Community Power approves three‑year data and call‑center services contract with Calpine

San Diego Community Power’s board approved a three‑year agreement with Calpine Community Energy LLC on March 26 for data management, billing and contact‑center services, work staff described as core to day‑to‑day retail operations.

Senior Director Lucas Uto told the board the contract covers critical functions: ingestion and processing of interval usage data, billing accuracy, contact‑center operations, settlement‑quality meter data submission to the balancing authority and handling complex rate configurations for the agency’s roughly 968,000 customer accounts. The initial term begins in May 2026 with a two‑year renewal option; staff cited an estimated annual cost of about $12,700,000 and a CPI escalation cap of 4%.

Uto summarized the procurement: an RFP issued in November 2024, multiple bids received, an internal evaluation process and lengthy negotiations (including during Calpine’s acquisition by Constellation). A material commercial change in the new agreement is that Calpine will move from charging on a per‑meter basis to a per‑account pricing construct for most customers; staff provided an example they said yields roughly $190,000 in monthly savings in current invoicing samples despite a modest per‑meter unit price increase.

The board moved, seconded and approved the agreement by roll call. Staff said the contract includes service‑level guarantees (billing accuracy and timeliness at or above 99%), reporting and cybersecurity provisions and remedies if service levels are not met.