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To: NCPA Member Governing Board
From: Staff Member
Subject: Approval of NCPA Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Program Agreement
RECOMMENDATION
By motion, approve Resolution xx-xxx, approving a Program Agreement between NCPA member
and the Northern California Power Agency (NCPA) to provide legislative and regulatory affairs
services, supporting NCPA member membership in NCPA.
BACKGROUND
NCPA member is a (charter, if applicable) 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 substantial generation
investments, 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 decisionmaking, 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.
SR: 133:12
NCPA Member Approval of NCPA Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Program Agreement
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DISCUSSION
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 that can otherwise threaten the viability of our
energy -related investments.
NCPA Member Approval of NCPA Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Program Agreement
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FINANCIAL IMPACT
None. This Program Agreement will not affect the current cost allocation to NCPA Member for
the Legislative and Regulatory Affairs program approved by the NCPA Commission in December
2010. In fact, the Program Agreement establishes increased flexibility related to costs by
ensuring that only those members participating in public benefits projects and judicial action
initiatives cover the associated costs.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
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. No environmental review is necessary.
RXTTTRTT
A. NCPA Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Program Agreement
B. NCPA Resolution 12-24, approving NCPA Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Program
Agreement