Paul Ciampoli
Welcome to the latest episode of Public Power Now.
I'm Paul Ciampoli, APPA's news director.
Our guest on this episode is Ryan Kelso, CEO of Texas public power utility New Braunfels Utilities.
Ryan, thanks for joining us on the podcast.
Ryan Kelso
Thanks for having me, Paul.
Paul Ciampoli
So Ryan, just to get a conversation started, the impetus for my initial thought of having you on the podcast was something that caught my eye in looking at your utility’s website.
And specifically on the website, NBU notes that it reached two major milestones on two electric system projects designed to strengthen the reliability and support the growing energy needs of New Braunfels.
Specifically, the utility in June highlighted the new Hueco Springs substation and the completion of significant upgrades to the Henne substation.
Can you offer additional details on these two projects as well as discuss any other projects underway to boost reliability?
Ryan Kelso
So the Hueco Springs substation, it was placed into service this past May.
And this distribution substation was built to support a new development up to the north of town, but also to bolster the reliability and resiliency of our existing system and take off some of the load from our highest loaded substation downtown.
It's been in service since May and no major issues since commissioning.
It's a single transformer station with three feeders initially, but its ultimate master plan capacity is two transformers and six feeders.
And it's our 12th distribution substation in our system.
And the Henne project -- it was really kind of a rebuild, a complete rebuild of that station and a reconfiguration.
So on the high side, we installed a breaker and a half configuration, which is a high reliability configuration for the 138 bus. And originally the thing was built in 1979 so it was due for some rehab and so the whole rebuild was very timely. Anyhow, it's been performing well as well. We're really proud of it.
And outside of that, we've got quite a few projects going on here in New Braunfels.
We're one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, consistently growing from between 4 to 7%, adding meters every day.
And so we're constantly extending our services, building new feeders to maintain reliability for our existing customers and also serve new growth that comes to New Braunfels.
Paul Ciampoli
So just a quick follow-up.
So with respect to the Henne substation, you noted that involved a rebuild. Just curious, how often does the utility, or how often has the utility done a rebuild of a substation in the last, you know, several years, I guess?
Ryan Kelso
This is the first for us.
We try to stay on top of aging infrastructure and replace aging components, whether that be substation breakers or switches or on the transmission side, relaying equipment or breakers.
But as far as a full rebuild, this is a first for us. And it was challenging.
While maintaining service to the nearly 6,000 customers that station serves, it involved a lot of coordination between ourselves and LCRA, the transmission provider of the area.
Our teams did a fantastic job working with the contractor to ensure no disruptions in service while we pull that work off.
Paul Ciampoli
So I would imagine now that you've got that experience under your belt with that, in terms of additional projects that would involve a rebuild, I would imagine there's a fair amount of lessons learned in terms of if you want to pursue that again as an option.
Ryan Kelso
Absolutely. We learned some lessons in this first go round, nothing really major.
My teams are really keen on their master planning efforts to ensure that we don't put ourselves in a situation or a pickle while we're in the middle of these projects.
But yeah, we're working through each station to revise the configurations to be this more reliable breaker and a half configuration across the board so that we don't have any issues on the high side of substations as far as reliability goes.
Paul Ciampoli
So Ryan, just in terms of preparing for this interview, one of the things that really jumped out at me as I prepared is the fact that it's clear to me that you prioritize directly connecting with the New Braunfels community.
For example, as early this year, you spoke at a New Braunfels Breakfast Lions Club, and separately, you made remarks at a speaker series hosted by Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas.
So how does the New Braunfels community benefit from these face-to-face meetings with you?
Ryan Kelso
Yeah, I'll tell you, it's one of my favorite things to do in my job is getting to connect with the community and really getting out and hearing the voices of my customers and what's on their minds.
Of course, it's nice to be able to share the updates from the NBU front and help educate customers on the benefits of public power or whatever the topic of the day is.
But just getting out and interacting with...friends, neighbors, and families across the community is really fulfilling for me.
I just think that it builds a lot of trust. It puts a face to the name. It really humanizes the utility.
And I think it's probably some of the most worthwhile time that I invest as a CEO as far as building a better brand for the utility and also just like I said, just making us a more human utility and I guess better recognized in the community.
Paul Ciampoli
In terms of not necessarily those two events that I mentioned specifically, but maybe looking back at the last year, any kind of common themes and kind of terms of topics that are brought up?
Ryan Kelso
Always affordability and the conversation about competition or what it would mean to deregulate.
And that's always a really good discussion for the community to have.
I take that opportunity to explain the benefits of being a municipally owned utility and what all comes with that as far as local control goes and local decision making and being a reflection of the community's values.
And on the affordability front, I often carry data and information that compares our rates with others in the industry, comparisons to those in the for-profit space and the deregulated market.
And that tends to reinforce and hammer home the value that they get through public power.
Paul Ciampoli
So I just want to turn to the topic of safety.
And as you know, New Braunfels Utilities has earned a diamond level safety award of excellence from APPA. So what are the steps the utility has taken to earn this recognition?
Ryan Kelso
It's certainly an award that we're really proud of and I'll tell you, safety is the number one priority at NBU.
It's one of our core values, and it's something that we talk a lot about. And so we've made it a real focus for the company.
And I'll tell you, the most impactful change that we've made in the last five years is we've really put the responsibility of safety in the hands of all employees, but especially the frontline leads and supervisors.
We've invested a lot of money and time and training those frontline supervisors and leads because they're the ones that spend the most time out in the field directing traffic day-to-day.
And if things break down at that level, it doesn't matter what you do at the other levels in the company, you're not going to be successful from a safety perspective.
And so we've really grown, spent a lot of time and effort growing those folks over the last five years through leadership programs and training.
That's not to say that it's still not emphasized at the other levels of the company.
We're still training and developing staff at all levels of the company, but really the focus and emphasis has been at that frontline level and we have seen great results and great adoption.
People don't just roll their eyes, oh, it's another meeting or a safety minute.
They're really taking it seriously, taking it to heart and making the program their own. They created a safety mantra for the utility two years ago, and the safety mantra goes, speak up, lead, and care for all.
And I feel like that short phrase really embodies the culture of safety here at NBU.
And it's given folks a really memorable phrase to apply to their day-to-day work, meaning speak up if you see something wrong or stop the job.
Lead -- It's pretty straightforward and explanatory, which, you know, know and do the right thing.
And then care for all. Look out for your brothers and sisters that you work beside.
Paul Ciampoli
The theme specifically, speaking up, that seems to be an ongoing theme in terms of public power utilities who are really excelling in terms of safety is when in doubt, always say something, right?
Even if you're not sure, there's no harm in saying something.
And perhaps it's not an issue, but you've got to say something, right?
Ryan Kelso
Right.
Paul Ciampoli
So switching gears here, as data centers are a hot topic these days. And in Texas, that has emerged as a state that's attracting a lot of data center developers.
So I want to take the opportunity while we're speaking with you today to give you the chance to talk about if any data centers have been proposed in New Braunfels.
And if not, has the utility developed a strategy or plan to prepare for data centers to be proposed in the future?
Ryan Kelso
We have a handful of inquiries that we're tracking in the New Braunfels area in our service territory.
We serve 160 square miles, so roughly twice the area of New Braunfels proper and we serve a vast area of the county here in Comal County and Guadalupe. So we have a handful of inquiries.
We've been working with a professional firm for the last year to develop processes and procedures for handling the intake of these requests. And we're working right now to develop policy positions for our board to react to. And so there's still more work to do.
Of course, we acknowledge our obligation to serve and our CCN.
And these entities have a very clear picture of what it takes to get to the finish line through the PUC and ERCOT process.
We are a component of that process, but no inquiries have gotten past the, what I would really call the starting line yet within our service territory.
There aren't any entities in what ERCOT's calling batch zero in our service territory.
Right now, the future is a little fuzzy for when that batch zero is going to move forward, given...the statement that the governor made last week about putting a pause on data center approval until they report certain information.
And so it's really become unclear if and when these projects are going to get to move forward, but we stand ready to serve load as it comes into our territory, but we're going to be very, very strategic in how we structure any agreements or service extensions to serve these loads and make sure that they pay their fair share and our rate payers don't pick up the balance or pay anything that's associated with their necessary improvements.
Paul Ciampoli
Yeah, and I guess it's probably an understatement at this point in time to say that, you know, you look at a lot of headlines these days, there's community activism in terms of, I guess, questioning elements of data center proposals.
So presumably that would be something top of mind for you guys in terms of if and when something kind of gets to the next step, right, in terms of kind of explaining to the community, these are the benefits that could roll out from data centers.
Ryan Kelso
For sure. And as a combined utility, we also provide water and wastewater services and so being here in Central Texas in a very, very semi-arid environment, we are very conscious about stewardship of the resources that we're charged with managing and so any data center development that may happen in our territories would certainly need to represent the values of this community for us to agree to move forward with service.
Paul Ciampoli
So wanted to switch gears here, talk about the new headquarters that's being constructed by the utility and construction is expected to be completed in 2027.
So how will this new headquarters benefit utility customers as well as employees of the utility? And are there any unique features of the headquarters that you'd like to highlight?
Ryan Kelso
Yeah, it's exciting. I cannot wait for us to all be under one roof.
Right now we're spread across three different office locations and so we're consolidating into one facility.
And so for our customers, it's going to be easier to do business with us day one because we're going to have all of our business staff and operations staff housed in one facility.
And so the ease of doing business with us, you're not going to have to drive to two or three different locations depending on the service needs that you have with your utility.
It's going to create efficiencies internally that will benefit our customers as well.
And so it'll relieve some of the obvious geographical gaps between our employees and which results in sometimes communication gaps between employees.
And it'll just result in an overall more collaborative utility under one roof. So I'm excited for that.
I'm excited for the culture benefits that will come with it. We operate as many public power utilities do. We feel like one big family here at NBU.
Even though we're pushing 500 employees, it still feels like we try to keep it like a small town feel and like I said, a very much family atmosphere.
And so having everybody under one roof, I'm just excited to get to see more of my teams on a daily basis and get to hear from them and interact with them and keep the pulse on how things are going.
And as far as unique features of the site, one of the cool things is we have a live spring on the site.
It's called Magnolia Springs, feeds a big pond.
So we have, we're now, since we own this property, the 77 acres, we're excited to be good stewards of that very environmentally sensitive part of New Braunfels. And we're going to ensure that it's protected and beautified.
And it's also going to provide nice opportunities for nature walking trails for employees so that they can take breaks throughout their day and turn the brain off maybe and go see some nature.
And also for our customers, we're going to make sure that those trails are open to the public so that when you come see us, if you're coming to pay your bill, you can spend 20 more minutes and go for a quick nature walk and see one of the unique springs here in New Braunfels.
Paul Ciampoli
That really sounds like it's a great component of it…do you know if other public power utilities take a similar approach with new headquarters like that?
I guess I'm just trying to get a better sense of how unique this is and how early in the process was that part of the plan?
Ryan Kelso
Early on in the process, it was looked at -- the whole creek and spring system. It's obviously encumbering a portion of the site.
And so whenever you're doing site selection, you're looking for...acreage of usable property.
And obviously, whenever you buy a piece of property, you don't just get to exclude that non-usable part. You’ve got to pay for it too.
So it was a conscious decision as we approached the site.
We knew that there was going to be a handful of acres that would need to be protected and preserved as waters of the US.
And it presented its own challenges, required a bridge structure as you entered the site.
And so it added expenses. But at the same time, our board did not back away from that challenge, acknowledging that, you know, with one of our core principles being stewardship, we saw it as an opportunity and an opportunity also to spread the good word about stewardship and One Water and things that we're doing on the water side of our business.
And I don't know of any other utility company that has a feature of that nature on their headquarters site, but I'm excited to get to steward it into the future ourselves.
Paul Ciampoli
And it strikes me as a great way of sending the clear message to employees there that, hey, we're recognizing the fact that you may feel pressure during the day and this is a great way to kind of just step away and kind of collect your thoughts and like you said, temporarily take your mind off and onto nature.
Ryan Kelso
Absolutely. It's good medicine. Yeah, a walk can fix a lot of things.
Paul Ciampoli
So Ryan, just last question for you, kind of maybe taking a bigger picture.
In terms of looking at the future, what are the long-term goals that you have for the utility?
Ryan Kelso
Sure, it's a timely question. One of the things right now that we're working on is our strategic plan revamp. And so our current strategic plan, it's 10 years old.
It's a plan that I inherited as I took the reins as CEO three years ago, and it's a good plan, but it's definitely time to reimagine it and look further out into the future. So that work is in flight.
We have retouched our mission, vision, and core values, and we're currently working on establishing those goals and the long-term vision for the utility.
So I'll hold back my comments on that front, but I will share my current priorities for the company and focus areas are the customer first and foremost and really improving the customer experience and doing that through modernizing our technology platforms.
And so we just wrapped up a big solicitation for a new financial system and a new customer information system.
And within those two systems, those are really bedrock for any utility.
And I'm really excited about the customer information system, especially because it's going to also provide a new platform to interact with our customers, a customer facing portal and application.
And so we're doing a lot of work to meet our customers' expectations.
In the world of Amazon and here in Texas, HEB, we've got some really strong brands that we don't have the luxury of not being compared to these days.
You know, utilities back in the day, I think, you know, it was just expected that, you know, they're there and they're always steady and consistent.
But there weren't these competing brands that made business doing really, really easy that whenever you compare them to the utility model, it makes us look like we're kind of in the dark ages.
And so we're doing a heck of a lot of work to improve our service offerings and just make it easy to do business so that you don't have to think a whole lot about your utility company whenever it comes time to paying your bill or getting a rebate for you name it, energy efficiency program.
And I just want our customers to enjoy their experience with us and for it not to be cumbersome.
So we're investing in modernizing technology with the customer in mind.
Paul Ciampoli
That's all interesting information. The one question that jumps to mind and it's not obviously a unique topic in terms of a lot of utilities are tackling this and that's specifically workforce.
Any thoughts that you want to share in terms of, and I guess it's a two-part topic.
One is recruiting the next generation of employees, but also making sure that as employees retire or leave, that the knowledge sharing is there.
Any additional or any thoughts on that?
Ryan Kelso
Yeah, it's actually one of the four proposed new goals that we have is specific to our employees and attracting and retaining top talent and becoming an employer of choice.
And you're right, the needs of this next generation are going to certainly be different than my generation or your generation or the generations that are retiring at the moment.
And so we've got a really great human resources and recruitment team that acknowledge that and make sure that whenever we're selecting that talent, we're making sure that number one, they share the same values that our company is founded on and making sure that these folks are the right fit for the jobs that we're putting them in.
And then to my point that I made to the last question, we're really focusing on modernizing technology because technology is really the bedrock of how we provision services these days and especially with the new generations.
We've got to have processes and tools for them to do their jobs that don't feel like they're out-of-the-box from the 1980s.
And that's what really gets people fired up and engaged and not frustrated is whenever they have the tools and equipment to do their job and for a big portion of the company, a lot of that's technology centric.
Even for our frontline employees, that technology is playing a bigger and bigger role in their day-to-day tasks.
So we're constantly evolving on that front, trying to stay with the time so that we can attract and retain that top talent.
Paul Ciampoli
And in terms of New Braunfels, any sense in terms of the level of knowledge or interest in working at NBU at this point? I mean, is it as of right now, do you feel like it's a challenge or is it you feel like you guys have pretty good content?
Ryan Kelso
We're doing pretty good on that front. We focus a lot on employee engagement, like I said, to ensure our employees have a good experience here at work.
We use the Gallup survey annually. We poll our employees.
We have some free response questions that we make a focused effort to respond to and address whether we can do the things that our employees want to do or not. We make sure they feel heard and cared for.
And then too, I'll tell you, we spend a lot of time out in the community at schools and that won't pay dividends for potentially, sometimes 10 to 12 to 15 years, but showing children at a young age that there are opportunities outside of the college path that you can get into and begin a career early and have a very secure job with good benefits that's fun -- We try to make it as fun as possible. And really telling that story to the young folks of the community.
We're doing that a lot these days. And so I'm hoping those dividends pay off in the years to come.
And we have some eager folks that are graduating high school in the next years to come to work for us and seek us out.
Spend a lot of time also at career fairs here in town for those high school age kiddos that aren't quite sure of where they want to go next.
And I'm really proud of what the teams have done there.
And I know for a fact, we have no issues hiring and hiring good talent at the moment, but it requires a lot of focused effort to keep that moving.
Paul Ciampoli
Well, Ryan, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us today.
It's been a really informative conversation.
And as of all my guests, I want to just let you know you have an open invitation to return at some point in the future.
Ryan Kelso
Well, thank you, Paul.
Thanks for the invite and thanks for what you do.
Paul Ciampoli
Thanks for listening to this episode of Public Power Now, which is produced by Julio Guerrero, graphic and digital designer at APPA.
I'm Paul Ciampoli, and we'll be back with more from the world of public power next week.
