April 4, 2024
MINUTES
Board of Directors of the
Clean Power Alliance of Southern California
Regular Meeting
Thursday, April 4, 2024, 2:00 p.m.
Meeting videos are available on CPA's YouTube Channel.
http://www.youtube.com/@CPApublicmeetings
Clean Power Alliance
Diana Mahmud Board Room
801 S. Grand Ave., Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Board members participated from the following locations:
Calabasas City Hall
Council Conference Room
100 Civic Center Way
Calabasas, CA 91301
Ventura County Government Center
Channel Islands Conference Room, 4th Floor
Hall of Administration
800 South Victoria Avenue
Ventura, CA 93009
Whittier City Hall
Admin Conference Room
13230 Penn Street
Whittier, CA 90602
South Bay Cities Council of Governments
Conference Room
2355 Crenshaw Blvd., Suite 125
Torrance, CA 90501
CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL
Chair Klein Lopez called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. and Gabriela Monzon, Clerk of the Board, conducted roll call.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Director Gold led the pledge of allegiance.
Roll Call
1 Agoura Hills Deborah Klein Lopez Chair Present
2 Alhambra Jeff Maloney Director Present
3 Arcadia Dominic Lazzaretto Alternate Present
4 Beverly Hills Julian Gold Alternate Present
5 Calabasas Ed Albrecht Alternate Present
6 Camarillo Susan Santangelo Director Remote
7 Carson Cedric Hicks Director Present
8 Claremont Corey Calaycay Director Present
9 Culver City Yasmine-Imani
McMorrin Director Present
April 4, 2024
10 Downey Dorothy Pemberton Alternate Remote
11 Hawaiian Gardens Ramie L. Torres Alternate Remote
12 Hawthorne Alex Monteiro Director Present
13 Hermosa Beach Absent
14 Los Angeles County Lindsey Horvath Vice Chair Present 15 Malibu Marianne Riggins Director Remote
16 Manhattan Beach Amy Howorth Director Remote
17 Monrovia Dylan Feik Alternate Remote
18 Moorpark Renee Delgado Director Remote
19 Ojai Betsy Stix Director Remote
20 Oxnard Bert Perello Director Remote
21 Paramount Absent
22 Redondo Beach Absent
23 Rolling Hills Estates Steve Zuckerman Alternate Remote 24 Santa Monica Gleam Davis Director Present
25 Santa Paula Jenny Crosswhite Director Present
26 Sierra Madre Robert Parkhurst Director Present
27 Simi Valley Rocky Rhodes Director Present
28 South Pasadena Diana Mahmud Alternate Present
29 Temple City Absent
30 Thousand Oaks David Newman Director Remote
31 City of Ventura Liz Campos Director Remote
32 Ventura County Vianey Lopez Vice Chair Remote
33 West Hollywood John Erickson Director Present
34 Westlake Village Brad Halpern Director Remote
35 Whittier Leon Vasquez Alternate Remote
All votes are unanimous unless otherwise stated.
GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.
April 4, 2024
CONSENT AGENDA
1. Approve Minutes from the March 7, 2024 Board of Directors Meeting
2. Appoint One New Member to the Community Advisory Committee for An Open Position in the West/Unincorporated Ventura County Region for the May 2024 – April 2026 Term
3. Approve a Professional Services Agreement with Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. for Software Development and Information Technology Consulting Services with a Total Not-To-Exceed Amount of $280,000
4. Approve and Authorize the Following Actions in Connection with Ongoing Support for CPA’s Regulatory Affairs Efforts:
a. Approve a Special Assessment for Southern California Edison’s (SCE) Energy Resource Recovery Account Proceeding Management Services from the California Community Choice Association (CalCCA) for Contracts with (i) NewGen Strategies & Solutions (“NewGen”) with a Not-to-Exceed (“NTE”) Amount of $79,881, and (ii) Keyes & Fox LLP (“K&F”) with an NTE Amount of $76,380;
b. Approve an Amended Special Assessment for SCE 2025 General Rate Case Proceeding Management Services from CalCCA for Contracts with (i) NewGen with an Additional NTE Amount of $6,750, (ii) MRW & Associates with an Additional NTE Amount of $9,000, and (iii) K&F with an Additional NTE Amount of $22,500;
c. Authorize the Chief Executive Officer to Execute the Professional Services Agreement Between CPA and NewGen for an Initial One-Year Term and Up to a Three-Year Term with an NTE Amount of $25,000 to Provide Specialized Services Regarding Green Tariff Shared Renewables Issues in the Green Access Programs Proceeding and General Regulatory Support
5. Approve and Authorize the Chief Executive Officer to Execute an Amendment to the FY 2023/24 Professional Services Agreement with Bloom Ads Global Media Group for an Additional $100,000 in Media Buying and Increase the PSA from $250,000 to an NTE Amount of $350,000.
6. Approve and Authorize the Chief Executive Officer to Execute the Following Amendments to Renewable Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to Serve CPA's Power Share Program:
a. Amendment No. 1 to the Renewable PPA with Prologis – Wilmington1, LLC; and,
b. Amendment No. 1 to the Renewable PPA with Prologis – El Segundo LLC
7. Approve a Support Position on Assembly Bill 1176, as Recommended by the Legislative & Regulatory Committee at its March 27, 2024 Meeting
8. Receive and File Bill Positions March 2024 Monthly Report
9. Receive and File Monthly Community Advisory Committee Report Item 7 was pulled for a separate discussion; however, due to time constraints, Item 7 was moved to the next meeting.
Motion: Director Rhodes, Simi Valley
Second: Director Hicks, Carson
Vote: The consent agenda, with the exception of Item 7, was approved by a roll call vote with abstentions from Directors Newman and Halpern.
April 4, 2024
REGULAR AGENDA
10. Receive Presentation on FY 2024/2025 Rates Outlook
Ted Bardacke, Chief Executive Officer, presented the item. CPA will be able to maintain competitive rates, build reserves and fund local programs in the coming year. Mr. Bardacke reviewed the rate and budget schedule, provided a refresher on renewable and carbon-free energy, and discussed CPA’s approach and regulatory framework. CPA has set ambitious targets to secure 95% of its renewable energy demand via long-term contracts by 2029. However, CPA is still dependent on short-term renewable energy purchases until new projects come online. Mr. Bardacke reviewed product content scenarios; all scenarios assume 100% Green remains 100% renewable energy. Price differentials between each of CPA’s rate products are based on cost of service and highly dependent on renewable energy prices and secondarily, carbon-free energy prices. CPA has been able to mitigate that impact because of its' long-term contracting. Matt Langer, Chief Operating Officer, discussed CPA’s competitive landscape, noting that SCE’s delivery rates are rapidly rising, causing an increase in bills that CPA has little control over. Mr. Langer also discussed rate comparisons for previous years, reviewed reserves, financial targets, and summarized next steps.
Director Mahmud noted the importance of communicating to customers that CPA has been able to maintain stable rates and energy bill increases are primarily due to SCE’s increasing transmission and distribution rates. Director Mahmud asked how the GHG-free component of the Lean product compares to SCE. Mr.
Bardacke explained it is comparable with their base product; their GHG-free component fluctuates based on rainfall. Director Rhodes expressed concern regarding CPA’s ability to supply the increasing demand for the 100% Green product; suggested that CPA does not enroll new cities until additional long-term contracts come online and expressed support for Scenario 4. Director Rhodes asked what percentage of long-term contracts are with suppliers that are not yet able to produce what they are contracted for. Staff approximated that about 25% of CPA’s demand either under construction or in preconstruction currently and that about half to 60% of CPA’s renewable energy supply is from long-term contracts. Vice Chair Horvath expressed support for Scenario 3 in that it preserves CPA’s 100% Green rate; recognized that although CPA’s bills are still competitive with SCE, bill increases can significantly impact CPA customers. Vice Chair Horvath asked how the credit rating is providing value for customers, given the supply challenges; and if there are tangible benefits such as customer programs that can benefit customers despite bill increases. Staff explained that for the long-term projects, it makes CPA more attractive to developers. The credit rating also increased CPA’s credit line in which hundreds of thousands of dollars of cost savings materialized because the bank lowered the interest rate. The new budget will include an increase in customer programs to help people save money.
Director Crosswhite asked how an income graduated fixed charge would impact customer bills and CPA’s competitiveness. Mr. Bardacke expressed that overall competitiveness will not be impacted; if the fixed charge is approved by the CPUC, it will go on the delivery side of the bill and the volumetric rates on the delivery side of the bill will also go down; it will not affect CPA’s generation rates.
Director Maloney expressed support for Scenario 3 and the fact that CPA continues to support its 100% Green product. Director Gold expressed support for Scenario 3 and noted the importance of preserving the 100% Green product using flexibility with the other products; discussed the importance of maintaining
April 4, 2024
reserves; asked if any of CPA’s projects that may come online faster. Mr.
Bardacke indicated yes, but progress is mostly measured in weeks and months, not years. Mr. Bardacke also clarified that CPA will not pursue expansion efforts for 2026 and that the overall expansion strategy will be a topic at the Board retreat.
Director Lazzaretto asked if taking risks now, improves CPA’s chances of meeting 90% renewables requirements in 10 years; Mr. Bardacke replied that it is his view that not all load serving entities will meet that 90% target by 2035, but CPA will; taking some risk now is setting CPA up to meet those targets.
CLOSED SESSION
11. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL—ANTICIPATED LITIGATION Exposure to litigation pursuant to paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (d) of Section: 54956.9: 1
Nancy Whang, General Counsel, noted that no reportable action was taken and direction was provided by the Board.
REGULAR AGENDA (Continued)
12. Open Nomination Period for Executive Committee At-Large Positions for the July 2024 – June 2026 Term
Chair Klein Lopez announced Committee Chair appointments for the next fiscal year and opened the nomination period for the Executive Committee At-Large positions. Nomination period remained open until April 19, 2024.
The following nominations were received at the meeting:
• Jeff Maloney, Alhambra (Los Angeles County)
• Betsy Stix, Ojai (Ventura County)
COMMITTEE CHAIR UPDATES
Legislative & Regulatory Committee Acting Chair Hicks reported that the Committee discussed AB 1176 and the 2024 California legislative update, wherein 2,144 new bills were introduced; roughly 60 to 70 of these are energy bills that can impact CPA.
The Energy and Finance Committees did not meet in the previous month and did not provide a report.
MANAGEMENT REPORT
Mr. Bardacke reminded the Board to save the date for the Board retreat on June 21 and invited feedback on the Board retreat agenda. CPA also received approval for an October 2025 expansion in La Cañada Flintridge, Lynwood, and Port Hueneme.
BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS
Director Mahmud thanked Chair Klein Lopez for an effective first meeting.
REPORT FROM THE CHAIR
None.
ADJOURN
Chair Klein Lopez adjourned the meeting at 4:16 p.m.