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Committee backs San Diego Community Power joining statewide financing authority as founding member; public seeks clarity on how savings reach ratepayers
Summary
The committee voted to recommend board authorization for San Diego Community Power to become a founding member of the California Community Choice Financing Authority (CCFA). Staff said founding membership secures a board seat and governance input for future tax‑exempt conduit financings; a public commenter asked that anticipated transaction savings be passed to ratepayers and called for independent audits.
The Finance & Risk Management Committee on March 19 recommended that the board authorize San Diego Community Power to join the California Community Choice Financing Authority (CCFA) as a founding member, a governance move staff said would give the agency a seat and greater influence over conduit financings used for prepaid clean‑energy transactions.
Senior Strategic Finance Manager Jeb Spangler explained that the joint powers authority (referred to in materials as the CCFA or informally as 'Triple CFA' in the transcript) serves as a conduit issuer for tax‑exempt financing used by community choice aggregators. Spangler told the committee the agency has closed multiple prepaid transactions to date (staff referenced cumulative transactions totaling nearly $2.7 billion including the transaction closed that morning) and cited no incremental annual membership cost to upgrade from associate to founding member.
"Becoming a founding member gives us a seat at the table to help shape governance of the authority," Spangler said, adding that the agency expects frequent use of the authority for future prepaid transactions.
Public comments at the meeting expressed conditional support but asked for more detail on how the projected savings from these transactions would flow to ratepayers. A commenter noted staff estimates of multi‑million dollar annual savings from prepaid transactions and asked whether those savings would be used to lower rates directly or be deposited in reserves such as the new rate stabilization fund. The commenter also urged the agency to use its new governance role to demand fully independent audits and improved transparency for large bond financings.
Action: the committee carried the recommendation to authorize execution of the CCFA joint powers agreement; roll call recorded Director Insuna, Vice Chair Suzuki and Chair Yammani voting yes. The matter will return to the board for formal authorization.
