Northern California Power Agency

03/31/2026

Thank you to U.S. Department of Energy Acting Deputy Director of Grid Infrastructure Deployment (and Sacramento native!) Amanda Bradshaw for presenting today before the Transmission Access Policy Study Group (TAPS). We appreciate your valuable insights and leadership on energy policies to promote the reliability of our nation’s electric grid!

TAPS is an association of transmission-dependent electric utilities advocating for open and equitable transmission access, competitive wholesale electric markets, and a strong, resilient grid.

03/30/2026

22% of Californians receive power from California Municipal Utilities Association (CMUA) electric utilities. These community-owned utilities are focused on providing safe, affordable, and reliable power to our communities, and preparing to meet our state’s future power needs.

Last week, NCPA joined partner community-owned utilities from across the state at the CMUA Annual Conference in Monterey. This event provides a valuable opportunity for collaboration, information sharing, and briefings on important issues impacting public power.

Andre Basler, Director of Utilities at the Port of Oakland, an NCPA Member Utility, highlighted efforts to support innovation and growth at the Port. NCPA General Manager Randy Howard also spoke at the Conference, sharing his reflections on 40+ years in public power, and a positive outlook for the future. “The technologies have changed, some of the policies have changed, but our core responsibility remains: Serving our communities with reliable, affordable power.”

02/09/2026

Whether you were rooting for the Seahawks or the Patriots (or Bad Bunny), the at the Super Bowl yesterday was strong!

Shoutout to NCPA member Silicon Valley Power (SVP) for keeping Levi’s Stadium lit, loud, and fully online when the stakes were high.

Silicon Valley Power is a not-for-profit, community-owned electric utility that has served Santa Clara for nearly 130 years. Today, SVP serves a peak load of approximately 746 MW, all while keeping rates about half the price of neighboring communities.

🏈⚡ It’s game day!

While the big game takes center stage, Silicon Valley Power crews are behind the scenes keeping Santa Clara powered up.

From stadium lights to living room TVs, our teams are locked in, monitoring systems, prepping crews, and keeping power on so you can focus on the game.
Big plays. Big moments. Reliable power.

We power that.

Enjoy the game, we’ve got it covered. 💡🔥

02/04/2026

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and data centers is reshaping California's energy landscape, creating unprecedented demand on our electric grid. At NCPA, we believe meeting this new load growth requires an examination of additional resources that can both meet our state’s decarbonization goals and provide the future power supply needed to meet these growing needs. With recent policy changes making the deployment of offshore wind and hydrogen in our state more challenging, it’s important that we take steps now to extend the operation of baseload resources like Diablo Canyon, and create a pathway for access to out-of-state generation from future small modular reactors.

These steps are key to supporting the digital economy without compromising grid stability or affordability for our communities.

Reliability is the foundation of innovation.

01/29/2026

Nico Procos, Silicon Valley Power’s Electric Utility Director, testified today during the Assembly Utilities and Energy and Privacy and Consumer Protection Committees’ joint oversight hearing on the energy impacts of , to present on the historic load growth challenges posed by and AI’s impact on California’s grid.

During his testimony, Nico outlined how NCPA member Silicon Valley Power in the City of Santa Clara is laying the groundwork to meet the AI moment, including a $459 million investment in a system expansion program, designed to double electric load capacity to meet current and future demand. The utility has also developed innovative programs to assure that the influx of data centers in their city aligns with their community’s long-term values and goals, including environmental sustainability and electricity affordability.

Thank you to Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee Chair Cottie Petrie-Norris for the opportunity to present on this timely issue, and for the Committee’s continued focus on the policy issues of importance to California’s electricity consumers.

01/27/2026

We’ve had a busy start to the week in Sacramento, wrapping up a successful 2026 Public Power , culminating in the presentation of our 2026 NCPA Public Power Champion Award.

On Monday, NCPA members—including several elected and appointed officials from our communities—met with state lawmakers to advance consumer-focused, clean energy policies to ensure a reliable and affordable electricity supply for California. We’re pleased to see growing interest in action on the pressing issues surrounding liability reform, and streamlined permitting to both advance clean goals and harden infrastructure to prevent future wildfires.

We closed out with NCPA Chair and Mayor of the City of Biggs, Bo Sheppard, and CEO and Electric Utility Director for the City of Roseville, Dan Beans, presenting this year’s Public Power Champion Award to Assemblyman Joe Patterson. This recognition honors his work to advance common-sense policies that benefit public power customers and communities across California.

Thank you to everyone who joined us to advocate for energy policies that advance affordability and provide needed solutions to the challenges facing the electricity sector today.



See Pictured: Assemblymember Marc Berman, Assemblyman Joe Patterson, Assemblymember Chris Rogers, Assembly Utilities and Energy Chair Cottie Petrie-Norris, and Senator Megan Dahle.

01/23/2026

Our policy discussions during this week’s NCPA Strategic Issues Conference have had several recurring themes—including the need for wildfire liability reform, the value of new resources—including small modular reactors and hydrogen—to meet California’s energy goals, and next steps on the implementation of a regional market in the West.

We were honored to have outstanding speakers join us to highlight these and other issues, including Maria Pope, President and Chief Executive Officer of Portland General Electric; Senator Mike McGuire , Senate President pro Tem Emeritus; Senator Tim Grayson, Majority Whip of the California State Senate; Assemblymember Chris Rogers; Christine Hironaka, Senior Advisor, and Grant Mack, Deputy Legislative Secretary from the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom; Kathleen Staks, Executive Director, Western Freedom Co.; Elliot Mainzer, President and CEO of the California ISO; Paul Lau, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD); Kurt Miller, CEO and Executive Director of the Northwest Public Power Association - NWPPA, and; Phyllis Currie, Retired General Manager, Pasadena Water and Power.

As Maria Pope said this week, “There is no question we are all better off when we work together,” and we’re so very pleased to have had the opportunity this week to examine these issues and identify areas of shared interest and concern across the electricity industry.

01/21/2026

Welcome to Sacramento! We’re live at our annual Strategic Issues Conference this morning, and look forward to hearing from policymakers and thought leaders on the key energy policy issues that will shape California’s legislative and regulatory agenda in the coming year. Thank you to Assemblymember Chris Rogers for kicking off our program with valuable insights on wildfire policy and electricity affordability.

01/16/2026

NCPA applauds the California State Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee’s passage of AB 34.

By helping to ensure that public power communities continue to receive the full value of longstanding investments in clean, emission-free energy from the federal hydropower resources of the Central Valley Project, the committee has taken an important step toward protecting electricity affordability for consumers in Northern California.

NCPA thanks Assemblymember Joe Patterson, State Senator Josh Becker, and Assemblymember Marc Berman for their leadership on this vital extension of existing state policy in this area.

01/09/2026

On Thursday, NCPA General Manager Randy Howard testified at the “Fix Our Forests for Affordable and Reliable Water and Power Supplies” hearing before the House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries, representing both NCPA and the American Public Power Association (APPA).

Randy’s message to Congress was clear: The deteriorating health of our federal forests is a direct threat to the and of the nation's power supply.

Some more key highlights from Randy’s testimony:

🔹 Legislative Solutions: NCPA strongly supports the *Fix Our Forests Act* (H.R. 471). This bipartisan measure provides the framework to move from reactive firefighting to proactive management, aligning federal forest treatments with utility infrastructure investments.

🔹 The Operational Reality: Utilities face "permitting cliffs" that delay the removal of hazard trees and fuel loads. We need NEPA/NHPA categorical exclusions for routine vegetation management and grid-hardening within existing rights-of-way.

🔹 Post-Fire Impacts: The crisis doesn’t end when the smoke clears. Post-fire sediment loads clog reservoirs and damage hydropower infrastructure, emphasizing the need for pre-authorized sediment reuse agreements.

🔹 Protecting Ratepayers: We need fault-based liability standards and a federal wildfire risk pool to ensure that customers are not the "insurer of last resort" for catastrophic costs derived from unmanaged federal forests.

As Randy stated in his testimony, "Forests are dynamic systems that demand active management. When we fail to manage fuels, we pay the price in blackouts... and unaffordable insurance and litigation costs borne by our customers."

NCPA thanks Chair Rep. Harriet Hageman, Ranking Member Val Hoyle, and the Members of the Subcommittee for the opportunity to testify on an issue that is so critical to the West and to our national infrastructure.

01/06/2026

The Northern California Power Agency joins our community in mourning the passing of Rep. Doug LaMalfa.

Representing California’s First District, which includes NCPA members in the City of Gridley, City of Biggs, City of Redding, and Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative, Congressman LaMalfa was known not just as a lawmaker, but as a neighbor and a steadfast champion for Northern California.

He brought a farmer’s practicality to Washington, with an instinctive understanding of why local utilities need flexibility to manage costs and protect ratepayers. He was also a steadfast advocate for wildfire safety, working to effectively manage our forests and protect the electric grid from devastating fires. From leading efforts on the Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act to championing the Torch Act, he fought to keep our grid reliable and our communities safe.

NCPA was honored to present Congressman LaMalfa with our Spirit of Public Power Award last year, recognizing his longstanding support for public power and his tireless work to advance practical legislative solutions for wildfire prevention, resilience, and recovery.

We are deeply grateful for his years of service and his friendship. Our heartfelt condolences are extended to his family, staff, and the many communities he served.

12/11/2025

Over 40 years in for Randy Howard stayed interesting due to saying “yes” to various opportunities that came his way while at Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and Northern California Power Agency.
📖Read more in the latest issue of the Public Power magazine: https://ow.ly/G5B050XGW7g