MEA Board Meeting, March 17, 2025

Written By Brian Kassof

MEA Board Meeting, March 17, 2025

Meeting notes submitted by Allie Sargent and the Susitna River Coalition

Board members in attendance: Directors Bill Kendig, Mark Masteller, Anastasia Buretta, Mark Hamm, Arthur Keyes, Dan Tucker; Maxwell Sumner joins via Zoom while meeting in progress.

Acceptance of Agenda

Persons to be heard: 

1.Name: David Zimmer

Comment: Comments that he would like to see MEA make more investments and decisions in support of renewable energy sources instead of focusing solely on natural gas as a solution. Mentions geothermal as a viable renewable energy option, particularly the leases around Mt. Spurr. Comments that members could better track usage and cost with the installation of “pay meters” on homes that show actual cost to rate-payers.

2.Name: Dave Musgrave

Comment: Thanks the board for their work on hosting meetings and supporting MEA. Comments on accessibility issues with access MEA board meetings. The website is hard to navigate and you have to search through multiple tabs and scroll through several pages to find information about upcoming board meetings. Zoom access is nice but the provided agenda is non-specific. Parking today for the board meeting was subpar and upon arrival there were no spots left in the MEA lot. When entering the building there were no directions to find the board room and when the customer service window staff were asked about the meeting, they had to contact a supervisor to find out where the meeting was occurring.


Committee Reports

1. Committee: Member Survey Update

Presenting: Jennifer Castro

  • The Annual Member survey took place over December 2nd-5th 2024 and was conducted entirely via web format on SmartHub.

  • Study was conducted by Alaska Survey Research, had a sample size of 1,018 respondents and a 3.5% margin of error

  • This survey saw a widening gap of respondents by gender. This year only 41% of respondents were female, 48% male, and 1% other. Female respondents were down by around 8% to previous years

  • 64% of respondents reported feeling “Very Positive” about MEA’s work

  • When asked what is the most important mission of MEA:

    • 64% responded reliability

    • 29% responded cost

    • 3% responded source of generation

  • 91% of respondents indicated that they had never attended the MEA Annual Meeting

    • Respondents noted that incentives that may lead to their attendance include food, prizes, or a topic to discuss/vote on

    • No mention of time of the event as a barrier for attendance in the comments received (Typically occurs during 9-5 weekday work hours)

  • When asked if respondents believed MEA should use renewable energy, 64% of respondents indicated support, which is up by 1%

  • If initial development would increase rates would you support?

    • 44% YES

    • 28% NO

    • 22% UNSURE

  • How much would you be willing to see in an increase on your monthly bill for transition to renewable energy sources?

    • $10: 39%

    • $15-25: 30%

    • $25+: 10%

  • What renewable energy sources would you like to see MEA use? Please select your top 3

    • Wind: 21%

    • Solar: 20%

    • Hydropower: 19%

      • Hydro most consistently was selected in top 3 rankings across responses, ranking in the top 3 for 65% of respondents

    • Nuclear: 19%

    • Geothermal: 9%

    • Tidal: 7%

    • Coal with carbon sequestration: 5%

  • How likely are you to personally generate electricity?

    • 41% Likely

    • 57% Unlikely

    • 3% Unsure

  • If a program were available to help finance installation of personal generation renewable energy sources, would you be interested?

    • 78% Yes

    • 22% No

  • Would you support legislation changing net metering rules so that utilities would have to pay homeowners the full retail rate for their excess power generation if this would increase costs for other rate payers?

    • 35% In Favor

    • 32% Opposed

    • 33% Unsure

  • Should the state of Alaska invest in energy infrastructure?

    • 74% Yes

    • 7% No

  • Would you support the temporary import of LNG?

    • 38% In favor to secure reliability

    • 18% Opposed - Use Alaska’s own resources

    • 35% Unsure

  • Would you adjust power use habits if off-peak discounts were implemented?

    • 66% Likely

    • 24% Unlikely

    • 10% Unsure

  • How do you prefer to receive communications from MEA?

    • 38% Email

    • 34% Text (this response doubled since last year)

    • 5% Newsletter

Comments/Comments:

  • Tony Izzo: Curious if the responses related to accepting bill/costs increases to support renewables are aware that the RCA could be a barrier to implementing large scale renewable energy shifts. If MEA has an active gas contract, and it is cheaper than renewables, the RCA may scrutinize MEA for investing in more expensive renewable project development.

  • Arthur Keyes: Could MEA give members the option to opt in to investment in renewables like Operation Round-Up?

    • Tony Izzo: In theory but this cost could not be used as a “rate”, it would have to be another type of surcharge

  • Mark Masteller: I wish the study also gave a dollar amount in rate-payer costs for other energy sources like gas or diesel

    • Tony Izzo agrees

  • Mark Hamn: How much does the study cost to run annually?

    • Jennifer Castro: Around $20k including incentives for participation


2. Committee: Audit Committee Update

Presenting: Report read aloud by Mark Masteller


CEO’s Monthly Report:

1. Responded to the public comment by Dave Musgrave about parking. A part of the lot is currently occupied by contractors working on a roof repair. Staff will try to make a more concerted effort when there are board meetings to not park in the main lot to make space.

Questions

  • Mark Hamn: Do we see imposed tariffs affecting the proposed budget?

    • Tony Izzo: The budget has already been set and we do not anticipate going back to make an update at this time, especially since so much is rapidly changing.

  • Mark Hamn: In terms of public relations, a recent ADN article came out mentioning holding several solar projects in Alaska, which ones are those and what implications does it have for MEA?

    • Tony Izzo: This would be expansion of the Houston Solar farm phase 2 but there is an NDA involved so this would have to move to executive session. There is another up north but the largest is Puppy Dog Lake on the Kenai.

  • Mark Hamn: Trump freezes funds for back-up electrical transmission, does that involve the GRIP application and do we have an update?

    • Tony Izzo: The Department of Energy put a pause on those funds related to DEI but we have positive rumblings and are waiting for confirmation that those funds will be released to move forwards on that second line from the Kenai. We have funds and matches in place so we won’t lose a construction season and can move forward.

  • Mark Hamn: We generated a lot more last Feb/March by the included graph on net-power supply. Did that have to do with the power-pull agreement and issues at Chugach that have changed?

    • We generated more power with the steamer out. It has been warmer and the BESS is online giving us 40 MW more

  • Mark Masteller: I am also concerned about tariffs. Mostly about the Fishhook-Pittman project. There is an item about the RTO in the report, it says the “methodology to determine backbone”. Isn’t a backbone just a transmission line of a certain voltage?

    • Tony Izzo: It should be as simple in my opinion as a descriptor for transmission lines used to move power from one end of the line to another. There are some FERC agreements on a formula/test to determine if it’s a backbone. We aren’t subject to FERC but some lines will need a test to determine. The RTO will make decisions by July 1 to file a tariff determining what backbone means. There will be more updates to come.

  • Mark Masteller: A comment on EVs, I am shocked there are 159 EVs in our territory and glad we are getting that data.


2. Level 2 EV program is moving forward and looking forward to charging and usage data.


Unfinished Business:

New Business:

1.Early Retirement of capital credits to estates—approved $44,944.32

Motion by Dir. Dan Tucker motions, Dir. Anastasia Buretta  seconds. [passed by unanimous consent]


2. Adopt resolution 2165, approving audited financial statements.

Motion by Dir. Dan Tucker motions, Dir. Maxwell Sumner seconds [passed by unanimous consent]


Board Remarks:

Dir. Mark Masteller: Hamn brought up some great points. Consider a letter to our folks about how federal funding impacts the board. Could renewable IPPs come and speak about what support they need to move forward with projects

Dir. Anastasia Buretta: Great audit folks. Thanks for educating about Mt. Spurr eruption as well.

Dr. Arthur Keyes: Thanks Jennifer for the survey. I was in Hawaii and energy is a big topic. I read articles in the papers there about importing natural gas. They would like to be energy independent by 2045. The ships for importing gas but the Jones act doesn’t allow them to import from the U.S. The Jones act requires importing ships to be American manned and only 2 ships could legally bring American gas to Alaska or Hawaii. Should we be contacting delegation about legislation that supports Alaska?

Dir. Bill Kendig: Can we ask for more guidance about federal tariff impact information through APA?

Tony Izzo: we can do that as a board and other folks are working on this (especially GRIP)

It’s happening but taking a long time to get info, particularly around the Kenai Transmission Line using GRIP.




Executive Committee:

Items to be discussed:

1. Legislative Updates

2. Strategic Project Progress


Left meeting at start of executive session.

Brian Kassof
Next

MEA Board Meeting, February 11, 2025