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Clean Energy Alliance reports stable participation, warns PCIA changes could raise customer bills
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Summary
The Clean Energy Alliance reported steady customer participation and outlined programs to reduce bills and increase clean-energy adoption, while warning a CPUC change to PCIA calculations may raise costs for customers by roughly $8 per month if forecasted conditions hold.
The Clean Energy Alliance (CEA) presented an operational update to the Carlsbad City Council, reporting more than 255,000 customer accounts across its service territory, a 93% participation rate in CEA products, and a suite of customer programs intended to lower bills and increase renewable adoption.
Greg Wade, CEA chief executive, said the default product, Clean Impact Plus, is roughly 75% carbon-free and that rate differences with the incumbent utility are currently small on average but may widen depending on regulatory forecasts. Wade said a recent Energy Resource Recovery Account (ERRA) forecast and a CPUC change to the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) methodology could move the PCIA from slightly negative to roughly +4.3¢ per kilowatt-hour, which CEA estimates would translate to about an $8 monthly premium for the default product when comparing CEA to SDG&E bundled service if the December update does not change the outlook.
Wade highlighted customer programs the alliance offers: Smart Savers (a time-of-use demand-response pilot with bill protection that can lower annual bills as much as 30% for participants), solar-plus-battery installation programs with no upfront costs for qualifying single-family customers, and the Solar Plus Connect program that uses the state Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) to subsidize batteries for income-qualified households. Wade said CEA program activity has drawn roughly $1.2 million in subsidy allocations in their service territory and about 100–130 applications in the Connect category. The alliance also reported an outreach effort, the energy programs plan, with community workshops in member cities to reach harder-to-contact households.
Council members asked about legislative and regulatory advocacy on PCIA volatility. Wade said CalCCA (the trade association for community choice aggregators) and CEA are actively engaged in regulatory and legislative advocacy and that CEA has a CalCCA-organized lobby day scheduled for Feb. 4, 2026. Council members praised CEA’s outreach and requested an emailed copy of the presentation for distribution to residents.
CEA officials did not request council action at the meeting; they presented the update and invited questions.
