Energy Utility Planning

RBI assists utilities and other entities in optimizing their energy management. Whether an entity is established in the energy industry or in its nascent stages, RBI experience brings insight and ingenuity necessary for prudent organization, risk and portfolio management, generation versus forward market considerations, and day-to-day operations.

RBI has been an innovator in energy utility planning and management. RBI conceptualized and organized two public utilities through joint powers authorities, the largest of which consolidates 15 public water purveyors which is now called the Power and Water Resources Pooling Authority (Pooling Authority). To facilitate client input for water to power forecasts and tracking of operation schedules, RBI developed the Scheduling and Metering Billing Application (SAMBA©). This software system is the central repository for all data flows, as a result, not only does it facilitate load and resources scheduling from the client portfolio, the system also performs power invoice generation and reconciliation of costs.

In addition to these innovations, RBI offers clients a range of other services including regulatory reporting , Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs), tracking power utilization and comparing it to the cause-and-effect of the demands to reconcile theoretical energy needs with actual use, and preparing hybrids of deterministic and empirical procedures to forecast loads and aid in the development of operational procedures. Once these assessments are made, RBI follows through by managing and scheduling a client’s energy resource portfolio which is key to managing risk and maintaining a reliable and reasonable cost energy supply. As a scheduling agent, we predict client hourly loads and develop the mix of power resources from the client’s portfolio to submit to the Independent System Operator. RBI also helps clients in numerous ways financially. We track relative costs of fuel, capacity, and power products in various markets and apply trending analyses in order to advise clients. RBI also weighs net-short positions against market trends and confidence in hydropower estimates to secure forward contracts. RBI also prepares annual utility budgets and power rates under a range of hydro power year-type operations. We also perform the annual reconciliation of costs between member agencies of the utility. Because Balancing Authorities pay import and export fees when moving resources across boundaries, RBI can help conceptualize and administer resource displacement programs where entities in different balancing authorities split the savings from sharing resources to avoid import, export and other grid operator charges.

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Primary Areas of Expertise

• Joint Powers Authority Development, Implementation, and Operation
• Risk Management and Integrated Resource Planning
• Load Profiling, Forecasting, and Management
• Portfolio Management and Scheduling
• Budgeting, Rates, and Reconciliation
• Power Procurement Analysis
• Custom Software Data and Algorithm Maintenance
• Regulatory Reporting
• CARB, GHG, CEC, RPS, and FERC
• Qualified Reporting Entity (QRE) for WREGIS
• Cross Balancing Authority Resource Coordination