Clean Energy SF: San Francisco, fog then sun, est. 2026

Vol. 1 - No. 14 - Thursday, September 24, 2026 - Free to readers

Policy ยท Analysis

Three community choice programs, three different bills

Clean Power Alliance, MCE, and Sonoma Clean Power buy power for different corners of California. A plain look at their rates, their renewable mixes, and the exit fee that moves every year.

Filed September 25, 2026 By the Clean Energy SF editors Reading time: 5 minutes

I. How the bill splits

A community choice program does one job: it buys the electricity. PG&E keeps doing the rest, delivering it, reading the meter, and restoring service after a storm rolls in off the Pacific. On the statement the generation charge goes to the community choice program and the delivery charges stay with PG&E. That split is why moving from PG&E generation to a community choice program rarely changes a bill as much as the headline rate suggests.

There is a third piece, and it is the one that trips people up. When a city or county leaves PG&E generation, the customers who stay behind should not be stuck paying for power PG&E already bought for the group that left. So departing customers pay the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment, the PCIA, an exit fee meant to keep the customers who stayed financially neutral (indifferent is the actual term of art). It lands on the community choice customer's bill, and it is set by the California Public Utilities Commission, not by the program.

II. What the three programs charge, roughly

Start with the two that actually ring the north and east of the bay. MCE, which serves Marin, Napa, and cities like Richmond and Concord, offers a default tier that was a bit over half renewable at last public report and a fully renewable Deep Green option for a small premium. Sonoma Clean Power, covering Sonoma and Mendocino counties, runs a similar two-tier menu, and its EverGreen option leans on local geothermal from the Geysers north of Santa Rosa. Both have generally set default generation rates at or a little below PG&E's, though the gap is narrow and shifts with each rate update.

Clean Power Alliance is the odd one on this list. It sits down in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, not on the bay, but it is California's largest community choice program by customer count and a useful yardstick. It lets each member city choose the default product: a lean tier around a third renewable, a middle tier near half, or a fully green one. The lesson for a San Francisco ratepayer is that community choice does not mean one price or one mix. A public board picked a product, and a customer can usually pick a greener or cheaper one in a couple of clicks.

III. The exit fee that keeps moving

The PCIA is the reason a clean comparison is hard. It changes every year through a CPUC proceeding, and the amount charged depends on vintage, the year a given community left PG&E generation. Two neighbors on the same block, served by the same program, can pay slightly different exit fees if their cities joined in different years.

For most residential customers the PCIA runs on the order of a few cents per kilowatt-hour, enough to narrow or even erase the savings a community choice program advertises. It is not hidden; it is a labeled line, but it is easy to skip past. When a program claims it beats PG&E, the question to ask is whether that comparison already folds in the exit fee, because the honest programs will say so plainly.

IV. Worth watching this month

1. The CPUC's annual PCIA update, which resets exit fees for the coming year, moves through its usual autumn schedule, so watch for a decision before rates reset in January.

2. CleanPowerSF's rate pages, which the SFPUC refreshes when PG&E changes its own rates, are worth a check if a generation line jumped this billing cycle.

3. MCE and Sonoma Clean Power both post rate comparisons against PG&E, updated a few times a year, and those are the plainest place to see the current gap.

4. PG&E's own rate-change filings at the CPUC, routine but frequent, are what actually move the baseline every program is measured against.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to sign up for a community choice program?

No. In most of the bay a customer is enrolled automatically when their city or county joins, and anyone can opt out and return to PG&E generation at any time. Staying enrolled is the default.

Will switching to a fully renewable tier cost a lot more?

Usually a small premium, often on the order of a cent or two per kilowatt-hour. On a typical San Francisco apartment's usage that is a few dollars a month, but check the program's current rate before assuming.

Is the exit fee a penalty for leaving PG&E?

Not exactly. The PCIA is meant to keep customers who stay with PG&E from paying for power bought on behalf of those who left. Whether that math is fair is argued every year at the CPUC.

Which program am I in?

It depends on the address, not preference. San Francisco addresses are CleanPowerSF; Marin, Napa, and parts of the East Bay are MCE; Sonoma and Mendocino are Sonoma Clean Power. The bill names the program on the generation line.

References