There were approximately 38 members in attendance. Those Officers and Board of Directors present were: Rob Szalay, Robert Tschoke, Dave Kennedy, Scott Eastman, Ralph Lambiase, Joe Mikulas and Mahesh Panchal.
Excused: Tom Orlando, Brian McAuliff and Jack Morrell.
Called to Order: 7:27 p.m.
Rob Szalay led the Pledge of Allegiance. A motion to accept the General Meeting Minutes of 2/16/23 was made by Ralph Lambiase and seconded by Scott Eastman.
**President’s Report:
Rob S. reported that members are allowed to read the general meeting minutes on our website. It is a record of what is going on. It is good to give it a read. Glad that everyone is here; we have a full room. We have Doug Cahill and Phil DiBenedetto from PSEG Energy Efficiency Program here. They will be doing a program on EV charging and how you can take advantage of the incentives program.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Treasurer’s Report: Tom Orlando
Tom O. was not present. Secretary Dave Kennedy read his report: For the month ending February 2023 the income was $1,549.64 and the expenses for the month were $7,045.66. A motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report was made by Joe Mikulas and seconded by Mahesh Panchal.
Secretary’s Report: David Kennedy
Dave asked members if any of them saw the email blast about SCECA starting business classes for contractor members only. We will be holding different classes every month for the next few months and probably next year. Will probably not have one in June. You want to show up for these classes because believe it or not, Dave has had issues and didn’t even know it. Diane from Executive told him his insurance was not covering certain things. She could give me more coverage for less money. There are certain things you can pick up in these classes. They will help your business. You do not need to change your insurance. Please try to attend. The classes start one hour before the general meeting and run from 6 pm to 6:45 pm. There will be email blasts about it. A motion to accept the Secretary’s report was made by Jason Goetz and seconded by Steven Danielson.
Rob said just to recap what Dave was talking about: Wally was here today for the class but unfortunately no one showed up. It will not be just on insurance; it will be about many different business topics. It will be about 45 minutes and are trying to have it before the meeting because it might be easier for people to get to. Rob S. asked the members if they would rather have it on a Thursday before our general meeting or on a Saturday and emphasized this is not a commitment. When having this discussion was thinking maybe have it on a Saturday morning and it maybe longer and more comprehensive. Trying to see what makes the most sense. Most members wanted to do it before the general meeting. Rob S. said we will stick with that and send out emails. Wally is spearheading this for us and will have other businesspeople coming in. Wally said he designed the class to be educational. Right now, recruiting and retaining talent has become a challenge for a lot of companies. The difference could be the benefits package for a lot of companies. This may be the difference maker. The program today was to go over the three main components: Retirement, Health and ancillary stuff like dental and vision insurance. There are different ways to bill it out and how much will it cost. Most think they cannot afford that type of benefit package; they will be out of business. Wally gave some examples. 401K, 2% match, decent health insurance plan picking up $500 a month and the employee pays the rest, throw in a little dental and vision, a guy working 40 hours a week your cost would be $3.89 an hour. So, if you could figure a way to bill another $32 a day for your guy, you can build into your business that kind of benefits package. He’s been doing this for 30 years and 20% of the people that he talks to want that kind of benefits package. It would cost less than $4 an hour. That was today’s presentation and there are handouts on the table. If you have any questions, Wally would be happy to meet with you. Mahesh said he came earlier and spoke with Wally about adding dental for family and Wally said he can save him 20% with the same coverage. He would have all the same doctors and save $600 a month. Wally said the way these insurance companies work is there are larger networks, medium sized networks and smaller networks. Larger ones have more doctors, medium a little less and smaller even less. So, if you are buying the bigger one and all your doctors are in the middle one then in that case you won’t lose anything in copays and the difference is $700 a month. That is a huge number if his doctors are in the smaller network. Rob S. recapped we are sending these emails out every month with the course. Just look out for them.
Next, we have Revco here. They are our vendor of the month. They do have a trade expo coming up on 3/22. Geoff Singer, Sales & Marketing manager and Don Sarno, most experienced in sales. They have 6 locations on the Island. The newest is in Bohemia on Orville Drive; opened up right before Covid. It has been a big success for Revco. They have two major competitors in the neighborhood. Guys come into their stores and they give them superb customer service. We work hard for you and have service people and get your orders right 99% of the time. If you do not use Revco, give us a shot and you will be pleased. We have our Trade Expo at the Atlantis Aquarium upstairs from 2 pm to 8 pm. Everyone is invited. You can preregister. He would like to get an idea of who is coming and you may win Mets tickets. There will also be trainings that are full right now but if you come there may be some opportunities to pop in. We will have 55 vendors there – lighting, electrical, showcasing new products; existing products. There will be a lot of discounts. We have not done one of these since Covid. His feeling is that people are anxious to get out and see what is out there. All the big ones will be there: Nest, Neutron, Leviton, Generac, Milbank, Square D, Rab, Halo, etc. will be there. Go on the Revco website so you can register and there is a link to see which vendors will be there. Hope to see you on the 22nd. It is being held at the Atlantis Aquarium, upstairs in the big ballroom.
Legal Counsel: Michael Ganz
Mike Ganz reported he is the legal counsel for SCECA for over ten years. He mostly represents contractors and subcontractors in construction related issues but he has been in a new firm since December and they do everything like succession plans and corporate issues; he doesn’t do that but his company does. In February he did a presentation and also did the same one for NEL a few weeks ago and thinks it was well received. After the presentation some people asked for help and he updated some contracts and some called him just for questions. He tried to help them out and point them in the right direction. His contact information is in the Light so if you have anything, give him a call or an email which is better. Will try to get back to you within a day. His office is in Woodbury. Rob S. mentioned that Mike was not able to get through his entire program. Mike said that is because there were a lot of questions. Rob S. said a number of members would want him to continue the program. Maybe do a part 2 or break it up into smaller segments. Mike said he will connect with Rob S. and set something up.
Insurance: Patti Muldoon from Borg & Borg, Wally Boorum from Sunrise Benefits Solutions, Diane Mullahey-Senior from Executive Ins. & Financial Svcs.
Wally reported at the end of last year the Legislature passed this new law called Secure 2.0 Act. It creates a bunch of new laws for 401K. The primary one is Auto Enroll. He brings this up because it used to be if you had 20 employees whoever wanted to enroll would enroll; maybe 5 enrolled and 15 didn’t. With this new Act, all 20 will be automatically enrolled. If you don’t want to enroll, you will have to opt out. This matters because if you have a matching component like matching deposits going into the 401K and now you are matching deposits of 20 people instead of 5, it will cost you a little more money. So, if that is an issue of yours you may want to look at matching schedule and make some adjustments as long as you do it before the following year. Just keep in mind that Auto Enroll is coming.
Patty Muldoon reported the market is hardening for insurance and personal insurance also. They have 20 something markets; anyone interested, please give them a call. They also do personal insurance. We have been saving some members money. Diane Mullahey-Senior from Executive Insurance reiterated the market is hardening especially for umbrella policies. Anyone working in Manhattan, some insurance companies are limiting the companies to a million dollars umbrella. And if you work in Manhattan, you need at least 5 million dollars. Her company has the markets that will be able to offer that coverage for you. They also do property, casualty, auto and home insurance much like Patty does. You can show her your policies to review it and what you should be getting. That is what they pride themselves on. Rob T. added Patti, Wally and Diane all work together. Don’t limit them to your business. Diane was able to help him with his daughter.
PROGRAMS: Doug Cahill and Paul DiBenedetto of PSEG did a program on EV Rebates. Paul is the Senior Energy Consultant of PSEG-LI. He helps customers reduce their energy. It is based on NY States goals and guidelines. There is a goal that by 2030 to have 50% renewable energy. You might have heard there is a wind farm going out east and solar is a big thing. Along with that there is a goal of 40% reduction in emissions. The area that he is really involved in is a 20% decrease in commercial energy consumption. PSEG has a lot of new stuff going on right now that you may be involved in: lighting, HVAC, weatherization. The thing you guys may be involved in but may not know we have programs for is if you have to hook up new equipment. There may be some money to purchase that equipment and reduce the energy. Their custom products are very good: Fast Track, Comprehensive (more extensive, a whole building). He recommends you get with Revco because they will do the paperwork for you. They know the programs and are very familiar with it. They will guide you through the process. Another thing when you are bidding things out, you can use those calculations to see how much the customer can save on their energy bill. Mahesh asked what if you already did the work, can you file later on for rebates. Doug said yes if you do a Fast Track which is a $7500 rebate amount. But generally, the answer is no. The rebate is designed for the product. They recommend licensed electricians.
Paul DiBenedetto then went over the EV Make Ready Program with a slide show. He went over the 3 levels of charging: Level 1 approx. 8 to 20 hours 120V ordinary household current, Level 2 approx. 4 to 8 hours 240V(common in houses, commercial businesses) which is better for the battery overall, Direct Current Fast Charger (DCFC) less than 20 minutes for an 80% charge – 480V. If you plug in for 5 minutes you can get 100 miles. You will see battery degradation quicker if you just use the DC charging. U.S. used the J1772 plug. Tesla has their own proprietary charger. If There are 3 different battery types – BEV, Plug-in Hybrid and Hybrid. Energy consumption is going down and will go up over time but the peak demand is not going up. That is because most will charge at night. Some NYS climate goals: 850,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2025. As of February, Long Island has about 38,000 EVs. LI is leading the State in EVs. Our portion of the goal is 178,500 and we are no where near that. There are few affordable EVs available. Starting in 2027 NYS will have to start purchasing electric school buses. By 2035 all buses operated will be electric only. NYS signed onto the Advanced Clean Truck Act rule so starting in 2035 all new sales for vehicles will be zero emissions. In 2045 it will be medium heavy duty EVs. They just commissioned a medium heavy duty EV study focusing on school buses, tractor trailers, box trucks, etc. Their program goal is to support the infrastructure needed for those type of vehicles and help fleet operators understand how to electrify their vehicles. They did an EV Make Ready Study in 2020 with a 3rd party to determine what EV adoption looked like presently and, in the future, where people drive and where chargers had to be installed. They anticipate about 4200 new L2 ports in 700 locations and about 500 new DCFC ports in 130 locations. The rebates are for commercial businesses only. They do not have a forecast for residential. The utility side make ready (USMR): distribution infrastructure equipment up to the meter and the Customer Side Make Ready (CSMR) Infrastructure equipment from the meter up to the EV Charger. The EV Charger is not eligible for incentives under the EV Make Ready Program. John Cangemi asked if the batteries work better if you make them fully discharge or charge midstream every day. Paul said if you want to prolong the battery life (nickel, manganese, cobalt) you should not charge over 90% or under 10%. With Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, you can fully charge to 100% and close to 0% with no issues. Right now, the battery life is anticipated to be 300,000 to 400,000 miles. Depends on how much you drive and how much you use DC charging. The next generation of batteries are supposed to last longer than that. It will vary. Mahesh heard if one of the cells goes bad in the battery, the whole car shuts off. Paul said yes, sometimes there can be bad modules or cells. He then went over the incentive structure. Three location types: DCFC Corridor w/in 1 mile of major roadway, DCFC Community Beyond 1 mile and Level 2. There are also 3 tiers – 100%, 90% and 50%. There are also incentive caps. The incentive formula is {(USMR + CSMR) * Tier % } – USMR. The actual incentive is the lesser of the calculated incentive and incentive cap. The caps are to make sure everyone gets a fair share of incentives. The maximum you can receive is $529,302 for DCFC Corridor, $205,623 for DCFC Community and $30,366 for L 2. The maximum incentive per entity is no more than 20% of the overall budget so no one company monopolizes. It is paid upon site energization. L2 (location) cash incentives paid following completion of energization. DCFC – lease to buy mode for large sites. CSMR equipment is capitalized by LIPOA over 10-year term which will then be handed back to the customer and customer agrees to maintain CSMR equipment during term. Hybrid Sites (mix of L2 and DCFC) – Cash rebate or Lease-to-buy driven by port majority and total project cost – on a case-by-case basis. There will be 4 to 6 Level 2 charging stations per location and they will collect data from the stations for a minimum of 5 years to know how to improve the program and see if it they are offline. They also must accept a universal form of payment with 24/7 availability to pay via cash, mag-stripe/chip readers, contactless card readers or QR codes that connect directly to a payment site. (network apps that require downloading are not included) Paul then went over some Scenarios and the process flow for DCFC and Level 2 Stations and also other programs and available tax credits through NYS and inflation reduction act. If anyone has any questions about the process flow and there is paperwork involved, please email: PSEG-LI-EVMakeReady@pseg.com. John Cangemi asked if the utility is prepared for all the additional energy that will be used? Paul answered the most important day of the year for the utility is in July on a hot summer day between 3 pm and 7 pm. That is what they prepare for. For their infrastructure, power generation and everything. EVs in general will most likely not be charged during those hours. Their forecast shows the vast majority of customers will be charging off peak hours and at night. They are upgrading the infrastructure every day. An informative question and answer session followed.
By-Laws & Nominating: Jack Morrell
Jack was not present.
Education/Seminars: Rob Szalay, Mahesh Panchal, Scott Eastman
Rob S. reported we have a CEH class on March 25. This is the last class on Grounding and Bonding. If you have employees or you want to learn more about it, we have 5 to 6 spaces open. Go to our website to sign up and pay by credit card. In April our CEH class will be on 1 & 2 Family Dwellings. We will announce the April class at the end of March. All will be notified by email. Ralph will be attending the class. Rob S. wanted to mention we will have a lot of links for our members on our website. Anyone can go to our website right now but we will be a source of information for the members. If you’re looking for technical information, business information; we will have a website for you guys. Keep that in mind.
Electrical Safety: Robert Tschoke
Rob T. reported he was browsing through recalls; few on equipment. If anyone knows of a recall, let Rob T. know. He has mentioned this a lot that Square D recalled 1.4 million electrical panels due to thermal burn and fire hazards. It is QO™ Plug-on-Neutral Load Centers. They are either fixing them or giving us the equipment to fix them. One member said if you buy a panel with the green label, it is not subject to the recall. One member said remember when Square D has the safety problem, who pays for our time to go back and fix it. Rob T. said they are only required to do the recall. Whether they reimburse us sometimes you would have to go the website to see if they will. One member asked if the electrician is legally responsible to go back to these jobs to check. Rob S. suggested to go the Schneider Electric website. And if anyone sees anything out there that is unsafe, send Rob T. the photo through the SCECA email. Barbara will forward it to Rob T.
Entertainment: Dave Kennedy, Scott Eastman, Mahesh Panchal
Dave had nothing to report.
Good & Welfare: Joe Mikulas
Rob S. welcomed Joe back from Florida. He was away for two months. Joe said if you have something to contribute; we prefer good news to bad. He just heard about Ed Karpf, does not think he was a SCECA member, his wife passed away so we sent condolences.
Inspection Agencies:
Certified Electrical Inspectors: #896-A Jim Smith was present. Rob Ceriello was present.
East End Inspection Agency: #1193-A Ed Seltenreich was not present.
EII: NYBFU: #1109-A Philip Goehring was not present and Richard Jendzo was present. Rich reported on two things he has seen in the last couple of weeks. A lot of people are under the assumption you do not have to group the mains on the 2-meter service. They have to be grouped together. You cannot have one upstairs and one downstairs. There is a bunch of apartments that have been illegal for years and now guys are coming in and redoing them but they still have the main upstairs and one downstairs but they have to be grouped together. The other thing he has is he failed two pools yesterday. People are under the assumption that they can use a green insulated #8 to go around for the peripheral bonding on the pool. No, you cannot do this. It does say you can use an insulated conductor, but that’s basically on an equipment run in an equipment room or whatever. But that is not the peripheral bonding around the pool. Rob C. added if you do pools, the best thing to do is to get the bonding wire staked out 18” from the inside wall in the dirt because the concrete guys come and push them against the Gunite or steel wall and that is a violation. Rich also added do not bond the pool before they backfill up against the pool. It has to be 6” down below grade not 3 feet. Rob S. said it is great to have them here. They have a wealth of information. That is why they are here; to help us out.
Suffolk Bureau of Electrical Insp.: #856-A Gene Surdi was not present.
Long Island Electrical Inspectors: (Bay Shore): #1178-A Joe Deubel was not present.
Southampton Town: Ron Linsalato was not present.
Alliance Electrical Inspect. Ltd.: Michael Dumitru was not present.
Electrical Inspection Service (of East Patchogue): Not present.
Licensing: Jack Morrell
Jack was not present.
PSEG Representatives: Joe Mikulas, Jack Morrell
Rob S. said he was involved with a small issue in Port Jeff. A transformer blew up. PSEG got them up and running right away with a temporary generator. There was a lot of oil everywhere. They go the environmental crews there right away. He thinks they are one of the best utilities as far as response. If you have any questions, send some questions to us and we will pass it along to Rich and Doug.
Membership/Plaques & Awards: Robert Tschoke/Brian McAuliff/Jack Morrell
Rob T. announced we have two new members: Kevin Feeney of Domestic Electric in Levittown who is present and Donald Howell of DB Howell Electric in Shirley who is not here tonight.
We are working towards increasing our membership. There will be more to discuss and it is moving in a positive direction. In the interim, talk SCECA up; start a conversation. We are stronger with more members.
Dave Kennedy swore in Kevin Feeney and gave him his packet. Joe Mikulas took their picture for the newsletter. Donald Howell will be sworn in next month.
Nassau Electric League: Mahesh Panchal, Ralph Lambiase, Scott Eastman
Bill Cain reported NEL is having their annual installation dinner on 5/17 at the Fox Hollow. Everyone here is invited. They will also ask for sponsorship at some point and will try to emulate you guys. You have stepped up your game and he is impressed. We have our meetings the 2nd Wednesday every month in Hicksville at the Knights of Columbus. We do programs like SCECA. Rob S. said this is our sister organization. We are separate entities but we are all in the same industry and we do work together. We also work with 5-Boro and Westchester. Bill reported they have a major problem with unlicensed electricians with guys farming out their licenses. And we are being bogged down with meeting with all the different Towns; we have 64 town licenses. It’s a lot of work but we are finally making some headway. We have the Tri-town agreement: Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay. Finally in the last 20 years they actually held a meeting. If you take 1 test in one town, they will reciprocate with the other 2 towns. Your business has to be in one of those towns. They are trying to get it altered a little. If you move out of Oyster Bay you cannot get the Tri-Town agreement. A discussion ensued. Rob S. asked if you would like a County license like Suffolk. Many would like to have a county license or Nassau to have one license. A discussion ensued. Rob S. said this is how we work together and we should have a conversation about this as part of our Roundtable. John Pollack added he comes from a small village that has its own government and they will not give up their cushy deal. They do not want to give up ownership of control. This has been going on for over 60 years and it has not changed. Rob T. said we have to be unified and have a discussion where we can have some sort of agreement for the better of this industry.
IAEI: Mahesh Panchal, Ralph Lambiase, Scott Eastman, Tom Orlando
Rob Ceriello reported their next meeting is April 5. They are having Scot Sousa from SUNation coming down to do a program on PV. Our location is 45 Motor Ave. in South Farmingdale at the Community Center. Rob C. will send the email to SCECA and SCECA will forward the information to our members. They have meetings once a month; the first Wednesday. They stop in June/July/August. Their meetings run September through May.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS: (Rob Szalay, Brian McAuliff – Co-chairs, Joe Mikulas, Editor – “Light,” and Jack Morrell
Rob S. reported we will be launching our new website by the end of the month. You will be advisers on it and a wealth of information on it. Last month Brian McAuliff unveiled the new SCECA logo and the newsletter. It is a rebranding for all of us.
Joe said if you are not getting the newsletter, we either do not have your email address or you have not paid your dues. With regard to seminars, we do have a deadline to submit. As far as articles are concerned, we have had articles from Mike Ganz, Jim Smith, and John Cangemi. Rob T. does wonderful photos. Most recently Ralph Lambiase has been pushing him to submit articles. He put in Women in Electrical Construction article and it’s Women’s history month. The other article was on EV charging. If you see something that is appropriate to be in the newsletter, send it to our email. We need it by the end of the month to be in the newsletter. Finally, Rob S. submits a president’s report and, in this case, a technical article on AFCI breakers. Take a look and maybe you will find something that applies to you and your job.
Energy Expo: Rob Szalay, Jack Morrell, Dave Kennedy
Rob S. reported we are trying to get it going. It will be about energy. We will try to have it in late May. It is a work in progress. It will be open to the public. It is mainly commercial with some residential. We are looking to have it in Hauppauge at the Radisson. We will keep you posted.
Legislative Review: Jack Morrell
Jack was not present.
Old Business:
Nothing to report.
New Business:
Nothing to report.
Raffles:
3 – $95 cash prizes were won by Ralph Lambiase, Patti Muldoon and Josh Carrick.
1 – $100 cash prize was won by Steven Danielson.
$100 attendance award was drawn for Anthony Lennon (#129-25YC) who was not present to win.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:20 p.m. was made by Phil Zuardi and seconded by Joe Mikulas.
Respectfully submitted,
APPROVED BY:
3/21/23
Barbara George Dave Kennedy
Recording Secretary Secretary
