Community Aggregation Programs
The California Public Utilities Commission related that it has instituted a rulemaking through which to consider alternatives to the amount that community choice aggregation and direct access customers pay in order to keep remaining utility customers financially unaffected by their departure, which is required by law.
The commission explained that utilities currently employ a power charge indifference adjustment (PCIA) to ensure that customers who remain with the utility do not end up taking on the long-term financial obligations the utility incurred on behalf of now-departed customers. As examples of such financial obligations, the commission pointed to utility expenditures on power plant construction, and, more commonly, long-term power purchase contracts with independent power producers.
It said that the rise in the number of California customers taking advantage of community choice aggregation opportunities made it more important than ever that customer bills reflect a fair allocation of costs. The commission reported that a previously convened working group had already identified three potential alternatives to the PCIA as it now exists:
- A new "portfolio allocation methodology";
- A lump-sum buyout of what would otherwise be a community choice aggregation customer's PCIA obligation; and
- The assignment of certain procurement contracts of the investor-owned utilities to community choice aggregators, in lieu of imposing the PCIA.
(Rulemaking 17-06-026)