California Municipal Aggregation Leaders Again Demand Changes To Power Charge Indifference Adjustment

Nearly 100 elected officials and community leaders throughout California called on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today to modify rules relating to the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA), a fee charged to all electricity consumers for utility above market generation costs

The 99 signatories include board members of 11 local Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs)

"The 2018 PCIA decision promised stakeholders transparency and stability. Neither outcome has occurred," the letter reads. "The heart of the problem is that the current regulatory structures governing exit fees provide no incentive for Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) to reduce their portfolio costs – an outcome that hurts all energy consumers in the state, customers of the IOUs and the CCAs."

The leaders said that, "The 'exit fee' has risen more than 600 percent since 2013 in the Pacific Gas & Electric service area. The fee has nearly doubled since the CPUC changed the PCIA rules in 2018. The state's two other IOUs, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric, are set to raise their 'exit fees' again this year, in the middle of a global pandemic and its accompanying economic hardships, raising rates for consumers."

The letter makes two specific asks of the CPUC to reduce volatility and cost impacts:

• Adopt the recommendation proposed by the California Community Choice Association (CalCCA) and Southern California Edison in the public working group that requires utilities to allocate resources to load serving entities whose customers pay for them, and to encourage the optimization of supply portfolios; and,

• Adopt transparency measures on exit fees that give consumers more information on what they are paying for.

The elected officials signed as individuals and their activities should not be construed as official actions or representations of the cities or municipalities that they represent.