Executive Summary: MCE to Enter Electricity Market in Contra Costa County
Coming in April of 2018, PG&E will no longer be the only electric service provider in town. An organization called MCE is entering the market. Since PG&E owns all the power transmission lines, PG&E will continue to deliver your electricity regardless of whether you buy it from MCE or PG&E. MCE’s rates are 2% – 5% lower than PG&E’s new 2018 rates. MCE’s main service offering is electricity that comes from 50% renewable sources. About 33% of PG&E’s electricity is generated from renewables. MCE is a Bay Area-based not-for-profit organization with a key goal of reducing energy related greenhouse gas emissions through renewable energy supply. MCE will offer net metering for solar customers (just as PG&E does) and will pay its solar customers slightly more for their excess solar energy than PG&E does. The switch to MCE for electricity will take place in April, automatically. If you do nothing, you will begin buying your electricity from MCE in April. PG&E will still deliver your electricity and will handle all the billing and service. If you want to buy electricity from PG&E instead, you can opt out of MCE’s service. The Corda family will become MCE electricity customers. I have learned about MCE, studied the history of CCAs both in California and in other states, spoken to representatives of MCE, and reviewed PG&E’s new rates as well as PG&E’s public information about CCAs. My assessment is that transitioning to MCE as our new electricity provider is a good decision both from a financial standpoint and from an environmental standpoint.
What is MCE?
MCE (formerly known as Marin Clean Energy) is an organization that buys electricity in bulk at discount prices and then resells it to customers (homes, businesses). MCE is called a “community choice aggregator”. This will be a new term to many people, but the concept has been around for more than a decade. There are links to articles below that describe CCAs in detail including how CCAs came into existence. MCE is more of an electricity buyers’ club than a power company. Technically, it is a government agency, but a unique kind of agency because (a) it is not supported by tax dollars and (b) it actually competes in the commercial marketplace. CCAs in other parts of California and the U.S. have been a bright spot in the shifting energy economy. The old model of a big company, like PG&E, that builds giant power plants that use gas, coal, or nuclear reactors to make electricity and has no competition, is changing quickly. In MCE’s existing service areas, MCE serves around 83-84% of electric customers.
What are some analogies?
Until now, PG&E has pretty much been a monopoly. It is the only company that makes electricity in this area; the only company who delivers energy in this area; and the only company who provides service for your energy needs in this area (like dealing with outages, lighting your pilot lights, doing safety checks, and metering and billing you). Sure, you can make your own electricity (such as by putting solar panels on your roof or by using a diesel generator), but you can’t choose between 3 or 4 different suppliers of electricity in the same way that you can choose between 3 or 4 different grocery stores. MCE is a little bit like a new Costco opening up in a town that only has a Safeway. The fact that electricity has to be delivered over a vast network of specialized wires makes it difficult to find a perfect analogy, though. It’s not like a new company can come in and set up tens of thousands of power lines and underground cables. When states started to deregulate energy markets and started to allow CCAs, new laws separated the functions of electricity generation from transmission allowing consumers to choose which company produces their electricity even if they can’t choose which company delivers their electricity. The law in California (CA Assembly Bill 117 from 2002) obligates investor owned utilities (such as PG&E and San Diego Gas & Electric) to deliver energy from other electric service providers like MCE. Once a consumer can choose which company to buy their electricity from, it also means that the consumer can makes choices about the kind of electricity they buy (for example, is the electricity produced from renewable sources like solar or from fossil fuels like coal). A main goal of MCE and other CCAs is to increase the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources while keeping rates stable and competitive. Competitive pressures from organizations like MCE should help PG&E and other investor-owned utilities keep a sharper focus on what consumers want. The relationship between MCE and PG&E is a bit tricky to understand since they are competitors (in generating and selling electricity) but at the same time also business partners (with MCE effectively paying PG&E to transmit electricity to customers and to provide service to those same joint customers in terms of metering and billing).
Why would I choose to buy my electricity from MCE instead of PG&E?
- You want to pay a bit less for your electricity. (Note: customers most likely to experience a reduced overall energy bill are customers on the E-1 rate which is the most basic rate paid by the average citizen. Due to complicated tariffs, it is difficult to predict exactly how every kind of rate payer will be affected by switching to MCE or staying with PG&E. For most residential customers, with average usage, on any of the most common rates, the difference between what you pay for electricity with either company is not likely to amount to much over the cours of a year — perhaps only swinging $20 one way or the other.)
- You want more of the electricity you buy to come from renewable sources like solar and wind energy.
- You like the idea of a locally-controlled agency that is motivated by two goals: stable, competitive rates for its customers and increasing the amount of electricity generated by renewable sources.
- You think competition and choice in a marketplace is a good thing.
- You like the path of least effort (doing nothing will mean becoming an MCE customer).
Why would I choose to keep buying my electricity from PG&E?
- You don’t like to be “auto-enrolled” in anything; you prefer to stick with the status-quo.
- You don’t mind paying a little bit more for your electricity or you don’t trust that MCE’s rates will be lower than PG&E’s.
- You don’t care how your electricity is generated or you prefer your electricity to be generated from fossil fuels.
- You like PG&E and want to support their success by buying not only gas from them, but also electricity.
- You prefer to buy your electricity from an investor-owned utility (a for-profit company) rather than a government agency (a non-profit community choice aggregator).
How will this affect my solar net metering account?
MCE will offer net metering and its program is similar to PG&E’s. Key differences of MCE versus PG&E include:
- MCE pays retail rates for excess electricity and credits customers an extra $0.01/kWh.
- Excess credits roll over month after month and never zero out.
- Excess credits over $100 can be cashed out annually in April for their full retail value.
- MCE bills NEM customers monthly, so you don’t end up with a year’s worth of charges at your true-up.
- Customers who switch to MCE will still get a true-up bill from PG&E once per year. This true-up will only cover the cost of delivering your electricity rather than the cost of the electricity itself.
- For more details, see MCE Rooftop Solar Customers.
Where can I learn more about MCE?
MCE’s website is thorough and well organized. They have a large FAQ section including a subsection specific to solar customers and another for people on PG&E’s electric vehicle rate (note: EV owners will be just fine with MCE, too). I understand that MCE will be holding community events and will soon have television commercials announcing its arrival in Contra Costa County. MCE will also be mailing PG&E customers in the MCE service areas letters explaining their launch of service.
Where can I learn more about community choice aggregators?
Meet community choice aggregation, public power’s first cousin …
Nov 9, 2017 – In California, CCAs can operate only in the service areas of investor-owned utilities. The investor-owned utility still provides transmission and distribution services and all the metering, billing, collection, and customer service to retail customers. But the energy delivered to customers is based on what the …
Community Choice Aggregation – Wikipedia
Community Choice Aggregation, abbreviated CCA, also known as Community Choice Energy (CCE), municipal aggregation, governmental aggregation, electricity aggregation, and community aggregation, is an alternative to the investor owned utility energy supply system in which local entities in the United States aggregate the …
Lean Energy U.S. – What is CCA
In dictionary speak, Community Choice Aggregation allows local governments and some special districts to pool (or aggregate) their electricity load in order to purchase and/or develop power on behalf of their residents, businesses, and municipal accounts. Established by law in seven states thus far, CCA is an energy …
Community Choice Aggregation – PG&E
Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is a program that allows cities and counties to buy and/or generate electricity for residents and businesses within their areas.
Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) Helping Communities Reach Renewable Energy Goals …
Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is becoming a more prevalent method for local communities to source electricity. Under CCA programs, cities and local governments generate or buy electricity, usually from renewable energy sources, based on the needs of their residents.
What articles have been written about MCE and other community choice aggregators in the media?
NATIONAL
Some of California’s major utilities are trying to block the growth of …
Sep 8, 2017 – Some of California’s big shareholder-owned utilities are working to thwart the expansion of government-owned electricity programs, including Los Angeles County’s proposed end run on traditional power providers. San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. are seeking amendments to …
Community choice is transforming the California energy industry | UCLA
May 5, 2017 – Community choice aggregation allows cities and counties in California to group individual customers’ purchasing power for energy. After decades of dominance by electricity monopolies, California is experiencing the emergence of community choice aggregators, a new type of utility that provides cities and …
Should Investor-Owned Utilities Be Worried About Community Choice …
May 1, 2017 – Should Investor-Owned Utilities Be Worried About Community Choice Aggregation? … Without the proper exit fees, the utilities are worried they could suffer big financial losses. A CCA is like the Costco of energy—a buyers’ club where local government agencies buy power on behalf of their residents.
Differences Between Publicly and Investor-Owned Utilities
Differences Between Publicly and Investor-Owned Utilities. Investor-owned utilities (IOUs) are private electricity and natural gas providers. California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) oversees IOUs. Pacific Gas and Electric, San Diego Gas and Electric, and Southern California Edison comprise approximately three …
As California Mulls Retail Electricity Choice, Utilities Are Losing Customers in Droves …
May 17, 2017 – According to California regulators, 85 percent of customers in the state will source electricity from entities other than investor-owned utilities by 2020. It’s forcing them to take a hard look at retail choice.
LOCAL
Lamorinda mayors balk at proposed CPUC resolution
Lamorindaweekly-Feb 6, 2018 — Marin Clean Energy is California’s first community choice aggregator, providing a basic 50 percent renewable energy service to its customers, with an option to upgrade to 100 percent renewable energy. “We are concerned that the CPUC is overreaching its authority,” said Dawn Weisz, MCE chief executive …
MCE Solar One, Bay Area’s largest publicly owned solar project …
Solar Builder (press release) (blog)-Feb 1, 2018 — Built on an old refinery, MCE Solar One is a new 60-acre, 10.5 MW ground mount solar farm in Richmond, Calif., brought to life by Cenergy Power and sPower. The project deployed approximately 80,000 ground mounted modules using both a fixed tilt rack as well as single axis trackers, with RPCS …
Marin Clean Energy grows as Oakley joins energy … – East Bay Times
May 9, 2017 – OAKLEY — The City Council backed a resolution Tuesday to join Marin Clean Energy and will bring the final application for approval on May 23. Three council members voted to go with Marin Clean Energy, the first community choice energy program, as opposed to East Bay Community Energy, which is …
Concord joins green electricity provider Marin Clean … – East Bay Times
Jun 5, 2017 – CONCORD — The city has joined Marin Clean Energy, a community choice energy agency that provides solar and wind-generated electricity sources to residential, business and government customers. Concord residents will be enrolled automatically with Marin Clean Energy unless they opt out during the …
Marin Clean Energy on brink of growth as Contra … – East Bay Times
Feb 17, 2016 – Marin Clean Energy customers could increase dramatically if all cities and counties considering a move join the joint powers authority. “Many of the cities in Contra Costa County have expressed an interest,” said Dawn Weisz, Marin Clean Energy’s executive officer. “In addition, the county of Contra Costa …
Contra Costa County Should Unite Behind Marin Clean Energy …
May 2, 2017 – The choice is between the well-established MCE (originally known as Marin Clean Energy) and East Bay Community Energy (EBCE), the Alameda County-based startup. … By contrast, emerging CCE programs, like Alameda County’s EBCE, will need time to develop their credit history and feasibility.