PORTLAND, OR - The Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP) is taking the first steps toward standing up the Program Review Committee and Nominating Committee.

Program Review Committee (PRC)

The PRC is a stakeholder-based sector representative group; in the future FERC-jurisdictional binding program the PRC will be charged with receiving, considering, and proposing design changes to the WRAP, and will serve as the clearing house for most recommended design changes. These recommended changes could come from WRAP Participants, the Committee of State Representatives, the Board of Directors, other committees, stakeholders, and the public.

Prior to FERC approval and the future binding phases of the WRAP (anticipated to be late 2023-2024), it is necessary to stand an informal version of the PRC.  The NWPP and the RA Participants Committee (RAPC) will work with the sectors described below to identify sector representatives for these committees. The initial task of the PRC will be to establish its committee processes and procedures and recommend a process and criteria for receiving and reviewing design updates recommendations. This will include recommending a process for seeking and incorporating public comment and integrating with other committees. It is expected that the time commitment for participating as a PRC representative in Phase 3A (through December 2022) is roughly estimated at 2-4 hours per week.

There is no cost to participate on the PRC. The PRC will be supported with staff from the NWPP (for facilitation and management) and the Program Operator (PO) (for program design). 

The PRC will require representation from the following non-participant sectors (and number of representatives):

• Independent power producers (2)
• Public interest organizations (2)
• Retail customer advocacy (1)
• Industrial customer advocacy (1)
• Load serving entity or designated representative, with loads in the WRAP represented by other LREs and not otherwise eligible for any other sector (1) 

Nominating Committee (NC)

In preparation for selection of a future independent Board of Directors for the NWPP, a NC must also be established. The NC is also a stakeholder-based sector representative group.

The high-level scope for the NC is to identify and document procedures for the committee and work with an executive search firm to identify a slate of candidates for the NWPP’s first independent board. The time commitment for participating as a Nominating Committee representative in Phase 3A is estimated at roughly 2 hours per week.

There is no cost to participate on this committee. The NC will be supported with staff from the NWPP. There is no expectation that the PRC and NC representatives are the same from each sector. These informal committees will be stood up in tandem with the filing to be submitted by NWPP to FERC for approval of the binding WRAP; if FERC ultimately orders changes to the structure or scope of these committees, these committees will need to be modified before the binding program begins.

The NC will require representation from the following non-participant sectors and number of reps):

• Independent power producers (1)
• Public interest organizations (1)
• Retail customer advocacy (1)
• Industrial customer advocacy (1)
• Load serving entity or designated representative, with loads in the WRAP represented by other LREs and not otherwise eligible for any other sector (1) 

The NWPP will be hosting a meeting in early January 2022 to help sectors begin to organize. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 12th 1-2:30pm PT. You can register for the event here: https://www.nwpp.org/events/112.

“The NWPP is looking forward to getting stakeholders engaged in governance and program design updates in this hands-on way; it’s an exciting evolution of the organization,” says Gregg Carrington, NWPP chief operating officer.  

The committees will also include representation from sectors participating in the WRAP (on the PRC and NC) and in other NWPP programs (on the NC); the selection of those representatives is being managed through NWPP participant committee meetings. Representatives identified from all sectors will be shared on the NWPP website once the committees are convened.

Further information on these committees, sector representation, and updates to the WRAP governance design is expected to be shared early in 2022, pending the resolution of ongoing discussions with stakeholders.

Media Contact

NWPP:  wrap@nwpp.org or Rebecca Sexton at 253-279-3002