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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 2601-58481.Approval of the Minutes of the Utilities Advisory Commission Meeting Held on January 7, 2026 Item No. 1. Page 1 of 1 Utilities Advisory Commission Staff Report From: Alan Kurotori, Director Utilities Lead Department: Utilities Meeting Date: February 4, 2026 Report #: 2601-5848 TITLE Approval of the Minutes of the Utilities Advisory Commission Meeting Held on January 7, 2026 RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that the Utilities Advisory Commission review and approve January 7, 2026 minutes. Commissioner ______ moved to approve the draft minutes of the January 7, 2026 meeting as submitted/amended. Commissioner ____ seconded the motion ATTACHMENTS Attachment A: January 7, 2026 Draft Minutes AUTHOR/TITLE: Alan Kurotori, Director of Utilities Staff: Rachael Romero, Program Assistant I Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 1 of 12 UTILITIES ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES OF JANUARY 7, 2026 REGULAR CALL TO ORDER Chair Scharff called the meeting of the Utilities Advisory Commission (UAC) to order at 6:05 p.m. Present: Chair Scharff, Vice Chair Mauter, Commissioners Croft, Gupta, Metz, Phillips, and Tucher Absent: None AGENDA REVIEW AND REVISIONS None ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES ITEM 1: ACTION: Approval of the Minutes of the Utilities Advisory Commission Meeting Held on December 3, 2025 Chair Scharff invited comments on the December 3, 2025, UAC draft meeting Minutes. Commissioner Phillips commented the statement declaring the budget subcommittee would be himself and Commissioner Tucher was incorrect and wanted it removed. It was clarified to be Commissioners Croft, Phillips, and Tucher and would be corrected. Commissioner Tucher suggested consideration of using an auto transcript service for the minutes in order to save time and effort. Alan Kurotori, Director of Utilities, stated Staff would go back to the Clerk's office for feedback on alternatives or options and bring it back to the next meeting. ACTION: Commissioner Phillips moved to approve the draft minutes of the December 3, 2025, meeting with the requested change. Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 2 of 12 Commissioner Tucher seconded the motion. The motion carried 6-1 with Chair Scharff, Vice Chair Mauter, Commissioners Croft, Metz, Phillips, and Tucher voting yes. Commissioner Gupta abstained. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None UTILITIES DIRECTOR REPORT Director Kurotori, Director of Utilities, delivered the Director's Report. Approval of the attestation of the veracity of the power disclosure report and power content label, reaffirmation of the carbon neutral plan, and the Renewable Energy Credit Exchange Program, and resolution and execution of professional services with NCPA were brought to Council. The gas COSA update went to Council with the effective date of February 1st, 2026. Information is being prepared moving forward with potential rate increases in 2027. A phased rollout of the TOU rates is being offered currently to a small subset of customers with the goal of bringing it out wider for the summer following testing in the first and second quarter of this year. The utility bill printing service has changed resulting in changes to the appearance of the bills. An annual mailer was sent to all customers on gas safety as part of the public safety program on natural gas. Terry Crowley has been appointed to the full role of chief operating officer. Lisa Bilir has been promoted to assistant director of the Utilities Resources Management. A slide was presented with an overview of upcoming items. Commissioner Tucher wanted clarification on the time of use update. Director Kurotori stated the small phased rollout would be done in the first and second quarter followed by a rollout in the summer to larger customers. It will be about a dozen customers per month. The initial phase was an outreach to potential customers. Commissioner Croft wanted to know why it would only be a dozen per month. Director Kurotori replied the smaller amounts is to make sure the processes are correct and described the process. Commissioner Croft suggested doing a comparison of time of use versus regular rates for each customer to incentivize people to use it. Director Kurotori indicated behavioral changes was expected. Commissioner Croft expressed interest in being a pilot customer. Commissioner Tucher was frustrated that the time of use project seems to be moving slowly. NEW BUSINESS ITEM 2: Fiscal Year 2026 Mid-Year Fiber Expansion Update (DISCUSSION 6:50 PM – 7:35 PM) Staff: Alexandra Harris Alexandra Harris, Telecommunications Program Manager, provided a slide presentation including an agenda, a background, dark fiber vs fiber internet services and infrastructure, dark fiber service, fiber internet service, dark fiber status, fiber internet status, pricing strategy and next steps of fiber internet, and phase 1 strategy of fiber internet. Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 3 of 12 Public Comment: Andy Poggio opined the dark fiber revenue could be better applied to building up the electrical infrastructure than rolling out FTTP. Hamilton Hitchings indicated tens of millions of dollars would be lost in a failed foray into fiber. Herb Borock suggested making a recommendation to Council to expand the dark fiber for the purpose of being used as a fiber to the premises backbone. Commissioner Gupta stated a substantial portion of the fiber funds are being used to enhance the fiber backbone. Enhancing the fiber backbone will happen regardless of FTTP being offered. Offering FTTP is a great way to offer residents an affordable option. The annualized profit off dark fiber would be a very small dent in electrification. The San Bruno's network is a different example and is the reason TV services are not being offered as part of the fiber internet plans. Commissioner Croft asked what has been defined as the KPIs. Ms. Harris replied the take rate is important to determining the success of the FTTP project. Some of the KPIs are customer satisfaction, delivery times, and rates. These will be formalized as part of the learning summary from the pilot. Dave Yuan, Utilities Strategic Business Manager, commented the goals of the pilot are technical feasibility, operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and testing promotional pricing. For phase 1, the take rate will be vital. Scalability, number of passes per premise, and bringing construction costs down will be looked at. Growth opportunities will be pursued. Commissioner Croft wanted to know about the dark fiber network. Mr. Yuan explained the dark fiber is a ring around the City in the commercial areas. It is congested in certain areas and not always available. If it is available, fiber to the premise could be offered in certain places. If not, new backbone or additional capacity would be required. The new backbone will be phased. Commissioner Phillips inquired if the decline in dark fiber is cyclical. Mr. Yuan responded it is cyclical. There are vacancies in the research area but also new developments in the same area which are being approached to let them know dark fiber will be available in the area. It is based on the commercial business economy. Vice Chair Mauter asked if there was growth of new customers that are requests beyond capacity. Mr. Yuan stated there are constant discussions being held with strategic partners. New fiber connections are added when new facilities are built out. The smaller businesses usually want private service providers. Commissioner Phillip expressed skepticism and needed to see a convincing business plan. Commissioner Metz advised having just 1 gig in residential service. Stronger marketing and sales effort is important. Mr. Yuan agreed. Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 4 of 12 Commissioner Tucher expressed confusion about keeping up with big private enterprises regarding pricing. Commissioner Gupta responded the FCC data showed about a 45 percent number of residences passed. That is still in research. The pricing is going to be competitive. People do not like AT&T or Comcast and are looking for other options. Residents are positive about this option. Vice Chair Mauter found the presentation unclear on the feedback being requested and asked about the technical risk and capability of delivering fiber. A suggestion was proposed to think about a potential second pilot evaluating factors other than the service area to serve broader goals of the community. Mr. Yuan responded feedback being requested included strategy, KPIs, opinions on decoupling from grid mod, and looking for new Greenfield MDUs. Vice Chair Mauter questioned if a 35-year payback period is a smart investment. Darren Numoto, Director of Information Technology, stated Staff is confident in the technical feasibility of the service. Commissioner Phillips shared the concern of the technical feasibility. Director Numoto stated fiber is a long-term asset. Commissioner Gupta stated the fiber connection between the home and the backbone would last decades. Chair Scharff asked if it is really a 35-year payback. Director Numoto responded a 40 percent take rate would be more like 15 years. Vice Chair Mauter stated that is where the Commission would like to see a business plan that assured the plan has been adequately assessed. Commissioner Phillips queried if every rate change needed to be approved by City Council. Mr. Yuan replied there is flexibility to offer promotions up to X dollars without going to City Council. Commissioner Tucher inquired if there has been a financial model presented. Mr. Yuan responded there have been two financial models presented, one in 2021-2022 and the other in 2025 and those would be reshared. Commissioner Tucher asked about the new pilot neighborhood. Mr. Yuan replied every location has not yet been identified but the new teacher housing and another affordable housing area are included. Director Kurotori commented the role of the UAC goes back to the work plan. Information will be brought back from the outcomes from the pilot. Commissioner Tucher stated the most important updates are the decoupling to some degree with UAC and a redefinition of geo targeting. The commissioner urged Staff to make a KPI of the take rate. Chair Scharff asked how the Commission was to know if this should end after the pilot and discussed skepticism of the plan. Mr. Yuan responded the original Council motion was to build a phase 1. Staff will come back to the UAC, Finance, and Council three to four months after the pilot with more data. In the meantime, opportunities to build are being sought. Chair Scharff desired Staff to come back to the UAC quickly with information about what the plan is on the pilot to give the opportunity to go to Council before they move forward. The chair wanted to know how much would be spent on the pilot and on phase 1. Director Kurotori commented when this went forward to Council, it included the phase 1 area which included the pilot. The pilot was Staff driven in terms of looking at grid mod to fine synergies and potential cost savings associated with both. That was not found. The work plan is to provide UAC and Council with Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 5 of 12 status updates as they relate to metrics for success during pilot and phase 1. The intent is to bring take rate back to the UAC. The pilot will be brought back in the next several months with information to be brought forward to the UAC and Council to give updates on the progress. Commissioner Croft thought there had been agreement that there would be a pilot after which there would be opportunity to see the data and decide if it would be worth the money. Commissioner Croft and Chair Scharff recalled the decision being made not to spend the money. Commissioner Croft recommended going back to figuring out how much it will cost to do a pilot in a neighborhood. Commissioner Gupta disagreed and thought Staff was doing the right thing. Commissioner Tucher inquired as to the difference in phase 1 and the pilot. Commissioner Gupta responded the pilot area was a technical pilot Staff created to make sure it could technically be done and whether it could be coupled with grid mod. It was not intended to be a litmus test on whether or not to move forward with fiber or not. Chair Scharff asked how much money Staff planned to spend before going back to Council. Mr. Yuan replied $20 million was originally authorized for phase 1 and another $26 million for the fiber backbone with some contribution from the electric fund. About $5 million is projected from the $20 million. Director Kurotori added the pilot information would come back in about three to four months once the hut is completed. Chair Scharff wanted to ensure it is agendized as "what is the UAC's recommendation to Council" when it is brought back in nine months. Commissioner Gupta disagreed stated that would be setting it up for failure. Commissioner Phillips asked when there would be a business plan based on actual data to justify a no -go decision. Mr. Yuan responded it would be around the same nine months when the pilot data is brought back. Ed Lauing, Council Member, added Staff is executing the plan Council put in place. Data is required to make the go or no-go decision. Budgeting difficulties play a part in determining the amount spent for data. Vice Chair Mauter thought the KPIs in the work plan are right and wanted report on those. One other KPI worth addressing is a question of service areas which there is strong suspicion that AT&T will not serve. ACTION: No Action ITEM 3: Fiscal Year 2026 Mid-Year Electric Grid Modernization Update (DISCUSSION 7:35 PM – 8:35 PM) Staff: Terry Crowley Terry Crowley, Chief Operating Officer, provided a slide presentation including grid modernization background, key grid modernization projects, sub-transmission system, convert 4kV systems, substation reconstruction, Colorado 115 and 60kV improvements, 12kV distribution improvements, forecasted costs and timeline, and key considerations. Vice Chair Mauter inquired how the 8.5 to 19.5kW peak is estimated. Mr. Crowley answered it is estimated by the use of EV chargers, space and water heating, and ancillary loads normal in a house. There will be some impact on peak demand. Utilities depend on diversification. The time of use pricing has the potential to send a price signal and change behaviors. Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 6 of 12 Commissioner Tucher asked if there is data on how the average peak load is distributed. Mr. Crowley replied this presentation does not go into that level of detail. The design processes will look into the costs of multifamily connections versus single -family housing connections. Commissioner Tucher queried how the fact that the projects total up to around $420 million not including the things mentioned should be interpreted. Mr. Crowley responded it is likely the full construction and electrification of the City could go over $500 million. Commissioner Tucher wanted to conclude this agenda item with a sense of how the overall cost of grid mod is discussed. Director Kurotori added more discrete costs are being looked at. Some of the systems require replacement anyway. The importance of this presentation is looking at substations and ensuring reliability. Commissioner Gupta asked if the numbers on the key grid modernization projects slide are viewed as what is necessary for maintaining the electric infrastructure as well as goals for electrification. Mr. Crowley answered this would replace the aging equipment as well as increase capacity. Commissioner Gupta asked about the assumptions that go into the presumed loads from EV. Mr. Crowley stated customers prefer to have a 60-amp IV charger. Customers are being asked to share the 60-amp plug capacity across multiple vehicles. Vice Chair Mauter asked if there are investments that should be incentivized at the customer level or other incentives for installing smart panels. Mr. Crowley confirmed there are incentives for that. Moving slowly at the beginning of the process can help manage the total bulk design of the system. Vice Chair Mauter opined there are financial reasons to incentivize smart panels and technologies in that realm. Commissioner Tucher wanted explanation of sub-transmission. Mr. Crowley clarified the sub- transmission is the 60kV loop that runs through the City servicing the individual substations. Transmission services are received at 115 at Colorado Substation. That is stepped down to 60kV through a bus structure and four sub-transmission outlets of Colorado that run through the City and serves all the substations. Grid mod is an evolving process. There is a need for speed due to climate to try and move through this quickly and figure out how to support electrification. Now that piece has been identified, it is more of a priority because of the number of customers potentially affected and the need for this work to complete some of the upgrades to increase capacity and reliability at the Colorado Substation. Every customer could potentially be affected but there is redundancy in the 60kV loop so the mitigation measures for those overloads may have to affect some customers but not all. There are identified overloads in facilities under certain reliability contingencies the require mitigation. This is additional cost to the grid mod that was not in the initial study. Commissioner Tucher asked about the substations mentioned on the convert 4kV systems slide. Mr. Crowley responded they are the Hopkins and East Meadow Substations. There is a pocket for East Meadow that does not connect over to Hopkins. That is where a potential reliability issue is seen. If these substations are rebuilt to 12 kV, they could support the adjacent 12 kV Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 7 of 12 substations. Commissioner Tucher asked which substation supports University Avenue downtown. Mr. Crowley replied Colorado provides a lot of that support. Commissioner Croft asked for a description of a feeder tie. Mr. Crowley explained feeder ties are wires and conductors between two substations. Increasing the capacity of those will give the substation the ability to reach further, serve more load, and help with reliability in unplanned outages as well as maintenance. Commissioner Tucher queried how plug sharing would work. Mr. Crowley responded through the permitting process, homes that are planning to install multiple chargers can be identified. At that point, conversations can be held with the homeowners about using plus sharing technology or limiting their EV charging to a 60-amp breaker. One assurance is the requirement to install a 60-amp breaker and all plug sharing is behind that. Smart meter data can be used to identify customers that have a larger peak demand and higher loading on transformers. Utilities does not review a single EV charger. The City knows through planning. Commissioner Tucher asked about pricing incentives. Mr. Crowley commented the utility likes to provide options. Customers can have two EV chargers but grid mod will not fund that. Those things are being looked at to see how they work. Feedback from this policy decision is being sought from the UAC. Chair Scharff asked how plug sharing would work. Mr. Crowley stated it could work by switching cars out or having multiple chargers that communicate and share a 60-amp plug. Director Kurotori added for commercial, managed charging is able to share a lot of different ports. Vice Chair Mauter asked if Mr. Crowley would advise that the UAC look at including peak demand charges. Mr. Crowley thought looking at new rate structures, new ways to incentivize different behaviors, or more fairly cost recovery options are on the table. Smart meters bring the ability to implement those plans. Director Kurotori stated having a baseline of what will be provided is helpful in creating what the utility is committing to and what customers can expect. Commissioner Phillips opined it would be appropriate to think about demand charges if there is disparity in the level of residential. Vice Chair Mauter said it does not make sense to have different approaches to cost of service studies across the utilities. Commissioner Metz spoke about downsides to demand charges. Chair Scharff commented that grid mod will not matter if customers do not adopt and it should be paced moving forward. Mr. Crowley stated that is Staff's recommendation. It provides the Staff the ability to focus on other larger projects that have a bigger impact to the customer. Commissioner Tucher asked for a definition of customer adoption. Mr. Crowley stated customer adoption is more at the individual property. Commissioner Tucher inquired if the decisions of the commercial base have any affect. Mr. Crowley replied the focus on grid mod is looking at electrifying the residential sector. The commercial sector pays for upgrades as they come. The substations being focused on are older substations that serve a lot of the residential neighborhoods. Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 8 of 12 Commissioner Phillips wanted to know if the numbers in the timeline slide includes the amount that is deferred. Mr. Crowley responded those numbers are Staff recommendation which include the deferred amount and spending rates over the years. Commissioner Gupta asked if this would be presented to S/CAP at the meeting on the following Friday. Mr. Crowley stated it was intended to be presented in February. Director Kurotori added the intent is to bring it to the UAC and then to S/CAP following feedback from UAC. Commissioner Gupta thought there should be more alignment on this question because S/CAP will potentially be approving the work plan and asked what Staff recommendation would be of the work plan coming up on Friday. Director Kurotori stated those reports look at different phasings of low, medium, and high adoption scenarios. This is the recommendation of increasing the infrastructure from the Colorado receiving station down to the customers. These distribution improvements and upgrades can be ramped based on the customer uptake moving forward with S/CAP. Commissioner Gupta asked if rate impacts will be discussed. Mr. Crowley replied that was not the intent of the discussion. The discussion is about what Staff is proposing for the CIP plan moving forward through the budgeting process subject to additional feedback and approvals from different bodies. The rate impacts will come in later as the plan for the CIP becomes more formalized. Lower spending will have a lower impact to rates. Commissioner Gupta asked if this is beyond the forecast received in November for electric rates. Mr. Crowley stated the forecast in November did not account for this lower spending rate. Director Kurotori added a lot of the capital projects are being bonded so that is spread over a longer period of time. If the customers and community electrify faster, there will be revenues to cover the costs. Vice Chair Mauter inquired models are being built to estimate where load growth is going to happen next. Mr. Crowley stated studies that come out of S/CAP are closely watched looking the ramp rates for appliance replacements. Flexibility has to be maintained to ramp up the rate of construction. Director Kurotori EV projections are being tracked and that is integrated into the long-term plans and budgets. Chair Scharff asked if adoption of EV is increasing in Palo Alto. Director Kurotori confirmed EV is increasing in Palo Alto. Looking forward to future years, there will be a softening of those projections because there will be other options. Vice Chair Mauter asked if the concentration of EV adoption and heating and cooling electrification would matter at the infrastructure level. Mr. Crowley confirmed that to be true. Tracking the permitting process would be helpful. That skill set will have to be build into the process. Commissioner Croft queried if sizes of transformers can be standardized and preordered to beat the long order lead time and asked how transformers serve the home and how it was decided what equipment to put in and where. Mr. Crowley explained Staff is proposing looking at standardizing transformers. They have a number of standardized 50kV, pole -mounted transformers in the yard to build out these systems . The right number is something being Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 9 of 12 learned and emerging technology would help to change. Some of the risk of using the wrong transformer is mitigated by slowing down. Commissioner Croft opined that for the people putting in large systems, communication will be needed about the high cost. Mr. Crowley indicated that is done at the time of system upgrades. Vice Chair Mauter asked where the 19.5 number came from on the considerations slide. Mr. Crowley explained it is the sum of EV charger, heat pump, and ancillary loads. Vice Chair Mauter asked if there is any AMI data used to come up with this number. Mr. Crowley replied it is additive. The AMI data is another piece of the tool needed to do quality control. Vice Chair Mauter thought there could be a way to set less numerically based on what is seen in practice to arrive at a number based on community needs. Mr. Crowley responded the intent is to get the concept out and see if there is appetite to further develop that. Public Comment: Herb Borok commented it is unclear with the long timeline that this would have the proposed effect and that Staff will probably end up doing what they want to do regardless of what recommendation UAC makes or Council approves. David Coale thought limiting to a 9kW or 50-amp breaker would be sufficient and it is appropriate to charge the customer for an extra transformer above that. The utility should push to do streamlining of EV charging permitting. Slow down of the grid mod will help realize the needs. Chair Scharff supported slowing down to match demand. Lower electric rates is an incentive to electrify. The question of large demand paying for upgrades is hard to answer based on the information provided. Mr. Crowley stated with the development and permitting process, it is common to see large demands come in. That is where the question of what should be supported comes in. Commissioner Tucher had questions about upgrade costs. Mr. Crowley stated it is in the realm of $10,000 to $20,000. They would try to look at proportionality. Commissioner Tucher opined it would be better to find a way to incorporate demand capacity peak load into each individual's monthly base cost. Commissioner Phillips commented a structured conversation at a separate time is needed with more information provided. Commissioner Metz agreed with setting a line in the sand and requiring the customer to pay beyond that number. It is important to understand the load growth based on meter data. Commissioner Croft supported bullet one and two. She would like to look at AMI data and benchmark against other places where people are electrifying. Commissioner Gupta encouraged all creative ideas on reducing rates. More data is needed. It is crucial to align with S/CAP. He asked if the planned investments enable vehicle to the grid. Mr. Crowley responded that is an emerging technology. It is not yet commercially viable so hard to Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 10 of 12 incorporate into a current design. That is one advantage to slowing down. Vehicle to grid would heavily depend on an incentivizing rate structure. Vice Chair Mauter stated S/CAP can do a lot of pushing technology but the market pull has to be there if Palo Alto is going to play the role of leader in implementing technologies. Commissioner Croft questioned how the second transmission line coming in would complicate grid mod. Mr. Crowley answered the current plan is that the second Ames line would come into the existing Palo Alto Switching Center. It does not change anything as far as the connection or use for Colorado. The numbers presented do not change based on the current approved transmission line that will provide the second source and source of reliability to the existing Palo Alto Switching Center. If there was a second receiving station, there would be additional cost that would have to be analyzed, funded, and prioritized. That is not included in the current proposed CIP. Commissioner Croft asked if that is part of what has been approved. Director Kurotori stated it is part of the CAISO approval. ACTION: No Action FUTURE TOPICS FOR UPCOMING MEETINGS Director Kurotori commented that the 12-month rolling calendar highlights that updates to the pilots will be given in the July timeframe and the items going to City Council. The election of chair and vice chair will be added to the April timeframe. Past the July timeframe, other items and future work plan will be added. Commissioner Phillips was looking for a discussion of the reserves policy. Kiely Nose, Assistant City Manager, explained based on the Finance Committee, UAC, and ultimately Council's referral to Staff to study reserves, the use of reserves, and level of reserves in the utilities, it was put on the State Auditor's work plan. That assessment is underway and will move through that process with Staff. Staff is working through an initial review of the report with the city auditor. It will take a few months. The audits will go to the Policy and Services Committee. Because this has an impact on the utility, the UAC will receive that report and any outcomes from it. The report will provide information and then there will be next steps. That is where the UAC decision making comes into play. UAC will be made aware of the assessment. Councilmember Lauing stated that would be required before budgeting. Ms. Nose was not sure that would be available in time for budgeting. They are trying to have a high level understanding of being over, under, or at the mark to help inform rate setting. Commissioner Phillips asked if the audit would address the policy question of how many reserves should be had. Ms. Nose confirmed that would be addressed. The auditor will review the number of types of reserves in the context of best practices for utilities and make recommendations or benchmarking identifications. It is incumbent on Staff to move through the policymaking process on what Council wants to approve. Commissioner Phillips asked if Staff would come to UAC with recommendations. Ms. Nose replied that would not be part of the process but they Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 11 of 12 can bring that assessment to the UAC. Staff has a desire to bring it to a Council body as soon as possible. Commissioner Croft wanted to see an update on the time of use rate pilot and the Reliability and Resiliency Strategic Plan Cost Effectiveness and Cost Benefit Analysis added to the calendar. Director Kurotori stated if the Resiliency Strategic Plan Cost Effectiveness and Cost Benefit Analysis was determined to be on an annual basis it will be added to the calendar. Feedback will be provided on the action taken by Council. Chair Scharff stated a line needed to be drawn on the pilot stuff. Commissioner Metz asked if the gas rate and financial forecast would include a strategy for the gas utility. Director Kurotori replied there is a gas transition study. There are no plans to shut down the gas utility but there are studies underway. Updates will be provided. The status update on the gas transition study is May 6. Commissioner Metz wanted to know if the impact of data center on rates will be addressed next month. Director Kurotori said the competitive nature of it will be brought back. Commissioner Tucher inquired what the meaning of competitive aspects of data centers is. Director Kurotori stated it asks if it makes sense in terms of growth, impacts on the rates, what type of infrastructure will be needed, what the needs look like, where they will potentially grow, etc. Commissioner Tucher requested for that presentation to include specific information or data coming back from commercial customers such as what kind of data centers the customers want. Director Kurotori explained Staff would not be able to share specifics about customer load. They can talk about capacity and the growth and ability to serve those types of data centers. There are different definitions of data centers that will need to be defined. Information on size and types will be provided. Commissioner Tucher hoped to learn where the 200 megawatts comes from, why it stays flat for the next five years, and what is behind the red component in the load projections called data centers. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS and REPORTS from MEETINGS/EVENTS Commissioner Gupta reported having a meeting along with Commissioners Metz and Tucher on resilience with the director and Ken Dueker form OES. The upcoming grid mod efforts will directly improve emergency readiness. Staff is looking at creating documentation for residents regarding utility preparedness and ensuring electricity resilience will be integrated in future major capital projects in the City. Strategic gaps and the need for broader public dialogue about long-term outage scenarios were flagged. After the meeting, they followed up on getting the utilities director added to the Emergency Services Council and hoped to see progress on that. Director Kurotori added that these briefings are intentional on providing information to the commissioners they have. The most important factor for this Commission is working as a body. The briefings provided from other departments is to help have the conversation. Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 12 of 12 Commissioner Croft attended the S/CAP workshop. There was about 30 people in attendance. The primary discussion was around incentives for residential electrification. Commissioner Tucher asked if there is a way to get minutes out in the first week as opposed to the fourth and when presentations should be expected. Director Kurotori stated Staff likes to incorporate those with the packet whenever possible. Some of the changes in the fiber one came later and required changes and adjustments. The presentations should be expected prior to the meetings when possible. Commissioner Tucher asked if public letters are included in the e-packet. Unknown speaker confirmed public letters are included in the e -packet. The link that is provided is just the agenda. Public comment letters are now being provided in the HTML agenda only. Commissioner Tucher observed it would be better if everything was included in the e-packet link. It was pointed out that the quarterly report was not what it said it was. It was not a financial report or summary. There was no summary of utilities. There was no summary of revenue or CapEx year to date. It should be better or omitted. ADJOURNMENT Chair Scharff moved to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 9:44 p.m. Respectfully Submitted City of Palo Alto Utilities