City Committee Approves Extension Of City Agreement With LA Dept. of Water and Power For Hoover Dam Electricity

The Pasadena City Council Municipal Services Committee on Tuesday approved the extension of the City’s agreement with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) for Hoover Dam electricity.

Vice Mayor Andy Wilson, Councilmembers Tyron Hampton, Felicia Williams and Jessica Rivas voted in the affirmative on the motion to approve the fifth amendment to the Transmission Service Agreement (TSA) with LADWP to extend the term of agreement to until September 2067.

In 1991, Pasadena executed a TSA with LADWP for 26 megawatts of transmission service to receive energy from the Boulder Canyon Project, known as the Hoover project.

Since the TSA expired in 2017, the City so far executed four short-term TSAs with LADWP to be able to transmit Hoover energy. The current TSA will lapse on September 30 this year.

According to City Power Resource Planning Manager Robert Castro, the TSA should be extended to until 2067 to match the term of the Hoover Electric Service contract, which was also amended to extend to 2067.

Aside from Pasadena, the Burbank Water and Power and the Glendale Water and Power are currently executing similar TSAs with LADWP.

Castro said the long term TSA will protect Pasadena Water and Power (PWP) from unforeseeable rate increases and will provide price stability in the future.

According to Castro, the previous amendment to the TSA has a combined rate of $1.20 per kilowatt-month while the new proposed long-term TSA amendment climbs to a rate of $2.30 per kilowatt-month.

The proposed rate is lower than the current Open Access Transmission Tariff rate, that represents the current market conditions and operating costs, which stands at $2.936 per kilowatt-month, he also said.

Additionally, he said, under the proposal, the scheduling and dispatch fee of $5,405 per month will discontinue offsetting a portion of the increased amount.

Under the proposed agreement, the PWP has the sole right to terminate with 30 days notice the TSA. It also has a “one-time right” to reduce the capacity amount to protect the City from any unforeseen changes in the market during the term of the TSA.

Meanwhile, during its meeting, the Committee also passed unanimously the motion to authorize the City to enter into a contract in an amount not exceeding $4,300,000 over the three-year term, with Staples & Associates Inc., DBA: Staples Energy for the installation of beneficial electrification and energy and water conservation devices, equipment and services for the PWP.