On Tuesday, July 11, 2017 the City of Palmdale City Council approved a consultant services agreement with California Choice Energy Authority (CCEA) to conduct a feasibility study and develop an implementation plan for the City’s participation in a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program.
“The City of Palmdale demonstrates the ambition needed to launch a CCA program and is eager to provide more renewable energy and cost savings to residents. CCEA will provide the services needed to determine the City’s feasibility of launching a CCA program.” says City of Lancaster Mayor and CCEA Board Member R. Rex Parris.
CCA programs allow local governments to purchase and generate electricity for ratepayers within a specific region and offer an alternative to electricity purchased and distributed by investor-owned utility companies.
To confirm the City’s feasibility of launching a CCA program, CCEA will request data from the City’s local investor-owned utility company Southern California Edison. CCEA partners with industry experts who can analyze the data and provide an overview of the City’s potential electrical load, number of customers, startup costs and rates needed to be competitive in the market.
“CCEA staff and partners are experts in CCA and are equipped with the necessary knowledge to assist the City of Palmdale with their CCA implementation efforts,” says Mayor R. Rex Parris. “The City of Lancaster formed CCEA after the successfully launching Lancaster Choice Energy and it’s our goal to share our CCA knowledge with cities that are looking to form a CCA program as well.”
Following completion of the feasibility study, CCEA will develop an implementation plan for the City based on the information acquired from the study. The implementation plan will outline the organizational structure and operational functions of the City’s CCA program. The California Public Utilities Commission must approve the City’s implementation plan before the CCA program can be formed.
The City of Palmdale’s consultant services contract with CCEA does not bind the City to partnership with CCEA nor does it commit the City to formal adoption of a CCA program. Following the feasibility study and implementation plan development, the City of Palmdale may still decide whether to form a CCA program. If the City decides to form a CCA, the City may choose to join CCEA as a partner city.
CCEA is a pioneering Community Choice Aggregation solution for cities in California. Formed through the experience of the City of Lancaster as it went through the launch of its CCA in 2014, the joint powers authority provides an innovative model that retains local control of utility services for cities who partner with CCEA while alleviating operational risk and administrative overhead associated with the implementation of CCA. CCEA’s joint power authority model is quickly becoming the gold standard for implementation of CCA by California cities.