| AREA: | SAVINGS: | DESCRIPTION OF BENEFIT: | TOTAL BENEFIT: |
| Gastonia Prime Power Park Build-Out | $2,800,000 | NCMPA1 Staff was able to relocate four existing generators in order to meet contractual obligations at the Gastonia Prime Power Park. The savings is the difference between purchasing and installing new units versus moving existing units. | Total Benefit ($) - Cost of purchasing new units - Cost of relocating units
- $2,800,000
|
| Retail Billing Program | 420,000 | Staff provides billing services for 321 of NCEMPA's retail customers in 24 cities, resulting in savings of $17,500/city/year versus estimates of what the cities would have paid if such services were outsourced. | Total Benefit ($) - Number of cities x Savings/city
- 24 x $17,500
- $420,000
|
| Operations Expertise | 380,000 | Staff provides NCMPA1's Participants with operations expertise and assistance in areas of common interest such as EPA issues related to generators, delivery point facilities and other operational issues with Duke. It is estimated that it would cost each city about 0.4 FTE in staff to provide equivalent services. | Total Benefit ($) - Number of cities x City FTE usage x City FTE cost
- 19 x 40% x $50,000= $380,000
|
| Retail Rate Studies | 375,000 | Staff develops and performs retail rate studies for NCMPA1 Participants, including identifying and recommending necessary and efficient changes in retail rate levels and billing structures. Without Staff assistance, each Participant that receives the service would need a consultant to do analysis and data manipulation at $25,000 per study. Seventeen Participants use the service. | Total Benefit ($) - Number of studies x External study cost
- 15 x $25,000/study
- $375,000
|
| Retail Billing Services | 245,000 | Staff provides billing and data management services to NCMPA1 Participants whose billing systems and/or staff resources for certain types of retail C/I customers are limited. Without Staff support, each city would spend about $17,500 per year on such services. | Total Benefit ($) - Number of cities using EC service x External service cost
- 14 cities x $17,500/city
- $245,000
|
| Catawba Site Representation Services | 97,344 | Staff provides contract administration services to PMPA and NCEMC as it relates to their Catawba ownership interest. Staff bills PMPA and NCEMC for these services, reducing NCMPA1's cost of contract administration by sharing these services with the other Catawba Owners. | Revenues from providing these services in 2012 |
| Operations Services | 97,000 | Staff provides operationally-related technical services to certain NCMPA1 Participants, including arranging for fueling of four DG units ($3,000 value), telemetry system information access for all cities ($19,000 value), metering access to city/customer owned generation or certain C/I customers ($40,000 value), and Distributed Generation/Load Management RTU monitoring/control access($35,000 value). | Total Benefit ($) - DG Fuel expense + Telemetry access expense + RTU monitoring expense
- $3,000 + $19,000 + $40,000 + $35,000
- $97,000
|
| Economic Development Rates | 95,000 | As NCMPA1 Participants receive inquiries regarding economic development opportunities, Staff collects customer data and works with the Participant to develop economic development rates to provide the prospective customer. Without Staff assistance, each of the 19 participating members would need at least 0.1 FTE to perform the analysis. | Total Benefit ($) - Number of cities using EC service x City FTE usage x City FTE cost
- 19 x 0.1 x $50,000
- $95,000
|
| Retail Rate Assistance | 87,500 | Staff develops and performs retail rate studies for NCEMPA Participants, including identifying and recommending necessary and efficient changes in retail rate levels and billing structures. Without such assistance, each Participant that receives the service would need a consultant to perform analysis and data manipulation at an estimated cost of $3,500 per study. Twenty-five Participants used the service in 2011. | Total Benefit ($) - Number of studies x Savings/city
- 25 x $3,500
- $87,500
|
| EIA Report Assistance | 80,000 | Staff coordinates data collection and city reports for filing with EIA for NCEMPA Participants at no additional charge. It is estimated that a vendor would charge $2,500/city/year. | Total Benefit ($) - Number of cities x Savings/city
- 32 x $2,500
- $80,000
|
| Electric System Construction Manual | 70,000 | Standardized Construction Practices allow for training programs to teach the same practices to all members. This shortens the learning curve, allows for better emergency response and assures acceptable practices are taught. Construction drawings developed and approved by Public Power employees allow for standardized training and construction practices. Staff provided manuals at no additional cost to members, where members would otherwise have to hire a consultant. | Total Benefit ($) - Consultant cost x Number of members
- $1,000 x 70
- $70,000
|
| EIA Report Assistance | 47,500 | Staff assisted each NCMPA1 Participant with gathering data and filling out forms for the annual EIA report. Each city would otherwise need at least 0.05 FTE to gather and ensure accuracy of the data. This helps to avoid possible non-compliance penalties of up to $2,750 per day. | Total Benefit ($) - Number of cities x City FTE usage x City FTE cost
- 19 x 0.05 x $50,000
- $47,500
or Total Benefit ($) - Number of cities x Savings/city
- 19 x $2,500
- $47,500
|
| Joint Purchasing | 43,600 | Staff coordinated the joint purchasing of utility poles, resulting in a 3% discount on $1,453,321 of pole purchases. | Total Benefit ($) - EC discount x Pole expenses
- 3% x $1,453,321
- $43,600
|
| ElectriCities Annual Meeting | 40,000 | The annual meeting hosted by Staff provides training, peer networking, legislative clout and opportunities to discuss utility business in an efficient manner. The registration fees are typically about $200/person less than the industry standard (e.g., APPA). The number of applicable attendees in 2012 was 200. | Total Benefit ($) - (Individual APPA fee - Group fee ) x Attendees
- ($695 - $495) x 200 attendees
- $40,000
|
| EIA Report Assistance | 35,000 | Staff coordinates data collection and city reports for filing with EIA for Non-PA Participants at no additional charge. It is estimated that a vendor would charge $2,500/city/year. | Total Benefit ($) - Number of cities x Savings/city
- 14 x $2500
- $35,000
|
| Customer Service Best Practices | 28,000 | Staff provides peer networking to improve members' policies, procedures and legal compliance and to reduce research and legal costs. Direct savings due to lower cost for developing and maintaining appropriate procedures is at least $400 per member per year. | Total Benefit ($) - Avoided consulting cost x Number of members
- $400 x 70
- $28,000
|
| Utility Director Meetings & Listserve | 28,000 | Staff provides peer networking for utility directors; asking and answering questions instead of paying consultants or contractors for assistance. It is estimated each member avoids at least $400 per year in consulting costs. | Total Benefit ($) - Avoided consulting cost per question x Number of questions
- $400 x 70
- $28,000
|
| State Wide Service Contracts | 25,500 | Contracts are in place with vendors to provide technical assistance or services to members. The use of Staff to put together a service contract, bid and execute an agreement avoids paying a contractor or consultant. | Total Benefit ($) - Avoided vendor cost/member x Number of members
- $500 x 51
- $25,500
|
| Legal Support | 20,000 | Staff provided assistance with members' questions about legal issues, resulting in savings versus using external legal counsel. | Total Benefit ($) - Estimated legal consulting time x External legal rate x Members assisted
- 2 hr x $250/hr x 40
- $20,000
|
| Customer Service Policy Guidelines Manual | 17,500 | Staff provides cities with a manual of suggested policies (total of 70 manuals). This allows the members to avoid using member staff resources to develop their own policies, resulting in significant savings for the members. | Total Benefit ($) - City labor reduction x City labor rate x Number of manuals
- 10 hr x $25/hr x 70
- $17,500
|
| Performance Indicators | 16,320 | Staff researched and compiled a report of industry Performance Indicators and trends for the members, resulting in savings to the members due to avoided use of member staff resources. | Total Benefit ($) - Avoided city effort x City rate x Number of cities
- 8 hr x $40/hr x 51
- $16,320
|
| Training programs for city staff | 14,175 | Staff provides training through webinars and workshops for customer service, marketing and technical/regulatory compliance. The estimated difference between market price (or outsourced city cost) of this service and the cost charged to the cities by Staff is $75/person (there may be multiple persons at each site). There were 189 sites logged in 2012. | Total Benefit ($) - (Estimated savings for EC training/attendee) x Number of attendees
- $75/person x 189 attendees
- $14,175
|
| Organization Check Ups | 12,000 | ElectriCities helped fund Organization Check Ups by Hometown Connections in 2012. 3 members took advantage of this program at $4,000 in funding per member. | Total Benefit ($) - Number of cities x Savings/city
- 3 x $4,000
- $12,000
|
| CAD Drawings | 10,000 | Staff pays for customized CAD drawings to support the Construction Manual at a cost of about $10,000/year. There is no additional cost to the members and the work product is shared among all members. | Total Benefit ($) - Avoided cost of CAD drawings
- $10,000
|
| Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) | 10,000 | Staff provides data needed for RP3 applications as well as assistance with completing the applications, resulting in a reduction in member staff time to complete the applications. | Total Benefit ($) - Avoided assistance time x Labor rate x Number of members
- 16 hr x $25/hr x 25
- $10,000
|