NEW ULM — The New Ulm Public Utilities Commission approved a plan to resume normal collection activity and service disconnections under the policies outlined in the New Ulm Public Utilities (NUPU) regulations.

On June 23, 2020, the commission authorized the establishment of the COVID-19 deferred payment plan. Utilities Director Kris Manderfeld explained this action suspended disconnections and penalties until the end of the peacetime emergency. The reason for this action was to relieve customers of a potential hardship during the pandemic.

On April 15, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission tentatively approved regulated utility transition plans designed to move these utilities back to their pre-pandemic customer service practices. This has prompted NUPU to begin the development of similar plans.

As part of the transition plan, the suspension of disconnections will end May 31 for all customers; and the utility will follow the normal disconnection policy outlined in the NUPU regulations.

All utility accounts with an unpaid balance will receive a letter around May 1 advising them of the change in disconnection policy and notifying them of outside funding available to help with the payment of their bills.

Those with unpaid balances as of May 31 will have 60 days from May 1 to set up a payment plan. The amount owed will be divided by 12 months and added to their utility bill. The agreements need to be signed by June 30, to avoid disconnection. If a payment plan is not set up, the unpaid balance will be added to the July billing and will be subject to disconnection for failure to pay.

Normal disconnection policies will apply to the June utility billings and will need to be paid on the due date to avoid disconnection.

All penalties, disconnection and reconnection fees will continue to be waived until the end of the COVID-19 peacetime emergency.

Currently, NUPU has 112 customers with balances of three months or more outstanding. There are 14 customers with bills 12 months more outstanding. The 112 unpaid balances total $180,000. The highest unpaid balance is $5,800.

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The PUC authorized accepting a $72,325 proposal from Kramer Service Group for construction services for the Minnesota River conduit crossing project.

This project was brought to the PUC in August 2019 because of flood damage to the overhead distribution line going to the south well field. During the design and FEMA funding process, it was found to be cost-prohibitive to repair the riverbank with rip rap and replace the guy wires on the distribution line. Other alternatives were explored and the option of boring underneath the Minnesota River was found to be cost-effective.

Five bids were received ranging from $72,325 to $187,025. SEH and staff recommendation is to accept the low bid from Kramer Service Group.

The project came in significantly lower than expected. Utilities Engineer Dan Pirsig said this bid was a third of the engineer’s estimate.

The commission was happy to see a low bid but was curious why the bid came in so low.

Pirsig said Kramer Service Group was already conducting work in New Ulm and wanted to keep their crew local for the summer. Low mobilization cost is likely a reason for the low bid.

This project is included in the 2021 budget and has been approved for FEMA funding. The boring project is phase one of the total project with the pulling of wire and connection being completed with internal staff.

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An engineering services proposal from Bolton & Menk for the structural review of the wastewater treatment facilities was accepted at $19,500.

Bolton & Menk has been engaged to do a structural review of miscellaneous metals for walkways, grating, handrails, stairs, etc., for the wastewater treatment facilities and 20th Lift Station. This review is intended to be on items that are not to be included or have not been included in larger projects, such as the catwalks on the aeration basins. It is anticipated that some of the recommendations will require immediate action while others can be implemented over time.

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The PUC received the electrical system reliability report for 2020. The electrical system is measured on three standards, the System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI); System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI); and Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI).

The SAIFI is the average number of interruptions that a customer would experience per year. In 2020, the average NUPU customer experienced 0.14 interruptions. Pirsig said was a good SAIFI score for the region. Most other providers had a higher interruption rate average. NUPU’s 2020 rate was an improvement from 2019.

The SAIDI is the average outage duration for each customer served. NUPU’s average outage per person was 23.99 minutes. This was a significantly better SAIDI score than the region. The utility average for the region was 42.04 minutes. The NUPU 2020 average power outage was a significant improvement from 2019. The average in 2019 was 68.37 minutes.

The CAIDI gives the average outage duration that any given customer would experience. In 2020, NUPU’s had a higher than normal CAIDI at 171.8 minutes. In 2019, the CAIDI was 99.62 minutes. NUPU’s average outage duration changes significantly from year to year.

The two major power outages in 2020 occurred on May 17 and August 26. The May 17 event was caused by lightning and impacted 981 customers for a combined total of 1,420 minutes. The August 26 event was caused by an equipment failure that impacted 12 customers for a combined total of 95 minutes. These outages did not last long but were spread over customers.

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Natural gas bills were significantly higher in February due to a nationwide cold spell raising the cost of gas. The PUC authorized a buydown of the bill, but also allowed customers to set up contracts to pay off February’s bill over five months. Manderfeld said 170 utilities set up a special payment contract. It was estimated customers saw a two to three times higher gas bill in February. Manderfeld believes the buydown helped. Many customers had expected even higher bills.

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The commission commended two recently retired utility employees, Donna Soukup and Mike Rubey, for their service. Soukup started as a part-time clerical assistant with the Water/Steam Department in September 1994. She was promoted to full-time clerical assistant with the Water/Steam Department in May 2001 and served in that position until her retirement on March 31, 2021.

Rubey started with the City’s Park and Recreation Department as a part-time laborer in September 2009 and was promoted to skilled laborer in March 2011. He transferred to the PUC as a full-time boiler operator trainee in the Electric Production Department in April 2013. He was then promoted to relief boiler operator in June 2014, boiler operator in May 2015, relief operator in March 2018, and power plant operator in September 2018. He retired from the PUC on April 2, 2021.