Solution
The RPAC serves as a steering committee to help guide APS. It comprises individuals from various interest groups, including industry representatives, consumer advocates and environmental advocates. Some of the companies and professional associations participating in the RPAC include Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, Solar Energy Industries Association and Western Grid. Consumer and environmental advocates on the committee are affiliated with several organizations, including the American Association of Retired Persons, the Sierra Club and Arizona Public Interest Resource Group.
To facilitate the RPAC meetings and provide detailed analysis of resource procurement and long-range integrated resource planning, APS partnered with 1898 & Co. As a consultant and third party, we provide an impartial perspective to guide conversations while APS participates in meaningful dialogue with a diverse council of interested parties and customers.
One of the most critical components of our facilitation is working with APS to develop integrated resource planning models (IRP). During the planning process, utility operators and 1898 & Co. staff analyze potential energy demand and supply to find any likely risks that could limit the utility’s ability to meet customers’ long-term energy consumption needs, especially at a reasonable cost. A standard IRP model incorporates renewable and fossil fuel energy resources, federal and state laws, economic impacts, energy security solutions, environmental impacts and reliability.
For APS and its RPAC, IRP models serve as a decision-making tool. Developing and evaluating IRP models is as much an art as it is a science. As a facilitator of these meetings, we brought a national perspective regarding the resource planning of various utilities across the country. Furthermore, the benefit of our facilitation services during these meetings is our industry knowledge. Rather than relying on a professional facilitator with limited utility experience, APS reached out to our team of consultants to provide in-depth facilitation on complex topics.
In addition to the technical acumen leveraged to create the IRP, our team manages RPAC meetings by preparing agendas, compiling meeting minutes and developing a communication strategy before and after each meeting.
The technical proficiency of our consultants, as well as their facilitation skills, drives the conversation to deliver better outcomes based on experience, collaboration and transparency.
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