Community Choice Aggregation, also known as Community Choice Energy (abbreviated CCA and CCE by various parties), is a local, not-for-profit governmental program that buys and may generate electrical power on behalf of its residents, businesses, and governmental entities. CCAs are governed by counties, cities, or a joint power authority (JPA) between the two.
A CCA is only involved in the electrical generation decision-making and has no involvement with transmission and distribution. The electrical utility (PG&E for our area) continues to distribute and meter the energy, and to handle the billing. The CCA simply replaces the line item on the electric bill for “generation.”
There are many reasons why a community might want to pursue Community Choice energy, such as:
Enhanced consumer choice
Local control
Designing programs that respond to community needs
Expansion of renewable energy portfolios
Local economic development
Faster progress toward achieving a community’s environmental goals.
Community Choice programs are opt-out programs, meaning that once a local government votes to form an agency, the constituents of that local government are automatically enrolled and may opt out if they wish.
Stockton has taken the first step of seeking a consultant to identify options to pursue entering into a CCA. When the results of this feasibility study are ready to be submitted to the City Council, we would like residents to analyze and weigh in on the various options to be presented.
Currently, we are organizing small groups of constituents to reach out to their City Council member to encourage support for this pathway. We could really use your help with these easy outreach call meetings.
Davis Harper, Stockton Community Outreach Specialist for The Climate Center, will assist with setting up the various Zoom or phone meetings and will be available at each meeting for technical assistance re Community Choice. If you are interested in participating in meeting with us and your Council Member or if you’d like more information, please contact Margo Praus, 209-670-4442 or margopraus@msn.com
Whether Stockton considers a CCA as one of many options to address Climate Change, one thing is clear – Community Choice is by far the biggest thing the city can do to address climate change. It is a project that can reduce Green House Gas emissions and that has a huge, ready-made revenue stream with the potential for millions of dollars made available for reinvestment in local communities.
Article written by Davis Harper, Stockton Community Outreach Specialist for The Climate Center.
Additional resources:
Community Choice 101
Cal-CCA’s website
CCA response to COVID-19
City of Stockton pursues CCA feasibility study