Laserfiche WebLink
Community Choice Aggregation Feasibility Analysis Alameda County <br /> Bonding Risk <br /> Pursuant to CPUC Decision 05-12-041, a new CCA must include in its registration packet <br /> evidence of insurance or bond that will cover such costs as potential re-entry fees, specifically, <br /> the cost to PG&E if the CCA were to suddenly fail and be forced to return all its customers back <br /> to PG&E bundled service. Currently, a bond amount for CCAs is set at $100,000. <br /> This $100,000 is an interim amount. In 2009, a Settlement was reached in CPUC Docket 03-10- <br /> 003 between the three major California electric utilities (including PG&E), two potential CCAs <br /> (San Joaquin Valley Power Authority and the City of Victorville) and The Utility Reform <br /> Network(TURN) concerning how a bonding amount would be calculated. The settlement was <br /> vigorously opposed by MCE and San Francisco and never adopted. <br /> Since then, the issue of CCA bond requirements has not been revisited by the CPUC. If it is, the <br /> bonding requirement will likely follow that set for Energy Service Providers (ESPs) serving <br /> direct access customers. This ESP bond amount covers PG&E's administrative cost to <br /> reintegrate a failed ESP's customers back into bundled service,plus any positive difference <br /> between market-based costs for PG&E to serve the unexpected load and PG&E's retail <br /> generation rates. Since the ESP bonding requirement has been in place, retail rates have always <br /> exceeded wholesale market prices, and thus the ESP's bond requirement has been simply the <br /> equal to a modest administrative cost. <br /> If the ESP bond protocol is adopted for CCAs, during normal conditions, the CCA Bond amount <br /> will not be a concern. However, during a wholesale market price spike, the bond amount could <br /> potentially increase to millions of dollars. But the high bond amount would likely be only short <br /> term, until more stable market conditions prevailed. Also it is important to note that high power <br /> prices (that would cause a high bond requirement) would also depress PG&E's exit fee and <br /> would also raise PG&E rates, which would in turn likely provide the CCA sufficient headroom <br /> to handle the higher bonding requirement and keep its customers' overall costs competitive with <br /> what they would have paid had they remained with PG&E. As discussed above, JPA member <br /> entities would not be individually liable for any increase in the bond amount. <br /> July,2016 47 MRW&Associates,LLC <br />