Title
Approval of Department of Energy / Los Alamos County Electric Resource Pool Budget for Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027
Recommended Action
I move that Council approve the 2026-2027 Electric Resource Pool Budget as presented, with the understanding that the current Electric Coordination Agreement (ECA) approved in 1985 and modified 24 times since then, is expected to be replaced by an updated modern contemporaneous ECA before the recently amended ECA extension ends on December 31, 2025, and that the 2026-2027 Resource Pool budget being recommended here is contingent and dependent upon the terms and conditions of the future ECA, which is unknown at this time, and which may require future amendment to the 2026-2027 Resource Pool budget that is recommended here.
Utilities Manager Recommendation
The Utilities Manager recommends approval the motion as presented.
Board, Commission or Committee Recommendation
The Board of Public Utilities approved this budget at their regular meeting of May 21, 2025 and recommends that Council approve the motion as presented.
Body
The Electric Energy Coordination Agreement (ECA) between the County of Los Alamos and the Department of Energy requires that a 24-month budget be approved each year. The budget process begins with both parties preparing a load projection by month for the budget period. Based on the load projections, the Power Supply division prepares a resource supply projection that matches the available resources to the projected loads and estimates the variable costs for County owned resources and purchased power. Finally, costs for projected generation, purchases, and transmission are allocated to the parties based on the terms of the ECA.
The projected power pool total costs per MWh are $92.12 and $71.04 for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, respectively. Costs to the LAPP participants vary due to each party’s load factors. The projected costs to the County per MWh are $86.43 and $72.88 for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, respectively. This budget was presented for approval to the Operating Committee on May 6, 2025, however, NNSA requested more time to review the budget. NNSA informed the County on 5-15-2025 that their consultant, Exeter, needed more time to review the budget and staff had a meeting on Monday, May 19, 2025 to finalize this budget.
Alternatives
Due to the fact that certain costs are billed to the participants as budgeted (fixed charges associated with the various resources) and reconciled in the next budget cycle, if this budget is not approved by the Board and Council, significant adjustments will be needed to reconcile actual billings with the budget once a budget is approved.
Fiscal and Staff Impact
None. DPU’s expenditure authority for purchased power costs is incorporated into the budget approved by the Board of Public Utilities and County Council during the normal County budget cycle. Approval of this Resource Pool budget is a contractual requirement of the ECA. The Resource Pool budget may differ somewhat from the purchased power expenditure authority requested by DPU during the normal County budget cycle due to timing differences in the budget cycles.
Attachments
A - Electric Resource Pool 24-month Budget Package FY25-26