GVEA vote results

It seems like a long effort on my part, but it is time to re-evaluate and move forward.

Here are the vote results for the two ballot issues submitted to members:

* * * * * * * *

For transferring assets to the GVEA G&T
Yes 2653 41%
No 3878 59%

Vote fails. GVEA G&T assets remain with GVEA.

* * * * * * * *

For allowing all but board member and spouses to participate in GVEA alternative energy programs (e.g. SNAP)

Yes 4304 66.4%
No 2180 33.6%

Vote passes. All but board members and spouses may now participate.

* * * * * * * *
Check out the more detailed vote tally

See http://gvea.blogspot.com for comment on this or further GVEA issues.

 

GVEA second to last posting

The GVEA website now includes links to the GVEA G&T, under board of directors. We’ll see how long it stays there.

After announcing results of the vote Mon. night of the G&T proposal vote, I would like to move GVEA discussions over to a separate blog http://gvea.blogspot.com so we can work to get two way communications between the GVEA organization, board and membership.

It will also allow this blog to get back to other things without being buried in GVEA issues. There is life after GVEA (:-).

 

GVEA G&T Articles of Incorporation and the smell test

Listening in on KFAR radio today to board members Dan Osborne and Tom Delong discuss the G&T proposal, one caller requested GVEA to post the G&T Articles of Incorporation. I had already done so, extracted from GVEA G&T’s larger RCA filing back in June 2006. A list of documentation was also posted. Sorry they didn’t mention it on the radio show as I think I’ve presented a pretty complete picture of the proposal with links to all sides of the issue.

As far as the radio show, it went on for 1.5 hours. Everyone appeared to have their chance to present their points more than once and got a number of callers to prompt the occasional spirited exchange.

I did hear an official word that 5369 ballots had been turned in as of Wed. 5 pm. Anybody wanting to come down and observe the ballot counting process should know it will be started next Mon. Dec 11, 2006 6 pm in either the GVEA Board Room (space willing) or the Training Room on the 2nd floor of the Operations Bldg. behind the administrative bldg. at GVEA offices on Illinois St. My understanding is that MAC members will be doing the counting.

I’ve learned a lot during this G&T affair, but one easy recommendation to GVEA is to separate the ballot collectors from the staff who are charged with advocating on one side of the issue, in this case the P.R. folks. Not that I believe any ballot stuffing is going on, but, as Government Affairs Director Tom Irwin might say, “It doesn’t meet the smell test”.

 

Turn in those ballots

I went down to GVEA to turn in my ballot in person a couple days ago. Jokingly I was asked if I wanted to share how I voted. Let them guess.

Besides the full page Newsminer ads, GVEA also produced 15 second radio and TV spots. Very basic, just the big $30 million figure flying across the screen, with any of 4 board members telling you to vote so they could save you money. Kind of reminds me of sale advertisements, where you have to spend to save. Pretty dishonest presentation IMHO, even given the limitation of 15 seconds.

So I hope everyone that will has turned in a ballot. The last time they can be turned in (received by GVEA) is 5 pm next Monday, Dec. 11, 2006.

 

In Your Face

GVEA has taken out 3 days of a full page ad to promo the G&T. I’ve posted it here, but have done a bit of editorial corrections, as I see it. GVEA spent $5,000 of the members’ money on this ad.

While missing board member Delong declined to be in the ad due to the advocating for the G&T, perhaps it would have been better to have him included with a caveat that he has concerns about the G&T proposal. It appears kind of one sided as is.

That being said, the ad is pretty much in your face, overkill, far more than one would expect for something that only saves the members’ some of their capital credits in advance. I was told by GVEA executive management that, if the members reject this, the issue will be dropped. Others have expressed conspiracy theories, which I would like to reject, but it makes me wonder why not just let the members vote? Is it just the ego of potentially not getting their way?

I do worry that GVEA will fail to meet their financial target in 2006, which will put them in default for the second year in a row, causing them to have to increase their margins. I certainly hope this is not the case, but they’ve been on a big spending spree the past few years and don’t show signs of tightening their belts in a number of areas. I don’t mean those that would create safety or service issues for consumers.

I think that there ought to be deeper scrutiny of the budget beyond that of staff and the board, if they can’t seem to do it themselves. There was just a several hour 2007 budget workshop with the board, but the board appeared to approve it with only minor modifications. I’m not a big fan of wholesale budget cutting, but we the consumers pay for those who won’t strategically conserve during lean times. If it is our utility, as the ad indicates, how about making the budget easily available for members to critique?

 

GVEA G&T finally has bylaws - the Days of Their Lives

I attended the GVEA board meeting last night, followed by the second meeting of the GVEA G&T ever since its inception in Dec. 2003.

The GVEA G&T finally has bylaws adopted, the same board as the GVEA Board, and the same officers for now. The appointed CEO is GVEA CEO Steve Haagenson. One board member suggested me for the position - I wisely refused.

There was no discussion over G&T board or CEO compensation, though the board was adequately compensated by their workshop all afternoon and the meeting that went till after 10 pm. I think they received between $800 and $1000 each. They usually get $350 for a workshop and $450 per board meeting. That’s over $100/hour. Plus good food.

During the GVEA board meeting board comments, concerns were expressed by staff and board about information that was out in the public about the G&T proposal. Staff felt like they’d been on a constant road show, but heard little back from members. Board directors felt like they’d received a lot of calls from members, some with what some felt was inaccurate information. Some seemed surprised and a bit perturbed. I’d opine that they should be pleased that members are calling on their district reps to explain the G&T proposal.

As far as inaccurate information, I can’t speak for others, but I’ve certainly tried diligently to be accurate. CFO Grubich indicated I blogged that GVEA intended to sell the assets. I only repeated what he and Tom Irwin said is that they could sell the assets. Interestingly, with all the discussion about communications, they don’t seem to realize that they are welcome to offer comments on any of my blog entries.

The Town Hall meeting earlier this month at Noel Wien Library was video recorded and one can download the video from the GVEA website. With a really fast connection, it will take at least as long as the meeting of 1 hour 40 minutes - it’s 200 mb big. One of the directors commented he tried with his dialup and gave up. It was the first they’d heard of it. For all the great reputation GVEA has for quality IT support, I’m surprised nobody warned the PR folks about this.

One of the more entertaining parts of the meeting was a presentation given by Tom Staudenmeier, a former Matanuska Electric Ass’n board member from the early 1980’s. He was lobbying for a regional utility, with Ross Perot’s people (whoever they are) to come in and set it up. He was ready to put many utility managers and former legislators in jail as crooks, even Gov. elect Sarah Palin’s father-in-law. Chair Bill Nordmark didn’t enforce any time limit, so knowing that, I feel that there must be no time limit on member comments (not that I would ever so abuse). Some of the old history makes an interesting read

 

GVEA membership vote recommendations

Here are my recommendations for voting by mail. Of course, members should educate themselves before voting. The mail in ballot must be RECEIVED by 5 pm Dec. 11, 2006 at GVEA offices.

To read why I recommend voting this way, please read my Community Perspective in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner. The Newsminer has other GVEA articles and letters available

Ballot 2006

Membership Vote to Approve the Transfer of G&T Assets

GVEA should transfer generation and transmission (G&T) assets to the Golden Valley Electric Association Generation & Transmission Cooperative (GVEA G&T)

I Approve

X I Disapprove

===========================

Amendment of Bylaws

Article IV, Section 3
[this change allows all but GVEA board members and their spouses to participate in GVEA sponsored alternative energy programs, such as SNAP]

X I Approve

I Disapprove

 

GVEA 2005 deficit and Healy Experimental Coal Plant

While GVEA members should have received their ballots in the mail about giving away $300 million of assets, more things are happening. Homer Electric Association is working with AIDEA, the state agency owners of the experimental coal plant in Healy, to get the plant restarted. GVEA is in mediation with AIDEA over access to the site, built on GVEA land. More info is available at www.chena.org/gvea.

GVEA has some concerns about making sure they stay in the black this next year and next, as they let themselves lose money in 2005. The stated reason was they had to pay back in December 2005 a few million dollars to members when only 5.88% of their 8% rate increase was granted by the RCA. However, they didn’t say is that 1) the 8% was only initially allowed to be collected on an interim and refundable basis, and 2) they were told to give back the money in July 2005 by the RCA. GVEA thus had 6 months to cover the difference, but chose instead to fight giving back to the members what was due them, thus lost money. Another loss in a 3 year period and that puts them at risk for increased interest rates on loans. More about this on the link above.

I certainly like having electricity and am willing to pay a fair rate, but as a member-owner, would like to hear more than just than the one way spin. This is why I encourage regular and effective two way communication between member-owners and their board members. I’ve set up a separate blog to encourage comments at gvea.blogspot.com

 

GVEA members weigh in on G&T proposal

I’ve had a number of GVEA members contacting me regarding GVEA’s proposal to transfer $300 million of assets out of the members’ control. I received a fact sheet from some of them, who obviously spent some time on it. It is summarized below. You can view the entire document at www.chena.org/gvea/gt-info.pdf or on their website
www.savegvea.com

---

GVEA Ballots Hit the Mail 11/20/06!
They should not be thrown out with the rest of your junk mail!Ballot Issue 1 strips GVEA Members’ voting rights forever
We Recommend: Voting NO on Ballot Issue #1, and YES on Ballot Issue #2

By a vote of its members, GVEA is proposing to transfer $300 million worth of power generation plants and transmission lines to a separate co-op known as GVEA G&T (i.e., Generation and Transmission). If Ballot Issue 1 is approved, the new entity would never again need GVEA member’s approval for major decisions. Members would lose the ability to vote on matters related to power generation plants and transmission lines, features of ownership that have the greatest impact on our electric bills.

According to our review, numerous problems exist under GVEA’s proposal. For example:

• The potential savings which GVEA claims under a G&T co-op are highly inflated. They are based on an “apples and oranges” economic comparison, rather than the financial criteria established by the Rural Utilities Service for loans to utilities.
• Currently, GVEA Ratepayers have the ability under the existing bylaws to intervene on bad decisions such as the Healy Clean Coal Power plant fiasco ($300 million total cost and still rising, which was partially funded by GVEA). Under the GVEA G&T Bylaws, we would have no direct say over a future ill-fated plan or decision.
• GVEA G&T Bylaws could be amended without the explicit consent of GVEA Members to allow:
• Expensive/controversial power generation and transmission projects that could only proceed with minimal public oversight (i.e., such as building a nuclear power plant or routing transmission lines through critical habitat).
• The sale or purchase of major power generation and transmission assets.

As concerned Members, we’ve made in-depth comparisons between the current GVEA bylaws, those proposed for GVEA G&T, and GVEA management’s promotional claims. Our analysis is a detailed 2-1/2 page technical report that summarizes: a) how and why these worst case scenarios and many others could unfold, and b) additional problems embedded in GVEA’s promotional materials, and c) the proposed bylaws:

Source Document Links:

• GVEA Bylaws: http://www.gvea.com/about/bylaws/
• GVEA G&T Bylaws: http://www.gvea.com/file/?id=gvea-g-and-t-bylaws—oct06.pdf
• Ruralite GVEA G&T Promotion: http://www.gvea.com/file/?id=nov-ruralite.pdf
• Ballot Issues for 11/20/06 Ballot: http://www.gvea.com/content/?id=gvea-gt&

 

GVEA G&T Documents and Resources

Probably time to take a look at the record of some of the official submissions thus far on GVEA’s G&T proposal and what else is out there in the media.

Filings with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska

GVEA G&T initial request, lots of details (2 mb):
http://www.chena.org/gvea/u06069_1.pdf

List of filings and orders: http://rca.alaska.gov/data/displayDoc?docID=0703200612334127

Request for confidentiality: http://rca.alaska.gov/data/docketDetail.html?docket=U-06-069

Ruling on first set of issues: http://www.state.ak.us/rca/orders/utils/2006/u06069_2.pdf

GVEA G&T revised bylaws on the agenda to be adopted (or not) at Nov. 27, 2006 G&T board meeting

---

Other media reports:Dermot Cole, Fairbanks Daily News MinerEster Republic