9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

Next NARUC: Staff Discussion

Current Issues in Cooperative Federalism

The FCC issued a Forbearance Order at Docket 18-141 addressing competitor access to legacy telephone networks although that decision is under appeal (including an appeal by the State of California).  The USDC Court of Appeals just issued their long-awaited Net Neutrality Order and overturned preemption of state authority over Basic Internet Access Service (BIAS).  The panelists will address federalism’s future given these recent decisions, explain their importance to the states, and address what the next likely steps will be. 

Moderator: 

Renardo Hicks, Esq., General Counsel, PA PUC

Panelists: 

Chris Van De Verg Esq., Van De Verg Law Office LLC

Christopher J. Wright, Esq., Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP

J. Bradford Ramsey, Esq., General Counsel, NARUC

Michael Saperstein, Esq., Patrick Halley, Esq., US Telecom

Sana Sheikh. Senior Corporate Counsel, Granite Communications, Inc.

Scott McCollough, Esq., Cousel, Irregulators

Lifeline Database Demonstration

The FCC and USAC have been working on rolling out the Lifeline Database, a vehicle focused on addressing eligibility so as to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse.  At the July 2019 meeting in Indianapolis, the Consumers and the Public Interest (CPI) Committee conducted a Poverty Simulation, including how consumers access Lifeline although logistics precluded an in-depth demonstration of how the federal Lifeline Database will work.  This panel will discuss Lifeline developments and provide a live demonstration to the attendees showing how the Lifeline Database will operate in the real work in the states with help from the providers.   

Moderator:

Michelle Garber, USAC Lifeline Executive Vice President

Panelists: 

Linnita Hosten, USAC

Gina Jasman, TracFone

Catherine Miller, USAC

Danielle Perry, TruConnect Communications

Rural Broadband Auctions: from CAF-II to RDOF
This year in Docket 19-126, the FCC proposed to use a precedent-setting auction for the newly created Rural Development Opportunity Fund (RuDOF).  RuDOF will provide support so that voice and broadband services can be provided in high-cost areas of the nation from the current federal Universal Service Fund (USF).  Now that the formal Comment and Reply Comment period has closed, FCC staff will be examining the proceeding along with possible timelines for addressing the matter.  FCC staff will provide a brief overview explaining the relationship of this RuDOF to the reliance on auctions in general envisioned in the seminal Transformation Order of 2011, their experience with prior auctions, what issues arose in those auctions, what this auction seeks to do, and the timelines for addressing the issues raised in this proceeding compared to previous auctions. 

Moderator:                 

TBD/Joe Witmer, PA PUC                                 

Presenter:     

Michael Janson, Director, Rural Broadband Auctions Taskforce, FCC

Panel VII – RuDOF.  Issues in the Upcoming Auction

The FCC’s proposed Rural Development Opportunity Fund (RuDOF) filing period has closed.  The FCC will now decide how about $2.0B per year over the next 10 years will be provided to support broadband in high-cost areas using an auction format modeled on the recent 903 Auction.  This slightly longer panel contains a cross-section of possible bidders, using differing technologies, who will address the issues in this critical proceeding going forward, including their view on the best ways to make the auction work as intended. 

Moderator:

Joe Witmer, PA PUC

Panelists: 

Mark Cooper/NASUCA, Director of Research, Consumer Federation of America (invited)

Joe Gillan, Gillan Consulting

Pamela Hollick, Esq., Assistant General Counsel, CenturyLink

David LaFuria, Esq., Lukas, LaFuria, Gutierrez & Sachs, LLP, US Cellular

Ross Lieberman, Esq., Brian Hurley, Esq., American Cable Association

Brian O’Hara, National Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives

Michael Saperstein, Esq., Patrick Halley, Esq., US Telecom

10:00-10:15 a.m.

Business Meeting Items

Bringing SSWD NARUC Resolutions to Life

In July, NARUC adopted two historic resolutions, spearheaded by the Subcommittee on Supplier and Workforce Diversity, that expanded the encouragement for strategic partnerships to foster talented and diverse professionals in the utility industry and engagement of diverse financial and professional service providers by investor-owned utilities.  To bridge the retirement epidemic and need for greater inclusion in the industry, the first resolution calls for expansion on the support of long-term strategic partnerships between utilities, commissions, and other interested stakeholders and academic and professional institutions that serve underrepresented communities.  The second resolution expands upon an existing resolution that supported supplier diversity in financial services to include all professional services because the American economy improves when there is equitable access and participation by all industry participants. 

To maximize the power of these call-to-actions, a dynamic panel of subject matter experts will brainstorm ways that utilities and stakeholders alike can adopt these resolutions forward and change them from concepts written on paper to reality.

Moderator:

Hon. Sadzi M. Oliva, Commissioner, Illinois

Panelists:

• Hon. Timothy Alan Simon, Commissioner Emeritus, California, TAS Strategies
• Laurie Dowling, Executive Director, National Utilities Diversity Council
• Nakhia Morrissette, Regulatory Counsel & Midwest Regional Director, Solar Energy Industries Association
• Robert Powelson, President & CEO, National Association of Water Companies
• Terri Oliva, Executive Director, Human Resources and Assistant Treasurer, Edison Electric Institute
• AGA
• HACU

10:15 - 10:30 a.m.

Now that we have the data, what do we do with it?

While utility disconnection data is desired by NGO’s and other consumer assistance agencies and organizations, few state commissions require utilities to report this data. Through a series of four webinars with in-depth discussions, the Committee on Consumers and the Public Interest is developing recommendations about the value of disconnect data reporting.  In this session, we will explore Oregon’s recent experience in developing disconnect reporting rules and discuss the potential use and importance of collecting data.

Moderator:

Phil Boyle, Manager of Consumer Services, Oregon Public Utility Commission

Panelists:

Linda Gervais, Senior Manager, Regulatory Policy and Strategy, Avista Utilities

Bob Jenks, Executive Director, Citizens Utility Board of Oregon

Charlene Ketchum, Policy Advisor and Legal Counsel to Commissioner Maida Coleman, Missouri Public Service Commission

Bill Malcolm, Senior Legislative Representative - State Advocacy and Strategy Integration, AARP 

9:00-10:15 a.m.

Cybersecurity Implementation Plan (Wisconsin PUC Model)

Presenter: Jeff Thomas, CIO- Wisconsin PSC

9:00 – 10:15 a.m.

Behind the meter Storage: What opportunities exist for customers to reduce their demand and energy charges?

With the cost of battery storage continuing to decline, both residential and commercial customers have opportunities to realize bill savings which help to reduce the payback time of their investment. Customers can benefit through reductions in demand changes and arbitrage opportunities exist for reduction in energy charges.  This panel will explore the savings opportunities that exist for customers, which for some customers energy savings could outweigh demand savings, and how the load profile of the customer makes that determination. This panel will also explore technologies and software that are available to assist the customer in achieving bill savings. 

Moderator: 

Jamie Barber, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Manager, Georgia 

Panelists:

Galen Barbose, Electricity Markets and Policy Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

Amy Heart, Director of Public Policy, Sunrun

Patrick Ryan, Director, Policy Analysis & Development, Exelon

Performance-Based Regulation: Helping to Enable a Customer-Centric Future

Performance-based regulation (PBR) is becoming one of the most important topics in utility regulation. This is because the traditional cost-of-service regulatory model has an implicit capital bias that presents a challenge to achieving some modern policy goals such as transitioning to cleaner energy resources, modernizing the grid and offering enhanced customer solutions. PBR is hard to do well and its survival depends on gaining trust and confidence that risks and rewards are appropriately shared between utilities and ratepayers. This panel will explore how PBR can drive economic efficiency and innovations that deliver greater value to ratepayers.

Tom Stanton, National Regulatory Research Institute, Principal Researcher for Energy and Environment

Panelists:

Commissioner Anthony, Rhode Island

Matthew McDonnell, Associate Director, Navigant

Susan Mora-Schrader, Director of Utility Initiatives, Exelon

10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.

Performance-Based Regulation: Helping to Enable a Customer-Centric Future

Performance-based regulation (PBR) is becoming one of the most important topics in utility regulation. This is because the traditional cost-of-service regulatory model has an implicit capital bias that presents a challenge to achieving some modern policy goals such as transitioning to cleaner energy resources, modernizing the grid and offering enhanced customer solutions. PBR is hard to do well and its survival depends on gaining trust and confidence that risks and rewards are appropriately shared between utilities and ratepayers. This panel will explore how PBR can drive economic efficiency and innovations that deliver greater value to ratepayers.

Moderator

Tom Stanton, National Regulatory Research Institute, Principal Researcher for Energy and Environment

Panelists

Hon. Abigail Anthony, Rhode Island

Matthew McDonnell, Associate Director, Navigant

Susan Mora-Schrader, Director of Utility Initiatives, Exelon

1:30-2:30 p.m. 

Business Meeting (closed)

Following a disaster, how can government agencies and utilities work together to make recovery less stressful and more efficient for customers?

When a disaster strikes, those affected are often left without power for days or weeks.   Or worse, their home is destroyed and they are left living in temporary housing indefinitely – often times on their own property.  How is power supplied to this temporary housing when the infrastructure is destroyed?  Federal, state, and local agencies, as well as utilities, have emergency disaster plans in place that work well. But, how can these entities work better together to ease the burden on residents who are already dealing with many, many challenges? 

Moderator:

Hon. Odogwu Obi Linton, Maryland

Panelists:

Christine Knepper, Manager of State Governmental Affairs, Florida Power & Light Company

Kate Murphy, Requirements Manager, Logistics Operations Division, Federal Emergency Management Agency

Jewel Smith, Principal, i3029 Liron Consulting, LLC

Kevin Wisely, Director Office of Resilience and Emergency Preparedness, New York State Department of Public Service

Data Collection Deep Dive Highlights (Joint with NASUCA)

During this session, members from NASUCA, NARUC, and panelists from this year’s NRRI webinar series on data collection related to disconnections and delinquencies will:

• Explain why standards and best practices related to data collection are necessary.
• Discuss some of the major challenges, controversies, barriers, and solutions explored during the data collection webinar series.
• Identify specific ways state commissions, consumer advocates and other stakeholders can implement the proposed data collection resolution’s objectives.

Moderator:

Hon. Marion S. Gold, Rhode Island

1:30-2:30

On October 5, 2018, the President signed the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (DRRA) into law as part of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2018. These reforms acknowledge the shared responsibility for disaster response and recovery, aim to reduce the complexity of FEMA, and build the nation’s capacity for the next catastrophic event. The law contains approximately 50 provisions that require FEMA policy or regulation changes for full implementation.

Part of the reform includes Public Assistance 406 Codes and Standards (Section 1235b): This section authorizes FEMA to provide Public Assistance funding to replace and restore disaster damaged facilities to the latest published editions of relevant consensus-based codes ad standards to ensure that facilities are restored in a manner that allows them to be resilient.

Panelist: Craig Zamuda, Senior Policy Advisor, DOE (invited)

Protect Our Power Update

The Institute for Energy and the Environment’s Phase 2 report presents tools and processes that states can use to improve their distribution utility cyber security. Phase 2 builds off the Phase 1 report which identified barriers to improving cyber security of electric grid.

Phase 2 highlights how audits and reports can enhance information flows between regulators and utilities without compromising confidential information, how alternative rate mechanisms can be designed to incentivize investment while protecting the public interest, and how grid modernization efforts can integrate cyber security.

Moderator:

Hon. Jay Balbalas, Washington

Panelist:

Richard Mroz, Senior State Government Relations, Protect Our Power

Mark James - Senior Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor at Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment

1:30-1:40 p.m.

The Wide World of NARUC – Welcome and Introductions

Hon. David Danner  – Chair, IRC – Washington UTC

Business meeting

Approval of minutes

Hon. David Danner – Chair, IRC – Washington UTC

Report on NARUC International Programs 

Erin Hammel - Director of International Programs, NARUC

Terry Barnich Award
The Terry Barnich Award is presented annually by the International Relations Committee to commissioners or staff in recognition of outstanding efforts to further international cooperation among utility regulators and to promote professional regulation. This year’s recipient will be introduced and will deliver remarks.
Moderator:

Hon. David Danner, Washington

Energy Reform in Mexico: Will It Survive?
Since taking office late last year, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has made it clear that he will neither expand nor fully implement the energy reforms begun by his predecessors, and will instead reverse some reform measures. This panel 1:40 will examine that change of course and its implications for the US-Mexico energy relationship.
Moderator:

Hon. David Morton – Co-Vice Chair, IRC – British Columbia UC

Panelists:

José María Lujambio Irazábal - Partner, Cacheaux Cavazos & Newton, Austin; former general counsel, Energy Regulatory Commission of Mexico
Peter Nance - Managing Director, Que Advisors, Austin

Presentations on NARUC / U.S. Department of Energy Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Partnership white papers on coal ash management and coal flexibility / reliability

Speakers: 

• Maria Seidler, Principal Seidler Consulting LLC
• Ken Malloy, Executive Director, CRISIS & Energy Markets
• Seth Schwartz, President, Energy Ventures Analysis
• Phillip Graeter, Manager, Energy Ventures Analysis

Showing and discussion of informational energy videos

Speaker: 

• Michael Nasi, Partner, Environmental & Legislative Practice Group, Jackson Walker LLP

2:00-2:20 p.m.

Staff and Other Regulatory Updates

Subcommittee members and audience provide relevant regulatory updates

NRRI Introduction/Discussion

NRRI is in the process of developing a new Regulatory Training Initiative.  Jeff Loiter will introduce the project to attendees, direct  attendees to relevant resources and answer any questions that may arise.   

Presenter:  Jeff Loiter, Principal Researcher, NRRI

Renewable Natural Gas

A presentation by NW Natural on the company's efforts in regards to Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) and Oregon's new RNG legislation.

Presenter: Zach Kravitz, Director, Rates & Regulatory Affairs, NW Natural

Safety Management Systems (SMS)

Effective communications between pipeline safety officials and operators is of critical importance.  The presenters will discuss the importance and implementation of Safety Management Systems (SMS).

Presenter: TBD

Natural Gas Bans & their Impacts

Certain parts of the country are seeing increasing demand for natural gas at a time when pipeline capacity additions are limited by state actions.  The presenter will address how this situation has led to moratoria on new customer additions and their impacts -- economic and otherwise.   

Presenter: Daniel Lapato, Senior Director, State Affairs, AGA