L.A. Power Agency Prepays for Wind, Expecting $91 Million in Savings

Clean Power Alliance's $1.4 billion J.P. Morgan bond buys seven years of wind energy for Los Angeles and Ventura county customers.

Spread across its roughly 3 million residents and businesses, Clean Power Alliance's newest wind deal works out to about $4 a year apiece.

The downtown-based public agency buys electricity for 38 communities in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. It closed a $1.4 billion bond that prepays for years of wind energy, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported Monday. In its own Oct. 19 announcement, CPA said it expects to save about $91.1 million over the bond's first seven years. That's $12.7 million a year, and it's where the $4 comes from.

What the money buys is wind. The bond covers about 1.14 million megawatt-hours a year of California's top tier of renewable power, drawn from existing long-term wind contracts that total 440.8 megawatts. CPA didn't say which projects they are, the Business Journal reported.

The seller this time is J.P. Morgan Ventures Energy Corporation, with J.P. Morgan underwriting the bonds. By CPA's account, the bank had never before closed an electric prepay deal anywhere in the country.

The discount comes from a tax break. Because CPA is a government agency run not for profit, it can borrow through tax-exempt bonds and hand suppliers the money years ahead. In return, the agency says, suppliers have usually knocked 8% to 12% off the price.

Small per head, but it stacks. This is CPA's seventh bond like it, bringing the program to $8.3 billion. The agency says all seven together save about $65 million a year, or a bit over $20 for each of those 3 million customers.

There's room for more. In November 2025, CPA's board approved up to $4.5 billion in new prepay deals through June 30, 2027, and this bond was issued under that approval. The agency says it'll keep looking for deals that strengthen its finances.

None of this changes who sends the bill. That's still Southern California Edison, the Rosemead-based utility that also keeps up the wires and handles meter reading, according to the Business Journal. CPA says the discount reaches customers as lower, steadier rates on that Edison bill; by The Globe's math, this deal works out to about $4 a year.

Source: labusinessjournal.com, retrieved November 2, 2026. Other sources: cal-cca.org.