- California utilities are losing business to "community choice aggregators," local power authorities that were created to deliver green energy to residents, Bloomberg reports.
- Pacific Gas & Electric (PCG -0.5%), California’s biggest utility, expects to lose 7.3% of its electric load this year and as much as 21%by 2020 to the groups, while the eventually may account for 40% of the total load at San Diego Gas & Electric (SRE -0.5%) and Southern California Edison (EIX -0.3%).
- “Right now, it’s the part of the state that’s pretty wealthy opting out” of traditional utility service, but as the community aggregators become more common, "it may become more difficult for the utilities," says Moody's analyst Lesley Ritter.
- But losing electric load is not the same as losing revenue, SDG&E notes, saying it "does not make money from the power it purchases on behalf of its customers, but rather from building, maintaining and operating the power grid."