Released in February 2017, the South Bay Clean Power Business Plan is our CCA design & implementation “guidebook” that integrates a variety of best practices in risk management from the Community Choice and broader public power industry, and explains how these have been incorporated into the design of the South Bay Clean Power CCA.

The Business Plan features effective strategies and designs — widely used in the public power industry — which are beginning to be applied and discussed more widely in the California CCA industry. To highlight the two largest structural recommendations in our plan:

1. The “Portfolio Manager” operational model: Provides the CCA with ‘utility-grade’ capabilities in energy risk management, spanning power planning, origination (power purchases), contract management, active risk management in market operations, and settlements.
   • This approach gives our CCA tremendous flexibility to pick and choose its sources of power, and is necessary to facilitate the integration of Distributed Energy.
   • The plan also details all of the functions that the CCA will deploy to further support Distributed Energy, both on the power operations side of the program and across data analytics, customer rate design and billing, and customer engagement functions.
2. The “Regional JPA of CCAs” governance model: To standardize services and coordinate planning at an advantageous economy-of-scale (i.e. low cost, high quality services) for multiple, autonomous local CCA programs (including the South Bay Clean Power CCA JPA). The individual local CCAs will control the regional agency and each will retain local control of their energy choices, rates, financial reserves, branding, and local programs— and each will have the ability to leave if they choose;

In order to provide ample context to explain these best practices, the South Bay Clean Power Business Plan:

1. Provides substantial strategic and historical context on the evolution of CCAs to date, and how the manner in which the agencies operate has become increasingly sophisticated;
2. Details the “Regional JPA of CCAs” governance structure and various practical considerations inherent in creating a joint agency administrative structure (such as cost allocations, and the role of Community Committees, process controls and independent audits for oversight);
3. Lists all functions anticipated in the CCA operational model (the agency’s practical capabilities);
4. Defines key strategies for Distributed Energy, which is accompanied by CCA and utility case studies;
5. Discusses — at great length — the design of the Request for Proposals and key contracting strategies, and walks through the step-by-step competitive contracting process anticipated;
6. Analyzes the financial strategies of five CCAs and provides recommendations for SBCP based on lessons-learned to date;
7. Provides an agency development ‘roadmap’ prioritizing staff energy risk management and Distributed Energy expertise.