120 Elected Officials Urge CPUC to Issue Fair and Equitable PCIA Decision

Elected officials representing a diverse range of communities throughout the state are urging the California Public Utilities Commission to “put people over profits” and issue a fair and equitable decision on the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment. The PCIA is an “exit fee” charged by the state’s investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to community choice aggregation (CCA) and other departing load customers to compensate for electricity bought in the past at prices that are now above-market.

In an open letter published in The San Francisco Chronicle on September 13 to coincide with the Global Climate Action Summit, ten dozen mayors, councilmembers and supervisors call on CPUC commissioners to consider the many ways local governments are contributing to clean energy advancement and climate change action in California.

“Our cities and counties are among the more than 160 communities across California that have chosen to participate in CCA programs to meet climate action goals, provide residents and businesses with more energy options, ensure local transparency and accountability, and drive new in-state economic development,” the letter notes. “CCAs are reliably serving more than 8 million customers with clean, affordable electricity, and can continue to thrive with a fair cost allocation decision.”

Public, transparent CCA programs born in cities and counties across the state face uncertainty as the CPUC considers changes to the PCIA. CCAs oppose an “alternate proposal” that is currently before the Commission as it would roll back clean energy efforts by communities, hit low-income customers the hardest, and reward big corporate utilities for mismanaging their energy portfolios.

The alternate “would significantly and unfairly increase exit fees charged by big corporate utilities and threaten current and future community choice energy programs — the very programs that are helping the state exceed its emissions-reduction targets,” the letter said.

The letter is signed by more than 25 mayors of California cities both large and small — from Oxnard to Oakland, Rancho Mirage to Rocklin —  as well as scores of city and county councilmembers and supervisors.

The full letter is here: Letter to CPUC 9.13.18