Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) Program

California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) program was established in 2002 by SB 1078 (Sher, Chapter 516, Statutes of 2002), requiring 20% of electricity retail sales come from renewable resources by 2017. SB 350 (de León, Chapter 547 Statutes of 2015) accelerated the target to 50% RPS by 2030, added annual interim targets with three-year compliance periods, and required that 65% of RPS procurement to be derived from long-term contracts of 10 or more years. SB 100 (de León, Chapter 312, Statutes of 2018) again accelerated the RPS to 60% by 2030 and sets a goal of 100% of retail electricity sales being renewable and zero-carbon electricity by 2045.   

The CPUC implements and administers RPS compliance rules for California’s retail sellers of electricity, which include large and small investor-owned utilities (IOUs), electric service providers (ESPs), and community choice aggregators (CCAs). The California Energy Commission (CEC) is responsible for the certification of electrical generation facilities as eligible renewable energy resources and adopting regulations for the enforcement of RPS procurement requirements of public owned utilities (POUs).

How the RPS Program Works

The RPS program encourages investment in the development of new utility-scale renewable energy facilities to meet the electrical demands of the State of California. RPS is a market-based program where compliance is determined by the quantity of Renewable Energy Credits (REC) procured (1 REC = 1 megawatt hour (MWh)). Eligible renewable generation facilities may be located anywhere within the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) region. These facilities are permitted to sell RECs to California retail sellers of electricity to meet their RPS obligations, provided the facility meets all RPS eligibility criteria established by the CEC. The CPUC’s implementation of the RPS program complements the RPS program administered by the CEC, as well as supports California’s climate change policies. The CPUC implements legislation and establishes program policy and rules through its decisions within its RPS rulemaking proceeding. Further, the CPUC makes compliance determinations, which are completed after the CEC verifies RPS-eligible procurement from renewable energy facilities. Enforcement actions, if necessary, are then taken to ensure that electricity retailers comply with CPUC rules and State law. The CPUC’s responsibilities in the implementation and administration of the RPS program include:

1. Setting policy through a public stakeholder process.
2. Reviewing and approving each retail seller’s RPS procurement plan (learn more here).
3. Enforcing compliance with annual procurement requirements (learn more here).
4. Establishing the standard terms and conditions used by IOUs in their contracts for eligible renewable energy and approving IOU contracts for RPS-eligible energy.

Current RPS Procurement Status

All electricity retail sellers had an interim target between compliance periods to serve at least 46.67% of their load with RPS-eligible resources by December 31, 2025. In general, retail sellers met the interim 46.67% target and are on track to achieve their compliance requirements.

California's three large IOUs collectively served 45% of their 2025 retail electricity sales with renewable energy, while the Small and Multi-Jurisdictional Utilities (SMJUs) served 39%, CCA's served 70%, and ESPs served 59% respectively.

The retail sellers currently governed by the CPUC’s RPS program are listed below.

IOU RPS Contracts

All retail sellers utilize a mix of RPS resources that include wind, solar PV, solar thermal, hydroelectricity, geothermal, and bioenergy to meet their renewable procurement targets. See below for a map of the large IOUs RPS Projects as of 2025.