The City of Palmdale has partnered with California Choice Energy Authority (CalChoice) to implement a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program that will offer lower energy costs /higher renewable energy to residents and local businesses. The program is expected to start serving the Palmdale community in September 2020.
“CCA is an opportunity for the City to help manage high energy costs and provide long term benefits for our residents and local businesses,” said City of Palmdale City Manager James Purtee. “For the first time, our community is going to have energy options beyond the choices selected by the local private utility.”
The City has conducted extensive research to ensure CCA success. In 2018, CalChoice completed a technical study that confirmed the City’s ability to establish a viable CCA program for the Palmdale community. The City’s CCA implementation plan, submitted in late-2018, was approved by the California Public Utilities Commission in March 2019.
“The City of Palmdale has made a great decision in moving forward with a CCA program,” said CalChoice Executive Director Jason Caudle. “We look forward to working with the City to launch a program that will benefit the entire Palmdale community.”
CalChoice will guide the City through the CCA-implementation process, offering a range of services such as rate analysis, financial projections, load forecasting and power procurement, but the City will maintain all decision-making control. Unlike traditional joint powers authorities (JPAs), CalChoice is a hybrid joint powers authority (JPA) in which all members benefit from cost-effective services without sacrificing local control. The City of Palmdale will continue to make all decisions and manage its roles such as local governance and oversight, rate setting and community outreach. Once the program launches, CalChoice will continue to provide the City with services related to CCA operations.
Initially, the City’s CCA program revenue will be allocated to a reserve meant to ensure long-term rate stability; the City will also use revenue to fund future energy-related community programs.
CalChoice offers support for local governments in every phase of the CCA program implementation process, providing feasibility services to determine whether a CCA program is appropriate, developing implementation plans for members to submit to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and managing the implementation process to launch the CCA program, as well as continuing to support members once their CCA program becomes operational. To learn more about partnering opportunities with CalChoice, please visit www.CaliforniaChoiceEnergyAuthority.com.