California Clean Energy Mandate Comes at Utilities' Expense

Renewable Energy World: California’s ambitious push for clean energy will be a tough lift for utilities and potentially their bondholders.

The law Governor Jerry Brown signed this month commits the state to generate all its electricity from carbon-free sources such as wind and solar by 2045. That’s a big jump for state that currently gets about 30 percent of its power from renewable sources, posing a costly and difficult goal, said Toby Shea, a senior credit officer at Moody’s Investors Service. The company said that the mandate could hurt the credit ratings of electricity providers such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the investor-owned PG&E Corp.

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