AGENDA REPORT
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 09/18/2019
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Department of Water and Power
SUBJECT:
Title
City Council consideration to award RFQ 19-041AO for the purchase of high-voltage electrical transformers and pad-mounted equipment switchgear to Anixter as back-up equipment for the Electric Utility.
End
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
That the City Council:
1. Award RFQ 19-041AO to Anixter in the amount of $213,549.74 for the purchase of high-voltage electrical transformers and pad-mounted equipment (PME) switchgear as back-up equipment for the Electric Utility.
2. Authorize the Purchasing Agent to issue purchase orders and change orders per Corona Municipal Code Section 3.08.080(I).
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ANALYSIS:
The City of Corona Department of Water and Power (DWP) provides energy delivery services to two types of customers: Direct Access (DA) customers and fully-bundled electric service to Greenfield customers that involves energy acquisition, transmission, distribution and retail activities. DWP has approximately 1,826 Greenfield accounts that consists of residential, commercial, governmental and industrial customers and 951 DA accounts that consists primarily of City owned facilities.
For both DA and Greenfield-bundled customers, the City is responsible for the acquisition of energy through contract generation and the market. The City then sells that energy directly to its customers. The energy is transported through the electrical service grid into Southern California Edison’s (SCE) distribution system. That power is delivered to SCE’s Corona Substation where the electrical power gets stepped-down to the proper voltage. For DA customers, the energy is then delivered to the City customer through the distribution system of SCE, up to and through the meter. For the Greenfield-bundled customers, SCE delivers the energy to a City-owned Wholesale Distribution Access Tariff (WDAT). Each WDAT is an interconnection to SCE’s distribution system wherein SCE delivers energy and capacity services to the City. From this WDAT, the City delivers that energy to the customer through City-owned circuits using transmission lines, transformers, switchgear and meters to distribute the energy at the proper service voltage to the City’s Greenfield customers.
Transformers allow us to convert alternating current from one voltage to another and PME switchgears are self-contained enclosures that house switches and fuses used to sectionalize and reroute power in an underground feeder system. These are two of the longest lead time items to purchase for the electric distribution system. It takes an average of four to six months to procure this equipment, assuming manufacturers can fit them into their already-challenged production schedules. Within the City’s distribution system, there are approximately 182 transformers and 38 PME switchgears of various configurations required to deliver electric service to the City’s customers. If the City does not have the proper stocking levels of key equipment (specifically-sized Transformers and PMEs that can replace the equipment operating in the field) in the event of an equipment failure, that service area would remain without power until a replacement piece of equipment can be acquired. In order to abate such impacts to the City’s customers, the Department seeks to acquire those key pieces of equipment to have on hand to expedite the replacement and minimize the impact to the customer.
On June 13, 2019, the City’s Purchasing Division issued “Request for Quotes (RFQ) 19-041AO - Inventory Items for Warehouse” for various high-voltage transformers and PME switchgear for stock to serve as back-up equipment for the Electric Utility. Based on the existing types and quantities of transformers and PME switchgear in service throughout the City’s electric distribution system, the following supply list was generated:
The RFQ was posted on PlanetBids on June 13, 2019. Five prospective bidders downloaded the bid documents from the PlanetBids website. Bids were due on June 19, 2019, and the City received one bid from Anixter of Corona:
COMMITTEE ACTION:
Not applicable.
STRATEGIC PLAN:
Not applicable.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The equipment will be temporarily accounted for in the DWP inventory account. Once the equipment is ready to be utilized, it will be expensed in DWP’s Electric Utility operating budget. Funding for the recommended action is available in the Electric Utility Fund.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
No environmental review is required because the proposed action is not a project governed by the California Environmental Quality Act.
PREPARED BY: JACQUELINE ZUKERAN, BUSINESS MANAGER
REVIEWED BY: CURTIS SHOWALTER, ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER
REVIEWED BY: KATIE HOCKETT, ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER
REVIEWED BY: TOM MOODY, GENERAL MANAGER
REVIEWED BY: KERRY D. EDEN, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER/ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DIRECTOR
REVIEWED BY: MICHELE NISSEN, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER
SUBMITTED BY: MITCHELL LANSDELL, ACTING CITY MANAGER
Attachments:
1. Anixter Quote
2. Planet Bid Project Participation Report