CPUC Report Shows Regulated Utilities Surpassing Target To Meet Groundbreaking Renewable Energy Goals

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today issued its annual Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) report showing that the State’s electricity retail sellers continue reporting sufficient renewable energy procurement to meet RPS requirements and remain on track to achieve the groundbreaking program’s near-term targets.

The state’s RPS program, one of the most ambitious in the country, requires investor-owned utilities, small and multi-jurisdictional utilities, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators to procure 33 percent of retail sales per year from eligible renewable sources by 2020 and 60 percent by 2030. In 2018, Senate Bill (SB) 100 was signed by then-Governor Brown, setting a target goal of a 100 percent carbon free electric grid by 2045. In June 2019, the CPUC began implementing SB 100, accelerating and increasing the RPS procurement quantity requirements to 60 percent by 2030.

As of 2021, the investor-owned utilities have executed renewable electricity contracts necessary to meet 2021 RPS requirement and are forecasted to have excess renewable procurement through 2027. The small and multi-jurisdictional utilities, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators collectively need to procure additional renewable resources to meet the 2021-2024 compliance period requirements, as well as future requirements.

The aggregated actual and forecasted RPS percentages for the retail sellers are as follows:

The aggregated percentages show that over the last three years, investor-owned utilities’ RPS procurement has increased by 12 percent. This increase is primarily driven by load departure from investor-owned utility service to community choice aggregators, but partially mitigated by the investor-owned utilities selling excess renewable energy credits to community choice aggregators and electric service providers. Small and multi-jurisdictional utilities’ RPS procurement declined from its 2020 spike by nine percent but remains above pre-2020 levels. Community choice aggregators procurement has remained steady at 2020 levels, which dropped from 2019 primarily because of new community choice aggregators coming online with minimal to no RPS procurement and expiring short-term contracts. Electric service providers similarly have previously had steady RPS procurement, but experienced a 10 percent drop from 2020 due to decreasing forecasted RPS procurement in 2021 compared to 2020.

The report shows that retail sellers are generally well-positioned to meet RPS requirements, including the 65 percent long-term contracting requirement that begins in Compliance Period 2021-2024.  More than half report already meeting 2021-2024 compliance period requirements, and risk levels have generally decreased for the remaining retail sellers who are at risk of not meeting RPS requirements. Twenty-seven retail sellers were notified by the CPUC of being at risk for not meeting the RPS requirements in the current and/or next compliance period. One small and multi-jurisdictional utility and one electric service provider reported not meeting 2017-2020 compliance period requirements, with an additional 18 community choice aggregators, five electric service providers, and two small and multi-jurisdictional utilities considered at risk in the 2021-2024 compliance period. These retail sellers must procure more RPS resources and sign additional long-term contracts in the near term to meet the RPS requirements.

The report is available at: https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-energy/energy-reports-and-whitepapers/rps-reports-and-data.

The CPUC regulates services and utilities, safeguards the environment, and assures Californians’ access to safe and reliable utility infrastructure and services. For more information on the CPUC, please visit www.cpuc.ca.gov.

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Press Release