CCEBA General Counsel John Burns attended the 2024 National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) on February 25-28, 2024 in Washington D.C. Here are some highlights of the meeting:
- CCEBA sponsored the Clean Energy Industries Reception the first night of the event. The reception had over 250 people in attendance. John attended on behalf of CCEBA and made a number of contacts, including people with specific experience negotiating and enacting solar siting bills in other states.
- Highlights of Monday and Tuesday’s sessions included West Virginia Senator Manchin discussing his views on the future of electricity regulation and project permitting reform as well as a panel discussion with the Patricia Poppe, CEO of PG&E and Katherine Blunt, the author of California Burning, a book on the 2018 Camp Fire. That fire was ignited by a faulty electric transmission line and ultimately killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise, CA. The panel members discussed the impact of the fire on PG&E’s operations and the new management’s approach to balancing service reliability and safety.
- John also attended several working sessions on the balance between state and federal transmission planning, with North and South Carolina commissioners speaking directly to these issues.
- During the breaks between sessions, John was able to speak with commissioners of both North and South Carolina. Note that South Carolina law and good ethical practice prohibits any discussion of open dockets. Nevertheless, John’s discussions led to a plan for North Carolina Commissioners to visit a CCEBA member control facility in the next few months. We are working to arrange a tour date.
- John also spoke with North Carolina Commissioner McKissick regarding the upcoming SEARUC (Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners) meeting in Asheville this summer, and CCEBA has been asked to suggest panel discussion topics and speakers for that event.
- In separate discussions with N.C. Utilities Commissioners, we received feedback on prior witness presentations and the importance the Commission is placing on this summer’s Intervenor Technical Conference on June 17 in the Carbon Plan/IRP proceeding.
- The final morning of the conference, John attended a breakfast sponsored by American Clean Power on transmission concerns. This was an excellent series of panels that included FERC Commissioner Allison Clement, Congressman Sean Casten, Michigan Public Service Commission Chair Dan Scripps and KY Utilities Commission Chairman Kent Chandler. All of these were very informative, particularly on the balance between state and federal power in the transmission planning area.
Having our staff attend industry-wide events like NARUC’s Winter Planning Conference, the North Carolina State Energy Conference, and RE+ helps us stay up to date on state and national issues of importance to the clean energy industry, provides professional learning credits, and leads to connections and contacts that can help us represent your interests in North and South Carolina. If you have any questions about these events, please don’t hesitate to contact Chris or John.
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