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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-08-29 RTO Minutes DRAFT ___________________________________________________________________________ RTO Minutes 8/29/25 Page 1 of 5 150302353.1 0084203-00001 RAILBELT TRANSMISSION ORGANIZATION (RTO) GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES August 29, 2025 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Million, GVEA, called the Railbelt Transmission Organization Governance Committee meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. A quorum was established. 2. ROLL CALL (for Committee members) Tony Izzo (Matanuska Electric Association [MEA]); Travis Million (Golden Valley Electric Association [GVEA]); Brad Janorschke (Homer Electric Association [HEA]); Brian Hickey (City of Seward); Arthur Miller (Chugach Electric Association [CEA]); Mark Billingsley (Alaska Energy Authority [AEA]); Ed Jenkin (Railbelt Reliability Counsel [RRC]); Curtis Thayer (Alaska Energy Authority [AEA] (arrived late)). 3. PUBLIC ROLL CALL (for all others present) Karen Bell (AEA), Jennifer Bertolini (AEA); Andrew Jensen (Governor’s Office); Matt Clarkson (CEA); Daniel Heckman (GVEA); Sarah Lambe (HEA), Jessica Spuhler (HEA); Tony Zellers (MEA) Carl Monroe (Munro Advisors, LLC); Tina Grovier (Stoel Rives, RTO) and Kody George (City of Seward) (arrived late)). 4. AGENDA APPROVAL MOTION: A motion was made by Mr. Miller to approve the agenda. Motion seconded by Mr. Izzo. A roll call was taken, and the motion to approve the agenda passed unanimously. 5. PUBLIC COMMENTS There were no public comments. 6. APPROVAL OF THE MEETING MINUTES – July 18, 2025 MOTION: A motion was made by Mr. Hickey to approve the Meeting Minutes of July 18, 2025. Motion seconded by Mr. Billingsley. A roll call was taken, and the motion to approve the Minutes of July 18, 2025 passed unanimously. ___________________________________________________________________________ RTO Minutes 8/29/25 Page 2 of 5 150302353.1 0084203-00001 7. OLD BUSINESS A. Open Access Transmission Tariff, RCA Matter #TA1-8001 Tina Grovier, Stoel Rives, noted the RTO filed its nondiscriminatory Open Action Transmission Tariff (OATT) as #TA1-8001 on July 1, 2025. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) accepted the OATT and noticed it for public comment on July 2, 2025. Four comments were received. On August 16, 2025, the Commission issued its order suspending the OATT, requiring the filing of testimony supporting the tariff, inviting a second public comment period and requiring responses from the RTO, inviting participation by the Attorney General and intervention by interested persons, setting a timeline for petitions to intervene, issuing questions, scheduling a prehearing conference, addressing the timeline for decision, designating the Commission panel, and appointing Judge Walker to oversee the docket. The RCA initially set the date for the RTO’s prefiled testimony for today. She said the RTO worked with RAPA and filed an unopposed expedited motion for a two-week extension, which the Commission granted, along with extensions to the second comment period. The Commission granted that motion on the day it was filed, August 18, 2025. Ms. Grovier said on that same day RAPA filed their notice to participate and on August 25th and 26th 12 entities filed petitions to intervene in the docket. On August 26th the Commission held a pre-hearing conference to set the schedule for the docket. She said the RTO worked with RAPA on a potential schedule considering witness availability and that schedule was shared with the interveners. She said they came to an agreement with the parties and the potential parties and are awaiting the RCA’s decision and its order for confidential discovery. Ms. Grovier also stated that yesterday the RTO received discovery from RAPA, and have agreed with RAPA that responses will not be due until 10 days after the RTO files its direct prefiled testimony. Ms. Grovier said she has matters related to these topics and next steps in Docket U-25-028 including the preparation of prefiled direct testimony to support the RTO’s filing, its certificate, and witness contracts to discuss in executive session, the immediate knowledge of which could have an adverse effect on the legal position and financial position of the RTO and/or the Committee members. Jennifer Bertolini recognized that Curtis Thayer has joined the Teams meeting. Mr. Jenkin asked Ms. Grovier to elaborate on her statement “potential parties.” Ms. Grovier explained the RTO is a party and RAPA was given party status the moment they filed a notice of participation. The potential parties are the 12 intervening parties that have not yet been granted or denied intervention, depending on what the Commission decides to do. Mr. Izzo observed there was at least one party that filed late a motion to intervene, and wondered if the Commission had ruled on that. Ms. Grovier replied she does not believe the Commission has ruled and that usually the Commission would rule on late interveners after the RTO responds on September 2, 2025. ___________________________________________________________________________ RTO Minutes 8/29/25 Page 3 of 5 150302353.1 0084203-00001 There were no other questions or comments. 8. NEW BUSINESS – There was no new business before the RTO. MOTION: A motion was made by Mr. Hickey to enter into Executive Session to discuss matters, the immediate knowledge of which could have an adverse effect related to RTO finances and legal strategy. This is consistent with our Bylaws, which allow the Board to consider confidential matters in executive session, and in this case, the RTO believes that these are subjects that would have an adverse effect on the finances of the RTO and are being discussed with an attorney, the immediate knowledge of which could have an adverse effect on the financial or legal position of the Committee or are protected by law due to rules protecting personal privacy and certain business information. Motion seconded by Mr. Miller. A roll call was taken, and the motion to enter into Executive Session passed unanimously. 9. EXECUTIVE SESSION – 9:16 am. (Bylaws Section 5.12.3) To discuss matters, the immediate knowledge of which could have an adverse effect on the finances or legal position of the RTO, the Committee or Authority, or that are confidential under state, federal, or local law. The RTO Governance Committee reconvened its regular meeting at 9:34 a.m. Chair Million explained the Committee noticed a mistake in that the meeting was noticed for 9:30 am this morning, while the internal meeting was shown at 9:00 am. The Committee did start at 9:00 am, approved the agenda, approved the minutes from the last meeting, and were in executive session when recognizing the mishap. He said the Committee would start back at public roll call to see who is on the public line, and reopen for public comments. PUBLIC ROLL CALL (telephonic): Jake Staser, Brena, Bell & Walker; Electra Kean, New Horizons Telecom. PUBLIC COMMENTS There were no public comments. Mr. Million then asked Ms. Grovier to again provide the update on Open Access Transmission Tariff, RCA Matter #TA1-8001. Tina Grovier, Stoel Rives, said the RTO filed its nondiscriminatory Open Action Transmission Tariff (OATT) as #TA1-8001 on July 1, 2025, which the RCA accepted and noticed it for public comment on July 2, 2025. Four comments were received. On August 14, 2025 the Commission issued its order suspending the tariff, requiring the filing of testimony supporting the tariff as well as responses to the public comments. It invited a second round of public comments and required responses from the RTO. It invited participation by the Attorney General and intervention by ___________________________________________________________________________ RTO Minutes 8/29/25 Page 4 of 5 150302353.1 0084203-00001 interested persons, set the timeline for persons to intervene, issued 15 questions, scheduled the prehearing conference, addressed the timeline for decisions, designated the panel and appointed the administrative law judge. Ms. Grovier said the RCA set the initial date for RTO’s prefile testimony for today, but the RTO worked with RAPA and filed an unopposed expedited motion for a two-week extension, which the Commission granted the same day. Ms. Grovier said on August 18th RAPA formally filed its election to participate and then on August 25th and 26th, 12 entities filed petitions for intervention. On August 26th, the Commission held the prehearing conference to set the schedule for the Docket. She said the RTO has worked with RAPA on a potential and shared that schedule with the potential entities that indicated they wanted to intervene the morning of the prehearing conference, and during a break during the prehearing conference proposed a schedule. Ms. Grovier said the RTO is awaiting an order on the schedule as well as an order for confidential discovery. Yesterday, the RTO received discovery from RAPA and have agreed with RAPA that responses were not due until 10 days after the RTO filed its direct testimony. Ms. Grovier stated she has matters related to these topics and next steps in Docket U-25-028, including the preparation of prefiled testimony to support the RTO’s filing, the RTO’s certificate, and witness contracts to discuss with the RTO in executive session, the immediate knowledge of which could have an adverse effect on the legal and financial position of the RTO and/or the Committee members. There were no questions of comments from the Committee. Mr. Million asked for a motion to again go into executive session. MOTION: A motion was made by Mr. Hickey to enter into Executive Session to discuss matters, the immediate knowledge of which could have an adverse effect related to RTO finances and legal strategy. This is consistent with our Bylaws, which allow the Board to consider confidential matters in executive session, and in this case, the RTO believes that these are subjects that would have an adverse effect on the finances of the RTO and are being discussed with an attorney, the immediate knowledge of which could have an adverse effect on the financial or legal position of the Committee or are protected by law due to rules protecting personal privacy and certain business information. Motion seconded by Mr. Miller. A roll call was taken, and the motion to enter into Executive Session passed unanimously. EXECUTIVE SESSION – 9:16 am. (Bylaws Section 5.12.3) To discuss matters, the immediate knowledge of which could have an adverse effect on the finances or legal position of the RTO, the Committee or Authority, or that are confidential under state, ___________________________________________________________________________ RTO Minutes 8/29/25 Page 5 of 5 150302353.1 0084203-00001 federal, or local law. The RTO Governance Committee reconvened its regular meeting at 10:45 a.m. Chair Million advised that the RTO did not take action on any matters discussed while in Executive Session except as authorized in the Bylaws 5.12.2, to give directions to the attorney regarding the handling of specific legal matters and pending negotiations. 10. MEMBERS COMMENTS Mr. Janorschke had no comments. Mr. Hickey thanked Ms. Grovier and the team. Mr. Jenkin had no comments. Mr. Thayer appreciated everyone’s time and said he believes the Committee is off to the races, and under a quick timeline as expected. Mr. Miller thanked everyone and appreciated Ms. Grovier’s efforts in moving everything along. He agreed with Mr. Thayer the RTO is off to the races. Mr. Izzo thanked everyone. Mr. Million expressed appreciation for the hard work and the good discussion, and wished everyone a good holiday weekend. 11. NEXT MEETING DATE – September 10, 2025. Chair Million indicated that the next meeting is September 10, 2025. 12. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business for the committee, the meeting adjourned at 10:48 a.m. ______________________________ Travis Million, Chair _______________________________ Curtis W. Thayer, Secretary