Power for the People – local control of our electrical distribution system

Finding a local public power solution is about pursuing the opportunity to decide how we, as a community, want to run our electrical distribution system.

PSPS Aftermath Town Hall (held on Nov. 8)

Watch General Manager Rem Scherzinger discuss the local power control proposal during the PSPS Aftermath Town Hall, held on Friday, Nov. 9 and co-produced by YubaNet, County of Nevada and #ReadyNevadaCounty.

Questions and Comments from the Local Power Solutions Public Workshop

Here are answers to questions asked by people attending a workshop on Oct. 29 to discuss the possibility of pursuing local control of the region’s electrical distribution system.

Financing the purchase

What is the financing mechanism to acquire Pacific Gas & Electric’s assets?
The District currently envisions that the purchase would be funded using revenue bonds.

How will your costs compare to PG&E’s costs?
Final cost to rate payers can only be determined following the completion of negotiations with PG&E. However, residential customers of public power utilities pay approximately 13 percent less than customers of investor-owned utilities. Read more here.

Timeframe

How long until NID could acquire and takeover PG&E’s operations in the region?
Negotiations and the transfer of property on a deal this complicated and currently unknown. We will work with due diligence.

Operations

Do you plan to bury lines?
Yes, where appropriate due to several factors including:
* NID already working along corridor with another project
* Specific infrastructure vulnerability mitigation
* External funding availability (Rule 20 CPUC)
* City/County partnership projects

Will more microgrids with storage be possible?
Yes

Natural gas provision: if this were to come to pass, would our community still get its natural gas from PG&E?                                                                                                     It is likely. NID is not proposing acquisition of the natural gas system.

Oversight

Who might oversee this process??
This still is in the early stages of planning. NID is proposing either the creation of a separate Joint Powers Agency formed entirely of Cities and Counties or an advisory committee composed of representatives of Cities, Counties, members of the public and the District. Community suggestions on the process are welcomed.

Would the California Public Utility Commission have oversight over local utility rates?
No, CPUC oversight would generally be limited to setting renewable energy goals, energy efficiency and demand reduction goals, and reporting on energy usage and forecasting.

Power Generation

Would NID buy power from local sources such as community solar installations, local wind farms and biomass plants?
A variety of power purchase options would be available to the District after the purchase/sale occurs.

Who ends up with the hydroelectric generation plants?
NID is not considering purchase of PG&E hydroelectric generation plants as a part of this transaction.

How does the Centennial Dam figure into this?
The proposed Centennial Water Supply Project is entirely separate from the Retail Electric Proposal.

Service Area

Would all of Nevada County be included?
No, Truckee Donner PUD operates its own electrical distribution system, and Liberty Utilities serves the North Tahoe area.

Could you provide a map of the proposed service area?

Oct. 29 Public Workshop

Nearly 200 people attended a workshop hosted by the Nevada Irrigation District (NID) on Tuesday night to discuss the possibility of pursuing local control of the region’s electric distribution system.

Residents who spoke during the workshop stressed that local control would, literally, give power to the people. They echoes that they felt empowered by the idea of local control and being self-sufficient.

 See the workshop presentation, click here

Read the news release: momentum builds for local control of electricity distribution

If you want to make a comment or have a question, send it to power4people@nidwater.com. We will respond back.