What CCAs do differently

Community Choice Aggregation — also called municipal aggregation in some states — lets local governments take collective control of energy supply for residents and small businesses in their service area. The mechanics:

• The community decides on supplier and supply — through a ballot measure (in Ohio's opt-out structure) or through opt-in enrollment
• Aggregated buying power — the combined load of all participating accounts negotiates rates and contract terms no individual customer could access
• Local utility continues distribution — billing, outage restoration, maintenance, and customer service remain with the incumbent utility; only the supply source changes
• Renewable content set by the community — CCAs typically offer renewable content well above state minimums, in many cases reaching 100% renewable supply
• Savings stay in the community — the cost difference between default utility supply and CCA-negotiated supply accrues directly to participating residents and small businesses

For Ohio communities specifically, municipal aggregation has been authorized since the early 2000s and has matured into a well-established mechanism for community-level energy strategy. The CCA in this case study is one of the larger Ohio aggregations, covering multiple municipalities under a single program structure.

What Pilot did — across the four phases

Pilot's CCA team provides full-program management organized around four phases that run sequentially during program launch and concurrently during ongoing operations.

Phase 1: Design

• Community needs assessment — usage analysis across the proposed service area; identification of residential and small commercial load patterns
• Ballot strategy — language, timing, and supporting materials for community vote on program authorization
• Rate structure design — pricing approach, term length, renewable content goals, and opt-out provisions
• Program plan documentation — the foundational filing required for PUCO (Public Utilities Commission of Ohio) certification

Phase 2: Implement

• Supplier RFP and negotiation — competitive solicitation among certified retail electric and gas suppliers; contract negotiation aligned with program goals
• PUCO certification — the regulatory filings and approvals required to launch a CCA program in Ohio
• Voter and resident education — pre-vote education materials, opt-out notice content, FAQ resources for residents
• Opt-out administration — managing the regulatory-required opt-out window during program launch

Phase 3: Manage

• Regulatory filings — ongoing PUCO compliance, annual reports, supplier contract filings
• Supplier contract management — performance tracking, renewal cycles, contract amendments
• Opt-out notice administration — ongoing administrative compliance with state-required notice cycles
• Performance tracking — savings measurement, renewable content verification, account-level reporting
• Portfolio management — for larger CCAs, this extends to long-term supply structuring, renewable PPA evaluation, and risk management across multi-year contracts

Phase 4: Support

• Resident question handling — ongoing customer service support for community members about the program
• Municipal staff coordination — supporting partner municipalities' staff who interact with residents and answer questions
• Program optimization — periodic review of program structure, renewable content goals, and supplier arrangements as community priorities evolve

The 100% renewable path

For this program, reaching 100% renewable supply was a defining community commitment rather than an aspirational target. The path involved coordinated work across several procurement vehicles:

• Long-term PPAs with renewable generators — sized to cover material portions of the portfolio's energy consumption with direct renewable supply
• REC procurement — covering remaining consumption with Renewable Energy Certificates aligned to the program's reporting framework
• Competitive supplier selection — RFPs structured to require renewable content commitments meeting the program's specifications
• Annual verification and reporting — independent verification of renewable content claims, communicated to community members and stakeholders

The aggregated scale of 200k+ accounts is critical to this approach. Individual residential customers can't access long-term renewable PPAs. Most small commercial customers can't either. Aggregated, the load is large enough to support PPA structures and supply commitments that match what corporate buyers can achieve.

What changed for the community

• $100M+ in cumulative community savings over the engagement lifetime — savings that stayed within the participating municipalities rather than going to default supply
• 100% renewable supply for the entire program portfolio, structured through PPAs, RECs, and supplier commitments
• Stable, transparent supply — competitive rates with predictable terms instead of default utility supply that varies with capacity auction outcomes
• Local control of energy strategy — the community sets renewable content goals, evaluates supplier offers, and decides program direction through its municipal partners
• Operational continuity — residents continue to receive the same service from their local utility (billing, outage restoration, maintenance) with no operational complexity added

Why this case worked

• Engagement from inception. CCA programs that launch with full-program management in place from day one consistently outperform programs that try to add professional support after the fact. The early decisions — ballot strategy, supplier selection criteria, rate structure design — set the trajectory for everything that follows. Pilot was at the table for those decisions.
• Ohio's mature municipal aggregation framework. Ohio has authorized opt-out aggregation since the early 2000s. The regulatory framework, PUCO certification process, and supplier ecosystem are well established. CCAs in newer markets face implementation complexity that Ohio aggregators don't.
• Scale supported renewable PPA structures. 200k+ accounts aggregates enough load to support PPA structures and long-term supply commitments that small CCAs can't access. The renewable content trajectory benefits directly from the program's scale.
• Long-term relationship structure. CCAs are not transactional procurement engagements — they're multi-year (often multi-decade) programs requiring ongoing administration, regulatory compliance, and supplier management. Continuity through multiple contract cycles produces compounding value that single-procurement engagements never can.

This case study describes a real Pilot client engagement. Identifying details have been anonymized; financial figures are approximate.