The Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) directly affects a Community Choice Aggregator’s (CCA) ability to set rates competitive to the incumbent utility. The PCIA was initially conceived to prevent cost shifts between utility customers and direct access customers in 2001.
The issues with the PCIA are many:
- Non-transparency
- Lack of auditing of utility costs to determine accuracy
- Does not incentivize the utility to minimize or mitigate costs
- Leads to rate volatility
- Does not prevent cost shifts as required by statute