Resource Planners

The Utilities Department for the City of Palo Alto has two positions available for a Resource Planner.

Position Overview:

The Resource Planner, under minimal supervision, performs commodity price and financial forecasting, direct access implementation activities, competitive commodity rate development, resource planning and analysis and management of the Utilities' portfolio of supply resources. Works with the public, legislative and regulatory agencies and consultants providing direction and information on specific programs and projects.

One of the position's primary work areas is to support a variety of state mandated and locally supported activities to reduce green house gas emissions. Tasks this position will be responsible for include analysis (energy savings potential, cost-effectiveness of measures, load analysis, model development, analytical support for rate development) and reporting (coordination of statutory reports to the public, California Energy Commission, legislature, etc).

This position will also assist in coordinating the department's activities in environmental sustainability. Other Resource Planner tasks that may be assigned include assistance with data management, rate development and supply portfolio management tasks.

The core responsibility for the second position is the management of the back office functions. These functions include back office model development, maintenance of central transaction and settlement databases, settlement of commodity purchases with commodity suppliers, implementation and compliance with risk management guidelines and procedures, and assistance with load forecasting for commodity purchases and rate analysis. Other Resource Planner tasks that may be assigned include assistance with rate development, evaluation of alternate supply sources, and evaluation of efficiency measures and programs. 

Distinguishing Features:

Resource Planner is a classification in the Resource Management Division of the Utilities Department. Incumbents in this classification perform supply resource planning, acquisition and portfolio management assignments on a wide range of projects and serve in project manager capacity as required. This class differs from the higher class of Senior Resource Planner in that the latter may have overall management responsibility for major and/or complex short-term and long-term resource planning projects.

Responsibilities:

• Evaluates the Utilities' supply resource portfolio and recommends adjustments to match the City's (and/or customer's) risk and return preferences.
• Develops and assists in the implementation of commodity price risk management strategies and programs.
• Assists in the development of commodity budget forecasts; reviews commodity bills for accuracy and compares to budgeted amounts.
• Assists in the negotiation and writing of contracts for the purchase and/or sales of electric, gas or water resources with suppliers or buyers as appropriate.
• Analyzes and prepares reports on legislative and regulatory activities. Prepares testimony to support the City's position at various regulatory arenas.
• Conducts and prepares reports of wholesale energy products and resource planning studies to yield a portfolio of supply resources to best meet the customers' needs.
• Assists in maintaining liaison with regional resource planning or supply agencies; serves on agency committees as required; evaluates proposals by other agencies in terms of resource costs, availability and consistency with long-term City financial projections and resource needs, and recommends appropriate courses of action.
• Keeps abreast of developments in resource planning processes and in supply resources technologies, seeking out new technologies from public or private sources, evaluating new supplies as appropriate.
• Represents the City on external agencies' task forces and working groups as assigned.
• Manages consultant contracts, utility resource planning projects, schedule coordination, political liaison, public relations, inter-utility coordination, and quality control.
• Assists in rate and cost of service studies as required and formulates recommendations for utilities rates.
• Assists in developing protocols to implement customer choice and direct access.
• Interfaces with regional and local system operators to ensure economic operation of utility systems.
• Develops commodity rates to reflect customer preferences and to be competitive with deregulated market rate offerings to all customer classes.

Minimum Qualifications:

Sufficient education, training and/or work experience to demonstrate possession of the following knowledge, skills, and abilities which would typically be acquired through:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Economics, Mathematics or other related field (Electrical Engineering preferred);
• 6 years of increasingly responsible experience in utilities resource planning, acquisition and portfolio management (Engineering degree may substitute for two years of experience).
  Note: Master's degree in Engineering or other related field and/or registration as a Professional Engineer may be considered in lieu of one year's experience.
• Understanding of forecasting, resource planning, commodity price risk management and commodity price setting techniques.
• The ability to use complex computer models to perform resource planning, commodity price risk management and price setting studies.
• Ability to interpret legislative and regulatory mandates impacting utility demand- and supply-side issues.
• Ability to participate and represent the City in a professional fashion in negotiations and other interactions with customers and external entities.
• Ability to manage projects, coordinate efforts of others, and prepare professional reports and request for proposals.
• Ability to do quantitative analysis.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

To Apply:

More info and apply at: http://www.calopps.org/.