The IOU Code of Conduct requires the investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to be neutral about Community Choice. The Code spells out how this neutrality must be maintained, especially regarding the use of rate-payer funds. In early 2018, however, the IOUs filed a “Petition to Modify” the Code, to remove all restrictions against lobbying with rate-payer funds. …
Campaign Status: Concluded Status/Outcome: CPUC intensifies attack on Community Choice Despite our efforts, on October 11, 2018, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued an Order setting a dramatic increase in the on-going departing load charge levied on Community Choice customers. This Order has already resulted in the cancellation of at least one new Community…
Campaign Status: Concluded Outcome: AB 813 fails to pass the California legislature Due to our efforts and those of over 100 organizations across the state that strongly opposed this bill, AB 813 to privatize governance of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) failed to pass the state legislature. There were many reasons why many organizations…
SB 237 proposes to allow all non-residential electricity customers to procure from private electricity suppliers, under what’s known as Direct Access (DA). Opening up DA would undermine the financial viability of Community Choice programs, placing all their public benefits at risk. Our position argues that expanding DA undermines our climate progress by harming the Community…
Regional expansion of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) is not about creating a regional market, which we already have. It is about the governance of CAISO: essentially, changing control of the regional market and the resulting system of costs and benefits. California would no longer determine its own energy policy destiny, but would become…
Responds to the CPUC’s October 2017 workshop on “California Customer Choice.” Enumerates the many ways in which California’s approach to customer choice–centered on Community Choice energy programs–provides a more compelling model of competition, community engagement, and consumer protection than the failed retail market approach adopted in the 1990s.
In a stealth attack on Community Choice, the CPUC will vote on January 11 on a draconian resolution that would freeze new Community Choice programs. Our take? Further evidence that the CPUC is doing the IOUs’ bidding to halt, delay or otherwise strangle local programs. We argue that the resolution constitutes biased regulatory overreach and…
Written for Community Choice advocates and practitioners, the Guide puts our values and principles at the center of organizing efforts to realize the local benefits a well-designed Community Choice program can provide.
Calls for a NO vote on this measure which would require investor-owned utilities to procure long-term renewable energy contracts at today’s rates, then pass those costs on to Community Choice customers.
Reaction to the rapid expansion of Community Choice programs has challenged new and existing programs to offer more sophisticated energy procurement and risk management strategies. This paper examines an approach that shows potential for helping to optimize benefits while managing regulatory and market uncertainties.
California Choice Energy Authority (CCEA) is a new entity formed by the City of Lancaster to offer Community Choice start-up services especially to smaller communities. Points to areas of concern with this offering and raises questions that communities evaluating CCEA contracts should understand before moving forward.
State law requires that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) support Community Choice programs and enforce utility cooperation with such programs. Yet the CPUC has repeatedly flouted this imperative, as detailed in this report, exhibiting a bias against Community Choice in favor of monopoly utilities.
SB 692 addresses a long-standing structural bias in the way charges are calculated for renewable energy output to access the transmission grid. This two-pager describes both the problem and the proposed fix.
Calls for a NO vote on SB 618, which would tie the hands of Community Choice energy programs by putting approval of their integrated resource plans in the hands of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), an agency that has demonstrated strong bias towards monopoly utilities and against Community Choice.
Calls for a YES vote on SB 692, which will make local renewable projects more competitive, leveling the playing field by ensuring proper allocation of transmission access charges to Community Choice programs based on their actual usage. Please See: SB-692 Background Information.
Proposes an urgent fix for the current Transmission Access Charge (TAC) market distortion. This distortion inhibits vital, community-based renewable energy development and severely limits the benefits that Community Choice programs can deliver to the communities they serve.
Points out the risks posed to communities by the fully outsourced Community Choice program model being offered by Good Energy, Inc.
Opposes a proposal adopted by the California Public Utilities Commission which allows San Diego Gas & Electric to circumvent California’s Community Choice law by setting up a separate division to market against Community Choice initiatives.
Opposes Assembly Bill 1110 as a convoluted, confusing, and biased prescription for reporting greenhouse gas emissions by retail energy suppliers in California.
Calls for sunsetting the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA)–an ongoing charge to Community Choice customers imposed by the monopoly utilities to recover the costs of energy that these utilities procured for customers who have departed to Community Choice programs.
PG&E wants to double the monthly exit fees it charges Community Choice customers…help us oppose this outrage! Take Action: Action 1: Send an email to the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), to oppose a dramatic increase in exit fees for Community Choice energy programs, and copy the Governor and your legislators to hold the CPUC…
Send an email to the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) to oppose a dramatic increase in exit fees for Community Choice Programs. See details below. Background: The Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) is an exit fee that PG&E charges customers who switch to a Community Choice energy program. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) allows PG&E…