Six states—California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, and Rhode Island—have CCA legislation enabling local governments to aggregate the electricity loads of residents, businesses, and municipal facilities.

CCA programs use aggregated demand to achieve local objectives, whether rate savings, reliability, greenhouse gas reduction, utility reform, or jobs creation. These programs reflect the values of their governing boards and served communities.

• California has the first climate-driven CCA. It provides 78 percent greenhouse gas-free power, a 100 percent renewables option, net metering and feed-in tariffs, and EV charging stations. It has contracted for 31MW of new solar and 3MW of landfill gas energy. California also has CCAs certified in San Francisco and San Joaquin. CCAs are up for discussion or are under way in Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Luis Obispo and in Sonoma and Yolo counties.
• Illinois has the fastest rate of CCA adoption. Nearly 300 municipalities approved CCA referenda in 2012.
• Massachusetts has the longest-running CCA. Operational since 1998, Cape Light Compact serves 200,000 customers in 21 towns, administers energy efficiency programs, and advocates for customers at the legislative and regulatory levels. Through the Cape & Vineyard Coop, Cape Light partnered on 18.2MW of new solar built on multiple local sites by American Energy. The new installations primarily serve municipal load.
• Ohio’s NOPEC, the nation’s largest CCA with 500,000 customers in 9 counties, has achieved a rate savings of $127 million since 2000.
• Rhode Island has a single aggregation serving the municipal load of 36 cities, which have saved $18 million in electricity costs since 1999.

Highly flexible, CCA programs facilitate innovation that can be challenging to pursue (or fund) at the state and federal levels.