Published on 10/08/2018
Capitol Weekly | October 08, 2018
By Jessica Hice
The California Public Utilities Commission is poised to decide the formula that determines how much consumers are charged by the big investor-owned utility companies, or IOUs—such as Pacific Gas & Electric or Edison, for example—when the customers switch to local community energy programs.
It’s a complex issue, but one with major implications for consumers’ pocketbooks.
If an IOU customer decides to leave and switch to a local community-run program, an exit fee called a “power charge indifference adjustment,” or PCIA, is charged. This charge, posted on every investor-owned utility bill, compensates the utility company for energy contracts bought in the past that are still in effect.
We are effectively being told to change our business model. CCAs aren’t guaranteed cost recovery the way utility companies are. We won’t abandon all programs on day one, but long-term programs won’t work.
Director of Regulatory Affairs
Sonoma Clean Power
Read the full story here.
