Nora Sheriff

Practice Areas

Energy & Natural Resources Law

Corporate Law

Career

Nora Sheriff is a Shareholder in Buchalter’s San Francisco office and a member of the Firm’s Energy & Natural Resources Practice Group. With decades of experience in the energy industry, Ms. Sheriff focuses her practice on electric and natural gas regulatory and administrative litigation, legislative efforts, and end-use contractual transactions; she works to ensure clean energy tools are available for large end-use customer use to help mitigate the impacts of the high cost of California power on California manufacturing and avoid carbon emissions leakage by keeping manufacturing in California. Her clients include cement, steel, industrial gas, pipeline, mining, beverage, food packaging and cold storage industry corporations, oil and gas energy companies working to advance a lower carbon future, as well as wholesale demand response providers, scheduling coordinator/distributed energy resource aggregators, integration technology solutions providers and renewable energy systems developers. Ms. Sheriff represents large power customers and clean power stakeholders, informs, and helps shape California’s energy policy debates, and advocates for clean energy and large end-user ratepayer interests.

Ms. Sheriff also advises clients on clean energy and climate change aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act and its impact on transactions, regulatory ramifications and tax credit benefits, including ITC, PTC and the newly added credits for storage and other technologies.

Work Highlights

- Represents large power users and standby customers in CPUC-jurisdictional utility general rate cases and rate design window applications, focusing on marginal cost, revenue allocation and rate design issues.

- Advocates for large customer and participant interests in CPUC demand response proceedings and the implementation of integration of demand response into wholesale markets.

- Builds and leads multiparty collaborations among diverse stakeholders in administrative litigation and settlement contexts, achieving successful outcomes for her clients in both the Diablo Canyon and SONGS proceedings.

- Engages in targeted California ISO stakeholder processes on behalf of large customer interests, maintaining positive working relationships with key participants.

- Promotes large power end-use interests in CPUC integrated resource planning and resource adequacy proceedings.

- Counsels clients on potential impacts of CPUC policies regarding renewables, demand response and energy efficiency.

- Advocates for balanced reform to departing load charges in support of retail choice.

- Advises clients on Self Generation Incentive Process and distributed generation issues.

- Advocates for lawful and practicable confidentiality policy and practices at the CPUC and the CEC.

- Negotiates end-use power contracts and departing load matters.

- Assists clients with renewable resource contracting matters with state agencies.

- Advises clients on contracting with local agencies for provision of technology solutions for integration of renewable resources.

- Advocates for rational allocation of natural gas costs, such as gas Public Purpose Program surcharges and Pipeline Safety Enhancement Program costs.

- Assists customer generation facilities to navigate the interconnection process.

- Litigates Qualifying Facility issues, including avoided cost pricing and contract policy issues.

- Counsels clients regarding CEC jurisdiction and siting process.