Evelyn Kahl Joins CalCCA as General Counsel
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 3.4.2020
Press Contact: Leora Broydo Vestel
(415) 999-4757 | leora@cal-cca.org
Evelyn Kahl Joins CalCCA as General Counsel
Kahl to lead association’s policy team in support of community choice energy in California
Concord, Calif. – The California Community Choice Association (CalCCA) is pleased to announce that Evelyn Kahl has joined CalCCA in the newly established role of General Counsel. Kahl brings to the role more than three decades’ experience representing energy industry clients, including Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs), large electricity and natural gas customers, and self-generation developers.
Kahl is well known for her expertise in advocating for reasonable utility rules and rates before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and other state energy agencies, and her ability to bring diverse stakeholders to the table to find common ground solutions to complicated energy issues. With Kahl as general counsel, CalCCA is well-positioned to lead in offering workable solutions for California’s rapidly evolving energy system, while supporting the growth and long-term sustainability of community choice in California.
“We’re thrilled to have Evie in-house to lead our growing policy team,” said CalCCA Executive Director Beth Vaughan. “Evie is uniquely qualified to represent the interests of CCAs given her wealth of experience tackling complex energy matters in our primary regulatory settings and her ability to drive collaboration and consensus results.”
CalCCA first engaged Kahl in 2017 to represent the association in the CPUC’s Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) rulemaking. She has also represented CalCCA in the Resource Adequacy (RA) and Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) proceedings and worked to support the association’s legislative program.
Kahl successfully led CalCCA’s efforts in 2019 to reach a settlement agreement with key energy market stakeholders that proposes a new resource adequacy “central buyer” structure in California to help ensure the reliability of the state’s electric system, while preserving local procurement autonomy. The settlement parties include CalCCA, generators, energy service providers, and an investor-owned utility (IOU).
Kahl has also supported CalCCA in its co-leadership roles with IOUs in PCIA Phase 2 working groups, achieving consensus around the PCIA benchmark and IOU portfolio optimization. In the CPUC’s resource adequacy proceeding, Kahl successfully argued for a recent stay of the Commission’s decision on import RA.
Prior to joining CalCCA, Kahl was Shareholder in Buchalter’s San Francisco office and part of the firm’s Energy & Natural Resources Practice Group. Before joining Buchalter, she was a founding partner of Alcantar & Kahl LLP from 1998-2018.
Kahl is a member of the Conference of California Public Utility Counsel, the Association of Women in Water, Energy, and Environment, and is a certified mediator. She earned her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and her B.A. magna cum laude from Concordia College. Kahl is included in the 2020 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America for her work in energy law.
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About CalCCA: Launched in 2016, the California Community Choice Association (CalCCA) represents California’s community choice electricity providers before the state Legislature and at regulatory agencies, advocating for a level playing field and opposing policies that unfairly discriminate against CCAs and their customers. There are currently 19 operational CCA programs in California serving approximately 10 million customers.
For more information about CalCCA and community choice, visit www.cal-cca.org. To stay current on CCA in California, sign up for our mailing list here.
