Welcome back to this biweekly meeting of the budget and policy committee of Denver City Council.

Join us for the discussion as the budget and policy committee starts now.

And we are here at the budget policy committee.

My name is Diana Romero Campbell, and let's go ahead and get started with introductions.

Can we start with council members online?

Do we have any council members online?

There you go.

Good afternoon, Amanda Sawyer, District 5.

Would you like us to start in the room now?

Oh, she was our only one.

Oh, okay.

Yes, but you please I'll start to my left.

Hello, everyone.

Rodal Vitres, Lucky District 7.

Uh, good afternoon.

Uh, Watson, Fine District 9.

And Monday, folks, Paul.

So after district six.

Hi, everyone.

Sedana Gonzalez Gutierrez, one of your council members at large.

Good afternoon.

It's Denver's perfect time.

Uh good afternoon, everyone.

Kevin Flynn, Southwest Denver's District 2.

District 4.

Holding the suspense.

Wonderful.

And again, my name is Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver, District 4.

We have an Excel franchise agreement presentation today.

And who will be starting us off?

I have City.

Who's starting?

Do we need a moment?

Just a moment.

They're all walking.

Okay, hold please.

We're just gonna take a moment as everybody gets set up.

So we will start in just a minute.

Oh, for Excel.

Hello.

I was gonna say hi.

Or Johnny can do this.

Okay.

So I know I saw you.

I believe it's a good thing.

I'm not getting pretty long.

Oh, you're fine.

Well, we'll have you settle in and then um have you introduce yourselves when you are ready to go.

I'll go first.

I'm Jonathan Rogers.

Uh call me Johnny.

I'm Deputy Executive Director in Denver's Office of Climate Action Sustainability and Resiliency.

Shatter for the Deputy Chief Projects Officer in the Mayor's Office.

And Cindy Patton, I'm the chief operating officer for DOTI.

Wonderful.

We have Dominic online, don't we?

We should.

Who do we have?

Somebody presenting online with you.

If you can introduce yourself, Tom there on the chat.

They said he's not there.

Oh, they just put it there.

Thank you.

All right.

I think we're gonna go ahead and get started.

He's not online yet.

Right.

Well, we are here today to come back for an update on the Excel franchise agreement.

Um this is just an info item today.

You'll see us again on the 30th at governance committee.

So we wanted to provide an update.

Uh we have our partners from Excel on their way.

They're also here.

Yeah.

Thanks.

We're coming right off of a working group meeting, so that is all why we came in a little bit late, and may even have some members from our working group here.

Actually, don't see them.

So apologies for the delay.

Uh we are back to share what we've been up to over the last year.

You last saw us formally in August.

Um, and a lot of what we heard in those conversations were a desire that we have far more um community outreach and council outreach as we talk about the franchise agreement and its 20-year um agreement that we would like to have referred to the ballot for the November election.

And so, what we want to talk about is the work that we've been doing since we have launched a working group uh and have had two of your colleagues as part of that working group, Councilman Parody and Councilman Watson.

And we have engaged a varied group of members that represent different facets of the community, from representatives of the DOTI Advisory Group, the CASAR Sustainability Council, as well as representatives from the Affordable Housing Community, Affordable Housing Developers, Labor, Environmental Justice, kind of across the board.

We tried to look at various interests, perspectives, familiarity with the PUC process and otherwise, and we have had a robust working group conversation since January, late, I think February is when we officially launched.

So it's been several meetings.

I think we're on meeting seven or eight at this point.

So we've been diving deep into the energy partnership agreement.

Excel as well, and they'll be here to up at the table, we'll probably, well, maybe move out of the way and create some space for you.

Well, they have also initiated a citywide community engagement process across the city, including a variety of RO presentations and stakeholder group outreach, phone calls, conversations with this body as well.

We have also had briefings with this body, and just had a listening tour across the city, and they'll tell you a little bit about what they heard and what that has led to at the company.

So for us, a lot of the focus of our conversation has been around the energy partnership agreement.

That last year it was known as the D Dig.

It's had a couple of different iterations over time, but we think that the energy partnership agreement is a great name to really signify that working relationship between the city and Excel over time and really encapsulate the city's energy goals and how we will work together with the company to achieve them over time.

It's really focused on three things affordability, sustainability, and reliability, which we know are important to our citizens and the folks that are within that cover touched by the franchise as well.

And largely what we've talked about and heard from the community and in our working group sessions are these five things listed that are really the priorities that they want to see move in that franchise agreement, excuse me, in the companion agreement, the energy partnership agreement.

And we are currently still in negotiations with Excel.

So you will see a couple of points throughout the presentation where there's a little thought bubble, and that's because we are actively working at the table, exchanging red lines and going back and forth.

Our goal is to have that finalized for you by the time we come back to committee in late June.

But at this point, we'll call those items out as we get to them.

But it's really focused around shareholder contributions, energy assistance support, pilots, and the way that we evolved this agreement over time, right?

This is a 20-year agreement, it's incredibly long.

And if you think back to 2007 when this agreement was signed and approved last time around, we were a very different city.

We were we had very different conversations, and we expect that's gonna be the truth between now and 2042 at the end of this next iteration.

Substation design, we know that's deeply important to our communities and how they coexist with these spaces that are so important to making sure that we're moving forward, and that they are providing that electrification that we know we want to pursue, but it also fits into the context and character of those communities and how folks interact with them every day.

And then finally, reporting and transparency, which is a lot of while we're back.

There wasn't a lot of transparency around this last iteration when we came to you in July and August of last year.

We feel like that's quite different, and we want to continue that trend throughout the life of the agreement, so that the next time you hear about it, it is not not hopefully none of us are sitting around this table in 2042 talking about it.

Um maybe I will be, I don't know.

Uh, but along the way, for as long as we all are here, and as long as this agreement's in place, we want to make sure that it's clear that we are achieving our goals and how we're getting there and have some uh forum for conversation but also accountability, both between us and our goals at the city and the company.

So that's a uh a change moving forward.

Um, so I am going to kind of toss around the microphone to different members of our team, and we're gonna start with really what most of the conversation has been around over the last few months, and that's the energy partnership agreement.

And Johnny's gonna take us through that.

Thank you, Cindy, thank you, council members.

Great to see you all.

Uh, so as Cindy mentioned, this was originally the energy and infrastructure agreement, referred to as the D Dig uh last August.

Uh we have rebranded as the Energy Partnership Agreement, really reflecting what this is, you know, partnership over the next 20 years as we look towards uh really providing that affordable, reliable, and pollution-free uh energy future uh for Denverites uh and beyond with the system that we're connected to.

Um there's been substantial movement uh across the board uh on this agreement, and we believe, you know, we're zeroing in on uh what is a gold standard uh community utility partnership.

Um the standard franchisee in Colorado does not have an agreement like this.

Uh the city of Boulder, who exerted the maximum leverage that one can by walking away and fighting for municipalization for 10 years and spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars in the process, ended up with, you know, a handful of items, but we really see items that, you know, over the course of the next 20 years, we're gonna be looking at how do we achieve Denver's goals where we are a national leader, one of only eight lead platinum cities in the entire world.

Uh, how do we achieve the nation-leading state targets that we have to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and equitably as possible?

And we are fortunate to have a utility partner that is a national leader with electric rates that are 37% below the national average, and approved plans at the public utilities commission to get us to an 88% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, so right around the corner.

And because there is work to be done, we need our staff to be together.

That's what the original conception of this agreement was really focusing on that staff-to-staff relationship on system planning, what infrastructure do we need, hence you know, the energy and infrastructure agreement.

Uh, but we've since you know expanded to make sure that we are cognizant of additional uh community concerns and you know the holistic objectives that we do have.

That's where the uh increased touch points for reporting back to elected leadership and meeting with our various advisory uh committees, both one that's uh specifically uh developed as part of this group, as well as leaning on existing groups such as CASERS uh Sustainability Advisory Council and those of other city agencies so we can make sure that we're bringing diverse perspectives into all of the work that we'll be shepherding on behalf of taxpayers and ratepayers.

Um we'll also be the only community in the state who sets up a public dashboard hosted on the city's website to really be able to point out hey, what are the priority initiatives, what's the goal that we're trying or the problem that we're trying to solve?

Is there funding associated with this?

Is there a timeline?

Are there additional touch points?

How do we know if this worked and what do we do next?

Um, making sure that we really lean into that spirit of transparency.

Um we've worked with our working group members to really look through this new community advisory committee that will be created in this agreement to ensure that it has representation from a diversity of stakeholder groups such as you know, labor, nonprofit groups, environmental or energy uh advocates, business districts, um, and other constituencies uh that we think have an important voice related to this particular agreement and relationship.

Um, see in kind of the middle of the chart, the data sharing and access to utility system information.

Uh this was a frequent point of conversation uh last fall.

Um the reason why there's an asterisk on Boulder is because they have a lot of things written into their energy partnership agreement, and the very reasonable question we would get asked is why doesn't Denver also get those things?

The reason why we have a dash up there is because we do have access to those things.

We get access through our participation at the Public Utilities Commission.

Right now we know the exact location, age, diameter, and material of every gas line serving in Denver customer.

We know how much electricity flows on through our wires, through our transformers, through our substations, how close they are to reading uh reaching some capacity threshold where they might require an upgrade, and then we're able to show up in the appropriate proceedings and help advocate for the decision makers at the public utilities commission to make sure that, hey, can we avoid replacing that 60 or 80-year-old gas line uh in one of our communities or expand our dependence on fossil fuels and support electrifying customers across Denver and making sure that when someone submits a you know request for energy or you know new capacity, that they don't get denied or told they're gonna have to wait uh, you know, multiple years for that service.

Um, and that's where our relationship is going to be, you know, really strong and continue to strengthen.

Uh you know, we've got a great starting point on data access.

We think there are some opportunities for improvement, and we've been uh over the past legislative session speaking with not only the company but Colorado Communities for Climate Action, other specific uh communities such as Boulder and uh elected uh officials at the State House who may look at how do we ensure that communities get access to the information that they need so that they can be a true partner in these processes and help in terms of the uh the system and and how it grows and changes over time.

Uh now we get into the comment bubbles where conceptually we've identified the issues.

We haven't exactly landed on, you know, the exact, you know, final language of what does success look like across each of these matters.

Um, as the company will share in their slides, we recognize that we are going to need more substations in Denver's energy future.

Uh we think the best kinds of substations are ones that you know the community gets a voice in saying, you know, what do they look like?

Do we even want to know that they're there?

Do we want a mural or do we want a brick facade so that it just you know integrates with the neighborhood context uh more surreptitiously?

Um, we're hopeful in working on language related to potentially you know good neighbor agreements or high level, you know, what does that uh conversation look like with affected community members and whether or not it's appropriate to have a minimum percentage in the budget request that by state law goes to the public utilities commission to review and approve to make sure that you know affordability uh is uh kept top of mind for ratepayers.

Uh, but we think that could be a very prudent um path forward uh in terms of how this infrastructure gets budgeted and uh presented again uh in in upcoming proceedings.

Uh Excel Energy Shareholder contributions has been a major uh point of interest for everyone that we've spoken to, council members and community members, and what those dollars go to to ensure that they're helping to fill you know the right or the most significant gap uh in our relationship.

We've talked about things like ensuring we've got enough resources to invest in pilots to address the next you know challenge facing our energy systems or facing customers, to go into the pool of resources available that provide energy assistance uh to customers in Denver for folks who may be struggling to pay their bills or other opportunities so that we can use those resources most effectively.

When we've done our accounting of the existing uh pilot programs, Denver actively participates in over 300 million dollars of active initiatives.

And on July 1, there will be a 1.2 billion with a B, combined customer programs filing at the PUC directed by state law, which creates another pool of resources for pilots and support for adoption of new technologies and integration with the system to really uh support our goals for the long term.

The bill payment assistance programs.

We've added up over nearly a hundred and fifty million dollars worth of programs that are available each year to Denverites for help, you know, paying heating bills or just for folks who are you know falling behind on their bills, or who may want to cap their utility bill payments as a percentage of their income.

Uh, there are myriad programs that are available to the community, but we've found that they're uh really often undersubscribed.

Through what we've seen at the PUC and in conversations with the company, only about 15 to 35 percent of eligible households actually take advantage of the programs uh that are available to them.

That's where we think using what shareholder dollars we can uh obtain through this negotiation, we can invest in additional full-time employees at qualified nonprofit organizations that can better connect Denver rights to uh programs that are available, as well as help us to identify barriers where there may be some kind of eligibility threshold or paperwork or different things that are just getting in the way of helping people who need it the most.

So we want to make sure that there's those connectors that are out there, that we're identifying and removing barriers, and that we're taking what dollars uh we can get from this uh partnership and put them towards the most meaningful resources where uh we don't already have, say, uh robust resources at our disposal, um, both now and anticipated in the future.

You know, some of the exciting pilots, you know, the list of uh funded and community informed uh pilot projects.

We were very encouraged that you know the concepts that were brought to us through the community working group, we're able to go down the list and point to things that we already had in the works and dollar amounts uh associated with them and timelines for completion this month.

We expect the company to file an electric heating rate, which will reduce from the preview we've gotten.

We we won't see it until it actually shows up at the PC, but the preview showed a 39% reduction in the rate per kilowatt hour uh that you pay during the winter heating months during those hours, you know, overnight and through the morning when you're gonna be running your heater the most.

Um on the downtown ambient loop, the district thermal network, we're coordinating on what should be, I think August 14th is the target date to get that filed with the public utilities commission for consideration, where we can start connecting customers to receive district thermal service.

All of the feasibility and engineering studies that have been run so far indicate that we should be able to avoid multiple substations and other very cost-intensive uh infrastructure investments.

So we are very hopeful that we'll demonstrate a path forward for every cold weather climate city in the world to have the most affordable, reliable and sustainable uh heating and cooling options uh for you know its downtown core and potentially beyond.

And Denver is a House Bill 1370 gas priority planning community, meaning we've been, you know, we're one of five communities in the state who's working now in partnership with the company and attracting additional uh investment to identify how do you avoid expanding the gas line when there are requests for additional service, support electrification of entire neighborhoods or of major redevelopments, of which there are several uh in Denver right now that we are partnering with and looking for the most cost-effective uh infrastructure options for the future.

Um, so the details we are are hopeful are going to be hammered out here.

Well, we are we know they will be hammered out here in the next month.

Uh uh by the time we are back conceptually.

Uh we have been very encouraged with all the conversations that we're having with our partners over at the company.

And we know that this, you know, work is ongoing and really sets us up for success, where this is in anticipation of the next 20 years of uh of work with the utility.

This is not you know the point-in-time moment, and we fall off a cliff after this.

This sets us up for how we continue to hear and address constituent concerns, support sustainable economic development, and ensure that you know Denver can meet its energy needs with that affordable, reliable and pollution-free options.

So Dominic Moreno was having um technical difficulties at the beginning of this presentation, but he's online now, so I would just ask if he has any further introductory comments you'd like to share.

I think he's online.

Uh, hello, council.

Hello, council.

Hi, Council uh President Pro Tem and members of City Council, uh, really appreciate the opportunity to be with you all remotely, and apologies for the technical difficulties on Zoom.

Um it's great to be with you all.

Um I am a recovering uh former state legislator, so I'm not used to being a subject matter and expert in anything.

So I've left you in the capable hands of Dottie Casder and my colleague in the mayor's office, Shannon.

So really appreciate the opportunity to provide you an update of how this working group process has gone, how uh our process and negotiations with Excel are going, and we look forward to seeing you in committee uh with a signed agreement here shortly.

So very much appreciate your your time and the discussion today, and um uh once we get through the presentation.

Looking forward to hearing your questions um and engaging in a robust discussion.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So returning to our turning to our presentation, just wanted to give you a refresher really on some of the franchise wins.

This isn't something that we've been working on or negotiating during the past year.

We've been focused much more on the energy partnership agreement and the advocacy agenda that accompanies that.

But since the local agreement that you'll be voting on, voting to refer to the ballot, we hope, is the franchise agreement.

I thought it would be appropriate to simply give you a refresher on that.

And I think with most of you, we've already had a briefing on this subject, so I'll try to be expeditious.

Just to sort of back up, 20 years ago, we negotiated a franchise agreement with Excel.

And over the past 10 or so years, Excel has developed what is kind of a template franchise that they have been offering up to the over a hundred municipalities that have franchise agreements with Excel in the Colorado service territory.

And we looked at that and didn't really feel that was adequate for Denver's needs, partly because Excel was very aggressive in trying to sort of push its own power within the agreement, but partly because we didn't feel that it appropriately addressed the sophistication and complexity of Denver as a city.

We're the you know the biggest most complex city in the Colorado service territory, and some things just didn't work.

So there were basic things like the template um franchise agreement tried to assert that the uh the franchise agreement itself would would trump subsequently adopted legislation.

So we spent a lot of time discussing how that just doesn't work.

Um the municipality has the legislative body, the council uh it needs to be able to continue to legislate, and when it does, um those provisions need to supersede previously adopted contracts that seems like a very basic concept, but but it was one that we had to spend a lot of time talking about with Excel, and um we had um terrific attorneys from the city attorney's office to represent us in that case.

So we were able to prevail there.

Um the new template agreement, um, because of the location and complexity of Excel's um infrastructure, many rights of way, not just in Denver are getting filled up and um is having like trouble finding places to put new distribution lines and so forth.

And so they requested a blanket agreement that we would expand um the area that's covered by the um the franchise to all city property from just the public ways and places, in other words, our rights of way.

And we said no, we're not gonna do that.

If you actually are crowded out of a right of way, then you can come to us individually.

Talk about negotiating um, you know, limited interactions with parks or the land around the city and county building or other public buildings, but um uh for the standard rights, um, it has to be restricted to the to the rights of way.

The biggest achievement um in the franchise agreement negotiation was simply uh a very large expansion of the areas and the entities which are covered by the relocation agreement.

Relocation agreement also sounds technical, but in terms of um the city's capital projects, including all of the projects being undertaken under the recent bond initiatives and future bond initiatives, um, a significant part of the cost of those projects tends to be relocating existing Excel distribution lines and other facilities.

And when the city does a capital project or bond funded project, um pays for those relocations.

So there is some right to that under a statutory right to that, but it would only cover city projects itself.

What we negotiated for was that it should cover all government sponsored projects within the city and county of Denver, other than Title 32 Metro Districts.

So it covers RTD and CDOT and the water and wastewater districts and business improvement districts and the entire land mass of the airport.

Um we talk a lot about how part of the benefit of this franchise is the approximately 30 million dollars in franchise fees we get from it each year.

And that's the visible part of the economic impact of the franchise to the city.

But this is the invisible part.

It doesn't run through the budget.

It's part of like how we cost out capital items both undertaken by the city and by other governmental partners that we don't see at all.

And that adds up to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The actual financial impact of that relocation benefit provision is vastly outweighs the $30 million we get each year in the franchise fee payments itself.

And so and that is due to this specifically the negotiated franchise agreement.

It's not, you know, any franchise versus no franchise.

It's it's based on what we have managed to negotiate based on our situation as Denver.

And so um probably sounds technical and a little bit dry, but if you have any other questions on it, um I think we've got uh we have our attorneys here to discuss these issues, and the rest of us are also pretty facile with them at this point.

Yeah, so just to wrap up and it does it does feel very dry, and it's quite a dry document, but uh Shannon spent hundreds of hours of her life uh with our legal team negotiating it, and we're just very confident in saying that we have the best uh franchise agreement in the state, and it's customized for Denver, um, and so we want to get this referred because it means dollars for us to move forward projects to help us evolve.

And there's been a lot of conversation about the energy partnership agreement, but we don't want to lose sight of what the item the action item actually will be on the 30th to move out of committee.

It's the franchise agreement, and it represents a lot of a lot of money and a lot of progress for us.

And I know we may hear um more voices from the community that say they want more, and we want to push for more.

We are in the progress of or the process of pushing for more right now.

Uh I think we also feel like there is no major hill left to die on.

We have achieved a lot in the franchise and want to continue to move it forward.

Um, and here's why, and I've been joking with folks.

If I trapped you in an elevator, these are the things that I want you to remember when you emerge that from the franchise, we have stronger negotiating power over the life of the agreement at the PUC, and that's where the real work gets done.

That is where there's a lot of progress to still be made.

Um, and we would not be treated the same if we were not active franchisees there.

We would not have the same standing.

So that's very important to us.

Shannon really talked about the value of that relocation benefit, both in city right-of-way and for our partners and at the airport, that's invaluable.

Uh, if that were to go away, it would to make um a number of projects infeasible right out of the gate.

So we're really happy about where that is.

Um, being able to move forward and be a partner at the PUC and moving uh future pilots forward.

There's a lot of dollars out there to be um put towards pilots to try new things to not only help Denver but the entire region if those things were deemed successful and able to scale.

And then finally, um the $30 million a year that goes to the general fund that supports basic city services across the board in our operating fund.

So we are gonna maintain influence and our efficiency, um, our investment, our financial stability, and this uh proposed agreement really builds on those things while creating a framework for our future energy infrastructure and climate goals.

So you're gonna hear from us again.

This is today.

We're gonna hear from our friends from Excel next.

Um, and then on the 30th, we will be at governance committee for that actual action item.

We have uh until August 3rd to get the item referred, and then on the ballot November 3rd of 26, um, the new agreement would go into effect on January 1st and be effective through 2042.

Or sorry, 46.

My math is bad.

I never do math in public at it.

Um so apologies.

I will uh do we want to pause here for questions or would you like to hear it directly from Excel?

Um let's pause and from Excel, and then we'll have we have a queue going.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Clicker over there.

Okay.

Thanks.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Uh it's nice to see you again.

Obviously, saw you um several months ago, gave you an update just generally on the company.

So here today we'll give you an update on the work that we've been doing, both in partnership with the city of Denver, and then also some of the work we've been doing on our own in doing community outreach in regards to the Energy Partnership Agreement and the franchise agreement.

I'll first say that I'm joined here with a few folks that have been helping in this effort.

So Grace Ramirez, our senior manager for the city and county of Denver.

You all know her.

She's obviously not a stranger to you all, but I would like to give recognition to Jim Alexi, Denise Mayas, and Maria Garcia Berry, who are all three in the room.

They have been doing a lot of work in partnership with the company on our community engagement.

And so just in case you have questions that I may not be able to answer, I'm gonna phone a friend and these other partners that I have with us today at Excel.

I will also just say uh thank you to the City of Denver.

You guys have a remarkable team the last two months that we have been not only the last year and a half that we've been negotiating the franchise agreement.

I will say I have been more involved over the last several months and working directly with Johnny and Cindy and Shannon and Dominic, and they're just a great team.

And um and John and Chuck, they've all been just a great team to work with as we've been negotiating the energy a partnership agreement and evolving that partnership agreement to meet where city and council has asked us to be, and also our community.

So just real quickly, just to for everybody to remember, um, and I and I want to say this just before we go into our engagement work that we've done.

Um, you know, Cindy and Shannon and Johnny have talked a lot about what the city of Denver gets and what the benefit of the city of Denver gets for having a franchise agreement, and I don't want to dismiss what Excel Energy gets as well.

And um, you know, we we could show up tomorrow, and we could not have a franchise agreement with you all, and we would still serve the city of Denver.

Our customers in the city of Denver are our customers, and based off of regulatory compact with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and by state tariff, we serve the City of Denver and its customers, and we could continue to do that without having a franchise agreement.

So the question is what is a benefit of a franchise agreement for us?

Why would we spend two years negotiately negotiating with you all to agree to a franchise agreement and in addition to that work with you all with the energy of partnership agreement?

And I will say one thing and one thing only.

We benefit as much as the city of Denver does with a franchise agreement.

We benefit because if you think about all of the ways in which we operate in your right of way, or we operate in easements in the city of Denver, backyards, right of way for the city of Denver.

If you can imagine a world at which we did not have alignment, agreement in coordination in the way in which we do all that work.

Thousands of hours, thousands of thousands of resources in confusion on how we would relocate a distribution line.

How would we relocate a gas line?

And the franchise agreement establishes a way in which we coordinate with the city of Denver, and our operations teams go and refer to the franchise agreement every time there's an application that comes in to ask for a relocation project from the city of Denver.

Every time that you all think about doing construction in the city of Denver, we are with you.

We are actively with you.

And imagine a place when we don't have a document and we don't have an established way in which we operate with you all.

It would feel very chaotic.

There would be no certainty.

And for us, that is the benefit for us.

Is that that franchise agreement is important to us, it's important to Grace and myself because when our operations team doesn't pave the road the right way after we do a construction project, we're not meeting a timeline in replacing a street light.

We're not communicating with our customers about a planned outage and replacing distribution poles in the backyard.

We have a document that we go to and we tell our operations teams look, we've agreed to this timeline.

We've established a way in which we communicate to our customers and work with our city, and that holds our company accountable to operating and delivering service in the city of Denver.

And we have the leverage of the franchise agreement.

We are the stewards of the franchise agreement.

We hold the leverage to help to hold our operations accountable to the way in which we deliver service in the city of Denver.

So it is helpful to us too.

It saves resources, time, and money.

And that's why this is important to us.

And I just wanted to make sure we highlighted that.

So we have been doing a lot of work.

You guys told us a year ago when you did not refer it to the ballot or almost a year ago, that we did not talk to our customers in the city of Denver.

We were not talking to your community.

In addition to that, we were not actively engaging you all through the process.

And so one of the biggest pieces that we did after the last time that we visited with you all, and the ballot and the franchise agreement was not referred, was we said, okay, we need to go into community.

We need to not only, as you all know, have Grace and Maria actively meet with you all on a regular basis and be more accountable to making sure that we're communicating with you all on a regular basis on the work that we're doing, but we also needed to then go into a community and talk to community.

So we launched five months ago, well, actually at the end of February, our community engagement program, and this is an update on where we are as of last week.

So we have touched, we have you can see here based off of the map and also the different visits that we've had, but I want to just highlight the bottom.

So with the 189 ROs, JIDs, and bids, which is the total amount that we have in the city of Denver, we have emailed several times, we've made phone calls, and we've directly visited the RNOs, the Jids and Bids that have asked us to come in and make a presentation.

So we have had over 1,500 outreach contacts to all of those 189 organizations.

In addition to that, we have been invited to come and meet with your constituents, thank you, with your constituents in different RNO neighborhood meetings or JIDs or bids.

And so as of last week, we have met with 31 and we've given a presentation, talked about what a franchise is, and then also just get feedback about the customer service and the work that we do in our communities with our customers.

The red truck is also an important item.

So the Red Truck is a program that XL Energy has.

We launched it two and a half years ago.

One of the feedback that we got from community and also our legislature two and a half years ago was you're not in community, you're not talking directly with your customers.

And so we started with one truck, we now have expanded it to five trucks.

We, in partnership with nonprofits in the city of Denver and across the state, we are invited to come to different events and with two customer care agents, and we directly dispatch the truck, we go to an event, we sit there, and constituents and customers come up to the truck, they have questions about their bill, how do they sign up for uh payment assistance?

I've heard about the solar rewards program.

What does it mean?

And so instead of them calling the customer care line, they can actually talk directly with a customer care agent on site, and we've got laptops that we resolve customer issues immediately.

I know that you all have had notification and said, hey, if in your neighborhood or in your district, please tell us when we can come and visit and what we can do in partnership.

So 47 red truck events since January is what we've done just in the city of Denver.

And so we've activated and we continue to do that.

We'll continue to do it through the summer and the fall, but it's also been a really great way to hear what customers are thinking immediately.

So this is the work that we've done to date, and it's all because of what you guys have asked us to do in making sure that we're talking with community.

So, what are the major themes that you all have told us as we've done meetings with you all, and in addition to that, what we've heard when we're out in community talking with community and with our customers about different issues that they are concerned about.

So, number one is street light outages and maintenance.

And the street light outages isn't necessarily my street lights out, it's more of I don't know where to go to report that I have an outage on my streetlight.

And if I do go to the website and I fill out the form, it's really hard to fill out.

You're asking lots of things within the form that are not necessary.

I just want to be able to report my outage, and I want to know that XL got it, and I want to know when and if you guys are gonna repair that streetlight.

And so we have taken that into account.

We'll talk about some of the follow-up to just specifically that request and that um that complaint.

In addition to that, some of the other things that we've heard is you guys do outages, planned outages to replace distribution poles, to you know, dig up a street and relocate a line, and I don't know when that's gonna happen.

And sometimes you're doing it on a school day, and I have to call Grace, and we have to get it rescheduled so that it's not impeding into a school day or causing for disruption for our customers.

In addition to that, vegetation management, so this is when we go into somebody's backyard and we trim trees on our distribution lines in our easement, and we don't do a good enough job in giving notification to the residents when we are going into their backyard to do that work.

One of the key highlights that our customers have been very interested in as we've talked about the franchise agreement with these different community groups is their interest in wanting to learn more about the undergrounding of the distribution lines.

So, as you saw in the franchise agreement, the city of Denver gets an allocation or a flex fund of one percent of all sales on our electric side that goes into what's called a 1% fund, and the city of Denver stewards the 1% fund and tells us, XL Energy, where they want undergrounded distribution lines.

And so the community has been very interested in how that process works, how they get to, you know, request if they want their distribution line undergrounded.

It's very much around the beautification and um and you know, removal of infrastructure in their viewplane and in their in their um in their space.

And then the other one is the substation landscaping maintenance, and just you know, are you shoveling your sidewalks?

Are you making sure that the grass is mowed?

And please, you know, do a better job in um, you know, making sure that the vegetation that surrounds your substations looks better because it's an eyesore for me in community, and so that is the other major theme that is coming out of what we've heard from both URAL's offices and also the meetings that we've had with community.

So, as we've learned that we can do a much better job in doing customer service and responding to some of these complaints, we establish a rapid response team four months ago.

And this rapid response team is an internal team that our director of community relations, Andrew Holder, who is Grace's boss, is leading.

And it includes a representative from community relations, outdoor lighting, our street lighting team, customer care, distribution, electric distribution operations, transmission, gas distribution, capacity planning, and substations.

And so this tiger team comes together and meets on a weekly and a biweekly basis, and all the complaints and feedback that we get from URL's offices and also with our community and customers.

It goes into a spreadsheet, and every week Andrew runs through with this rapid response team to problem solve.

Is it a longer term problem that we've got to find a resolution for, or could we rapidly respond and fix the issue immediately?

And so one of the bigger themes was the street light comp was the streetlight process and how you report and out it.

And we actually have taken that and we've established a working team to update the website, update the reporting form, and make it very easy for somebody to take a picture or write where the cross street is and say that my streetlight is out.

There's not need for finding the number, finding like all I think there's additional information that had been requested that was just not necessary any longer.

And so we are simplifying that process.

And then later in the summertime, in partnership with the city of Denver, we will release this new process.

It'll come to your guys' office as well, and it'll be just an ease, an education on how you report a street light, and then the process at which you anybody in the city of Denver can report the streetlight, and it'll promise you the ease of the website and being able to report that will become easier.

And that has been a multi-month project that we started because of the major themes and the work of our rapid response team.

So just to um, you know, again, talk a little bit from XL Energy's perspective with the work that we're doing with the city of Denver in finalizing uh the negotiations of the the energy partnership agreement.

So the just to reiterate, right, the franchise value for you all is the $30 million in franchise fees that we send to the general fund.

We've estimated roughly for the life of the uh of the previous franchise that there was about 150 million dollars a year in infrastructure relocations, and that's just based off of all of those public projects that Shannon listed, right?

Denver Water, Den, City of Denver, all of the different entities that get the benefit of the relocation funding that we provide on us.

There is also roughly about we give about 10 million dollars into that 1% fund, so that undergrounding 1% fund is roughly about 10 million dollars, and that accumulates over time, and so there's a rollover, so it's not like you have to spend it in a year or anything.

You can actually save up and have a you know however much you have in the 1% fund over the 20-year period of time.

You can also lend against that for another additional three years.

Not that the city of Denver benefit, you know, uses that, but there are other communities in Colorado that do leverage being able to advance and borrow against the 1% fund in advance of another three years.

Um, and then the energy partnership agreement.

Obviously, that's the one piece where we continue to negotiate.

Johnny spent a lot of time on talking through that.

I just want to highlight a couple of pieces that are again unique to the city of Denver and not something that we've ever formally agreed to with any other community in Colorado.

One of them is the Navigator, and this is again to just assist in in improving access for customers to take advantage of not only our programs, but also programs that the city of Denver has.

And a customer can then maximize all of the programs all at once instead of feeling like it's piecemealed.

That is one thing that we've heard not only from the Red Truck, but we also have a partnership with the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado, and they also work in community on our behalf to better understand access and barriers to different programs and energy assistance that the company in Energy Outreach Colorado provides.

And so this is really expanding that and solely really focusing on the city of Denver.

In addition to that, I'll shout out the beautification of substations.

We know that we're gonna be in the city of Denver over the next 15-20 years, building a number of different substations.

They're all going to be in the urban area.

And so making sure that the city feels good about our work with community in improving the beatification of those substations.

And then the Denver pilot collaboration and just making sure that we're in alignment with CASER and the City of Denver and thinking about what are priorities for different pilots that we can advance through the public utilities commission.

So this is an example.

I just thought it would be interesting to put up sort of a former and then also a new way in which we work to think about what our substations look like in community.

And so the top right is the Leedsdale substation.

And then the down, the one at the bottom, you guys have all seen this building.

You may or may not know that there's actually a substation in there, but this is the Barker substation that is next to Coors Field.

And so this is again, you know, it's a shell, it's just a brick and mortar shell that goes around the substation to ensure that it blended in with community.

And then the other one, Councilman Hines, I think this is in your district.

It's a lotti and the work that we did with community a few years ago in putting up the mural and um and working with an artist to paint that wall so that it's pleasing and beautiful, hopefully to the eye, even though it's a substation.

Um so this is the work that we continue to think about and have evolved and what we will formulate formally add into the energy partnership agreement.

So I will again just say thank you for your patience and your grace as we've evolved and improved our work in talking with community and with you all and providing a better response and service to you all as we've gone through this negotiation with the franchise agreement and the energy partnership agreement.

I know we've got a couple of weeks left to work with the city of Denver and the working group to ensure that we've we land in a really good place that the city of Denver and you all feel good about as you consider referring the franchise to the ballot, and that we can then start talking with the voters and highlighting the importance of approving the franchise agreement.

Great, thank you.

We have a full queue.

Um we're gonna get started, but if we can have start with like two questions for council member, and we'll just be able to rotate and make sure everybody gets their questions in the queue.

So we'll start with council member Cashman.

Thank you.

Um, good presentation.

Thanks to the community.

Um, the director for anybody who wants to answer this 20 year agreement.

We all know, and is there uh going to be implemented a structure with regular check-in between the city and Excel?

Uh Johnny, if you want to answer, of course, and I'll come back up to the table for the QA uh session here.

Uh, yes, there will be regular check-ins, including uh council briefings, briefings of you know, the mayor's office and elected leadership, uh, touch points with community advisory groups, and a public dashboard on the major initiatives.

And at any point, you can certainly you know, call us forward outside of the defined cycles, and we were always happy to talk about uh any of these issues.

Yeah, and question one a does this uh little working group continue as part of that structure?

I'm wondering if council involvement will be part of these discussions moving forward, so yes, maybe not this exact working group with these exact individuals, but a working group and the current working group has identified the appropriate you know, organizations or types of organizations that should be you know selected and included in that advisory committee.

Thank you.

And my second question, I think maybe for our legal team.

Hello, John.

Good to see you, sir.

Um, so as far as the substations go, um I'm wondering what does Excel is Excel bound by our zoning code, or can they pick up any piece of property they want to pick up to uh to use for a substation?

What are the the got boundaries?

Um, Jonathan Griffin, Deputy Legislative Council.

I'll actually look over at uh our city attorneys over here if they have anything to add to it.

Otherwise, I can kind of speak broadly about the zoning code.

Um, but it's gonna end up being which is always kind of the broad answer, it's gonna be site specific because it will require if Excel's coming in if they're gonna do anything that will change the zoning code or anything that would trigger large site development plan or anything else there that would trigger council action in some way.

Not sure if you guys have anything else to add.

Yeah, I mean, I'm wondering can they uh does it have to be a certain section of zoning code?

Can they move into a residential neighborhood?

I mean, what are the requirements for masking and so on?

Don't fight over this case.

Thank you, Sarah.

Of course.

Good afternoon, Sarah Showalter with community planning and development.

Um, so right now in our zoning code, most zone districts would not allow a new substation to be built.

They fall under a use category that's called uh utility major.

Um that is for a utility like this that's 10,000 square feet or above.

So if they had a substation smaller than that, then it could potentially go into more zone districts.

But almost all residential zone districts do not allow a new substation, and several mixed-use commercial zone districts also do not, um, because if you think about the character of a main street or a commercial district or something, it's um generally not with a large um substation there.

So um there will probably have to be some conversation in the future around um rezoning for some of the potential sites, as well as right now.

There's so a substation just falls into this general category I mentioned of a um either major or minor utility.

Um, so there's nothing in the zoning code today that's specific to requirements for an electric substation.

Yeah, so my um very concerned as well about the portion.

I've I've heard both of you talk about it as far as you know that that substation over by uh uh George Washington High School is so disrespectful to the community that that shouldn't happen again.

I hear that's in discussion, but where where are we at?

Yeah, it might be best to let somebody who's actually really involved in the EPA to jump in on that, but there's we're just having discussion about um both on the city side and Excel side.

How can we we?

We're both committed to getting better design outcomes?

Um, and you know, the doubles in the details in terms of how is that going to actually play out?

Um, some of it we hope is on Excel side in terms of commitments they are willing to make.

Um, there's discussion, for example, of like the potential for a good neighbor agreement that could help um with commitments to future design in lieu of something the city might be able to work on in the future that we do not have now, which is our own regulatory process for establishing design standards, screening standards, et cetera, that would apply to new substations.

If I can add to just out of some experience in citing some of these different substations, first and foremost, we if we can expand existing substations without having to build a new one, that is first and foremost.

We do not want to put a new substation in as much probably as the neighbor who doesn't want the substation in their community.

Um to bring in as new infrastructure that includes distribution lines and transmission lines, too.

So an example of that would be Denver Terminal.

So Denver Terminal in West Side, we have had Denver Terminal for a long time.

Over in that neighborhood, and so what we have done in that particular substation, instead of building a new substation, is we actually have acreage right next to that substation that we are then expanding that sub to just a little bit farther out and adding the transformers and the additional infrastructure.

Barker substation is another example.

So instead of building a new substation over in the ballpark area, we then just have expanded that substation.

So that those are two examples where we try really hard to expand before we then think about adding another one.

The second thing I will say is we have recognized that there is a lot of development going on, particularly at Ball Arena and Burnham Yards.

And so what we've done is said if there is development like a ball arena or Burnham Yards, we have been working directly with Ball Arena and Cronki and the Broncos in Burnham Yards to talk about what substations need to be required on the property at which it's being developed, so that we're not putting it in a neighborhood that is not responsible for that growth.

And so, Ball Arena, they understand that three to four substations are going to be needed for that area, and they have agreed that those substations will be on the property at which they're developing.

Same thing with Burnham Yards.

So we've agreed that they potentially will need two substations for redundancy, and so we've already been talking with potentially the Broncos about putting a substation on the property at which they're developing, and then contemplating what that expansion could look like.

So those are ways in which we've been working and trying to be really sensitive to making sure that the infrastructure is not disruptive as much as possible.

And then my other example would be Poder, and this is the most recent substation that we've had built in the city of Denver, and that was um, you know, we look at the heat of where the electric demand is at and how we can rebalance the system to then decide where in that area we need to put a substation, and then we work with landowners and finding a piece of property that works, but then also that contemplates community as well.

So we did several community meetings and establish that beautification.

I appreciate that.

Sorry, I would I would just say that I would hope and expect that Excel would upgrade the existing substations.

Like the one at uh George Washington, like the one across from University of Denver by I-25.

So I mean, I hear you say sensitivity, but uh I haven't.

Well, I've seen it in in some of your newer places, but I think you owe it to the community to take care of previous mistakes.

Thank you, Madam Proton.

Thank you.

Um, Councilmember Alvidres.

Thank you so much.

And thank you for all the work that you've been doing to everyone in the room that has been working on getting this to this point.

I know it's been a lot of work.

And so I just want to thank you all for that.

Um I'd start with the concern that I keep seeing, and I see it in the original slides, and this may be for the city side, but one of the things that the community seems most concerned about is the shareholder contribution.

I know we mentioned a bunch of pilots.

I know there's one in my district, everyone's really excited about it.

It's funded by the rate payers, and so I'd love to hear a little bit more about how much the shareholder contribution will be in this.

Right now, Denver is the only franchisee who receives any amount of shareholder contribution.

And we are looking for, you know, what do we think you know we deserve or is appropriate for Denver while also staying cognizant of the laws in Colorado, how we differ from places like California and San Diego that were raised back in the fall as, you know, well, they got X amount of dollars.

Why don't we get that here?

Just very, very different uh regulatory structures and their ability to put out an RFP for the right to be the power provider to that community.

We've got a different structure, our bills are also a heck of a lot lower uh than those in San Diego.

So, you know, we look at every opportunity while also thinking about the unintended consequences of the different structures that could be uh at play.

Um what I mentioned in you know during our the city presentation was you know, what is the highest and best use of the shareholder dollars?

Um, knowing that you know we're starting from a point of a hundred thousand dollars, we don't expect that you know to become ten million dollars per year if we expect to be you know in a range that's uh, you know, it would be fantastic if we get a million dollars per year from the shareholders and put it towards something like uh the energy assistance navigators and connect customers to programs that you know are not being taken advantage of to the extent that we believe that they could be.

That would be a fantastic outcome on behalf of the community.

As pilots like the one in your district, it may be a 30 million dollar project in and of itself, and it requires and state law currently prescribes how those dollars are collected from all rate payers and invested strategically in our system so that we can find hey, what are those things that can scale and really keep costs down for everybody over these next 20 years as we go through the energy transition?

Denver is also exceptionally well positioned thanks to our taxpayers in the climate protection fund.

We're the most attractive place uh for those ratepayer funded pilots, uh, for those dollars to flow because we can have skin in the game, because we have technical expertise, because we identify these kinds of opportunities, and we can maximize their chance for success.

Um, you know, we're the best place to do business in the state, and we feel confident that we're gonna continue to be so.

Maybe if there's anything you can share about where we're heading.

It's absolutely there.

Um I think the biggest question for us and what we have communicated back to the working group and to the city is there's been different places that have been requested, and so my my ask back was just first, I just tell me what you want.

Tell me exactly like where you want that donation to go, right?

Because there had been question around do we do it to the pilot projects?

Do we do it for energy assistance and affordability?

And so I just I first just requested back.

Just tell me what you guys would like to have that designation of that shareholder contribution to go to, and then from there, I think we can, you know, land on a number, but I'm we're just still not totally sure yet where we what the priority and where we want that donation to go.

Okay, and then um my second question is around you know the major themes from council and community.

I agree, these are really great.

So I'm glad you're out there having these conversations.

These are what we're hearing.

What I'm not understanding is the rapid response team.

How am I gonna answer to these questions from my constituents?

One of what the most important is I believe we will have more planned outages, and I don't know how those are gonna be communicated in a way that helps people feel reliable that they can rely upon the information.

The ones that we've had haven't been reliable.

I'm grateful that they didn't happen.

But um wanna make sure that especially for people that are on you know medical equipment, elderly people, and on those extremely cold and extremely hot days are when we're seeing potential service interruptions, and so I would like some more clarity around that piece.

Yes, so um so I think there's a couple of things in there, but at the end of the day, um there is recognition that we do need to get better at communicating.

That um right now, currently, you know, we do a 911 reverse call to um our customers when we are to do a planned outage, but that's if you have your phone number registered with us in there in the database, and also if somebody answers the phone.

So we don't have a way to confirm that we've actually touched and communicated directly with that individual.

Um we have improved just generally, as we've even done these power safety shutoffs, that we do need to confirm if and when we are in contact with that individual.

Secondly, sometimes we leave a door hanger, but and again, that's just even if somebody sees it on their door or if it's still there, and so there is recognition that the process at which we've now are currently doing is not good enough, and that we do need to improve that.

The medical device customers, we are only allowed to know if a customer has a medical device in their home if they call and tell us that they have a medical device in their home.

We can't solicit that, and so one of the things that we've done over the last year is improved our communication and our outreach to say if you have a medical device in your home, please call and tell us that you do, so that we can mark you, and that we do then have 72-hour advanced notification, 48-hour, and even have our linemen go out and door knock just to have that touch, that final touch to confirm that we've done that.

So we have improved on the medical device customers, but it's only as good as the records that we have, and so there's also um importance and an effort in communicating that so that we have a robust list of those customers that have the medical device in their home.

So more work to be done, it's not perfect.

I thought you're saying there's more work to be done.

I want to also acknowledge work has been done, so thank you all for your work and acknowledge that the PUC is also the one that governs a lot of these things, so that's our struggle here, and educating the consumer in Denver is I think a key part of this process.

But thank you so much for your work, and thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Heinz.

Thank you, uh Madam President Pratem.

Um, someone who gets caught trapped in the elevator every week or two here in City Hall.

I hope that I'm not thinking about the four um uh selling points of uh of this particular proposal.

Um last uh I just uh I'll share last August we heard that Excel was over a barrel.

I think that's what we heard from the city side, and um and that uh what we got was what we're gonna get, and uh I don't know now.

Um I'd say that there's been a bit of movement.

Um, I now hear what we've got is what we're gonna get.

Um we did get some movement, so I'm not sure um exactly what to what to determine from that.

Um uh the term 20 year agreement, as council member catchman said is uh is a considerable agreement, and um, you know, I think everything outside of the term is only as good as the city's ability to um uh to consider a periodic exit.

So, you know, um, other than that, the commitment um uh is only as um uh as enforceable as um Excel's goodwill.

So as much as I hear the rapid response team, those uh created in the last four months is meant to be, and as uh Council Member Alvidres mentioned, it's meant to address customer concerns.

I'd say it's too early to call it as the answers to all the um all the concerns um that we've uh you have identified as pain points.

So um what is the consequence?

Let's say for every reporting, data sharing, and investment commitment um in the agreement, what is the consequence if Excel fails to deliver?

I guess that's the city side.

Sure.

And are you saying if they fail to deliver in say reporting information out or partnering with us on initiatives?

Can you be a little bit more specific?

Sure, maybe reporting because that's um data tax, but um but we've um heard of the new rapid response team.

Let's say it's only four months old, so we don't know how effective it is.

Um it is the answer to um to all the customer service concerns.

So let's say it's new, it didn't work, um, but we've entered into a 20-year agreement.

Um do we then have 20 more years of um the things that Excel has identified as pain points?

Do they just continue or um what other ways can we uh hold Excel accountable?

So so I would consider this agreement as giving us that opportunity for accountability for the next 20 years.

So we'll be looking at, you know, data that comes from the rapid response program, and we'll see are there gaps in it?

They also get reported to the PUC uh per the requirements of what's called the quality of service plan, and those happen on on two-year cycles with reporting every quarter uh during that entire time period.

So if we see and we hear from constituents, I'm not getting my needs addressed, we show up in that proceeding over the two-year cycle, we bring those stories forward and say, you know, here is where uh the company is falling short uh on its obligations or the things that it uh committed to in the last cycle, and our state regulators have the authority to issue uh fine structures if customers are not you know receiving notice on a certain time period or see certain outages happen with a frequency or a duration that is not meeting company standards.

And we actually saw a movement happen in the 2024 quality of service plan where all of those thresholds increase to ensure that there is uh more granularity getting down, not just at a regional or a neighborhood level, but really looking at census box or specific feeders of are there problematic feeders where customers are having outages, all of their neighbors might be just fine, but you know they're throwing out food because their power is going out uh, you know, however frequently, and then how does the company get held accountable and have those financial incentives to be the best utility provider that we know that they can be?

So we think the checks and balances really work well.

We'll have the partnership to gather information.

The PUC are the ultimate uh uh holders of accountability by state law, and by us bringing information forward, we'll always give the company the opportunity to correct it proactively and inform uh the PUC otherwise of progress or additional corrections that may need to be made.

I don't think you answered the question, but I only get two.

So here's the second question.

You talked about the PUC, um, their own quality of service document in 2024 found Excel's outage minutes reached a decade high.

So um we don't have the the teeth that now that we would have under the future agreement, if if I understand what you're saying uh correctly, but what did um what are the community what's the what's Excel doing differently now, and how will Denver customers see measurable improvements?

Right.

And looking at that uh data really historically, it is an absolute spike in an anomaly of what happened in 2024, and the PUC staff did a full, I think it's like a hundred page deep dive report looking at what caused that to happen.

This was the first year that we experienced public safety power shutoffs in the state of Colorado.

I think there's a lot of uh you know concern coming out of the marshall fire and you know the loss of property and you know the uh intensity uh of that issue that led to that, you know, willingness and intentionality with the PUC blessing that we need to be more proactive in turning off the power in those high risk situations to preserve human life and to preserve property.

That triggered the first wildfire mitigation plan, which is a multi-billion dollar initiative to try to ensure that we can keep the lights on while being mindful of uh wildfire risk and how we mitigate it.

So I'd say those outage minutes, from my understanding of the report and the data had a very clear origin into what cost to them, and then mitigating actions have been taken to try to ensure that we don't have those high outage minutes while we do preserve safety and integrity of the system.

And I don't know if there's anything you would want to add to that, or if that I am trying to answer your questions as directly as I possibly can.

Sure.

I think what I missed out of question one was what, and I but perhaps you can give me an answer after you know at some point later.

Um you said you have more data to hold Excel accountable and ask them to try harder, like that's asking them to try harder is not the same as holding them accountable.

And I want to, like, um what's the what's the accountability?

What's the stick?

Um, should Excel see uh try this uh, you know, the the rapid response team could not work and have them say we've tried one thing, we're all out of ideas for the next 20 years.

Right.

So so the stick, you don't have to answer.

I don't try to give the concise the 15-second answer.

The stick is if it if a customer experiences those outage minutes that are above and beyond what you know they should have experienced from a 99.8% system uptime, they get a credit on their bill.

And utility shareholders are going to be the ones paying customers uh for their outages, and the company obviously wants to avoid paying fines, and those fines are gonna be paid directly back to the customers that were affected.

That's one stick.

We are we do have accountability at the public utilities commission.

We um are fined if we hit thresholds that are required under state law.

Um, that is our accountability.

So from a city at Denver perspective, if there is unsatisfactory service and we're not being accountable, there is a pathway for complaints that ultimately land at the Public Utilities Commission that accumulate right into the PUC.

Well, that's just the our account.

Is to the public utilities commission, we are ultimately fined and held accountable at the PUC for not having good customer service.

And so we've already got that inherent accountability in place.

Thank you.

Great, thanks.

Uh real quick time check.

We have about 10 minutes and four council members in the queue.

Councilmember Watson, you're up next.

I'll be very quick.

I want to say thank you so much, uh, President Protep.

Thank you so much.

Holly and team from Excel, and thank you for the folks from the city.

I wanted to call out the folks in a working group because I think is essential uh the amount of hours they're volunteering uh to be a part of this discussion.

Uh so Joe Levy, um Adair, Andre, Jeff Ackerman, uh Sue Powers, Jeremy Ross, Aaron Martinez, Keith Meyer, Luke Johnson, uh fellow council member Parity and her staff and my staff as well.

So thank you all for the good work that you're doing if you're watching, if you're not here.

I want to quickly just make two points.

Um, one of the questions that came up around substations and design, that is uh uniquely um being discussed in great detail with the um uh as part of the EPA, the uh the partnership agreement that the working group is coming forward.

We will be providing clarity on expectations for design um uh commitments from Excel as part of this agreement um prior to our June 30th um come back to uh the governance committee.

So that discussion will be uh fully engaged and we'll be in writing as far as what that negotiation is.

We're also looking at uh shareholder investments.

Um they began about at 250,000.

We all know that's too low.

We're going to be negotiating along with the city, the administration, and along with Excel and uh and within their negotiations to move that number up.

Um that number will be substantially higher.

We believe it is important.

What Excel has asked of the working group is to identify how those dollars will be spent as a comparative to what the uh uh the dollars currently coming from the POC and the 30 million dollars that's part of the franchise agreement.

Um, so we're going to be very clear within the working group.

We have a level of consensus as to what our thoughts are.

We're gonna put that in writing, have clear discussions with Johnny and team and everyone from um the administration uh partnership and all of the five million attorneys that are part of this.

Um, and prior to June 30th, we'll have clarity on that.

Uh, I want to say, as a member of the working group, I do believe that the process has moved forward.

Folks have been responsive on all sides from Excel to the city.

Um, we understand the importance of the franchise agreement, and we look forward to bringing forward something that has consensus from Council.

We'll hopefully to receive your input beginning on the 30th.

Thank you, Madam President Protect.

Thank you, Councilmember Flynn.

And maybe uh Johnny, maybe you could get back to us later on this just as conserved time.

But when you talked about the possibility of the city going in and petitioning for removal of a whole gas line that the Excel might want to replace, um I've heard from constituents for quite some time now, very concerned about looking down the road when they may not have gas service.

Is it our intention to remove all gas lines from under the streets of Denver?

And if it is, I have 4300 households in Harvey Park and Harvey Park South, and uh there's a woman there who recently upgraded her panel to 220, and it was 5900 just for that, let alone the cost of a heat pump, a water heater, and taking up a gas range and putting in an electric range or an induction range.

Um how are we going to handle this?

If we remove a gas line that's serving 1700 homes in the Fort Logan neighborhood or 4300 homes in Harvey Park.

How does that work?

So maybe you could what's our policy for just saying this gas line we don't want you to replace?

And this one is okay to replace.

Uh could you get back to us with a memo on that?

Because we only have seven minutes left.

Pat, more than happy to get back to you with the memo.

There's two to twenty five thousand gas customers served in Denver right now, and burning fossil fuels is what is contributing to climate change and the state law saying that we need to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions uh economy wide uh by 2050.

So obviously we want to stop burning fossil fuels.

We need to be very cognizant of all of the costs that befall uh customers through the transition, and we think avoiding duplicative infrastructure.

So if you're building out the electric system to support customers with the all electric options, if you can stop paying for gas, then you can balance those costs uh uh and manage them successfully over what is a long game of this isn't the kind of thing that happens overnight, and that's why we do the pilots, that's why we do the things like in uh councilwoman's neighborhood to see how do we find successful paths forward.

Yeah, I just want to know how do 4300 households handle $10,000 out of their pockets.

And hope is it doesn't come out of their pockets, comes out of somebody's okay.

Thank you.

I'll look forward to Madam President.

Thank you.

Um Councilmembers Gonzalez could get it.

Council Member Gonzalez can tell you.

So I do.

Just one.

Um thank you, Council of Protev.

There you go.

Uh quick question.

Um, when it was brought up about the um uh the shareholder contribution.

I had a question on this slide.

Um, I think it was on Excel slide where it talked about if other funding is eliminated.

Can you tell us what that actually means?

What other funding are you talking about?

And it would be conditional, it sounds like that that shareholder amount would only be available in on a conditional basis.

Yeah, so that is currently what we're still discussing with the working group is what do you want that shareholder contribution to be and to do.

In the existing, I guess D Dig or in the former D Dig, what the language said was um the 250,000 would trigger if and when there is no other funding for um low-income energy assistance, and so if that low energy um low income energy assistance funding would at some point not exist, that is when the 250,000 would trigger in because at the time the focus was on energy assistance and bill payment.

And so um that is not it, I think it just depends on where the city of Denver and the working group land on what they would want the donation to do.

And so because we haven't landed on the exact amount and exactly what that donation would do, that language still exists.

Okay, so then the conditional language would would potentially go away.

Potentially go away once we agree to what the funding does.

Okay.

And my I'll just ask one more question and I can always do a follow-up.

But just wanting to better understand the substation projects.

I just saw different, you know, when you get to compare compare and contrast the different slides and what is being said on the Excel slide, it talks about uh good neighbor agreement when it comes to the beautification of substations with community, but then on the city side, talks about um uh setting aside a minimum percentage of substation budgets uh dedicated to to doing that kind of work.

Um curious, is there not alignment there or I guess what's going on there?

Because they seem a little they seem similar but also a little bit different.

So I just want to better understand that.

So um again, it w we discussed it today in the working group.

Yeah, but um we you know we were trying to decide and land on language that allowed for the flexibility within the community at which we were to build the substation.

So if you were to say, you know, three percent or two percent of funding goes toward beautification of a substation.

Um my comment back was we don't know what the community is gonna want, whether it's a shell of a building or a mural or what that would look like, and sometimes it's one percent, sometimes it's three percent, and so how do you set expectations, which is what the feedback was from the working group on what we are willing to do and what we're capable of doing, but then allowing for the community or the neighborhood to then decide what they want.

And so, how do you find that language and set that expectation but not prescribe it so that it's not so it's everybody for everything, and it's unique to the community at which they decide they want a wall or trees or uh shell of a building.

So it was trying to just figure out how you create the uh flexibility and uniqueness as we work with community when we're thinking about these substations, but then not prescribing it enough to where it's limited, and it allows for the character of the community at which they choose.

That's kind of where we're at.

So it doesn't really necessarily have it's not that we're not in alignment, I think we're just trying to figure out how we arrive at that language that allows for that.

Anything else?

And there may be some combination of a floor that sets, hey, a minimum budget, you can request more from the from the group, but the intent of that collaboration with the community will be very important.

Okay.

So you're exploring a floor.

Yes.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um I just have a few questions, but maybe we can I can get the answer um later.

One was uh specifically about the uh low rate of participation for the assistance programs.

So if you have things that are specifically in place to address that, um I would be very interested in knowing.

And then also a question around restoring power fast, exactly kind of what's our current rate on restoring power and what measures do we have in place in order to increase like what does that mean to restore power fast and and what are the measurements that we're looking for to achieve that.

Um with that, we are at time.

Um thank you very much for your time today.

And this was just an information session, so our budget and policy is completed.

Thank you.

Thank you for the time.