Sacramento Municipal Utility District
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The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) is a community-owned
electric utility An electric utility is a company in the electric power industry (often a public utility) that engages in electricity generation and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a major pr ...
serving
Sacramento County Sacramento County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,585,055. Its county seat is Sacramento, which has been the state capital of California since 1854. Sacramento County is the ...
and parts of
Placer County Placer County ( ; Spanish for "sand deposit"), officially the County of Placer, is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 404,739. The county seat is Auburn. Placer County is included in the G ...
. It is one of the ten largest publicly owned
utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...
in the United States, generating the bulk of its power through natural gas (estimated 35.2% of production total in 2020) and large hydroelectric generation plants (29.1% in 2020). SMUD's green power (renewable) energy output was estimated as 33.8% in 2020. SMUD owned the
Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station The Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station is a decommissioned nuclear power plant built by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) in Herald, California. History In 1966, SMUD purchased in southeast Sacramento County for a nuclear p ...
nuclear power plant, shut down by a vote of the utility's rate-payers in the late 1980s. Although the nuclear plant is now decommissioned, its now-unused iconic towers remain on the site. Solar arrays and the 500-megawatt Cosumnes gas-fired plant have risen in proximity to the towers. SMUD's headquarters building, built in the late 1950s on the edge of the East Sacramento neighborhood, is notable for its mural by Sacramento artist
Wayne Thiebaud Morton Wayne Thiebaud ( ; November 15, 1920 – December 25, 2021) was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, lipsticks, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot dogs—as well as for his la ...
. The mural wraps around the ground floor of the building and is accessible to the public. It is one of the earliest major works by the artist, and remains his largest installation to date.


History

Created by a vote of Sacramento County residents on 2 July 1923 pursuant to the Municipal Utility District Act, SMUD's ability to provide power to its customer-owners was stymied in the courts for nearly a quarter century by the investor-owned Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) of San Francisco. A court ruling eventually sided with SMUD, which began providing power at the beginning of 1946. SMUD is a public agency of the State of California, and as such is not subject to the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the United States federal agency that regulates the transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas in interstate commerce and regulates the transportation of oil by pipeline in ...
's jurisdiction under the
Federal Power Act The Federal Power Act is a law appearing in Chapter 12 of Title 16 of the United States Code, entitled "Federal Regulation and Development of Power". Enacted as the Federal Water Power Act on June 10, 1920, and amended many times since, its origina ...
. Echoes of SMUD's fight to fulfill its original mandate from the voters have continued in more recent turf battles with PG&E. In the 1980s, residents of
Folsom Folsom may refer to: People * Folsom (surname) Places in the United States * Folsom, Perry County, Alabama * Folsom, Randolph County, Alabama * Folsom, California * Folsom, Georgia * Folsom, Louisiana * Folsom, Missouri * Folsom, New Jerse ...
voted to join SMUD, with PG&E fighting the annexation in the courts. Folsom rate-payers are now part of SMUD. In 2006, PG&E successfully convinced SMUD rate-payers and rate-payers in
Yolo County Yolo County (; Wintun: ''Yo-loy''), officially the County of Yolo, is a county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 216,403. Its county seat is Woodland. Yolo County is incl ...
to vote down an annexation proposal that would have extended the public utility's service territory to include the Yolo County cities of
West Sacramento West Sacramento (also known as West Sac) is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. The city is separated from Sacramento by the Sacramento River, which also separates Sacramento and Yolo counties. It is a fast-growing community; the ...
,
Davis Davis may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Davis (Antarctica) * Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago) * Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land Canada * Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community * Davis Strait, between Nunavut and Gre ...
and
Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...
, along with territory between the three cities. In February 2020, 75 project customers, including the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, received permanent federal water contracts for the Central Valley Project.


Governance

SMUD is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors. Each member is elected by residents in a "ward" or constituency for four-year terms. As of July 2020 the directors were: * Brandon Rose, Ward 1 * Nancy Bui-Thompson, Ward 2, Board Vice President * Gregg Fishman, Ward 3 * Rosanna Herber, Ward 4 * Rob Kerth, Ward 5, Board President * David Tamayo, Ward 6 * Heidi Sanborn, Ward 7


Facilities

SMUD's
electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utility, utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its Electricity delivery, delivery (Electric power transmi ...
capacity derives from the watershed of the South Fork of the
American River , name_etymology = , image = American River CA.jpg , image_size = 300 , image_caption = The American River at Folsom , map = Americanrivermap.png , map_size = 300 , map_caption ...
, called the "
Upper American River Project The Upper American River Project (UARP) is a hydroelectric system operated by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) of Sacramento, California in the United States. The system consists of 11 dams and eight powerhouses that tap the upper ...
(UARP)" in federal licensing documents. The project is an extensive complex of multiple retention dams, diversion dams, reservoirs, canals, tunnels and
hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
powerplants. The plants are run during hours of
peak Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-di ...
demand, though retaining sufficient
flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
control capacity dictates water releases to some extent. From upstream to downstream, the District's UARP assets include: * Rubicon Dam and Reservoir, * Buck Island Dam and Reservoir, * Loon Lake Dam and Reservoir, built 1963, * Gerle Creek Dam and Reservoir, * Robbs Peak Reservoir, * Ice House Dam and Reservoir, * Union Valley Dam and Reservoir, built 1963, * Junction Dam and Reservoir, * Camino Dam and Reservoir, * Brush Creek Dam and Reservoir, * Slab Creek Dam and Reservoir, SMUD owns the first of potentially two
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...
s (the Cosumnes Power Plant, brought online in 2006 on property adjacent to the decommissioned Rancho Seco nuclear facility) as well as
wind-powered Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically, w ...
and
solar-powered Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic ef ...
electric generation facilities. In addition, the utility owns some small gas-fired peaker plants for meeting the highest energy demands, typically on Sacramento's notably blistering summer days. SMUD is in the Advisory Council of the
PHEV Research Center The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
.


References


External links


''Bay Guardian'' interview re: SMUD history
{{authority control Municipal electric utilities of the United States Public utilities of the United States
Municipal Utility District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
Special districts of California Companies based in Sacramento, California