Jul 23, 2018 Public Utilities Board on 2018-07-23 6:00 PM

23rd 2018 public utility board meeting to order First on our agenda is a work session To receive report and hold a discussion regarding the solid waste fiscal year 2018-19 operating and capital budget Good afternoon board members. Mr. Chairman. My name is Nick Vincent utility business manager for the city of Denton I have a two-part presentation for you today the first part of the presentation I will be presenting the proposed 18 19 solid waste operating budget But then the second part of the presentation Ethan Cox directors always will come up and give his departmental presentation Please feel free to stop me if you have any questions throughout the presentation I'll be happy to answer them. If not, I will have staff come up here and help me out answer the question The cost of service study was presented to pub on July 9th This study did indicate several service categories and rates that were over and under recovering Staff will continue to work with new gen To work towards a rate correction strategy. Once that's completed. We will bring that forward to the pub The operational review is also presented to the pub on June 25th the operational review We did receive recommendation from the pub to discontinue Operation of the building materials recovery and bubble processing operations following that meeting on June 26 City Council Did give staff direction to put a temporary hold on those operations until the operational review can go to the community on environment Staff will be working in next month or two to take it to the committee Once formal recommendation is received from them the PB and council will come back to you. Of course We are presenting the budget today as a placeholder budget We will be coming back by February 1st of 2019 With a modified budget based on recommendations from the committee the pub and the council regarding the operational review The fund does maintain a debt coverage ratio greater than 1 .25 the target in the current proposed budget as it is today In each of the future years and the fund balance does maintain a fund balance above the targets of 14 and 18 percent and Then staff has used a multi-year financial planning to minimize rate increases and I'd like to point out this budget actually does not have any Rate increases for residential commercial customers. Oh, excuse me Let me actually flip forward. Sorry about that. Let me actually recover this really quick since I forgot Presents a slide here. So the cost of service was in July 9 th to the pub. You can see that here It did identify some service categories and rates that were under and over recovering the operational review was presented to PB on June 25th as I stated the PB gave direction to discontinue the BMR operation to building materials recovery And the rubble process in operation City Council actually directed staff to put a temporary hold on those operations Until we can take the operational review to the committee on environment We will be visiting with them hopefully here in the next month or so and we'll bring that back to you when we have the formal recommendation The fund does maintain like I said a duck coverage ratio greater than 1.25 percent the current fiscal year in all the future years And then the fund balance is above the target of 14 to 18 percent flip here Operational expenses are cost containment strategies that is included in the budget in front of you today Staff has been working to realign business units to improve financial reporting of the different operations to landfill We are proposing a zero base budget for travel training outside contract services And we will be working to implement the staffing plans from the operational review Once staff presents those to the committee on environment the pub and the City Council Equipment of vehicles staff has created new procedures in- house to evaluate Equipment utilization the maintenance cost of the equipment and when is the appropriate time to sell it and replace it capital improvement program our plan We are going to continue to use business case analysis to evaluate a project's feasibility the cost and the benefit of it moving forward And we this fund is reducing its reliance on debt services the primary funding source for equipment and vehicles The future risk and mitigations of this fun Currently staff is working with blue ridge services that PB had a presentation from on July 9th To develop a market study and actually it's not new gen. It 's a blue ridge I think I suppose that blue ridge services to complete a market study to assess the landfill fees This study should be completed in this month once it is completed It'll benchmark those fees of surrounding facilities around the Metroplex. We will bring that forward to the pub once it is complete Market conditions for recycling we have seen in an increase in contamination the recycling streams in the community We will continue to partner with the school districts and the community to increase commercial recycling residential recycling to decrease the amount of contamination Changes to regulatory compliance the current fiscal year budget 19 as it sets today Is proposing to fully fund the yearly contribution to the closure fund for the landfill and I'll point that out to you here in just a second on a couple slides down Environmental safety risk we want to continue to build upon regulatory compliance Processes and then we are in the process of implementing a robust safety program and solid waste fund based on the operational review from blue ridge services This is the five-year pro forma as I stated before this is we're proposing this is a placeholder budget We will come back to the PB by February 1st of 2019 Once we have time to visit with the CoE committee on environment the PB and council further regarding the operation review I do want to point out that this budget also includes the BMR the building materials recovery operation and the rub ble Processing operation are still in this budget So when we come back to you in February if the direction is to discontinue those operations, they will be removed from the budget But they are not removed right now As you can see here and the proposed 2019 budget which is here in this column We're proposing thirty four point eight million dollars in revenues about thirty four point eight million dollars in expenditures We are proposing to draw down the fund balance about three hundred forty nine thousand dollars And as you can see down here, we're proposing no rate increases for residential customers or commercial customers The fund balance you can see it down here. It's eight point two million Then the target of four point eight to six point two I do want to point out the fund balance does go from eight point two million to eighteen million Staff will be recommended to use this fund balance to implement the rate correction strategy. Once it is completed with NUGEN We'll be able to use that moving forward. So it is a positive thing for this fund the debt coverage ratio as I pointed out earlier is one point three four in FY 2019 and it does increase to two point nine five in the future years So there's way above the one point five to five target quick question on that. Yes, sir so Work capital plus operating reserves at those levels but that does include all the Expenses offset by some revenue, of course on the The BMG or the BMR That's correct So there are some revenues in this budget for the BMR some material cells commodities that they sort through And the expenditures are also in here too for both operations for the BMR and the rubble process and operation There's not much revenue in here for the rubble process and operation more expenditures than revenues, but both of them are in here So these numbers are good change depending upon what we what is decided in February That is correct once staff has time to visit with the Committee on Environment Pb further discussions and further discussion with council these these numbers could change Okay, I think the other thing to point out is you can see the impact in the out years of the debt service Yeah, that's that's great. That's really leading to the reserves being higher and giving us the ability to adjust funds on the Over the next few years and not really have an adverse impact in this fund So it's a good position to be in right now. We just didn't feel comfortable reducing Rates any further until we knew what the outcome of some of these other programs is gonna bring. Okay Any more questions in this slide I'll move on These are the resources so the revenues of the solid waste fund I'm gonna want to point a few things out here and the adopted 18 budget as you can see here in this column We had thirty nine point three million dollars in revenues We are estimating that to be thirty four point nine million finishing the year And the reason behind that is that we're removing the landfill mining operation revenues that were forecasted in the public sales in the city's natural gas station Moving forward the proposed budget, of course, we're not including those revenues and the projections. We're projecting thirty four point eight million Do want to point out here on the transfers in this transfer in as a transfer into from the salt from the general fund To solid waste to fund the building lease for 651 Mayhill if you remember that's where materials management and traffic will be relocating to And the use of the reserves that that's in part because we chose to reduce the rates for residential because we Yeah, so We can point that up here if you see the residential Revenue was six point two million projected in eighteen projected goes to five point six Same thing with residential recycling and that is associated with twelve percent rate decrease Yeah, so we're projecting to use reserves in the 2019 budget but moving forward we won't be drawing on the reserves And we knew that at the time we made that decision. That's great These are the expenditures by categories As Todd had pointed out earlier the debt service is decreasing in 2018 the adopted budget was nine point six million It is coming down about seven hundred thousand eight point nine million in the 2019 proposed budget So we're proposing thirty four point eight million in expenditures This is could you go back I have one more question and I think I know the answer but I want to hear it from you We look like we're our estimates for this year first personal services is ten point five million It's going up to eleven point two, but we're cutting ten people so right so In the 2018 budget and currently right now there's 20 vac ancies in the solid waste fund We are going to be proposing to refill some of those vac ancies in 2019 to address some of the maintenance issues We've been seen and to implement the safety program and the solid waste fund. So that is the increase you're seeing So we're projecting them to stay vacant pretty much through the rest of this year and then we propose to fill them in next year That's what I thought. I just want to make sure thank you. So so when we have FTEs, we're looking at That's correct. Um, so the budgeted I think this is what you're asking them in the budget at 18 adopted budget This would be fully staffed here. So everybody being employed eleven point six million We're projecting some vacancies and some salary savings in the estimate and those will be filled. That's correct. We 're anticipating filling those That's correct. Thank you. Yeah One other thing that may not be apparent up here we are transitioning away from contracted temporary labor and then hiring our own staff And so that's one of the reasons why we wanted to maintain some of those vacancies As a matter of fact, we're starting to post some of those positions on the street we just feel like it's a better opportunity for us to grow our own talent and have kind of a Some bench strength to draw from in the future as we develop our own staff versus contracting out on a consistent basis So in 18 19, you see some of that kind of kicking in there All right, any more questions on the expenditures I'll be happy to answer them or Ethan will come back up here All right. This is the solid waste materials forecast table We are projecting about a two point four percent growth in the residential customers. You can see that number Right here on your screen We're projecting about a one point five eight percent growth in the front load side load customers commercial customers We are projecting a little bit more for roll-off customers based on the construction around the community about seven point one six percent landfill wholesale customer tons were just increasing a point two five percent So we're projecting for it to increase and landfill retail tons based on tonnage coming to the gate about an eight point four eight percent increase Quite a bit of increase that is coming in the game if you look at 2015 to 19 that's 31 But you're actually seeing that But you're saying that I mean that's 18 that's real numbers and some of this increase here I like to think from being it's always previously before my current position Is due to people commuting to them, you know Louisville or to the Metroplex of the other facilities must kind of being closer with the traffic and the amount of time it takes to travel there So, you know the population increasing around the community I Okay, these are the next steps so as I stated earlier this is a work session item We actually have another item on here for individual consideration Well, we will be asking the pub to adopt the budget is in front of you today as a placeholder budget Once staff has time to visit with the community environment the P being counsel further in the operational review We will come back by February 1st of next year of 2019 Let's see counsel is scheduled to adopt the solid waste and operating budget capital budget by September 18 2018 actually on September 18 2018 As I stated earlier, there are no residential rate increases or commercial increases in here We are proposing to increase the wholesale rate from $23 a ton to 2450 And then staff will bring the FY 2018 solid rate ordinance to the pub during August or formal approval So you'll be seeing that here in the next month That Concludes the financial part of the presentation Ethan Cox the director will come up here for the next part of the presentation If you have any questions for me, I'll stand for him. Otherwise, he will come up. Thank you Thank you Nick Ethan Cox director of solid waste for the city Just a few brief presentation a few brief slides for you here in the presentation a lot of this we've already kind of covered either earlier in the presentation or prior presentations But just kind of hit the highlights in terms of accomplishments. We talked about the 12% rate reduction for our residential customers Nick also highlighted our restructured capital plan I want to point out that's due to a significant amount of work and effort by not just our Managers, but also our financial staff Nick Tina Lee Rodriguez everyone that's kind of contributed to this over the last several months We started this process about 14 months ago. So it's been like the longest budget process known to man But I think we've come out the other side relatively unsc athed during that process. We did a lot of business case analysis We have a few of those up here landfill mining the CNG fuel ing station the liquid waste disposal operation There's some real numbers associated with those and I think that leads to where you're seeing some of the improved Outlook over the next five years some of our goals for fifth fiscal year 18 19 We do want to implement some of the recommendations from the rate study as Nick alluded to We do have some audit recommendations from last fall that we're continuing to work on We're gonna have a second round of an audit on our scale house That will be returning to the pub and the council on in the next couple of months And then we'll also be as Nick alluded to coming back through the CoE the pub and the council with the operational review One other big highlight that's going to be coming up in the next few months. Hopefully Is that the TCEQ will formally adopt our new operating permit 1590 B Which should give us 30 to 50 more years of landfill life capacity In terms of budget emphasis, you know what we always try to do is link this back to strategy For years solid waste has been really about pushing the envelope being innovative bringing on new programs Not that we don't feel like that's important But what we're shooting for is a more balanced strategy our goal The reason why we exist our purpose is to provide exceptional value to our customers our ratepayers We have a critical service for the community and we want to make sure that we're delivering the best value to them that we can So part of our focus in achieving that end is we want to have kind of a balanced approach if you will It's not just all about financial results. It's not just about you know efficiency We want to make sure that we're keeping our eye on all these things that you have up here on the board So it's financial it's being having an excellent operation Having that customer focus that it's not just about quality of service. It's about breath It's also about being available for them when they need us and then also from a sustainability standpoint It's not just being environmentally sustainable. It's financially sustainable and it's also making sure that what we're doing is in concert with what the community wants So our cost drivers and considerations customer growth and increased service demands I think that's par for the course for most city services But we do have some regulatory requirements if the state or the EPA has an unfunded mandate then that can certainly hit our bottom line We also have some market pressures that some of the other utilities are not necessarily exposed to As Nick alluded to we pointed to the the retail and the wholesale side of things Our landfill is a regional in regional competition with other landfills for revenue We also have the construction industry that also leads into some of the retail increase that you saw there That also hits our roll-off business. And so if construction dries up you can really see a pretty Kind of a depressed effect on our revenues Nick alluded to it earlier that we had 2.3 million in unrec ognized revenues from landfill mining and C&G sales And that was removed from this year's budget Turns of process improvements for 1718 we've hit most of these we do have the checks and balances for budget and CIP our managers Are all over their budgets now. They see reports monthly making sure that they're on track We question anomalies or issues when we see them I think everyone's much more attuned to where their budget is now. We also centralized project management contract management Purchasing kind of streamlined some of that Provided some more controls. We're still purchasing the things that we need But we have a little bit extra oversight on those things We're also continuing to work through improved processes and internal controls for our scale house That's essentially the touch point for all the customers entering our facility. I call it the nerve center of our operation All the cash handling happens there all the data that's recorded from a regulatory standpoint It cannot be a more critical operation than that one right there. And so it's getting a lot of attention right now Turns a future process improvements. We are going to be implementing some resource management processes. Some of those are already in play That's are we staffed effectively? Do we know what our needs are? How do we quantify those? What happens in a contingency? So all that's going to be a key focus area for us as is improved inventory systems for our carts our containers Making sure that we're only ordering those when we really need to and that we order it just in time And then as Nick mentioned earlier implementing a formal training and safety program It's just not something we want to mess around with we have big pieces of equipment that can do some real damage and We want to make sure that we're protecting our staff the people that we serve and also the city's assets In terms of cost containment one of the things that I want to emphasize and this is kind of the The fruit of all the the laborers for the staff over the last several months is Fiscal year 17 18 expenditures are about 11% under what we budgeted last year. That's about four point four million dollars in savings That's due in large part to the restructure capital plan Understand that this year's reduction you do see that debt service stepping down And so that's going to give us a lot of flexibility to implement that rate reduction or rate correction strategy it's also allowed for the residential rate decrease of 12% and Had we not made some of the tough decisions that not only the pub But also the councils had to make with landfill mining and CNG if we didn't make those decisions We could be looking at a significant loss this year. Maybe upwards of four million dollars. And so I don't want to Emphasize that too strongly But I do want to tip my hat to staff to the managers that have worked really hard over the last 13 or 14 months to achieve these results We talked about the positions earlier We do want to have some flexibility to complete our reorgan ization as well as start growing some of our own talent over the next few months Whenever we return to the pub in the council next winter Then one of the things that we'll be talking about is is our staffing where it needs to be and we need to make additional Adjustments here. I think we're just on the early edges of implementing what the blue ridge recommendations are And so this may change slightly, but I think we're in really good position with a lot of the vacancies We have to address some of our needs This is kind of an eye chart so get out your your good glasses. This is our capital plan For solid waste and like some of the other utilities We're not quite as long-term asset intensive. We're more focused on rolling stock shorter lived assets. So a lot of equipment Trucks some light duty vehicles, but you also have cell development that you've got to contend with Cell development comes around bus every six or seven years and so that's something that we could kind of deem as a short-term asset As well our goal on this is to really shift from debt service over to revenue funded capital as much as we can On this bottom line here You can kind of see where we started at revenue funded all the way up to about 79% as we get to the fifth year in our projections and so we think we may be able to beat that It's a little bit early But in terms of maintaining our fleet taking better care of it, we do think that we'll be able to reduce some of our fleet And equipment needs in the out years as well And that is it for the departmental side I'll stand for any questions you might have Now that's that's good I appreciate the summary that that's Didn't take that one sure did seem a lot longer seem like it took a lot longer getting to that point My beard was solid brown when we started yeah Not quite I remember Thank you very much, yeah, thank you appreciate it Okay moving on to the regular meeting First we had the consent agenda. We have one item on the consent agenda Which is item a any Board member like to take that Out and put that into individual consideration Questions Hearing none is there a motion then on item a of the consent agenda I'll move approval Motion and a second discussion all in favor say aye Any opposed? Consent agenda passes Moving on to items for individual consideration item a is the public utility board draft minutes of July 9th 2018 These have been distributed in advance any corrections or comments Changes Hearing none. Is there a motion then on the minutes for July 9th 2018? recommend approval Second have a motion and a second to approve discussion all in favor say aye Thank you Okay, item B excuse me we're gonna wait on item B We really have to we need to Look at the budget before we set the right so We will put that usually works. Yeah, we're gonna move that to just before item G so we'll go right into item C which is to Consider recommending approval of the water fiscal year 2018-19 operating and capital budget Pb members, my name is Tony point them the director finance just really quickly Want to just recap for you? I know we've had a lot of discussions with you over the last a couple of months couple weeks about this budget Well, we came back to you after we met with the City Council was the recommendation on a no rate increase Budget that's that's still the recommendation today This here is the financial forecast. We're looking at a little bit over 50 million dollars in expenses that's being recommended again, no rate increases For this year or projected for the next five years We have had a number of questions that have come up surely here by the Pb but also by the council that will continue to evaluate and look at this budget over the next few months and certainly as we prepare for Next year's budget not the 18-19, but the 19-20 budget then we'll be briefing you again on where we are again On an annual basis, we're going to be able to look at this forecast Not just within the context of a five-year but certainly within the context of a ten-year And if adjustments are necessary as we go through that will certainly be discussing that with you We think that this budget positions the fund well Certainly keeps our reserves within the targets that we have we certainly have Some large capital projects that are out there that we're cognizant of I will continue to evaluate those work with the department Look at prioritizing their capital projects. So I don't have anything further If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer those questions again But our recommendation today is a budget with no rate change no changes to any of the rates And I'll stand for any questions that you may have Questions We sure have is there a motion to handle item C I'll move approval Second motion and a second to approve discussion No, no rate increase or decrease no change on the rate Any other discussion All in favor say aye. Aye any opposed same sign Okay Item D is to consider recommending approval of the wastewater and drainage fiscal year 2018-19 operating and capital budget So again some similar situation here with this budget we've had a number of discussions with you just wanted to recap really quickly This budget does recommend a decrease of five percent in rates No rate increases projected currently over the next Four years of this planning window again, just like what the water budget will continue to evaluate the needs Capital programs and in this budget certainly just like on the water side. We also have a large Expansion or addition to our treatment facilities Out in the 10-year window that will continue to evaluate and and come back to you have those discussions with you This budget also as we previously discussed We were able to separate out the drainage component, but it 's still part of this budget It was not separated out to a separate fund So we are also recommending no changes to that drainage budget we have had Half an FTE increase that's being recommended From what we previously discussed with you and that's just to continue to support that operation Again, we've seen this budget a couple of times with you I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have our recommendation again is for a five percent decrease in rates We previously talked to you about where those how we're going to do that in a modified cost of service Strategy versus across the board. We'll talk a little more about that. We'll get to the rates Questions on the Wastewater drainage fiscal year 2018-19 operating capital budget Is there a motion then on item D move for Recommendation okay, we have a motion to approve Second and a second discussion All in favor say aye Any opposed? Okay, you're on a roll So Now we're on item B right I'm following this correctly, let 's see. No, actually we're on item E. We'll wait Get through let's get through all the Budget stuff that will go to the rights. So item E is to consider recommending approval of the customer service fiscal year 2018-19 operating budget So as as we've discussed previously We our recommendation today is to create a new internal service fund for customer service This was previous all these expenses were previously in the water fund And as we discussed with you that was having an impact on how we calculated the required reserves in that fund Again, we presented this this discussion to the City Council Council was shown supportive and recommended approval will be presenting that to them contingent upon your approval today Because this establishes a separate internal service fund for 18-19 a little bit over five point three million dollars of expenses This fund is funded by transfers from the utilities primarily into this fund for Utility billing that is done through this operation that Tiffany Thompson is our customer service manager and she's not here today But I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have That concludes my presentation for you. I Do have a question on the Allocation of the cost of service How is that calculated is that revenue driven or is that customer number of customer driven? Anything to probably help me here. He was he was there over that area But I believe this is based on the accounts number of accounts that are billed for each utility As you can see the the bulk of that is related to electric Okay Any other questions? Not a question, but a comment. I do think this is a much better way for all the utilities to be served So I think I said it before say it again Okay Comments or questions, is there a motion then on item II moved to approve We have a motion to approve. Is there a second? Second and a second any discussion All in favor say aye Any opposed motion passes Item F is to consider recommending approval of the solid waste fiscal year 2018-19 operating and capital budget Good afternoon PB members, mr. Chairman's Nick Vincent utility business manager of the city of Denton They pull up here the solid waste presentation that we just walked through As I stated before we are seeking approval of the 18-19 budget is proposed to you today and it will be a placeholder budget We will come back to you at the first the fiscal year once we receive formal direction on the operational review If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them. If you didn't ask them last time. I'll be happy to answer them Okay, any questions anything come to anybody All right, is there a motion then on item F Recommend approval we have a motion to approve. Is there a second second second discussion All in favor say aye Any opposed same sign? Okay, we'll now move back up to item B Which is consider recommending an ordinance establishing the schedule of rates for water service providing for a repealer Providing for a severability clause and providing for an effective date Some as chairman and members of the Pb again no changes here Well one minor change we had briefly Communicated to you that the wholesale a raw water rate that we charge to the opportunity Would change a contingent upon the city of Dallas is rate It's 85% That we did receive that today And so that is now calculated at 72 86 Since and so will we we will be updating the ordinance that we provided to you for the council consideration to update that Other than that, there's no changes from what we previously Communicated to you a couple of weeks ago Stand for any other questions any questions that you may have Okay And that rate is mandated by contract. Yes, that's correct Question other questions No, is there a motion then to recommend? item B Recommend approval Have a motion Discussion all in favor say aye any opposed Item G is to consider recommending an ordinance establishing the schedule of rates for wastewater service Providing for a repealer providing for a severability clause and providing for an effective date So, mr. Chairman and P members again no changes from what we previously discussed with you within the wastewater rates Certainly if you have any specific questions about any of the recommendations here, I'd be happy to go through that So there is a change That we had recommended I'll just kind of make sure that I point that out on the newcomer rates We are proposing to decrease that to 5400 gallons from 6, 000 gallons based on a 10-year review of Where that usage has been and so that'll be that's part of our condition I believe that we talked to you about that the last time we were here Questions No, is there a motion then on item G Motion and second discussion All in favor say aye Any opposed? Okay, item H is consider recommending an ordinance establishing the schedule of rates for miscellaneous service Providing for repealer providing for a severability clause and providing for an effective date Mr. Chairman, I don't have a presentation on this particular one But I do want to just remind the PB that based on our presentation a couple weeks ago We are recommending within the miscellaneous rate ordin ances ordinance to reduce by 50% the residential delinquent service fee from $46 to $23 and the residential reconnection charge For same-day service is decreased from 61 To $30 and that's primarily due to some of the or to the AM I Capabilities that we now have so other than that Those are the only changes that we're recommending within this miscellaneous rate ordinance to be happy to answer any questions that you may have So those are due to more effective way of us being able to connect and disconnect that's recognition of A reduction in the cost of providing that service or doing that particular service Okay Okay, any other questions Not if there's a motion then on item H move to approve Second we have a motion and second any discussion All in favor say aye Any opposed same side Okay Thank you Tony for taking us through those. Thank you Item I is ACM update Mr. Chairman members of the board as you know We've experienced a record heat the last number of the last week and continue to do so this week And so we thought it would be good idea to have someone from DME So I've got Smith day here who can give the board Oh, I would like to give the board just a quick overview of how the energy center is doing Well the last number of days with the record heat we've experienced here in the area Good evening, I'm Smith day with DME. I'm the regulatory and risk division manager and As you can imagine this past week is as you've seen it you 've seen it on the news and it felt that outside obviously record-breaking heat and It was it was the first week where the deck was operating at full steam coincidentally, so We've got a slew of data and numbers that have Fallen in as through the first week of our full operation of the deck Those numbers are being Crunched and obviously there's just having some of them yesterday and Saturday Friday and Thursday, there's no time to put those all together for you here, but this is just for some high-level information So Urquhart on I think as some of you may have heard last week on Thursday hit a all-time peak of 73,000 megawatts and Also, coincidentally DME hit a all-time peak of 369 megawat ts last Thursday That smashed the previous record which was the previous day Wednesday was of 352 megawatts Absolutely smashed it and that compares to last year the last year's All all-time peak was total peak day was 350 megawatts So we've at went last Wednesday. We thought hey 352 Wow, we broke broke last year pretty easily then Thursday came and Absolutely wrecked it yesterday was I Want to say yesterday was she yes, it was 347 megawatts which is pretty incredible for an off-peak day Which is every Sunday is considered an off-peak day. So anyway on with the deck the deck had Previous to last week. There was some pipeline work being done and So that the pipeline company had to curtail some of the gas that The weather hadn't hit yet. So that was really no big effect there. So the gas came back on fully last week and The deck the engines were running running excellent They're running beautifully and they're performing and so they've been protecting us all week Against these high prices with some of which you've seen I don't know if you some of you may have the app on on your phone for ERCOT and They've been hitting in the 2000 3000 range sometimes for some hours mostly in the afternoon hours between one o' clock and seven Is when you'll see those extreme prices Coincides with the extreme heat go figure but that's exactly the way it works during those hours We've also seen our wind production Decrease you see that and That's a typical Situation as part of the country your western winds fall off and tremendous heat when high pressure sits over the state so that the wind dives the oppressive heat comes in the loads come up and then Scarcity pricing hits and that's that's when the decks jumped into action and and protect us. So in general Things are working. Well, those are the good things there haven't been without hiccups. I mean when you have an Enterprise like this like running a Tremendous plant like this. It has a few problems one of them being the gas. The other was there there was some tele metry Issues it was all worked around. They didn't cause any any operational problems. We still had the deck running It's just that's mostly tweaking on the computer systems that talk to ERCOT and they know there's just a few little things to iron out But nothing that's stopping us from running full full out full capacity so It's there. It's been running. I don't have a you know, like I said, I don't have a whole bunch of numbers to throw at Your crunch, but any general questions, I'll be happy to entertain You maybe can't answer this but I'm curious. Why would they do a pipeline inspection in July in Texas? That's like doing it in January in northern Minnesota. That doesn't really make a lot of we have the same question and There was an effort to and by the way that pipeline did not only affect DME it affected Other plants as well. Sure. So so because that plant and pipeline feeds multiple ones, but No one asked us the pipeline company had a 10-year compliance regulation they had to fulfill and It's from what we are understood. It was a federal regulation So there was reach out to the Public Utility Commission Railroad Commission and There wasn't a whole because it was federal there wasn't a whole lot that can be done about it. Unfortunately it worked out and There's there's a couple little things left for a couple hours But the big the big stuff's done and it really won't interfere with with us in that super peak range So it shouldn't be any issue from here on it. It's important. They inspect the pipeline. Yes That's very important. Yeah, and exactly. It's a compliance thing and and it's a tough deal because If the if the pipe has a leak and it's dangerous That's we've seen a lot of things in the news bad things can happen So you don't want that at this you just kind of want to to time it better Yeah, exactly what we'd like to see but we didn't actually get harmed by it. No, no ma'am or any other plants No, no ma'am. So so, you know, we'd just like to see better timing in the future and I think you may see from Being a regulatory person and having my ear out there. You may see some movement at the state legislature To try and make better coordination rules around what the pipes do and when they do things They usually don't do things in the winter because that's that's their Yeah Must have shoulders somewhere in there. Yeah, just some over some spots. Yeah, you would you would hope Well, that's that's a great report. I'm glad to hear everything's going well Thought about it as we you know as we see the peak demand for Urquhart, so so we actually saw the deck So was it running 24 hours or just turn it no sir It's it really came into play. I mean up until 11 o'clock noon on those days Things were fairly normal. And so it was the afternoon when when the spikes started happening So it you know, we have our dispatch price at its cost and when prices go above that cost and and those generally were from You know say noon to depending on the nights. I mean we had a night there was I think it was I think about 10 o'clock I looked in it was still 98 degrees. So yeah, it would be from noon to 10 some nights Today I think we've we've seen the things actually very tame overall you look at Urquhart and and This was a pretty big test and so far so far the entire Texas grid is passing so as as far as the in general the Texas grid goes we go because we're deeply integrated into it so It's it's all working pretty well. So let's Knock on stuff. We still got some hot days to go Gonna have a cool doms gonna be 98. Yeah break out the main coats. I'm here we come Nothing further to report All right Okay concluding items under section 551.0 for to the Texas Open Meetings Act respond to inqu iries from the Public Utilities Board or the public with specific factual information or recitation of policy or Accepted proposal to place a matter on the agenda for an upcoming meeting So do we have any requests for agenda items for upcoming meetings Seeing none hearing none All right, do we have a motion to adjourn We have a motion is there a second second from Allen all in favor say aye Thank you You