Community Choice Programs

The California Public Utilities Commission has adopted a timeline and waiver process for community choice aggregators to serve electric load. According to the commission, a specific time frame is needed because existing resource adequacy rules require all retail electricity vendors to buy enough electricity to meet demand. However, the commission said, under current practice, a community choice aggregator — which is considered a retailer of electricity — can start serving new customers with little advance notice, which is inconsistent with the procurement rules.

As a result, the commission warned, utilities may end up over-procuring, a circumstance that has implications for cost-shifting between different groups of customers. The commission thus ruled that reasonable restrictions on community choice aggregators had become necessary since such service providers are now part of the landscape in California. In fact, the commission noted, by next year aggregators are projected to serve as much as 20% of California’s load. (Resolution E- 4907)