Entry No. 1
PIONEER COMMUNITY ENERGY
GOVERNING BOARD
MINUTES
June 19, 2025
REGULAR MEETING
Heard General Administrative Functions - Part I
Call to Order
Pioneer Community Energy Governing Board met in regular session at 3:00 PM on June 19, 2025. The Members convened in person and the meeting was accessible to the public at Pioneer Community Energy, 2510 Warren Drive, Suite B, Rocklin, California 95677; the meeting was accessible for viewer participation on the Zoom platform at the following link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89020017279; and, was live streamed for viewing on the Pioneer website:
https: //pioneercom mu nityenergy. orq/about-us/meeti nqs-and-aqendas/.
Roll Call
Present: City of Auburn (Dowdin Calvillo), County of El Dorado (Parlin), City of Grass Valley (Ivy), City of Lincoln (Pearl), Town of Loomis (Ring), Nevada City (Petersen), City of Placerville (Carter), City of Rocklin (Janda).
Absent: City of Colfax (Lomen), County of Placer (DeMattei), County of Placer (Jones).
Chair Dowd in Calvillo presided over the meeting.
Agenda Review
Reviewed and made no revision to the meeting agenda.
Chair Dowdin Calvillo requested for the July 17, 2025 Board of Directors meeting to be rescheduled for July 10, 2025; and, the Board of Directors agreed by consensus.
Public Comment
There were no comments from members of the public on items not listed on this agenda.
Entry No. 2
Acted on the Consent Agenda as follows:
Approved the minutes of the May 15, 2025 regular meeting as amended.
Received Fiscal Year 2024-25 Draft Monthly Financial Reports through April 2025.
Adopted Resolution 2025-19 approving and authorizing the Chief Executive Officer to execute Amendment No. 2 with Greenlite Lighting Corp. USA, authorizing an additional $500,000 for LED Discount Lighting Program Services resulting in a not-to-exceed amount of $1,112,400.
Adopted Resolution 2025-20 approving and authorizing the Chief Executive Officer to execute a five-year Agreement with Hall Energy Law PC for Commercial Legal Support in an amount not to exceed $600,000.
Adopted Resolution 2025-21 approving and authorizing the Chief Executive Officer to execute a two-year Agreement with Pacific Energy Advisors, Inc., for Technical Support in an amount not to exceed $1,040,572.
June 19, 2025 - page 2
Adopted Resolution 2025-22 approving and authorizing the Chief Executive Officer to execute an Amendment authorizing an additional $224,875 to an Agreement with cQuant.IO Inc., for Portfolio Optimization and Slice-of-Day Compliance Requirements support in an amount not to exceed $454,875.
Adopted Resolution 2025-23 authorizing the Chief Executive Officer to execute an agreement with Maher Accountancy for Accounting Services for a contract amount of $207,200 for a term of one year.
Adopted Resolution 2025-24 authorizing the Chief Executive Officer to execute an Amendment to the Agreement with Colantuono Highsmith Whatley, PC for an increase of $200,000 for a total contract amount not to exceed $350,000.
Adopted Resolution 2025-25 approving the job descriptions for the Customer Care Specialist and the Community Outreach Specialist.
MOTION: Parlin/Pearl. Vote: 8:0:3.
Ayes: Carter, Dowdin Calvillo, Ivy, Janda, Parlin, Pearl, Petersen, Ring.
Absent: DeMattei, Jones, Lomen.
Entry No. 3
California Independent System Operator - Summer Readiness Received presentation from the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) on Summer Readiness.
Chair Dowdin Calvillo expressed appreciation for the work in this area accomplished by CAISO.
Staff provided clarification regarding "Slice-of-Day" to be the requirements set for Community Choice Associations and reporting by Pioneer on what is in Pioneer's portfolio to meet those requirements.
Nat Brown, CAISO Senior Customer Readiness Trainer, provided clarification that the management of emergency situations, reliability, and handling increased loads is in advance and not reactive; expecting growth on demand, reducing load to manage higher loads, and, the added ability to do more with programs such as GridGen and micro powerplants introduced.
Director Jones joined the meeting following this presentation.
Entry No. 4
Recommended Fiscal Year 2025-26 Budget
Adopted Resolution 2025-26 approving the recommended Fiscal Year 2025-26 Budget.
Staff confirmed no changes to the budget had been made since the previous meeting and that the five-year forecast only reflects the current load territory. Further clarified that the increased cost of power was expected; and, the budget is balanced.
Chair Dowdin Calvillo expressed appreciation for staff.
MOTION: Petersen/Jones. Vote: 9:0:2.
Ayes: Carter, Dowdin Calvillo, Ivy, Janda, Jones, Parlin, Pearl, Petersen, Ring.
Absent: DeMattei, Lomen.
Entry No. 5
Cash Reserves Policy
Adopt Resolution increasing the days of liquidity target and updating the Cash Reserves Policy.
June 19, 2025 - page 3
Staff recommended increasing the cash liquidity to 270 days and that the amount exceeding the reserves target may be returned to customers via bill credits.
Discussion regarding if number of days is set too high, it may bring suspicion; so, better to plan ahead and move ahead cautiously.
Director Janda supported growing the target with incremental raises to reach the set days of liquidity comfortably; then, set higher if not able to reach that amount.
MOTION: Janda.
Moved to increase the days of liquidity target to 240 days.
Motion failed with no second to the motion received.
Chair Dowdin Calvillo voiced her support to raise the liquidity target to 270.
Director Ivy was comfortable with a liquidity target of 270; and, inquired if Pioneer can expect better rates and continue to grow.
Chief Executive Director Eckert suggested a liquidity target of 260+; and, informed the Board about the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) going down in 2026 and is expected to be better in 2027 and 2028; and, the inverse relationship between PCIA and power market is also going down.
Chair Dowdin Calvillo asked the Board if they would be comfortable moving the cash liquidity target from the current 240 days to 255 or 260 days.
MOTION: Ivy.
Moved to increase the days of liquidity target but to separate the customer bill credits from the liquidity target.
Motion failed with no second to the motion received.
Continued discussion regarding the days of liquidity target.
Director Carter voiced his support for 270 days of liquidity and that it seems to be safer heading into expansion; and suggested the liquidity target be an annual consideration.
Chief Executive Officer Eckert confirmed to the Board that the annual Rates discussion includes the Reserves rate.
Director Parlin expressed that 240 days of liquidity is realistic; and is cautious going into expansion.
Director Ring voiced his support for 270 days of liquidity; and, suggested that this be discussed along with the annual budget. Then, corrections could be made as needed.
Director Pearl voiced his support for 270 days of liquidity; and, commented that it was modest stretch but wondered how Standard & Poor's views it.
Director Petersen voiced his support for 270 days of liquidity then revisit if necessary; and, commented that an "A" rating is important, but we are about to double our members and load; an "A" rating should not be the driver.
June 19, 2025 - page 4
Director Janda suggested setting 240 days of liquidity for 8-9 months; then, set a range of 240-270 prior to offering customer bill credits.
MOTION: Dowd in Calvillo.
Adopt Resolution increasing the cash liquidity target to 270 days and, if Pioneer exceeds 270 days, for the matter to be scheduled for future discussion by the Board concerning the use of the excess liquidity beyond the target.
Adopted Resolution 2025-27 increasing the days of liquidity target and updating the Cash Reserves Policy as amended.
MOTION: Dowdin Calvillo/Pearl. Vote: 7:2:2.
ROLL CALL: Carter, Dowdin Calvillo, Ivy, Jones, Pearl, Petersen, Ring.
Noes: Janda, Parlin.
Absent: DeMattei, Lomen.
Director Petersen excused himself from the meeting at 4:36 PM.
Entry No. 6
Printing Services Agreement
Adopted Resolution 2025-28 authorizing the Chief Executive Officer to execute an agreement with Sierra Office Systems and Products, Inc. dba API-Marketing for Printing and Mail Services for an amount not to exceed $500,000 for a one-year term with an option to extend up to two additional one-year terms.
MOTION: Parlin/Jones. Vote: 8:0:3.
ROLL CALL: Carter, Dowdin Calvillo, Ivy, Janda, Jones, Parlin, Pearl, Ring.
Absent: DeMattei, Lomen, Petersen.
Entry No. 7
Overview of the Microgrid Incentive Program
Received an overview of Pacific Gas & Electric's Microgrid Incentive Program and an update on Pioneer Community Energy's participation in that program.
Staff clarified that Pioneer is only a facilitator for member agencies contacting the developers.
Director Parlin informed the Board that PG&E had installed a microgrid in Georgetown for resilience during Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events only and now there are not too many PSPS events; and, suggested Pioneer could use this program to get more started in the rural areas and bring about goodwill with customers in El Dorado County.
Entry No. 8
Item 7, Update on Power Markets and Energy Procurement, will be continued to a future meeting.
Entry No. 9
Heard General Administrative Function - Part II
Board Member Communications
There were no items to report.
Chief Executive Officer Communications
Chief Executive Officer Eckert introduced Linda Praseudsuk, Senior Finance Analyst, as our newest team member; and, announced the addition of Brooke Sardella to the Communications Division through the summer internship program.
June 19, 2025 - page 5
Chief Executive Officer Eckert announced that Pioneer received certification from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) authorizing our expansion into thirteen new communities with service beginning in October 2027.
Chief Executive Officer Eckert informed the Board that we are nearing the conclusion of our annual cash-out for NEM accounts that over-generated in the past year with approximately 9,000 customers receiving cash-outs totaling $1.2 million and more than 2,600 customers receiving a bill credit due to their cash-out being less than $25.00 .
Items for Information
Received the Glossary of Terms.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 5:01 PM.
ATTEST:
Minutes approved as amended by a majority vote
of the Governing Board on July 10, 2025.
Teresa Willock, Board Secretary