2018 Performance Measures Report
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PERFORMANCE MEASURES REPORT 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW BURLINGTON ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT Darren Springer, General Manager The Burlington Electric Department (BED) is pleased to lineworker pole-top retrieval, chainsaw safety, and present the 2018 Performance Measures Report. BED confined space rescue. presents this annual report to highlight organizational We know reliability is critical for all of our customers, goals and to share the findings for the benefit of our and BED achieved very strong results when it came to customers and the entire Burlington community. keeping the lights on. In 2018, on average, less than In 2018, BED continued to focus on our mission one-third of our customers experienced an unplanned to serve the energy needs of our customers in a safe, outage, and the average duration for unplanned and reliable, affordable, and socially responsible manner. planned outages was approximately 54 minutes. Those At BED, safety continues to be our number one numbers far exceed our reliability goals and are the result value and, this past year, BED continued our work of the hard work of BED’s operations team, including on maintaining a culture of excellence around safety. our line crews, power system coordinators, engineers, We took our safety training efforts to the next level by and technicians. BED prioritizes investments in our introducing our first-ever “Safety Day,” during which distribution grid in our annual capital budget to ensure BED lineworkers, meter and substation technicians, that our system is modern and resilient. engineers, and all other members of the operations In 2018, BED’s Customer Care team continued team attended various educational sessions, including its work on meeting its strategic objective to deliver 2 Leading Through Energy Innovation exceptional customer care to the Burlington community. reduce energy consumption. Visit burlingtonelectric. BED is proud of our efforts to reduce customer com/save to learn more. complaints tracked by the Vermont Department of Public Achieving the Net Zero Energy goal will mean not only Service (DPS). This past year, BED served our customers continuing our progress in the electric sector, but also without a single customer complaint to the DPS. During transforming our heating and transportation sectors. To 2017 and 2018, BED had its best two years in terms of help analyze our best options to reach Net Zero Energy, answering customer calls quickly, reducing hold-time, BED conducted a Request for Proposals in 2018 to and taking care of our customers’ inquiries and requests identify a partner to create a Net Zero Energy Roadmap. more quickly than ever before. BED selected Synapse Energy Economics (along with its We are proud to have gone another year without a transportation partner RSG) to work with us on creating rate increase, having not raised rates since 2009. BED a Roadmap that will provide a baseline of energy use and balances prudent financial management with forward- greenhouse gas emissions across the electric, thermal, looking innovation, embodied in our 2018-19 Strategic and ground transportation sectors. From this baseline, Direction, which includes the goal outlined by Mayor the Roadmap will offer analysis of various pathways Miro Weinberger and adopted by the Burlington Electric to achieve the City’s Net Zero Energy goal, with an Commission of helping Burlington become a “Net Zero eye on solutions that provide the best economic and Energy City” by 2030. environmental outcomes for Burlingtonians. Look for the BED approaches this Net Zero Energy goal with the Roadmap report to be available in summer 2019. benefit of having become in 2014 the first city in the To make meaningful progress on our Net Zero Energy nation to source 100 percent of our power from renewable vision of producing or sourcing as much renewable generation. The BED Generation team manages multiple energy as we consume, we continued to advance energy energy generation facilities, including the McNeil innovation programs in 2018. We continued to offer Generating Station, the Winooski One hydroelectric electric vehicle (EV) and plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) plant, and several solar generation projects throughout rebates on the purchase or lease of EVs, with enhanced our community. rebates for low- and moderate-income customers. As we look to a Net Zero Energy future, we continue to benefit from our successful energy efficiency programs, which save Burlington Electric customers millions of dollars annually. As we look to a Net Zero Energy future, we continue to We prepared for the January 2019 launch of our new benefit from our successful energy efficiency programs, residential home EV charging rate that makes charging which save Burlington Electric customers millions of an EV substantially cheaper than fueling up on gasoline. dollars annually. Today we use approximately six percent We also launched a new electric bike (E-bike) rebate less electricity in Burlington than we did in 1989, and program. BED’s E-bike instant rebates of $200 are we continue to offer various ways for Burlingtonians to available only at our local partner retailers. In addition, burlingtonelectric.com n 585 Pine Street n Burlington, VT 3 BED customers may borrow an we continue to offer our Solar This program was a pilot for future E-bike through our “try before you Shopper program. Quite simply, community-based programs and buy” lending library with our partner you visit burlingtonelectric.com/ rates that BED will use to engage Local Motion. You can learn more solar, answer 10 questions, and, our customers in reducing energy about our EV and E-Bike programs within three business days, receive use during peak energy times. by visiting burlingtonelectric.com/ev estimates from one or more of our In 2018, BED continued piloting and burlingtonelectric.com/ebike. six solar installer partners. advanced water heater load control We know that, for EV drivers, To help cut emissions and create devices to allow BED to modify the finding a place to charge is vital. another clean transportation option, consumption patterns of electric Therefore, in 2018, we launched a BED is working with Green Mountain water heaters without affecting new $1,000 incentive for installation Transit, the Vermont Agency of customers’ comfort while providing of new workplace charging stations. Transportation, and other partners benefits for the grid. BED is working with interested in an effort to add new electric In 2018, BED continued to work commercial customers to benefit buses (E-buses) to the local fleet. on the concept of creating a district from both our incentive and available We expect to see new E-buses in energy system (DES) that would state charging station grants (as the local fleet in late summer or early tap into available thermal energy part of the Volkswagen settlement) fall 2019. from the McNeil Generating Station to work toward building a broader Energy innovation is at the heart to provide heat to customers in EV charging network. For more of BED’s strategic initiatives. Again in Burlington. BED testified in favor of information visit burlingtonelectric. 2018, BED ran our voluntary “Defeat legislation that would make thermal com/news/215. the Peak” energy use reduction efficiency funds available to support To make the process of “going program to test customer willingness the DES, and that legislation was solar” easy for our customers, to reduce loads on critical days. passed unanimously by the Vermont 4 Leading Through Energy Innovation Legislature and signed into law in Scattergood System Achievement rate, and benefit from new incentives 2018. In addition, the City Council Award for sustained achievement for electric lawn equipment. approved a filing with the Vermont and excellent customer service. BED is proud to serve Burlington Public Utility Commission (PUC) on This national recognition reinforces each and every day, and will the subject of DES, and the PUC the positive role BED is playing as continue to strive to provide ruled that the City of Burlington a public, municipally-owned utility excellent service. This report is could locally regulate a DES under in driving energy innovation and intended to help explain what we do Vermont law. BED continues to delivering value for our customers and help us measure our progress work with potential customers and and community. over time. We invite your comments stakeholders, as well as our partner We are not finished with energy and suggestions by clicking here. Corix Utilities, to advance this innovation; rather we are just getting project. started. In 2019, customers can look BED was recognized by the for new BED home heating solutions American Public Power Association that cut greenhouse gas emissions, (APPA) in 2018 with the E.F. sign up for our new residential EV We have created this report as an electronic download available on our website, rather than in print form, saving many trees and $1,500 in printing costs. burlingtonelectric.com n 585 Pine Street n Burlington, VT 5 SAFETY IS OUR #1 VALUE In addition to the safety accomplishments set forth above include LTIR (Lost Time Incident Rate), which is the in the “Year In Review” section of this report, in 2018, BED number of incidents with days away from work, and LTSR completed the update of the Transmission and Distribution (Lost Time Severity Rate), which is the number of lost Accident Prevention Manual. Input was sought from the work days over the whole year. entire employee base, and all changes were reviewed and The LTIR stayed below the SQRP baseline which implemented by the Safety Committee. The same update reflects the strength of BED’s Return to Work program by has begun for our Generation Facilities Manual, including providing a path for an injured employee to return to work the McNeil Generating Station, the Gas Turbine, and the sooner in a limited or restricted duty assignment.