Item 4
1 VALLEY CLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE
Staff Report – Item 4
TO: Board of Directors
FROM: Alisa Lembke, Board Clerk / Administrative Analyst SUBJECT: Approval of Minutes from January 11, 2024 meeting DATE: April 11, 2024
RECOMMENDATION
Receive, review and approve the attached January 11, 2024 meeting Minutes.
Attachment: January 11, 2024 meeting Minutes
VCEA Minutes January 11, 2024 Board Meeting Page 1 of 3
MINUTES OF THE VALLEY CLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2024
The Board of Directors of the Valley Clean Energy Alliance duly noticed their regular meeting for Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. to be held at City of Woodland Council Chambers located at 300 First Street, Woodland, California 95695. VCE Chair Tom Stallard stablished that there was a quorum present and began the meeting at 5:31 p.m.
Board Members Present: Tom Stallard, Lucas Frerichs, Jesse Loren, Bapu Vaitla, Tania Garcia-Cadena, Albert Vallecillo (alternate – City of Winters), Will Arnold Members Absent: Jim Provenza
Welcome and Board
Clerk Administering
the Oath of Office to
new Member(s)
Chair Stallard welcomed the Board Members. He informed those present that there were no new Board Members present for the Board Clerk to give the Oath of Office to.
Election of Officers
for 2024
Chair Stallard made a motion to nominate Lucas Frerichs (Yolo County) as VCE Board Chair and Bapu Vaitla (City of Davis) as VCE Board Vice Chair for the 2024 calendar year, seconded by Director Arnold. Motion passed with Director Provenza absent.
Public Comment –
General and
Consent
There were no verbal or written public comments.
Approval of Consent
Agenda /
Resolutions 2024-
001
Motion made by Director Loren to approve the consent agenda items, seconded by Director Arnold. Motion passed with Director Provenza absent. The following items were:
5. approved December 14, 2023 Board meeting Minutes;
6. received 2024 long range calendar;
7. receive financial update: November 30, 2023 (unaudited) financial statement;
8. received December 2023 regulatory update dated January 3, 2024 provided by Keyes & Fox;
9. received updated Community Advisory Committee December 21, 2023 meeting summary;
10. received quarterly customer participation update; and
11. approved VCE Employee Handbook updates as Resolution 2024-001.
VCEA Minutes January 11, 2024 Board Meeting Page 2 of 3 Item 12: Consider
2024 customer rates
adjustment.
VCE Executive Officer Mitch Sears introduced this item and provided a brief background on bringing this item to the Board. VCE Director of Finance and Internal Operations Edward Burnham summarized VCE’s cost-based rate policy; reviewed key objectives of VCE’s 2024 rates and budget; reviewed the long-term outlook on fixed power purchase agreement (PPA) prices; reviewed updated multi-year forecast; and, reviewed key considerations of the proposed rate adjustment and additional rate relief steps.
The Board and Staff discussed: outreach to customers on rate credits; general differences between VCE and PG&E; the possibility of increasing the rate credit to 1.5%; dividends and who would be eligible; and, the possibility of providing a rate credit to CARE/FERA customers.
Director Stallard made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation and provide an additional 1% credit to CARE/FERA customers, Director Arnold seconded the motion. There were no verbal public comments.
Written Public comment: The Board Clerk received written public comment dated January 10, 2024 from Christine Shewmaker on this Board item, which was forwarded to the VCE Board. Due to the public comment time limit, a partial reading of the written public comment was read into the record. As with all written public comment, it will be posted to the VCE website.
Motion made by Director Stallard to:
1. Approve a 1% average generation rate credit effective February 1, 2024, for VCE customer Standard Green customers.
2. Increase CARE/FERA generation rate credit by 1%.
3. Approve a 2024 Budget reduction in customer revenues by $1,300,000 (~5 operating days cash).
This motion was seconded by Director Arnold. Motion passed by the following vote:
AYES: Vaitla, Stallard, Loren, Arnold, Garcia-Cadena, Vallecillo (Alt.), Frerichs
NOES: None
ABSENT: Provenza
ABSTAIN: None
Item 13: Receive
2023 customer year-end review and
recap presentation.
(Information)
Mr. Sears introduced this item. He provided an overview of VCE’s impact on the community in customer savings and reinvestment programs. VCE Chief Operating Officer Gordon Samuel reviewed VCE’s power portfolio highlighting that VCE has a new target of 100% renewables with a 25% local storage component; VCE had a successful transition from SMUD to The VCEA Minutes January 11, 2024 Board Meeting Page 3 of 3 Energy Authority (TEA) for wholesale energy work resulting in cost savings, efficiencies and additional services; and, that the Gibson (Yolo County) project received final permit approvals and VCE is pursuing microgrid funding opportunities. Mr. Samuel provided highlights of the Resurgence and Willy 9 Chap 2 projects. VCE Staff Director of Customer Care and Marketing Rebecca Boyles reviewed VCE’s successes on events held, media, and customer inquiries; provided highlights of VCE’s 5-Year Anniversary event, media and impact exposure; and, provided highlights of the customer service representatives interactions with Customers. Ms. Boyles reviewed website analytics and provided highlights of VCE’s programs: EV Rebate, AgFIT, Ohm Connect, energy efficiency, and SACOG funded EV Charger installation within VCE’s jurisdictions. Mr. Burnham provided highlights of VCE’s financial successes.
The Board and Staff briefly discussed the timeline for reaching 100% renewable. The Board thanked Staff for leading the charge statewide and for its successes this past year. There were no verbal or written public comments.
Item 14: Board
Member and Staff
Announcements
There were no announcements from the Board. Mr. Sears announced that it was Edward Burnham’s 3
rd anniversary with VCE and congratulated him.
He informed those present that CalCCA’s Lobby Day has been scheduled for mid-February and their Annual Conference has been scheduled for mid-April. VCE Staff has been having discussions with Yolo Housing and has been monitoring Resource Adequacy (RA) proceedings.
Announcement /
Adjournment
The Board’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. at the City of Davis Community Chambers located at 23 Russell Boulevard, Davis, California 95616. There being no further business to discuss the meeting was adjourned at 6:28 p.m.
Alisa M. Lembke
VCEA Board Secretary