Lodi Interim Utility Director Ken Weisel discusses challenges

While the city of Lodi decides who will replace former Electric Utility Director George Morrow, it has placed Ken Weisel at the reins of the city's largest department.

Weisel, who has been Lodi's assistant electric utility director for the past two-and-a-half years, is applying to take the position permanently.

He talked with the News-Sentinel about how statewide climate legislation could increase residents' bills, why the Energy Cost Adjustment protects residents from being overcharged by the city and why he wants the job.

Below is a lightly edited version of the interview.

Q: Why did you get into the electric utility field?

A: When I graduated from college with a chemical engineering degree, the power industry was looking for chemical engineers for power plant design and licensing, and that was my best opportunity.

Q: How long before a rate increase? Is there any timeline?

A: It's looking pretty steady. We don't have any immediate plans for a rate increase. ... But no promises because we can't control the way power markets go either. We buy power and resell it. We are doing everything that we can to stabilize the costs by getting into long-term contracts, looking ahead, planning ahead, not relying on the day-to-day spot markets.

Q: What have you learned as assistant utility director that will help you in this interim position?

A: Getting to know the people: the people of the city, the councilmembers, the other city department heads, the people who work in the department.

Q: Last time we talked, I know you mentioned the state climate legislation as being a challenge for the city. (All California utilities are required to get a third of their power from renewable, non-greenhourse gas-emitting sources by 2020.) Can you explain how that's going to affect the city?

A: Lodi is in better circumstance than most of the utilities in the state in that regard. We are over 20 percent already. None of the investor-owned utilities are close to that. In our case, most of that comes from our geothermal investments, but we also some small amount of hydro.

In most cases, new renewable resources will be more expensive than some of the resources we've been using, so that's going to put pressure on costs for the utilities of the state, not just Lodi.

Q: So are those costs something that could be reflected in ratepayers' bills?

A: Eventually. We are a step ahead of most of the utilities, so I am hoping the pressure here won't be more than our customers can handle. Certainly, they're going to be less exposed to it than customers of other utilities in the state.

Ken Weisel at a glance

Age: 58.
Hometown: Bronx, N.Y. (He said Lodi is much nicer.)
Family: He still lives in Turlock with his wife, Pat. His daughter, Lauren, is a freshman at University of California, Irvine.
Hobbies: Weisel says he is a bad tennis player and a bad golfer. He also enjoys movies; his favorite is "Casablanca."
Education: Bachelor's and master's degrees in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Previous experience:
— 10 years as assistant general manager for the Turlock Irrigation District.
— Seven years as electric utility director in Roseville.
— General manager for the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission.
— Worked for San Diego Gas and Electric, city of Alameda's electric utility and a Massachusetts engineering company.

Q: What are your thoughts on the ECA? It's relatively new in Lodi, and there has been much debate on it.

A: The Electric Utility has no source of income other than charges to its customers. If we are going to stay around to keep providing service, we are going to have to have our costs covered. The energy markets are very volatile, and there was a concern in past years that rates weren't keeping up with the costs, and it was important to have a mechanism to help us cover our costs.

If we didn't have that, we wouldn't be seen as financially stable by the financial markets and that would affect the price we pay for interest when we borrow money.

Q: Some critics of the ECA have said it is a way to avoid raising rates because it replaces the need to raise rates.

A: Is that the criticism or the justification?

Q: I don't know. How do you see it?

A: It's a way to make sure the Electric Utility's costs are covered sufficiently without (being) excessive. Just as when costs go up, the charge goes up. When costs go down, the charge goes down. So in a way, it's a protection for the customers as much as it is for the utility.

Q: So it is protects customers by ensuring the utility doesn't overcharge?

A: Right. To keep us in business without overcharging.

Q: Is overcharging something that happens when you do rate increases a couple years at a time?

A: The tendency would be then to be overly cautious. If you want to make sure you've set rates high enough, sometimes you have to set them too high. The ECA helps protect against that.

Q: In what situation would there need to be a council-approved rate increase?

A: We have costs in buying wholesale power. The ECA only covers the external power supply costs. It doesn't cover any of the costs for the running the distribution system and the people we hire. If and when the costs for the distribution system rise faster than increases in our sales volume, then that could cause the need for a rate increase.

Now, in the past year, we have seen a decline in our sales, not an increase, so that puts pressure to cover our fixed costs, to pay for the employees and the distribution process.

Q: Why would you want this job permanently?

A: I think I have something to offer the city and want to see the utility run the best it can. And I hope I'm the person to do that.

Q: What do you think are the main things you have to offer the city?

A: Experience. I have 37 years in the electric utility industry. I've worked for different utilities that have given me different ideas to bring. I've worked with the people (in Lodi) for two-and-a-half years now and have gotten to know them.

Q: What are some of the characteristics you think are important for a director?

A: Any manager can only succeed by only working with people and through people. I have experience doing that, successfully I think.

Q: You mention ideas for the utility. Do you have any examples of things you'd like to see happen within the utility?

A: I think I'd better share those with the city manager before I share it with the public. But there are some big projects we have coming up. If we are going to keep reliability for the electric system, we need to build another power line out to White Slough. We can get another connection to an outside source. We are working through Northern California Power Alliance on the construction of the Lodi Energy Center out at White Slough. And then we'll need to focus on getting more green energy for the city.

Reader Feedback

wtf wrote on Sep 23, 2009 8:56 AM:

" From the article:

Q: So it is protects customers by ensuring the utility doesn't overcharge?

A: Right. To keep us in business without overcharging.

Then maybe it's time for LEUD to go OUT of business!

From the article:

Q: Is overcharging something that happens when you do rate increases a couple years at a time?

A: The tendency would be then to be overly cautious. If you want to make sure you've set rates high enough, sometimes you have to set them too high. The ECA helps protect against that.

This story is a load of BS! I had to put my hip-waders on to get through it. "

Report Abuse

Comments on this story are now closed.

Archives

Story Tools

Indexes