Established in 2017, Clean Power Alliance (CPA) has quickly become the largest CCA in the nation. CPA currently serves over 900,000 homes and roughly 3.5 million people throughout Southern California. Beginning in May 2019, CPA will also provide clean energy to approximately 130,000 businesses as well.
As a Community Choice Aggregator (CCA), Clean Power Alliance is a government entity that purchases clean power directly on the open energy market and delivers it to consumers on existing Southern California Edison (SCE) power lines. Originally established as a joint powers authority with unincorporated Los Angeles County, Rolling Hills Estates, and South Pasadena as founding members, it quickly grew to a coalition of 31 agencies across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.
Choice and Growth
For more than a century, Southern California Edison had been the region’s dominant electric utility. But for nearly a million homes across Southern California, the days of Edison’s monopoly are coming to an end. Clean Power Alliance and other CCAs are offering a cleaner option and bringing competition on a larger scale. CPA offers consumers three energy options at three price points: Green (100 percent renewables), Clean (50 percent renewables), and Lean (36 percent renewables.) Consumers can decide their level of investment in clean energy.
Communities join because it is a platform for environmental protection and combatting climate change, and because cities have their own local sustainability goals. They also join because they are given a choice on how their energy is sourced. Clean Power Alliance also reinvests funds in innovative projects and programs within the communities they serve.
“The benefits of removing the monopoly system are that it brings innovation and lower rates,” said Ted Bardacke, Executive Director of Clean Power Alliance. “People want choice and the idea that if they can save money and be a little greener, or pay a bit more and be a lot greener, appeals to consumers.”
Creating a Strong Foundation
What’s In Store for Clean Energy
With talks about a “Green New Deal” which includes a 100% reliance on renewable energy, mitigation of climate change, and increasing green jobs, CCAs like Clean Power Alliance will be right in the middle of the action.
“There will be a change in a systemic and personal level when it comes to where Californians get their energy,” says Bardacke.
Since 2010, CCAs have given customers the ability to directly influence their community’s energy options by giving them the power to choose how and where they buy their electricity and natural gas. In light of California’s Senate Bill 100 which requires California to get 60% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and to eliminate the burning of fossil fuels for electricity by 2045, CCAs are very likely to grow in prominence in the coming years. Gradually, it could mean incentives for customers to install electric water or space heaters, reducing the need to burn natural gas. It might pave the way for free or discounted electric vehicle chargers or special electricity rates that encourage people to charge their electric vehicles at home.
In the clean energy arena, there will be new players and opportunities. The state continues to be open to innovation and technology that will help eliminate the use of fossil fuels in the next few decades.
“In California, this idea of bold and ambitious goals based on local priorities has been successful across the board,” Bardacke says. “Everything we’re experiencing right now is what the other CCAs (community choice aggregators) have experienced around the state.”
To learn more about Clean Power Alliance visit their website at www.cleanpoweralliance.org.
