates, secrecy, and refusal to address member input.” He said that between 2000-2015 long term debt increased 137 per cent.

He also criticized the OPALCO board for entering into three “non-electric businesses,” which he later described as Telecom, Rock Island and T-Mobile.

If elected to the board, Jacobs says his goals will be:

• lower base charges;
• minimize future rate increases;
• change OPALCO policy #1 which “prohibits airing disagreements among the public.”

Jacobs said he would “involve membership in major decisions, with further expansion subject to member vote and/or input; reduce the number of executive sessions; and sort [out] the electric and broadband costs. Broadband should not be run by OPALCO. Rock Island should be run independently,” Jacobs said.

He also complained of Rock Island “putting cell towers on property without permission and without permits.”

Questions

Is there a sharp divide between broadband and electricity “sides” of OPALCO?

Stephens: “The OPALCO board voted that all members would pay $3 [per month] for two years to subsidize the purchase of Rock Island. I don’t know how much crossover there is; and even if we are subsidizing Rock Island, it’s a good thing. On Lopez Island, the telephone company no longer supplies broadband.

“The board is trying to do a good job with good intentions, and is taking steps to be more transparent.” Stephens suggested that when the board goes into executive session, they should “announce in general terms what they’re going to discuss, so people couldn’t say the session is ‘secret.’ Within the board culture, we should stick to those topics to rebuild trust.”

Whitfield: “The fiber optic backbone is built for the benefit of a modern grid for OPALCO. It benefits our efficiencies. The cost is 2.6- 2.7 per cent of the current bill. Broadband will benefit [the coop] and will pay OPALCO for the use of it. The biggest item is building out 65 miles of backbone… and OPALCO members will benefit.”

Jacobs: “Grid control [has to be] rated at the top before broadband. Accounting has to be awfully carefully about this.”

Silverstein: “I’m a strong proponent of the investment in backbone. We have to address the  ‘fuzzy’ aspects of it. We need to be able to see what’s going on and control the voltage and at some point control theload so we don’t pay peak charges to BPA. [The accounting] should be made more simple.”

Lewis:  In 2014 OPALCO spent $1.7M on the grid; in 2015 it paid $2.1 M on the grid; this year [there is] $2.4M  budgeted for the grid. They are using the grid to bolster up broadband, so the thing that bothers me is that they’ve spent so much money on this. For $50 – $ 60K you can go into UHF system that will give you 100 per cent coverage.”

Whitfield rebutted Lewis’ comment saying, “There is so much to rebut, The grid is an important improvement. We are required to do it and we get so much out of it. The cost has always been there; it accelerated a bit last year, but it’s all necessary and all planned for.”

Question: Do you believe OPALCO being an infrastructure for broadband has value to OPALCO’s electric business?

Lewis: “[Broadband] could have been done by going cellular.”

Silverstein: “If we turn the clock back, when rural electrification was met with nay –sayers; that has turned out to be huge boon and huge benefit.

Whitfield:  Broadband brings value in two ways. The internet is a new utility; today we need it to stay connected, just as in the 1930s we needed power. Second, Rock Island will be run as a for-profit company and it will bring dividends to OPALCO [which is] the single shareholder of Rock Island. The money will come back to OPALCO.

Stephens: “I agree with the values already remarked upon. In addition, at the Lopez board meeting, the fire chief talked about the poles being putting up with t-mobile [providing] broader and better [emergency service]”

Question: Looking at long-term power supply, what are the top priorities in terms of investments, technologies for demand response, local generation, storage and similar considerations?

Jacobs: “I have a lot more to learn in order to determine long-range priorities.”

Silverstein:  “The Northwest Power and Conservation Council says efficiency is still the most cost-efffective resource. New in the plan this year is going after demand response, to control consumers’ loads on electricity on home usage — if they get permission to do so.

“Also, to look at the renewables in the community — the fact that we have the grid here allows photo voltaics that [enables] solar power to be shared with neighbors.”

Stephens:  “Local generation is not really an option for us; and if we look at renewables through solar, it’s a great thing for the consumer, but for the coop, it’s a loss of revenue. That’s why balancing income from broadband is a good thing for members. But over time we’ll need diversification.”

Whitfield:  “Overall, the electric utility has got to drive toward minimizing carbon emissions. We’re fortunate most of ours comes from BPA [water power]. We still have to reduce carbon emissions. One way to do this is to convert propane to ductless electric.” Whitfield also mentioned promising research and development of storage systems.

Lewis:  “I put in a heat pump that saves $100/month. OPALCO’s contract with BPA runs until 2028; and they forecast no growth because of conservation efforts. We’ve got to get OPALCO to the point where they run a tighter operation.”

Question: If elected, how do you plan to address the need for increased trust by the members and transparency by the board?

Whitfield: Trust is two ways, between members and board. The Board has to deal with a lot of issues that it is not able to share, such as. purchase of a company — acquisitions are fraught with difficulty to  protect both sides. Once the purchase was made, the information was made clear.

“The ability to deal one on one is very difficult, and OPALCO does a good job with its website.

“[Regarding] trust; a few people that [publicly] disagree with OPALCO are without peer review; a lot [of their information is] not correct, particularly about finances of company; so it’s hard to answer”

Jacobs:  “[In recent years, the community] turned down school bond and then the school board worked with the community. That’s  a process I’d like to see OPALCO do. I’m hoping they now see the amount of distrust. I’ve talked with Fred Klein and Sandi Bishop [who are] anxious to have open participation.”

Lewis:  “[OPALCO] proposed $90 to go to broadband. The owners weren’t interested,and the next thing we know they’re going ahead. They could have had balloting, but they didn’t ask us. They have a payroll of $2M and 25 employees in Friday Harbor.”

Stephens: “More transparency would be helpful, but I trust the board is acting in good faith. I would [make the change expressed earlier regarding] executive sessions and the Policy #1 that [Jacobs] mentioned. Open discussion leads to better solutions.

“Now there is a knee-jerk reaction on the part of some of the management regarding complaints about withholding information. That creates bad feeling, i.e. cell towers information. Even if there is a complainer, give them an answer because it would be [a better way of handling the complaint.]

“The board should allow more discussion with membership; if you make decisions that go against [what the membership has expressed], work to explain those decisions.”

Silverstein: “regarding the siting of facilities, whether wires or poles, OPALCO is expected to comply with ordinances within county at a minimum. We owe our members the ability to weigh in on ‘should we do this and where?’ We need to have that conversation, and I would encourage OPALCO to have those conversations.

“For public policy questions, we should collect input  and make clear to people that we’ve heard them and explain the decision.

For more information about the candidates’ background and positions, go to https://www.opalco.com/2016-candidate-questions-and-answers/