Greentech Media Quotes Seth Hilton on Concerns Surrounding Growth of CCAs in California

Energy development attorney Seth Hilton was quoted in Greentech Media in an article titled “California CCAs Form Joint Buying Group, Creating Big-Time Power Purchaser,” published February 9, 2021. The article discusses the increasing importance in California of community choice aggregators (CCAs), programs that allow local governments to obtain power on behalf of their residents, businesses and municipal accounts while still taking advantage of electricity transmission and distribution provided by their existing utility provider.

CCAs have taken over from California’s investor-owned utilities the task of supplying electricity to millions of customers, in many cases with a goal of meeting the demand with a larger proportion of renewable energy in the mix. Recently, a group of eight CCAs teamed up to form California Community Power, a “joint powers authority” entity whose structure will allow its members to work together to make larger energy procurements than they could handle separately.

According to Hilton, the creation of a joint powers authority “seems to address some of the concerns that have been raised about CCAs in the past,” which include wariness on the part of financiers and developers to work with organizations with a poor or no credit rating.

“This looks like a much broader attempt that could address some of those concerns and really streamline some of the procurement,” Hilton said.