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, Nora 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, medical gas, energy infrastructure, minerals processing, beverage, and cold storage industry corporations, oil and gas energy companies working to advance a lower carbon future, the largest provider of renewable natural gas for transportation in North America, the only private, all-electric, high-speed rail provider, investment banks and lenders, clean energy companies offering scalable, low-carbon solutions to end-users, Municipal Utilities, Cities, Water Agencies, as well as wholesale demand response providers, scheduling coordinator/distributed energy resource aggregators, integration technology solutions providers and renewable energy systems developers. Nora 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.

Nora is recognized by Chambers USA as a leader in her field in the area of Energy, State Regulatory & Litigation (California) and in the Best Lawyers in America, Energy Law and Natural Resources Law, since 2023.

She served as President of the Conference of California Public Utility Counsel (CCPUC) for the 2023-2024 term and on the CCPUC Board (2018-2024).

Representative Matters

• Build and lead broad coalitions of ratepayer representatives to fight for affordable electric and gas utility rates.
• Advocate for reasonable cost of capital outcomes before the CPUC on behalf of large power electric customers and non-core gas transportation ratepayers.
• Engage in gas policy proceedings for non-core gas shipper, producer and marketer interests.
• Represent large power electric customers in CPUC utility general rate cases and rate design window applications, focusing on marginal cost, revenue allocation and rate design issues.
• Represent large non-core gas shippers and renewable natural gas vehicle tariff customers in CPUC utility general rate cases, cost allocation and rate design applications.
• Participate in Regional Organization stakeholder and working group processes to advance the interests of large electric ratepayers in California.
• Advocate for large customer and participant interests in CPUC demand response proceedings and the implementation of integration of demand response into wholesale markets.
• Help clients navigate transitions between bundled and unbundled electric utility service.
• Form and direct multiparty collaborations among diverse stakeholders in administrative litigation and settlement contexts, achieving successful outcomes for her clients in complex, contentious proceedings.
• Develop and guide implementation of streamlined review processes for grade-separated rail crossings at CPUC for all-electric high-speed rail.
• Advise and advocate for clients regarding CPUC regulation of transfer or encumbrance of public utility property.
• Counsel clients on potential impacts of CPUC transition policies to a Net Zero Carbon future.
• Negotiate end-use power contracts and departing load matters.

Events and Presentations

• Panelist, Customer Impacts, Lesley K. McAllister Symposium on Climate, Energy & Law, San Diego, CA (Nov. 1, 2024)
• Moderator, CCPUC Annual Meeting, Indian Wells, CA (May 5 – May 7, 2024)
• Moderator, A Conversation with Commissioner Karen Douglas, CCPUC Annual Meeting, Santa Barbara, CA (May 9, 2023)
• Panelist, Remote Practice and Participation at the CPUC: Practice, Tips, Trends, and What’s Next, CCPUC Annual Meeting, Santa Cruz, CA (May 2, 2022)
• Moderator, Lunch Hour Chat with Commissioner Darcie Houck, CCPUC Lunchtime Webinar, (May 11, 2021)
• Panelist, Commission on Catastrophic Wildfire Cost and Recovery Meeting, Presentation of expert testimony, (April 29th, 2019)
• Moderator, Challenging the Grid: Planning for a Reliable, Carbon-free Energy Future, CCPUC Annual Meeting, Monterey Bay, CA (October 29, 2019)
• Moderator, Optimizing DER Portfolios and Electrifying Transportation to Meet Climate Goals and Enhance Grid Reliability, Safety and Security Panel, at Global Climate Action Summit Affiliate Event “Distributed Energy Resources: A Clean Energy Pathway to Mitigating Climate Change”, San Francisco, CA (Sept. 12, 2018)
• Panelist, CMTA Energy Roundtable, Sacramento, CA (June 21, 2018)
• Panelist, Customer Choice and the Future of Energy Panel; Women in Energy Women EmPowered Conference, Sacramento, CA (Dec. 12, 2017)
• Panelist, What Customers Want, California Public Utilities Commission and California Energy Commission Joint En Banc on Changing Nature of Consumer and Retail Choice in California, Sacramento, CA (May 19, 2017)
• Panelist, Roundtable Discussion on Governance Documents, California Energy Commission Lead Commissioner Workshop on Regional Grid Operator and Governance, Sacramento, CA (Oct. 16, 2016)
• Panelist, Retail Rate Revisions – Impacts on the California Energy Market, Infocast California Energy Summit 2015 SF, CA (May 12, 2015)
• Panelist, Procuring Preferred Resources in California – Impacts on Renewable Energy, Demand Response, and Other Projects, Infocast California Energy Summit 2015 SF, CA (May 12, 2015)
• Panelist, Retail Rate Revisions – Impacts on the California Energy Market, Infocast California Energy Summit 2014 SF, CA (May 29, 2014)
• Panelist, Customer Perspectives on the California Energy Market, InfoCast California Energy Summit 2013, SF, CA (Dec. 4, 2013)