The Placer County Water Agency was created in 1957 under a state legislative act entitled the Placer County Water Agency Act.
The Agency is self-governed with policy and regulatory decisions determined by an independently elected five member Board of Directors. Since its inception the Agency has been actively involved in Placer County's 1,500 square miles on a wide variety of water and energy issues. The Agency's Power System was established with the construction of the Middle Fork American River Project that began in 1963 and was completed in 1967.
To finance the original construction of the MFP, the Agency formed a partnership with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) in which PG&E agreed to pay all of the operating costs for the project and pay off the debt in return for all of the power produced until the bonds are retired in 2013. The Agency, for its part, agreed to issue tax-free revenue bonds, for the construction of the project and received the rights to all of the water developed by the project.
The Middle Fork Project is the eighth largest public power project in California.
