NEPPA Regional Power Supply Committee Meeting Held on February 27

The NEPPA Regional Power Supply Committee (RPSC) met on February 27 at NEPPA’s offices. It was the first face-to-face meeting in a long time and partly aimed at getting the RPSC revitalized according to committee chair Steve Kaminski of New Hampshire Electric Co-op. "We’ve had attrition and turnover in the NEPPA member systems over the last few years, so many long-time members of the committee are no longer around or are approaching retirement. Growingly urgent concerns about the impacts of rising wholesale electricity and transmission costs on consumers and the New England economy call for public power systems here and around the country to be well-organized and coordinated to effectively represent our consumer-owners’ interests."

  

While the committee itself has not been meeting regularly, the committee’s work has been attended to through regular monthly calls of the RPSC’s "steering committee" that was established in 2006 when the RPSC decided such a committee, and some consulting help, was needed to follow and effectively address the numerous and endless power supply and transmission issues flowing out of ISO-New England, through the several NEPOOL committees and eventually to FERC. Steering committee participation is robust and usually includes a larger and broader group than the RPSC itself. The monthly steering committee calls use the "Monthly Steering Committee Report" produced by NEPPA consultant Customized Energy Solutions (CES) to sort through major issues and to strategize on how NEPPA members, as NEPOOL Public Entities Sector Participants, intend to weigh in and act on items that come up for vote. Highlights of the RPS meeting included:

• a very thorough presentation by Nancy Chafetz of CES, reviewing major developments in NEPOOL and ISO-New England in 2014, and those already underway and expected in 2015;
• a discussion led by Brian Forshaw of CMEEC on the status of the New England Governors’ initiatives for additional gas pipeline capacity and transmission for renewables;
• a report from NEPPA Legislative Committee chair Mike Kirkwood on recent efforts and preparations for the APPA rally.  NEPPA system representatives will engage the New England congressional delegation and their staffers on the need for action and possibly legislation to change the course of FERC and the ISO that is leading to large increases in costs to consumers, particularly in the Forward Capacity Market; and,
• plans to get 2014 load data from NEPPA members so we can update the Public Entities Sector allocation of NEPOOL expenses.

The final agenda item was on re-constitution of the RPSC with members, former and new, who have indicated an interest and willingness to serve. Steve proposed to work with the Executive Director to put together a proposed committee roster for presentation to the NEPPA President and Board as contemplated under NEPPA’s bylaws. "At the same time, we should continue as in the past, to welcome all NEPPA system managers and power resources staff members to participate in the activities of the RPSC and steering committee".