Ninth Circuit Mandates Use of Multi-Tiered Avoided Cost Rates Where Utilities Make Purchases From QFs In Meeting Renewable Portfolio Standards

“We hold only that where a utility uses energy from a QF to meet a state RPS, the avoided cost must be based on the sources that the utility could rely upon to meet the RPS.” Californians for Renewable Energy v. CPUC (CARE) Wow! This ruling is now binding within the Ninth Circuit and could have ripple effects throughout the country. In 2010, in CPUC v. SCE, FERC reversed several decades of…