MINUTES
Executive Committee of the
Clean Power Alliance of Southern California
Regular Meeting
August 21, 2025
1:30 p.m.
Meeting videos are available on CPA's YouTube Channel.
http://www.youtube.com/@CPApublicmeetings
Committee Members participated in this meeting from the following locations:
Agoura Hills City Hall
Planning Conference Room
30001 Ladyface Court
Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Clean Power Alliance
Executive Conference Room
801 S. Grand Ave., Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Santa Paula City Hall
Councilmember Office
970 E. Ventura Street
Santa Paula, CA 93060
Camarillo City Hall
Council Office
601 Carmen Drive
Camarillo, CA 93010
Hawthorne City Hall
Administrative Office
4455 W. 126th Street
Hawthorne, CA 90250
Carson City Hall
City Manager’s Conference Room
701 East Carson Street
Carson, CA 90745
Los Angeles County Hall of Administration
Sybil Brand Conference Room, Room 372
500 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Ventura County Government Center
CEO Point Mugu Room
Hall of Administration
800 South Victoria Avenue
Ventura, CA 93009
Courtyard Long Beach Downtown
Harbor Board Room
500 East First Street
Long Beach, CA 90802
Alhambra City Hall
Conference Room
111 S. First St.
Alhambra, CA 91801
Hotel Champlain
60 Battery Street
Burlington, VT 05401
CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL
Chair Klein Lopez called the meeting to order at 1:32 p.m. and Annie Mendoza, Deputy Clerk of the Board, conducted roll call.
Roll Call
Agoura Hills Deborah Klein Lopez Chair Remote
Alhambra Jeff Maloney Committee Member Remote
Beverly Hills Julian Gold Immediate Past Chair Remote
Camarillo Susan Santangelo Committee Member Remote
Carson Reata Kulcsar
Alternate Committee
Member Remote
Hawthorne Absent
Los Angeles County Rita Kampalath Alternate Committee
Member Remote
Santa Paula Jenny Crosswhite Committee Member Remote
Sierra Madre Robert Parkhurst Committee Member Remote
Ventura County Vianey Lopez Vice Chair Remote
All votes are unanimous unless otherwise stated.
GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.
CLOSED SESSION
None
CONSENT AGENDA
1. Approve Minutes from May 15, 2025, Executive Committee Meeting Motion: Vice Chair Lopez, Ventura County
Second: Committee Member Santangelo, Camarillo
Vote: The consent agenda was approved by a roll call vote
REGULAR AGENDA
2. Oral Update from the CEO on CPA Operations
Ted Bardacke, Chief Executive Officer, reported on the Power Share projects, the AC rebate program launch, and the enrollment status of the cities of La Cañada Flintridge, Port Hueneme, and Lynwood. Mr. Bardacke also reviewed the Board and Committee scheduling and noted that the Los Angeles Business Council will be recognizing the SunZia project participants at a sustainability awards event in October.
3. Review Draft Agendas for September 4, 2025, Board of Directors Meeting Mr. Bardacke described the consent agenda items, including the Equitable Building Decarbonization grant funding MOU and the Solar Star 3 and 4 power purchase agreements. For the regular agenda, the Board would review an additional power purchase agreement with Sunzia.
Committee Member Gold inquired about the cost of wind energy and how much CPA wants to acquire, and staff responded they are in the middle of an integrated resource planning cycle, and a numerical value of targeted wind acquisition will be available later in the year. Also, since wind delivers at night, its value to CPA is often higher than solar even if the MW costs of solar are lower. Staff said they could provide Committee Member Gold with additional information about acquisition of different kinds of power. Staff clarified for Chair Klein Lopez that CPA receives “test” energy when a project is coming online, but that it is at a discounted rate because Resource Adequacy (RA) is not included.
4. a. Receive a Presentation on the 2025 Proposed Expansion Invitations and b. Provide a Recommendation to the Board of Directors on the Proposed Expansion Invitations
Mr. Bardacke acknowledged the work of Karen Schmidt, Senior Director of Rates and Strategy, coordinating with the Cities of Cudahy and Fillmore, which are proposed to be CPA member agencies with service starting in 2027 and bring CPA membership up to 40 jurisdictions. He described board priorities for expansion, which are met by the two cities, and noted the total customer expansion would be 11,331 or 1.1% of CPA’s customer base. The completed feasibility studies conclude the overall financial impacts to CPA will be minimal. With the addition of these two cities, CPA would fill out its service territory and strengthen its market position and political impact. Mr. Bardacke presented the projected first-year financial impact of adding the new cities, with the analysis making assumptions about SCE generation rates, a preferred option of Clean Power, and total bill comparisons at current levels. Mr. Bardacke reviewed the expansion timeline and processes. During 2026, CPA would secure energy resources to serve the new load at the same time conducting community outreach and education.
Staff clarified for Committee Member Crosswhite that a city has never joined and then left CPA, but that there is a process for doing so; it involves the city reimbursing CPA for the net costs of energy procured for departing customers.
Committee Member Crosswhite commented that the Board should consider the length of meetings if the number of CPA member agencies reaches 40. In response to Committee Member Parkhurst’s inquiry about the electricity demographics, staff stated that both are mostly residential electricity users and in Cudahy approximately half of the residential customers are low-income. Neither has significant industrial load.
Motion: Committee Member Parkhurst, Sierra Madre
Second: Vice Chair Lopez, Ventura County
Vote: The Executive Committee unanimously recommend to the Board Directors that both cities be invited to join CPA.
5. Receive a Presentation on the TOU-SMART Default Pilot Proposal and Provide Feedback
Karen Schmidt, Senior Director of Rates and Strategy, presented the TOU-SMART rate option, which provides a lower daytime (8am-4pm) rate and higher overnight (9pm-8am) rate to encourage customers to charge EVs during the day when solar power is abundant. In addition to offering TOU-SMART as an opt-in rate for interested customers, CPA staff propose launching a 2-year pilot program to default approximately 2,600 customers already on the standard TOU-D-PRIME rate onto the new rate to assess its impact on customer bills, energy costs and GHG emissions. Customers defaulted to TOU-SMART would be able to opt back to TOU-D-PRIME, or any other domestic rate, at any time, and would receive bill protection for the first 12 months. The results of the pilot will inform future rate design recommendations to support load shifting.
Ms. Schmidt explained that promotion of the TOU-SMART rate in conjunction with marketing of the EV SmartCharge program will begin in the Fall. However, voluntary enrollment is likely to garner low enrollment and may limit CPA’s ability to assess the rate’s impact because a sample size of at least 2,000 to 3,000 is needed. A default pilot program would allow evaluation of the impact of price signals on customer load-shifting and costs. The program would include a buffer for opt-outs and help inform other new rates and programs. Ms. Schmidt described how the participants would be selected, educated, notified, and discussed the proposed implementation timeline.
In response to Committee Member questions, staff clarified the following: Selected customers who will be defaulted into the pilot program have self-selected as having a large electricity load at home. Staff are confident that the sample size will yield the necessary data to appropriately design the rate. Staff is discussing internally the benefits and disadvantages of extending bill protections, including how it would affect customer behavior. If a customer dropped out of the program mid-year, they would receive bill protection only for the period they were enrolled. The program design would protect against worst case scenarios. The Board of Directors will receive program updates at the one- and two-year marks but notable results will be shared promptly. Regarding communication, customers will receive an email mid-year and another at the year’s end.
Committee Members Gold and Crosswhite provided feedback on the program’s sample size, noting that those who do not work from home during off-peak hours may not be able to take advantage of the lower rates. Committee Members Gold and Kulcsar also suggested that staff ensure that customers understand that they may opt out of the pilot program while remaining a CPA customer. Committee Member Kulcsar requested that staff report back on the process by which customers who were defaulted into the program would be returned to their former rates if the program wasn’t a good fit for them. Regarding Committee Member Maloney’s question about the program goal, staff clarified that it aims to provide an incentive for customers to shift their load. Some customers already charge during the day, so the rates will better reflect the cost of CPA to provide the electricity. Committee Member Maloney encouraged staff to find effective ways to inform customers of the default enrollment.
Committee Member Santangelo stated concern about opting-in customers who have not expressed an interest in different rates. Regarding Committee Member Parkhurst’s comment about SCE communication, staff noted that CPA and SCE do share information about communications being sent to each other’s customers and CPA will ensure that customers can differentiate which entity is offering the pilot program. Staff clarified for Chair Klein Lopez that the rate was designed to be revenue neutral. After data is obtained through this pilot program, rates might be adjusted to better reflect behavior.
COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS
None.
ADJOURN
Chair Klein Lopez adjourned the meeting at 3:07 p.m.