Municipal Advisory Services
MRW assists large and small cities and other government entities with expert analysis and strategic counseling on a broad range of energy issues. The services we offer in this area include:
- Identifying and prioritizing energy objectives
- Analyzing energy usage data
- Developing energy strategies that include demand response, energy efficiency, and renewable generation
- Assessing municipalization and Community Choice Aggregation options
- Shaping renewable energy and energy efficiency programs to meet regulatory requirements and take full advantage of available incentives
- Regulatory and legal interventions on utility rates, net energy metering, and other issues of interest
- Monitoring policy developments
- Developing risk management strategies
- Developing competitive solicitations for power supplies
- Due diligence assessments of customer generation projects
Examples of MRW's engagements in these areas are provided below. For more information, please contact William Monsen.
Selected Engagements
CCA and Municipalization Feasibility Assessments
MRW prepared financial analyses to evaluate the feasibility of Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) for the East Bay Municipal Utility District and the feasibility of CCA and municipalization for the South San Joaquin Irrigation District. MRW also performed due diligence assessments of the business plans for the proposed Marin County CCA and helped the Sonoma County CCA evaluate power suppliers. MRW additionally prepared detailed peer review studies of CCA plans for the County of Marin; the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, and Emeryville; and the Kings River Conservation District and conducted a study examining the feasibility of CCA for a hypothetical Joint Powers Authority of seven municipalities in Southern California Edison’s service territory.
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Regulatory Intervention
MRW frequently provides expert witness testimony to support the policy and fiscal goals of municipal agencies. Recent interventions have addressed net energy metering rules, street lighting rates and rules, community solar, utility resource planning, and electric and natural gas rate design.
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Energy Efficiency Programming
MRW is assisting in the development of a San Diego Regional Energy Network to provide additional tools and funding for energy management in the region. MRW previously helped the City of San Diego to develop an energy efficiency and conservation strategy by supporting an ad hoc committee established by the City Council to evaluate 93 projects proposed for the city. MRW developed an evaluation framework and a project-screening tool and provided analytical assistance. With this support, the eight committee members representing diverse interests and expertise came to unanimous decisions on which projects to support.
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Power Purchases and Sales
MRW evaluated a number of renewable energy projects on behalf of a southern
California city. MRW assisted the city with an assessment of its options to market green
power from its landfill gas-fired power generation facility and evaluated the potential for receiving renewable energy credits from the project. MRW also provided bid support
and contract negotiation support on behalf of the city for solar PV projects and a
hydroelectric project and reviewed the benefits and risks associated with a proposed
pumped storage project. MRW also assessed whether the city would be required to pay
“exit fees” to the local electric utility upon replacing a portion of utility-procured
generation with generation from a proposed city-owned fuel cell.
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Retail Rate Forecasts and Analyses
MRW regularly develops retail rate forecasts that take into consideration market, regulatory, and utility developments that may impact rates. MRW also provides rate analyses for customers to help them understand their energy bills and identify opportunities to reduce their energy costs.
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