HomeMy WebLinkAbout8-Consideration of Approving a Resolution for the NCPA Legislation and Regulation Program AgreementAgenda •
TRUC EE DONNER
Public Utility District
CONSENT
To: Board of Directors
From: Stephen Hollabaugh
Date: May 02, 2012
Subject: Consideration of Approving a Resolution for the NCPA Legislation
and Regulation Program Agreement
1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD
The District is a member of the Northern California Power Agency (NCPA) and
formalizing the contractual relationship between TDPUD and NCPA by creating a
Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Program requires Board approval.
2. HISTORY
The District is a member of NCPA, relying heavily on our membership in the agency to
provide clean and reliable electric power to customers throughout our community. Our
membership and participation in NCPA includes the wide range of scheduling and load
management services that provide us with the ability to bring power to our community,
and the legislative and regulatory support to protect our significant collective resource
investments.
In addition to the protections the NCPA Legislative and Regulatory Affairs program
provides by optimizing and protecting our energy -related investments, the program
also offers a critical line of defense against state and federal intrusions on local control
and decision making, and helps preserve our ability to keep electric rates affordable
for the consumers we serve. It also provides much needed services to ensure our
compliance with state policy requirements related to greenhouse gases, renewable
energy, and energy efficiency.
The provisions of this Program Agreement are the outgrowth of extensive NCPA
member discussions and review. The agreement provides certainty for members by
providing stability for the program and protecting against unanticipated cost -shifts.
Importantly, the agreement also helps ensure NCPA member flexibility by establishing
a "beneficiaries pay" structure for public benefits projects, and providing for increased
local discretion related to participation in judicial action initiatives.
3. NEW INFORMATION
A resolution and corresponding NCPA Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Program
Agreement (Attachment 1) formalize the contractual relationship between NCPA and
its members.
The NCPA Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Program Agreement is an important step
toward ensuring clear and consistent agreements for programs throughout the agency.
While many key agency -wide governance issues have been addressed during
previous membership deliberations, the structure of the NCPA Legislative and
Regulatory Affairs program area has not yet been formalized in the same way. As a
result, it is necessary to establish a clear understanding of NCPA and member roles
and responsibilities in this program area. This agreement provides this needed
programmatic structure by:
• Ensuring that all NCPA members, because of their shared interest in protecting
agency assets and the public power business model, participate in the
Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Program as outlined under the terms of this
agreement. Termination of this agreement is concurrent with membership in
the agency.
• Establishing three program areas: 1) the General Legislative and Regulatory
Affairs Program; 2) the Specific Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Program,
and; 3) the Member Services Program. All members support the General
Program which includes Legislative, Regulatory and Judicial Action. The
Specific Program allows for the costs of project -specific Public Benefits and
Judicial Action activities to be paid for by project participants only. The Member
Services Program ensures all members support the costs of one staff person
for this program, and provides flexibility to initiate public benefits projects paid
for by the beneficiaries of the project.
• Requiring NCPA Commission approval of new Legislative & Regulatory Affairs
Judicial Action initiatives, and ensuring that NCPA members can opt out of
these initiatives as they are formed, or withdraw during the proceeding with
appropriate notice and fulfillment of contractual financial obligations related to
the initiative that were entered into prior to withdrawal.
• Providing the NCPA Commission with discretion to allow for exemptions or
special terms under this agreement for new NCPA members due to unique,
special, or legal circumstances.
The NCPA Legislative and Regulatory Affairs program provides us with the ability to
work together with 16 other public power utilities/districts throughout Northern
California, and to speak with one collective voice on behalf of state and federal policies
that protect the ratepayers we serve. Through this coordination, our advocacy efforts
and successes far exceed any initiative that we could individually undertake in the
policy arena. By executing this program agreement, we provide a needed foundation
for these efforts, and assure our ability to manage legislative and regulatory risk.
This activity would not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect change in
the physical environment and is therefore not a "project" for purposes of Section 21065
the California Environmental Quality Act. Therefore no environmental review is
necessary.
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This Program Agreement will not affect the current cost allocation to the District for the
Legislative and Regulatory Affairs program approved by the NCPA Commission in
December 2010.
5. RECOMMENDATION
Approve Resolution 2012-XX, approving a Program Agreement between the District
and NCPA to provide legislative and regulatory affairs services.
Stephen Hollabaugh
Assistant General Manager
Michael D. Holley
General Manager