PCWA Interim Power Agreement Approved

AUBURN -   Directors of the Placer County Water Agency on Thursday (Mar. 7) approved an interim agreement to continue the sale of the agency's hydroelectric energy output to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, effective May 1.

Andy Fecko, PCWA's director of resource development, said the interim agreement is needed because the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has not acted on a May 2012 application for approval of a long term agreement.

PCWA and PG&E last May negotiated the long term power sale agreement, which is designed to replace an existing 50-year contract that expires Apr. 30.  It covers the sale of the electrical energy produced by PCWA's five hydroelectric power plants. Fecko said the interim contract may be needed for only a few weeks, or not at all, but that the two organizations needed to be prepared for any possible delay.  He defined it as a "status quo" agreement that would continue existing terms as needed.

 The interim contract also won approval earlier in the day from the Middle Fork Project Finance Authority, a joint powers partnership between PCWA and the County of Placer.

 In other business, PCWA directors:

• heard a presentation from former state assemblyman Roger Niello, who is currently president of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.  Niello briefed the PCWA board on the chamber's Next Economy Capital Region Prosperity Plan, which lays out a vision for future economic development in the six-county capital region.  Information is available at www.nexteconomycapitalregion.org.
• heard a presentation from City of Roseville water conservation coordinator Lisa Brown, who represents Placer County and inland Northern California on the board of the California Urban Water Conservation Council (CUWCC).  PCWA and Roseville were among the regional leaders that were successful two years ago in gaining north state representation on the council, which had leaned heavily to the south.

 The PCWA Board of Directors will next meet in adjourned session at 2 p.m. on Monday, Mar. 11, at the PCWA Business Center, 144 Ferguson Road, in Auburn.  The next regular meeting of the board will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Mar. 21.  PCWA board meetings are open to the public.