CLASS OF 2016
WORLD-GENERATION FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016
19
HOMEGROWN MAKES A DIFFERENCE
It’s not uncommon on restaurant
menus today to see where the ingredients
in your meal are coming from: beets dug
from a family farm in Virginia, pork pas-
tured on a green field in South Carolina,
blueberries from wild bushes in Maine.
That menu might even tell you how many
miles your food traveled to your plate, and
the growing trend seems to be the closer
the better. “Buy Local” is the buzz phrase
— and those who do are called “loca-
vores.” Maybe buying local should also be
considered when it comes to power.
Public power seems to be gaining in
popularity, or at least gaining attention.
Some communities in the U.S. are making
an effort to buy their distribution systems
and run their own utilities, although the
resistance from incumbent utilities has
been stiff to say the least. “Our business
model is appealing — local decision-mak-
ing, local jobs, and revenue that is pumped
back into the community. It’s no surprise
that as the buy local trend grows, so does
the number of towns looking to go public
with their power,” Kelly said.
PUBLIC POWER
Public power is in close to 2,000 cities
and towns and serves 48 million people. If
customers experience an outage, they call
a member of their community. And while
the idea is gaining traction in communities
throughout the country, many of our own
customers don’t know the value of the utili-
ty they have in their own towns and cities.
“It’s our job at the American Public Power
Association to help you tell your custom-
ers, your communities and the world the
public power story.” Kelly added.
APPA 2016–2018
Raising awareness of public power is
one of six focus areas in APPA’s 2016–
2018 strategic plan. The industry is
changing, and that change is driven by
technology and regulations that will
impact your customers. Amidst this
change, public power customers need to
know the value they’re getting through
their community-owned utility.
EPA
Another strategic priority APPA will
be working on in 2016–2018 is addressing
increased federal regulation of public
power utilities. A prime example of this is
the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency’s Clean Power Plan, a plan to limit
carbon dioxide emissions from existing
power plants. In 2015, APPA staff labored
long to provide comments to the EPA on
its proposed regulations, which would
have imposed drastic requirements on
many APPA members.
When the final regulations came out in
August 2015, the EPA had improved a
number of its provisions. But the final rule
is still challenging for many of our mem-
bers, and in fact will be harder for some of
them to meet than the first proposal.
While APPA supports the need to lower
CO2 emissions, we are concerned that the
EPA’s plan still tries in many states to do
too much, too fast. The ultimate outcome
will be an adverse impact on electricity
costs for a substantial number of APPA
members.
But in the meantime, APPA members
have to be prepared to help their states
comply.
“The public power business model
strives to deliver low-cost, reliable power
while practicing good environmental stew-
ardship. I’ve been representing communi-
ty-owned utilities for more than three
decades now and I believe in the mission
of our members,” Kelly shared.
I hope members of their own public
power community, appreciate and support
their homegrown utility and know that
they make a difference every day.
ABOUT SUE KELLY
Sue Kelly has been president and CEO
of the American Public Power Association
(APPA) since April 2014. Prior to becoming
president and CEO, Kelly was APPA’s
senior vice president, policy analysis and
general counsel. In that capacity, she helped
APPA and its members in energy policy for-
mulation and with policy advocacy before
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC), federal courts, and other govern-
mental and industry policy forums.
From 1998–2004, Kelly was a principal
with the Washington, D.C. law firm of
Miller, Balis & O’Neil, P.C. She represent-
ed cooperatively and publicly owned elec-
tric utilities and their trade associations, as
well as other governmental entities, assist-
ing them with restructuring-related issues
before the FERC, federal appellate courts,
and state public utility commissions. From
1995–1998, Kelly served as the Senior
Regulatory Counsel for the National Rural
Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).
She represented NRECA before the FERC,
state public utility commissions and courts,
and served as a liaison from NRECA to
many industry groups.
In March 2008 she was appointed to a
one-year term on the U.S. Department of
Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee
(EAC). She served a second term on the
EAC from June 2012 to April 2014. In
April 2010, Kelly was elected president of
the Energy Bar Association. In January
2015, she was selected to serve as an asso-
ciate member on the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission’s Energy and
Environmental Markets Advisory
Committee. She is also a member of the E
Source Advisory Board.
SUE KELLY
President and CEO
American Public Power Assn. (APPA)
