Adam Interviews RG&E President Patricia Nilsen

Yahoo

21-03-2025

Editor's note: The full interview can be found in the video player at the bottom of the page.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Windstorms, billing issues and increasing energy costs.
It's been a turbulent few years for Rochester Gas and Electric, or RG&E, and its sister company, New York State Electric & Gas, or NYSEG, both of which are subsidiaries of Avangrid, which is controlled by Spain-based Iberdrola, S.A.
Almost two years ago, Patricia Nilsen took over as RG&E's president and CEO.
Friday, she sat down with Adam Chodak to answer a variety of question regarding the company's past, present and future.
Adam Chodak: So where do we stand with RG&E these days? How's the health of the company in our community?
Trish Nilsen: We're on our 176th year, so we continue to be a strong partner in the Greater Rochester area. So, the company has its financial challenges. We have a high level of customer arrears. We have a significant amount of investment that we've been making in the infrastructure, but we are on the right path in terms of making those investments. And the last rate case that was put into place helped to really right the direction for the company financially. We still have work to do. It's old infrastructure. It's needing investment in time. Coming out of the pandemic, everything was in a pause, so we're on the right path, but we still have work to do.
AC: Obviously, March made me think of the windstorm that we had a few years ago when RG&E got to work, trying to get the infrastructure ready for another hit. How has that project, that effort come along?
TN: I think about that windstorm too. I was deep in emergency management both here at RG&E and then working with the county Emergency Management agency to work on prioritizing what got restored first. What we're doing is not an attitude of if the same pole breaks, we install the same pole in, in a storm. Obviously in some cases it's going to be the same equipment, but what we've been doing since then is really looking at building a more resilient grid. So, what can we do in terms of equipment trips that can flicker three times. If a branch falls on a wire, it'll flicker three times because it's opening and closing, hoping that branch will clear. And then if the branch falls to the ground and the device says, wait a minute, we're absolutely fine. Now the customer has power. So sometimes when your lights flicker three times, that's a good thing because it's avoiding a longer outage. Installing tree wire, installing more resilient infrastructure, whether it's a stronger pole or even looking at using fiberglass for the cross arms or any of the things on the pole that we can make more resilient as well as really a vegetation management approach. We've had a cycle trim for vegetation management, which means every six years or so we're going back in. Now we're adding a prescriptive element to that. It's about $40 million of additional focus on throughout our Gen E service territory. Where are the areas that have danger trees? Those we'll see them as the spring comes. The ones that aren't getting leaves because they're not alive. The Emerald Ash Borer, and all those ash trees that are out there, which one of those trees, even outside of our right of way, could be causing a problem. And also, our traditional trimming space is 10 feet around our wires, which the wires at the top of the pole. So, we're looking at areas where we can do ground to sky vegetation management, because often it's not just the 10 feet around our wires that are the problem, but if we're not trimming above those 10 feet, that's the branch that's going to fall. That's part of our resilient vegetation management program that we're implementing here in Rochester.
AC: We're seeing a lot of the bus fleets starting the conversion to electric buses. If this were to move to all the school districts, RTS, would that put a stress on the system?
TN: It's a matter of, I think even more than that. Can the buses support the school systems? So that's the first question I know a lot of districts are asking is, is it sensible for us to have an all-electric bus for the routes that they have to run? In some cases where those bus garages are, is for out on our infrastructure where we don't have the capacity to serve them. So, we then have to look at is there a customer owned equipment upgrade or a company owned equipment upgrade that has to take place? So, it's really a case-by-case basis whether those buses can be electrified. And it's really a decision. We're working with the state and we're working with the local school districts really on a one-on-one basis. What do they need to do? What are their plans and how can we help support them through that process?
AC: The smart meters, you've been rolling those out. How has that campaign been so far? What's been the impact or results so far?
TN: Well, I have more than 700,000 customers between our two companies that have downloaded our app and over 500,000 of them are using the Energy Manager tool. The Energy Manager tool is on the app, but it's also online. If people don't want to download an app, they can log in online. They can see their energy use by the hour, about a day or two after they've used energy. So, they don't have to wait until they get a bill based on an actual read. They can actually look at things in real time. We're seeing people look at that and hopefully making some energy decisions based on that. Maybe they're solving some family disputes about if we turn all the lights off, you know, what impact does that have? Or if I plug in an electric vehicle, what does that do? So, we're seeing customers look at that. The other thing that it's doing for us is it's helping us enter into a new level of ability to support our customers. We're starting to investigate whether a smart meter can help us identify when there's a problem. So more to come on that. I'd love to talk to you about it as we develop it further. But I just had an example where we learned there was a home that wasn't being occupied, that actually had a problem with their hot water heater, and it kept coming on. Well, we noticed that because we were getting data through the smart meter that was showing usage that was outside of the norm for that place. So, to me, that's what a smart meter can do. It is not something that we're planning to use to control load in a customer's home. We have programs today, a thermostat program that a customer can opt into that we can ask them to lower their temperature in their home or raise the temp, you know, depending on the time of year raise or lower the temperature. That's an opt-in program. The smart meter is really a way for customers to get their own energy use to make decisions and for us to be able to build them on their actual use, which has been really beneficial for those customers who've had months and months of estimated reads. It does sometimes create that first bill with the smart meter that is higher than normal, but we ask customers to reach out to us and we can make payment arrangements. We can confirm the reads for them, do whatever we need to do to make them comfortable with that meter.
AC: We got some reports on high bills into our newsroom. What might account for that kind of increase this year?
TN: We've been going through a lot of issues together. So, supply costs, a reminder for people, your bill is essentially three parts. It's delivery, which is set by rates. That doesn't change unless there is an approved rate change by the state. So, we had a rate increase in October of 2023, and then it stayed the same until May of 2024. And then May of 2025 will be the last of that cycle. So those are approved and they're highly regulated. There are taxes and fees that are part of what we have to collect on behalf of customers that are in your delivery fees. There are also the supply costs. Supply is a market price pass through. We're a delivery company, so we're essentially like your FedEx or your UPS. The cost of supply is based on what the market price is for supply, which comes from the state, from the New York independent system operator. So, it's basically an energy trading. It's based on what generators are able to get or it's what a customer might have agreed to with an energy services company other than us. So, there are suppliers that purchase the supply on behalf of a customer. That all was going on at the same time that we were putting smart meters in energy. Prices were going up, those supply prices were increasing. Additionally, it got a lot colder this winter and a lot hotter this summer than we were used to. About 10% colder depending on where you live. So, customers were calling and saying to us, why is my bill high? I kept my heat set at 68 or 67, whatever they kept it at. But if it's 10 degrees colder or nine degrees colder outside, that heating system's working harder. That hot water heaters even working harder if the water's colder coming into the house. All of that was happening while a smart meter was getting installed. And customers, in many cases, I hear it with my own, you know, my own colleagues here. They'll say, I caught a smart meter. And then I looked at my bill and I'll ask, well, when did you look at your bill before this? Oh, I haven't looked at it in a long time. So sometimes with smart meter, it's the first time a customer's even looking at their bill.
AC: When it comes to potential tariffs, how could this impact energy costs for us in upstate New York?
TN: There aren't any tariffs in place now, it really is something that will be new for all of us in the state. The New York independent system operator will be making a decision of how a tariff would be passed on. Would it be only for the company that's obtaining the supply? So, if a supplier obtains a supply, are they responsible for the tariff or will it be spread across all the residents of the state? It's to be determined. We'll see what the state does, and all the utilities are waiting to see, because we'll then have to communicate to our customers what that outcome is.
AC: The large-scale billing issues we reported on a couple years ago. You largely blamed understaffing in customer service and promised to bring that department up to full staff. Are you there?
TN: We have completed (our recruitment plan). We're always looking to hire because it is an, it's either often an entry level to the company. People come and they learn, they're a customer rep and then they say, let me try something new and they advance within the company. Also, what happens is we're also training our customer reps. So, in order to train a customer rep, you need to have enough staff, they can pull them off the phone. So, we're at where we need to be with staffing, but if somebody wants a career with us, I'd say check out our website. There's always some opportunities there.
AC: Henrietta capacity. There was the announcement recently that that project is going move forward. I had a business owner email me shortly after asking why should the taxpayers pick up a bill for a company when they could make the money from the potential revenue. What would be your response to that business owner?
TM' So at RGEE, we file a five-year capital plan and we file a rate case and all of our capacity growth or investment in infrastructure, anything. We invest in the infrastructure either to make it more resilient or to bring capacity and has to be approved by the Public Service Commission. And because of that, we're very careful in terms of if we're going to do a capacity improvement that only benefits an individual customer, then that customer needs to make that payment. If it's a capacity growth that develops, that increases opportunity for an entire community, we would put that through for approval. And the public service commission is either part of a rate case or a capacity plan. The Henrietta project was outside of a rate case. It was an opportunity for the state and for the community to see some growth and development. So really, it's the state's decision to say if they see value for that community to be able to do this, um, to make an investment. I think it's actually a positive sign for that business owner to know that the local and state government values that community and sees an opportunity for development because I'd like to think that that individual business owner will benefit by having more business in the community in which they work.
AC: Anything you'd like to add?
TN: Call us, because you mentioned, you know, you're seeing less of those customers who are reaching out to you, but it's important that they reach out to us first because we won't know there's a problem until they we hear from them.
Full interview:
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