Memorandum
Date: April 15, 2025
To: The Honorable E.J. Crandell, Chair, Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Benjamin Rickelman, Deputy County Administrative Officer
Subject: (a) Consideration of a Presentation by Sonoma Clean Power (SCP); (b) Consideration of Direction to Staff to request SCP Undertake an Updated Study on the Feasibility of Lake County Joining the Community Choice Aggregator
Executive Summary:
Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) enables Counties and/or Cities to pool the electricity demand of participating communities' facilities to purchase and/or develop power on their behalf. Sonoma Clean Power (SCP) is a CCA which presently serves customers in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties.
Ordinance No. 3026 was unanimously passed on June 23, 2015, authorizing implementation of a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) Program in Lake County. At the time this Ordinance was passed, CCA was believed to offer energy cost savings to the County of Lake and members of the public.
In 2019 the County of Lake requested, and SCP agreed to study Lake County joining the CCA. SCP's 2020 Lake County Services Feasibility Study found that SCP's rates were expected to be at least 5-8% higher than PG&E for Lake County residents, unless their Board authorized a significant subsidy, around $33 million, borne by all SCP customers. On March 5, 2020, Sonoma Clean Power's Board adopted SCP staff's recommendation against extending an offer of service to Lake County.
One reason SCP reengaged with the County in 2025 is due to its new preliminary estimate that Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) fees will be substantially lower now than the 2020 Feasibility Study indicated. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) requires jurisdictions joining a CCA to pay a PCIA, to make sure that customers leaving the utility do not burden remaining investor-owned utility customers with costs which were incurred to serve them.
Recent market and regulatory changes have dri...
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