BIOMASS HUB

A fight has been steadily brewing in California between state IOUs and local jurisdictions, who under California Assembly Bill 117, passed in 2002, have the authority to procure electricity on behalf of customers within their jurisdictions.

Most recently, the North Bay Business Journal reports that the Marin Energy Authority (MNE) filed a complaint with the California Public Utilities Commission today claiming that PG&E Corp. is violating state law by “pouring millions of dollars into a special interest lobbying group that is aggressively seeking to kill a local program designed to provide residents and businesses with twice the renewable energy as the giant utility for the same price.”

The Marin Energy Authority is proposed to be the agency providing the renewable energy alternative to PG&E’s current offerings through the Marin Clean Energy program.  The complaint the Marin Energy Authority filed with the CPUC reads: “PG&E has demonstrated no intent to cooperate fully” and has engaged in “hostile marketing, threats, lawsuits and misrepresentations” in its bid to quash Marin Clean Energy.

PG&E has provided at least $8.5 million to the group Coalition for Reliable and Affordable Electricity, according to 2008 IRS tax forms for the organization. Under the name Common Sense, the lobbying group has sent more than a half-dozen glossy mail pieces and staged other activities to discourage Marin residents from participating in Marin Clean Energy, MEA said.

According to the complaint, the MEA is arguing that PG&E is violating Public Utilities Code Section 366.2(c)(9) which reads:

All electrical corporations shall cooperate fully with any community choice aggregators that investigate, pursue, or implement community choice aggregation programs. Cooperation shall include providing the entities with appropriate billing and electrical load data, including, but not limited to, data detailing electricity needs and patterns of usage, as determined by the commission, and in accordance with procedures established by the commission. Electrical corporations shall continue to provide all metering, billing, collection, and customer service to retail customers that participate in community choice aggregation programs. Bills sent by the electrical corporation to retail customers shall identify the community choice aggregator as providing the electrical energy component of the bill. The commission shall determine the terms and conditions under which the electrical corporation provides services to community choice aggregators and retail customers.

These so-called “CCA” programs, or Community Choice Aggregation, are inspired by Climate Protection efforts.   CCA has spread to cities throughout the Bay Area, and throughout the state.  In 2007, forty California local governments are in the process of implementing CCA, virtually all of them seeking to double, triple or quadruple the green power levels (Renewable Portfolio Standard, or “RPS) of the state’s three Investor-Owned Utilities.  Marin, Oakland and Berkeley are also seeking to employ San Francisco-style revenue bonds and implement a 51% RPS by 2017.

Under CCA’s, PG&E still delivers the electricity to customers and continues to read the electric meters and issue monthly bills to customers.  Unlike traditional utility service, the source of the electric supply and the price paid by customers for the generation services procured by the CCA program would be determined locally. Customers would have the choice of being automatically enrolled in the Marin Clean Energy program or remaining with PG&E.

According to PG&E:

One of the primary impacts is what you may be charged for electricity. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) – the primary state agency that regulates PG&E – does not control CCA program rates, does not oversee CCA program reliability and will not act to resolve complaints by customers against CCA programs. CCA programs may incur higher or lower levels of costs in providing power than PG&E. The result may be an increase or decrease in a customer’s overall electricity bill. Customers may also receive a “less clean” or “cleaner” supply of power than provided by PG&E.

San Francisco, which has been working towards its own CCA, has also filed a complaint against PG&E in January.

More on the story here.