Community Choice Aggregation
1 hour ago Kip Hansen 3 Comments
Opinion by Kip Hansen — 11 May 2023
My local town has just chosen, for us, the residents of the town, to pay more for “renewable” energy.
“The Town of ##### is pleased to announce our participation in the program relaunch of ##### #### Community Power, a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program administered by Joule Community Power, a division of Joule Assests, Inc. that puts control of energy supply choices into local hands.”
[Note: In this part of the USA a town is: “an urban area that has a name, defined boundaries, and local government, and that is generally larger than a village and smaller than a city.”]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) explains it this way:
“CCA [Community Choice Aggregation] —also known as municipal aggregation—programs allow local governments to procure power on behalf of their residents, businesses, and municipal accounts from an alternative supplier while still receiving transmission and distribution service from their existing utility provider. CCAs are an attractive option for communities that want more local control over their electricity sources, more green power than is offered by the default utility, and/or lower electricity prices. By aggregating demand, communities gain leverage to negotiate better rates with competitive suppliers and choose greener power sources.”
That sounds nice, and in part, it can offer lower electricity prices – through the aggregation step:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/05/11/community-choice-aggregation/
