Item No. 2
Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the
Peninsula Clean Energy Authority (PCEA)
Minutes
Thursday, November 16, 2023
5:30 p.m.
Zoom Video Conference and Teleconference
CALL TO ORDER
Meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m. in virtual teleconference, in the Peninsula Clean Energy Authority lobby, and in the Los Banos City Hall conference room A.
ROLL CALL
Participating:
Dave Pine, San Mateo County, arrived at 5:38 p.m.
Ray Mueller, San Mateo County, arrived at 5:54 p.m. and left at 6:49 p.m.
Rick DeGolia, Atherton, Chair
Julia Mates, Belmont
Donna Colson, Burlingame, Vice Chair
Ken Gonzalez, Colma
Roderick Daus-Magbual, Daly City
Harvey Rarback, Half Moon Bay
Al Royce, Hillsborough
Paul Llanez Faria, Los Banos, arrived at 6:02 p.m.
Betsy Nash, Menlo Park
Anders Fung, Millbrae, arrived at 5:51 p.m.
Tygarjas Bigstyck, Pacifica
Jeff Aalfs, Portola Valley
Marty Medina, San Bruno
James Coleman, South San Francisco
Absent:
Coleen Mackin, Brisbane
Carlos Romero, East Palo Alto
Sam Hindi, Foster City
Elmer Martinez Saballos, Redwood City
John Dugan, San Carlos
Amourence Lee, San Mateo
Jennifer Wall, Woodside
A quorum was established.
PUBLIC COMMENT
None
Item No. 2
SWEARING IN OF NEW BOARD MEMBER
Jennifer Stalzer, Assistant General Counsel, presided over the swearing-in ceremony of new Alternate Board Member, Alvin Royse from Hillsborough.
ACTION TO SET THE AGENDA AND APPROVE REMAINING CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS MOTION: Director Bigstyck moved, seconded by Director Coleman to set the Agenda, and approve Agenda Item Numbers 1-5.
1. Approve a Resolution for a One-Time $300 Rebate for California Alternate Rates for Energy Program (CARE) and Family Electric Rate Assistance Program (FERA) Customers
2. Approval of Consulting Contract Amendment with Andrew Stern to Extend the Term of Services Through January 31, 2024
3. Approval of a Resolution Delegating Authority to Chief Executive Officer to Execute an Agreement with Customized Energy Solutions, LTD. for Scheduling Coordinator, Battery Storage Optimization, Short-term Forecasting, and Congestion Revenue Rights Portfolio Management with terms consistent with those presented, in a form approved by the Deputy County Attorney, and for a term of three years, in an amount not to exceed $2,700,000
4. Approval of the 2024 Board of Directors Schedule of Meetings
5. Approval of EV Ready Program Fund Reservation Agreement, Providing $120,000 in Customer Incentives
MOTION PASSED: 13-0 (Absent: San Mateo County, Brisbane, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Los Banos, Millbrae, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo, Woodside)
JURISDICTION BOARD MEMBER YES NO ABSTAIN ABSENT
San Mateo County Director Pine X
San Mateo County Director Mueller X
Atherton Director DeGolia X
Belmont Director Mates X
Brisbane Director Mackin X
Burlingame Director Colson X
Colma Director Gonzalez X
Daly City Director Daus-Magbual X
East Palo Alto Director Romero X
Foster City Director Hindi X
Half Moon Bay Director Rarback X
Hillsborough Director Royse X
Los Banos Director Llanez X
Menlo Park Director Nash X
Millbrae Director Fung X
Pacifica Director Bigstyck X
Portola Valley Director Aalfs X
Redwood City Director Martinez Saballos X
San Bruno Director Medina X
Item No. 2
San Carlos Director Dugan X
San Mateo Director Lee X
South San Francisco Director Coleman X
Woodside Director Wall X
Total 13 10
Chair DeGolia introduced Shalini Swaroop, Peninsula Clean Energy’s new Chief Operating Officer, and Nick Bijur, Peninsula Clean Energy’s new Chief Financial Officer.
REGULAR AGENDA
6. 2023 Board Retreat
Chair DeGolia introduced the 2023 Board Retreat.
a. Segment 1: Introductory Question and Futures Discussion Shawn Marshall, Chief Executive Officer, introduced Daniel Student from the Potrero Group.
Daniel Student, Director of Business Development with Potrero Group, introduced and facilitated an introductory question of: “Peninsula Clean Energy has been in exponential growth since its inception and is now moving into its next stage of organizational maturity. What does and/or should growth mean or look like for Peninsula Clean Energy in the next 5-7 years? Consider electricity, customer impact, and industry/market impact.”
Board discussion ensued.
b. Segment 2: Brief Overview of Organizational Development Evaluation and Feedback from Staff Retreat
Daniel Student gave some background information on the Staff Retreat held in September 2023 and introduced Justin Pine, Strategic Accounts Manager, who provided some feedback from the staff perspective. Daniel then introduced the organizational assessment process which will evolve throughout the upcoming year.
Public Comment: None
c. Segment 3: Update and Discussion on Key Priority #1: Procurement Priorities and 24/7 99% time-coincident goal Shawn Marshall introduced Roy Xu, Director of Power Resources, who gave a presentation on procurement priorities and the 24/7 99% time-coincident goal.
Vice Chair Colson noted that advancements in technology are missing from these predictions and make it difficult to determine the risk of long-term contracts. Roy explained that to hit the 2027 goal, we will need to procure today, locking ourselves into long-term contracts.
Director Nash noted that a previous discussion indicated that 99% time-coincidence would be cost effective. Chair DeGolia agreed and explained that the market is not moving as previously estimated.
Item No. 2
Director Mates asked about 83% as a goal. Roy explained that the 83% goal is based on contracts we already have coming online on time.
Vice Chair Colson shared that the risk of over procuring is a concern and shared that setting a bigger long-term target versus continuously breaking smaller goals is preferable, as is not worrying about a proclamation for how Peninsula Clean Energy will lead the industry.
Director Aalfs added that operating in a range of time-coincidence, perhaps between 95-99%, will help us allow for unforeseen market variations and that the 99% goal could be something that we “walk” towards without locking ourselves into long-term contracts as technology is always improving.
Director Bigstyck shared that evolving the goal towards a model creates an opportunity to still lead the industry.
Director Rarback asked if this 24/7 goal would impact the plans for the surplus funds that Peninsula Clean Energy currently has. Vice Chair Colson explained that a responsible amount is being discussed for redistribution.
Chair DeGolia shared that he would be proud if we got to 90% by 2027 as we’re at 83% now, but that the customer should come first, and the customer currently has a focus on the cost of power versus earlier priorities of clean power.
Jeremy Waen, Director of Regulatory Policy, added that the usage line can be reshaped, through programs like Virtual Power Plants and others.
Shawn Marshall asked about structural issues in the regulatory domain and marketplace that are not ready for 24/7 time-coincident and that currently all reporting is on an annual basis. Jeremy explained that there is an initiative and the California Energy Commission (CEC) that reporting will shift to hourly accounting, adding that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is also planning to shift some targets to an hourly focus.
Director Medina shared that having goals is great, but that unachievable goals mean we need to pivot and do the best we can to minimize risk and keep costs low.
Public Comment: Craig Taylor
The Board took a break from 7:42 p.m. to 7:52 p.m.
d. Segment 4: Update and Discussion of Key Priority #2: Support Decarbonization of Member Agency Communities by 2035
Rafael Reyes, Director of Energy Programs, gave a presentation on supporting decarbonization of member agency communities by 2035.
Director Aalfs asked how much can Distributed Energy Resources (DER) save on PGE distribution costs? Rafael explained that the theory is that properly deployed distributed resources can provide grid benefits or wholesale procurement benefits, but it can also provide benefits with the distribution grid and transmission grid. Peter Levitt, Programs Manager, DER, added that the values of DER would be immense, noting that Virtual Power Plants (VPP) would be unlocked in a way that isn’t currently seen.
Item No. 2
Chair DeGolia shared that batteries are helpful because they reduce load and with proper managing there should be value in deploying batteries during necessary times, but that deploying batteries can be difficult and we need to be able to measure the impact that batteries are having.
Director Nash added that batteries also help with resiliency.
Vice Chair Colson shared that public education may be helpful in reducing load at peak times. Rafael explained that the goal would be to not necessitate the public thinking about it at all.
Director Gonzalez asked about the security of smart grids. Rafael explained that security is always a concern, adding that big risks exist for national security, such as something happening to thousands of vehicles at once, but that a lot of work is being done in this area.
Director Pine asked for cost barrier for DER. Peter Levitt shared that the net cost of DERs is dependent on additional value streams that can be pulled into the equation. Peninsula Clean Energy can pull in a lot of value stacks that some customers are not able to obtain, noting a Peninsula Clean Energy led VPP could provide value as well.
Shawn Marshall suggested a fully developed business plan including a discussion on what is most important to a customer.
Director Aalfs asked what a rate add on would look like for a customer, perhaps as a bonus for meeting a certain load profile.
Public Comment: Craig Taylor, Kim Springer, as read by Nelly Wogberg, Board Clerk.
Director Coleman asked for the fiscal impact on carbon emissions. e. Segment 5: What does it mean to shift to a more customer-centric approach across our agency?
Gwen Rose, Director of Marketing and Community Relations gave a presentation covering what is means to shift to a more customer-centric approach across the agency.
Director Bigstyck asked what happens to the customer who doesn’t know to go to the Peninsula Clean Energy website. Gwen noted that marketing outreach will help with this, as well as targeted communications.
Director Fung asked customers who have questions about electric rates and call PG&E. Gwen shared that a general Brand Awareness campaign to associate that Peninsula Clean Energy provides their power would help with this.
Director Nash asked for more information about the call center. Rafael explained that the call center is through CalPine and handles a high volume of billing questions, but there is no one there to handle program questions.
Director Mates shared that moving from transactional to conversational would be a great idea, noting that a call center might be a large endeavor, and there could be smaller ways to achieve this.
Item No. 2
Chair DeGolia shared 3 issues: 1st, the all-encompassing point of contact is important and should be prioritized. 2nd, customers care about costs, and we should design our products to address that, and 3rd, include marketing that drives the customer to our website or has more outreach.
Director Coleman added that the default should be electric appliance. When Googling “water heater” the first thing that should pop up should be the Peninsula Clean Energy website.
Gwen explained that Google ads are currently being used and searches do lead to our site, but there is friction in the process.
Director Aalfs asked for the cost of a customer center and being customer centric, noting that it could be just a rounding error in terms of the procurement budget. Rafael Reyes, Director of Energy Programs, explained it would be small dollars compared to the procurement budget.
Director Daus-Magbual asked why not be human centric instead of customer centric and suggested the use of artificial intelligence or Chat GBT.
Rafael explained that everything that Gwen and staff have discussed presumes an upping human contact, including the website and call center, adding that artificial intelligence is in the works, but will be a lot of work, and needs to follow a foundation in knowledge and trust from customers.
Public Comment: None
Gwen shared key insights from the brand audit.
Shawn Marshall, Chief Executive Officer, shared the next steps and explained that time will be carved out at future Board meetings to continue strategic conversations that we didn’t get to tonight.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m.