1 S
TAFF REPORT
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___________________________________________________________________ DAT
E: June 21, 2022
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O: Justin Hess, City Manager
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ROM: Dawn Roth Lindell, General Manager, Burbank Water and Power VIA: Mandip Samra, Assistant General Manager, Power Supply BY: Erik Olsen, Acting Manager, Energy Control Center
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UBJECT: Approval of a Five-Year webTrader Service Agreement with Open Access Technology International, Inc for Software Applications to Coordinate and Record Electrical Energy Transactions
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RECOMMENDATION
Approve and authorize the General Manager of Burbank Water and Power, as designee of the City Manager , to execute a five-year service agreement for webTrader software between the City of Burbank and Open Access Technology International, Inc. (OATI) through June 30, 2027, with a subsequent annual renewal of the agreement for up to three years.
BACKGROUND
The OATI webTrader service agreement covers several software products that provide for the internal tracking and recording of BWP’s wholesale and retail energy trading . In addition, included applications allow for invoices to be generated or approved for payment based on accurate records. The included applications also allow BWP’s finance planning and risk manager the means to implement risk-based criteria for trading decisions.
In addition, the included applications provide traders and schedulers the ability to track external agreements with counterparties for energy and transmission usage, determine transmission availability, monitor system reliability outside of the City of Burbank’s energy grid, and provide a managed secured link between BWP and the OATI server site. The OATI application also provides critical greenhouse gas data for regulatory reporting.
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he previous OATI webTrader service agreement recently concluded the City Council - approved five-year contract term extension, and the services are currently provided under an existing automatic annual renewal provision.
WATER AND
POWER
2 DISCUSSION
The OATI applications provide BWP with essential tools needed to coordinate and record electrical energy transactions for retail and wholesale sales. OATI provides access to their applications using a software- as-a-service model wherein the application and all hardware associated to the application are hosted by the vendor , and remote access is supplied to the customer. This is a lower-cost approach than buying and maintaining our own hardware and software. Only the very large utilities or those utilities that have very limited trading and sched uling requirements can afford an in- house scheduling and e-tagging system. The following are the individual functions/applications provided under this service agreement, and their description:
webTag - used to “tag” electricity transactions for counterparty approval
- automated modification and confirmation of transaction - regular system updates associated to regional trading evolution
webSweep - automated link to Oasis transmission website - queries available transmission for potential wholesale trades
webSAS - used to curtail transactions during transmission line congestion
- essential to meet regional energy market requirements
OATInet - point-to-point network connection with OATI facilities - provides high level of network security and reliability
VPN Back-up - provides a fail-over connection should the OATInet link fail
webTrader - scheduling and transaction management system - contains invoicing and risk management functionality
Report Generator - provides the ability to create formatted reports automatically
- manual or automatic e-mailing of reports
- simplifies verification process for Magnolia Power Plant and other energy deals
webCalc - streamline and automate complex report calculations - automate complex terms in contracts
The OATI webTrader service agreement will be in place for multiple years and, as such, requires City Council approval.
FISCAL IMPACT
OATI has proposed a five-year webTrader service agreement with no increase over the previous year agreement’s monthly recurring rates. The agreement also includes the 3 addition of a one-time development fee of $9,000 for unit export service with no added recurring fees . The tota l cost of a five-year agreement is $ 1,524,900 which will be budgeted for and paid annually at $312,180 for the first year and $303,180 for years two though five. The webTrader service agreement is included in the FY2022-23 budget.
CONCLUSION
The BWP Board reviewed this item at the June 2, 2022 Board meeting and unanimously approved the recommendation for City Council to approve and authorize the General Manager of BWP, as designee of the City Manager , to execute a five-year webTrader service agreement between the City of Burbank and Open Access Technology International, Inc. through June 30, 202 7, with a subsequent optional annual renewal of the agreement for up to three years.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – OATI webTrader Service Agreement