Item 3
1 VALLEY CLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE
Staff Report – Item 3
TO: Board of Directors
FROM: Alisa Lembke, Board Clerk / Administrative Analyst SUBJECT: Approval October 14, 2025 Special meeting Minutes DATE: November 13, 2025
RECOMMENDATION
Receive, review and approve the attached October 14, 2025 Special meeting Minutes.
Attachment: October 14, 2025 Special meeting Minutes
VCEA Minutes October 14, 2025 Special Board Meeting Page 1 of 5
MINUTES OF THE VALLEY CLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS SPECIAL MEETING
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2025
The Board of Directors of the Valley Clean Energy Alliance duly noticed their Special meeting for Tuesday, October 14, 2025 at 3:30 p.m. to be held at City of Woodland Council Chambers located at 300 First Street, Woodland, California 95695. Board Director Tom Stallard established that there was a quorum present and began the meeting at 3:32 p.m.
Board Members Present: Tom Stallard, Lucas Frerichs, Tania Garcia-Cadena, Donna Neville, Richard Casavecchia, Sheila Allen, Jesse Loren (Vice Chair, arrived at 3:34 p.m.), Bapu Vaitla (Chair, arrived at 3:38 p.m.) Members Absent:
Welcome,
Approval of the
Agenda
Director Stallard welcomed everyone and moved the approval of the agenda to be addressed during the Consent agenda.
Public Comment –
General and
Consent Items
Director Stallard opened up public comment on general and consent items. There were no written or verbal public comments. (Vice Chair Loren arrived at 3:34 p.m.)
Approval of the
Agenda and
Consent Agenda
Items
Motion made by Director Frerichs to approve the October 14, 2025 Special meeting Agenda and the Consent agenda items, seconded by Director Casavecchia. Motion passed with Chair Vaitla absent. The following items were:
3. approved September 11, 2025 Board meeting Minutes;
4. received 2025 long range calendar;
5. received Treasurer’s report August 31, 2025;
6. received legislative update provided by Pacific Policy Group;
7. Received September 2025 regulatory update dated October 1, 2025 provided by Keyes & Fox;
8. received Community Advisory Committee September 25, 2025 meeting summary;
9. received Customer participation update (3
rd Quarter 2025); and,
10. received Enterprise Risk Management update (Bi-annual).
VCEA Minutes October 14, 2025 Special Board Meeting Page 2 of 5 Item 11: Approve
Agreement for
Residential
Dynamic Pricing
Pilot Program with
U.C. Davis and
Panasonic /
Resolution 2025-
010 (Action)
VCE Chief Executive Officer Mitch Sears introduced this item. Mr. Sears introduced Jae Yong Suk from UC Davis California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) and Tom Ahira, Panasonic Corporation R&D Manager.
Mr. Sears stated that VCE hopes to participate in the Smart Home Energy and Load Flexibility (SHELF) Pilot program with UC Davis CLTC and Panasonic.
Mr. Suk introduced himself. He reviewed CLTC’s mission, activities and focus areas of electric building systems and controls technology. He reviewed CLTC’s Virtual Home Energy Management Systems, a project to enhance load flexibility solutions, and highlighted load across homes by load types.
Mr. Ahira introduced himself and provided a brief overview of Panasonic, its business portfolio, and introduced their GREEN IMPACT goal to create impact that reduces carbon emissions by 2050. Mr. Ahira provided information on Panasonic’s activities toward energy management and provided an overview of the Hourly Flex Pricing Pilot Study.
(Bapu Vaitla arrived at 3:38 p.m.)
Mr. Sears reviewed the SHELF Pilot’s goals and roles. There were no verbal or written public comments.
Staff and the Board briefly discussed the proposed number of participants in the SHELF Pilot project and criteria for selecting participants.
Director Stallard made a motion to approve a resolution authorizing Valley Clean Energy’s participation in the Smart Home Energy and Load Flexibility (SHELF) Pilot with UC Davis and Panasonic, motion was seconded by Vice Chair Loren. Motion passed as Resolution 2025-010 Motion passed by the following vote:
AYES: Loren, Stallard, Frerichs, Neville, Casavecchia, Garcia-Cadena, Allen, Vaitla
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
VCEA Minutes October 14, 2025 Special Board Meeting Page 3 of 5 Brief Break Chair Vaitla announced that the Board will take a brief break at 3:52 p.m. and will return shortly. Chair Vaitla announced their return from the break and resumed the Board’s regular meeting at 4:10 p.m. continuing with Item 12 on the Regular Agenda.
Item 12. Approve
Large Load Rate
Setting policy.
(Discussion/Action)
/ Resolution 2025-
011
Mr. Sears introduced this item and Don Dame, VCE’s energy consultant.
Mr. Dame provided an overview of this item, including the background, and introduced the proposed Large Electric Load Customer Service Policy (LELCS). Mr. Dame provided highlights of the draft policy and reviewed VCE’s Community Advisory Committee’s (CAC) and Staff’s recommendations.
Verbal Public Comment: Christine Shewmaker commented that it was a good idea to consider what the impact would be on the general public if a large load entity became a VCE customer.
There were no written public comments.
The Board and Staff briefly discussed who is the default provider of energy to large load customers if not a VCE customer.
Director Stallard made a motion to recognize VCE’s Community Advisory Committee (CAC) for their review, suggestions and input on the Policy and to adopt a Resolution establishing a Large Electric Load Customer Service Policy, motion was seconded by Vice Chair Loren. Motion passed as Resolution 2025-011 by the following vote:
AYES: Loren, Stallard, Frerichs, Neville, Casavecchia, Garcia-Cadena, Allen, Vaitla
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
Item 13. Approve
adoption of VCE’s
Strategic Plan
Major update.
(Discussion/Action)
Mr. Sears introduced this item. VCE Chief Financial Officer Edward Burnham provided a brief background of the Major Update to the Strategic Plan, including the timeline leading up to the draft. He briefly reviewed the highlights of the changes based on gathered feedback, general themes and several specific points (affordability, incorporating local distributed energy resources into VCE’s resource mix, energy resiliency/energy efficiency, focus on low-income and other vulnerable customers). Mr. Burnham reviewed the feedback received from the VCEA Minutes October 14, 2025 Special Board Meeting Page 4 of 5 Board and informed those present that both CAC and Board feedback was incorporated into the Major Update presented at this meeting.
Verbal Public Comment: Christine Shewmaker commented on Goal 2 regarding managing power supply resources to exceed California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), that she is okay with “working toward a resilient resource portfolio that is 100% Carbon Free…”, but that she would like to see the aspirational goal of 100% Renewable remain, rather than it be changed to “…90% Renewable by 2030”. She commented that it was good that “resilient” was added. And, she commented that when looking at resilient energy to look at the risks of large hydro and nuclear and suggested looking at battery plus storage as resilient resources.
There were no written public comments.
The Board and Staff discussed the reduction of 100% Renewable to 90% Renewable and possibly the need to add quantitative targets for lower income to the Major Update.
Director Frerichs thanked Staff, the CAC and Board for all of their input, robust discussions and Staff’s outreach to solicit input from VCE Customers.
Director Frerichs made a motion to approve adoption of VCE’s 2026 – 2029 Strategic Plan Major update, motion seconded by Vice Chair Loren.
Motion passed by the following vote:
AYES: Loren, Stallard, Frerichs, Neville, Casavecchia, Garcia-Cadena, Allen
NOES: Vaitla
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
Item 14. Receive
End of Session
Legislative updated
provided by Pacific
Policy Group.
(Information)
Mitch introduced Mark Fenstermaker of Pacific Policy Group, VCE’s lobbyist consultant. Mr. Fenstermaker summarized the highlights of the Legislative Session, budget deficits and where the California legislature may be headed on the budget, and accomplishments of the session.
There were no verbal or written public comments.
VCEA Minutes October 14, 2025 Special Board Meeting Page 5 of 5 Item 15: Board
Member and Staff
Announcements.
Mr. Sears informed those present that Valley Clean Energy received an investment credit rating of A-. He wanted to thank Edward Burnham for leading this effort and appreciates all of his great work, and thanked the Board’s leadership for achieving this goal.
VCE Staff Rebecca Kuzynski announced that VCE in partnership with the Yolo County Sustainability Division, the De Colores Resources Center and Cool Davis will be hosting a free Energy & Resilience Resource Fair on Saturday, October 18th at the RISE Community Center in Esparto. VCE will have an informational table.
Item 16:
Announcement /
Adjournment
Chair Vaitla announced that the Board’s next scheduled regular meeting is Thursday, November 13, 2025 at the City of Woodland Council Chambers located at 300 First Street, Woodland, California 95695.
There being no further business to discuss, Chair Vaitla adjourned the meeting at 5:10 p.m.
Alisa M. Lembke
VCEA Board Secretary