CCAs Win Exit Fees Skirmish but Fight Continues

Last Wednesday afternoon, August 1, 2018, one day before the California Public Utilities Commission held a scheduled argument in the matter, Administrative Law Judge Stephen Roscow issued a Proposed Decision Modifying the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment Methodology, or PCIA. The PCIA is the bill charge assessed to a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) customer to cover generation costs incurred by the utility prior to the customer’s change in service provider.

The Proposed Decision, if adopted by the full Commission, would be a major step both in leveling the playing field for CCAs and utilities and in ensuring fairness to customers who leave utilities for CCA service.

At the hearing Thursday afternoon, it was clear that the three major California electric utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison Company (SCE) and San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E), were fighting an uphill battle. While the Proposed Decision had been a setback in many areas, utility representatives primarily focused their arguments on three issues: (1) the Proposed Decision’s implementation of a cost cap of 2.2¢/kWh; (2) its treatment of Legacy UOG; and (3) its mechanism for truing-up costs.

By contrast, CCA representatives pointed out that the Proposed Decision is “balanced and makes sense,” and moves California toward an outcome where the utilities’ portfolios will match their bundled service customers’ load. The CCAs encouraged the Commission to keep the existing paradigm for a couple of years (while changing components of the present PCIA) and to create staggered auctions of existing utility contracts over the 2020-2021 time frame.

Read more here: CCAs Win Exit Fees Skirmish but Fight Continues