The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2002–2010
California let cities buy power for their residents, so clean energy could scale
Assembly Bill 117 let a city or county pool its residents' load and buy electricity itself, turning a dispersed customer base into one big buyer.
California Legislature · Marin Clean Energy (MCE) · Community Choice Aggregators
the move
Individual households buy electricity from a regulated utility and have almost no say over its source. Community Choice Aggregation gives a city or county the authority to become the default electricity buyer on their behalf.
Assembly Bill 117, passed in 2002, established CCA in California. A local government can form a Community Choice Aggregator that combines the demand of all customers in its jurisdiction, procures electricity on their behalf, and has the incumbent utility continue to deliver and bill for the power.
Customers get, by default, the cleaner power their community chooses to buy, and they may opt out. The local government becomes an accountable buyer with real purchasing scale, so it can contract directly for renewable generation rather than accepting whatever the utility offers.
why it works
- A community's load, pooled, gives a local government the leverage of a large buyer.
- Opt-out, not opt-in, makes the aggregation the default, so the cleaner supply reaches most residents without individual effort.
- The local aggregator is accountable to voters, so procurement decisions are visible and democratic.
- The incumbent utility still owns the wires, so the aggregation improves the generation mix without duplicating the grid.
what transfers
If individuals are too small to buy well, aggregate them into one accountable buyer; a default-and-opt-out structure gives the buyer scale while still leaving residents a choice.
what came after
Marin County's Marin Clean Energy became California's first CCA and began serving customers in 2010. CCAs spread across the state and became major procurers of new renewables, shifting purchasing power from a handful of investor-owned utilities to local public bodies.
references
- CCA: What is it? (California Community Choice Association)
- 16 percent opt out of Marin Clean Energy, below agency forecast
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