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Compact with the Customer
Addressing the issues that will impact SMUD's future
Over the past year, the SMUD Board of Directors has been focusing on issues that will impact the management of SMUD in the future. One of the challenges facing SMUD is how to meet the anticipated growth in the demand for electricity while balancing its environmental and customer service goals.
A growing demand for power
Population projects for the Greater Sacramento region predict an increase of 1.7 million people between now and 2050. While the study area takes in a larger area than just the SMUD service territory, the impact on SMUD will be profound.
Of particular concern is the impact on "peak demand" which is the single-highest point of energy usage. For SMUD, that occurs during the hot weather months, typically when temperatures are very high and we lose the cooling effect of the evening delta breeze.
Today, SMUD customers push the peak demand for energy to approximately 3,000 megawatts. That means SMUD has to account for an additional 400 megawatts of power for approximately 40 hours a year. By 2050, that peak demand in expected to be about 5,000 megawatts which would create a need for 600 megawatts of power or those 40 hours a year. To put that in perspective, SMUD's new Cosumnes Power Plant generates 500 megawatts of power and was built at a cost of $435 million.
Possible paths for meeting customer demand
There are generally three paths for SMUD to respond to increase demand:
- Build more generating plants in the local area
- Build new high voltage transmission lines to import power from outside the region
- Developing peak pricing strategies and increase energy efficiency to reduce customer demand
Factors that may impact SMUD's course
- Uncertainty in the cost of energy to fuel power plants
- Uncertainties in the cost of imported electricity and in the regulatory environment
- Sacramento's air quality issues as they will impact SMUD's ability to add fossil fuel generation
- California's goals for reduction of carbon emissions
- The need for additional transmission in California as a whole and by SMUD in particular
- How voluntary and mandatory approaches, including price signals, might be used to achieve peak load reduction
Presentations available on streaming video
The Board has brought in outside experts and SMUD's staff experts to discuss in detail these issues and explore how SMUD might respond. You can watch some of these presentations on video on your computer. Check back later for additional video presentations.
To watch these presentations, use the link to the Board videos and click on the meeting you wish to view. When the page appears, you can use the "Jump to" feature below the video image to go directly to the item you wish to view.
| TOPIC | MEETING DATE |
| Transmission issues | August 2, 2006 |
| Energy efficiency programs | August 16, 2006 |
| Natural gas supply issues | September 6, 2006 |
| Alternative supply-side resources | September 20, 2006 |