California’s Changing Energy Landscapes: CCSC Comments on the California Public Utilites Commission’s Draft Green Book on Customer Choice
In 2017, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) commenced an inquiry into the many changes occurring in California’s electric sector, with particular emphasis on the recent state-wide expansion of customer choice.
In response to these changes in the state’s electric sector, the CPUC formed the California Customer Choice Project to examine the issues and develop a white paper evaluating California’s current market.
On May 3, 2018, the CPUC’s California Customer Choice Project issued its draft paper entitled, California Customer Choice: An Evaluation of Regulatory Framework Options for an Evolving Electricity Market, also referred to as the “Green Book.” According the CPUC, the Green Book is designed to initiate a policy conversation among a wide range of stakeholders and interests about the future of California’s electricity market, rather than make specific recommendations.
The CCSC welcomes the launch of the California Customer Choice Project and the Green Book and strongly agrees that recent developments in customer choice, particularly community choice aggregation, warrant a detailed evaluation of the relevance and effectiveness of California’s existing electricity governance framework. In its current form, however, the CCSC believes the Green Book is lacking the analytical rigor and necessary degree of imagination required to achieve the Commission’s stated regulatory objectives of affordability, decarbonization, and reliability in the context of a rapidly evolving energy and electricity sector.
The following comments, submitted to the CPUC on May 30, 2018, address omissions and factual inconsistencies as well as larger themes identified through a detailed review of the Green Book the accompanying materials. The comments are intended to inform the next phase of the Customer Choice Project including an En Banc to be held on June 22, 2018 and the final Green Book to be released later in 2018.
Other | 2018