The Southeast Alaska Power Agency held a two-day meeting in Wrangell last week, on June 19 and 20. The SEAPA board of directors consists of five voting community members and their alternates from Wrangell, Petersburg, and Ketchikan, which are the three communities the power agency supplies. During last week's meetings, the board agreed to pay the two cities of Wrangell and Petersburg almost $850,000 in a reimbursement package.
The reimbursement plan was to pay back the two cities for switching to diesel power back in February and March. SEAPA typically draws hydropower from Tyee Lake and supplies the power generated to Wrangell and Petersburg. However, due to drought conditions the water levels in Tyee Lake dropped almost to their draft limit. On top of that SEAPA had also agreed to sell Tyee hydropower to Ketchikan, which was also facing hydropower shortages of their own from Swan Lake. With Tyee Lake at its draft limit, Wrangell and Petersburg went on diesel power for a while to conserve what water was left in the lake. SEAPA was originally scheduled to reimburse the two communities back in April, but the decision was postponed. Trey Acteson, CEO of SEAPA, said in a previous interview with the Wrangell Sentinel that they wanted the decision reviewed by auditors before the reimbursement was formally approved.
Despite the delay, the plan finally received final approval in last week's meetings. Lisa Von Bargen, Wrangell's borough manager and alternate SEAPA board member, said that the total payment comes out to $841,785.38, which will be divided between the two cities. This will help cover the cost of fuel, running the generators, and base overtime wages for the diesel run.
Von Bargen added that during the meetings, the board looked at current lake levels and the weather forecast for the near future. Based on the information they have, she said that they do not anticipate any power sales south to Ketchikan this year. Power will still be moved back and forth between Tyee and Swan Lake in a "net zero situation," she said, but that they are not planning to sell any excess power this year.
"When it makes sense to send power south, in order to help the efficiency of the system, that will be done, but an equivalent amount of power will be sent north back to Wrangell and Petersburg out of Swan in order to make up for that," she said.
The SEAPA board also set the agency's wholesale power rate for the next six months, July to December, at 6.8 cents per kilowatt hour. That is the price at which SEAPA sells power to its three cities. Von Bargen pointed out that this is the same rate as in the past. SEAPA has not had a rate increase in quite a while, she said.
"It's been more than 20 years since SEAPA has had a rate increase," she said. "So you can imagine how unbelievable it is that an organization based on just annual inflation every year has been able to maintain its wholesale power rate for that amount of time. So that's very exciting."
Other items covered in last week's meetings include approval of a six-month budget for the remainder of the year, approval of a contract for a gangway and pier replacement at Swan Lake with Western Dock & Bridge LLC, continuation of a hydro-site analysis investigation with McMillen LLC, and approval of a contract with Electric Power Constructors Inc. for marker ball replacement.
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