In 2025, California Choice Energy Authority (CalChoice) celebrated a year of landmark achievements, marking a transformative period of growth and community impact. By establishing the Programs Advisory Committee to exploring and developing new energy programs, the agency created a collaborative framework that prioritizes affordability and the diversification of offerings to meet local climate goals.
A standout success was the launch of the Power Choice CARE program, which provides no-cost solar and battery storage to low-income residents. This initiative is estimated to reduce customer energy bills by a transformative 55%. Additionally, the Disadvantaged Community Green Tariff program, marketed in partnership with Tripepi Smith, is forecasted to provide eligible customers with 100% renewable energy at no additional cost and an average annual saving of 20% on their bills.
Progress in energy efficiency was made possible through high-impact collaborations with the County of Los Angeles and Frontier Energy. These partnerships facilitated the Joint CCA Elect-to-Administer Energy Efficiency (ETA EE) program and the Equitable Building Decarbonization (EBD) residential initiative. CalChoice successfully advanced the ETA EE program plan to the California Public Utilities Commission, which is expected to secure $2.7 million in funding for its participating member agencies over the next three years. Through its partnership with the Southern California Coalition and Los Angeles County, CalChoice will also offer the EBD program, which provides installation of energy efficiency upgrades to eligible single-family and multi-family residents at no-cost.
The Solar + Storage category saw remarkable growth, with the Power Choice program achieving a total photovoltaic system capacity of 1,405.70 kWDC and generating over $564,000 in revenue to date. The program, which is administered by CalChoice partner Participate.Energy, offers residential roof top solar and battery storage installs, battery retrofits and specialized solutions for commercial and municipal partners. Meanwhile, CalChoice pioneered the Virtual Power Plant frontier by exploring Distributed Energy Management Systems to ensure long-term grid reliability.
Building on this momentum, CalChoice is carrying its success into 2026 with the debut of the FlexWise demand response suite and the full rollout of the $280 million Southern California EBD coalition program.
“Our focus remains on building a cost-effective portfolio of impactful programs,” said CalChoice Interim CEO Rob Johnson. “By prioritizing equity and local climate goals, we are ensuring our member agencies can maximize their impact even with limited resources”.
With these foundational achievements in place, CalChoice enters the new year ready to lead the transition toward a more resilient, affordable and decarbonized energy future for all its member communities.
