A 2% savings is what CCEs typically offer over the rates of Investory Owned Utilities.  For businesses and government agencies with large energy costs, these savings can amount to tens of thousands of dollars every year.  Those with solar roofs will receive net metering advantages at least twice the size of what IOUs offer.

CCEs allows the consumer to choose the energy mix.  For instance, Peninsula Clean Energy  offers an ECOplus plan that delivers at least 50% renewable and 75% carbon-free electricity at a rate 5% lower than PG&E, and ECO100 that delivers 100% renewable and carbon-free energy at only $4.45 per month higher than ECOplus. Just about all CCEs in California deliver an energy plan at a lower cost than IOUs (Investor Owned Utilities, e.g.: Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, Pacific Gas and Electric). 

Instead of paying dividends to investors, CCEs spend their revenue locally to build local solar grids and batteries to gain some independence from long distance transmission lines.  This is important as wildfires and fear of sparking during high wind events begin to interrupt energy deliveries (brown-outs and black-outs) more often than in the past.

In addition to choosing from a menu of energy mixes, customers can still choose to stay with the status quo. No one is required to buy CCE power; anyone can opt-out.  Americans are proud of competition in the marketplace, and CCE at last allows citizens in Orange County to break free from the monopolies SCE and SDG&E have enjoyed for decades.

The transition to greener energy will create local jobs since CCE will promote and subsidize the purchase and/or installation of energy-saving features such as solar roofs, windows and doors, attic insulation, heat-pumps, chargers for electric vehicles, and more.  This requires electricians, plumbers, and installers and gives retail stores a whole new line of business.

<href="https://www.mcecleanenergy.org/" target="_blank">MCE Clean Energy, launched 2010, Marin and Napa counties, and cities in Solano and Contra Costa counties

Sonoma Clean Power, launched May 2014, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties

Lancaster Choice Energy, launched May 2015, City of Lancaster in L.A. County

CleanPowerSF, launched May 2016, City and County of San Francisco

Peninsula Clean Energy, launched October 2016, San Mateo County

Silicon Valley Clean Energy, launched April 2017, Santa Clara County

Apple Valley Choice Energy, launched April 2017, City of Apple Valley

Redwood Coast Energy Authority, launched May 2017, Humboldt County

Pico Rivera Innovative Municipal Energy (PRIME), launched September 2017, City of Pico Rivera

Pioneer Community Energy, launched February 2018, Placer County

Clean Power Alliance of Southern California, launched February 2018, Los Angeles and Ventura Counties

Central Coast Community Energy (Formally Monterey Bay Community Power), launched March 2018, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito counties, and cities in San Luis Obispo County

San Jacinto Power, launched April 2018, City of San Jacinto

Rancho Mirage Energy Authority Launched May 2018, City of Rancho Mirage

Solana Energy Alliance, launched June 2018, City of Solana Beach

Valley Clean Energy, launched June 2018, Yolo County

East Bay Community Energy, launched June 2018, Alameda County

San Jose Clean Energy (Launched Sept. 2018), City of San Jose

King City Community Power Launched July 2018, Monterey County

Desert Community Energy Launched April 2020, Central and Eastern Riverside County

Western Community Energy Launched April 2020, Western Riverside County

BProud – Launched October 2020, City of Baldwin Park

Pomona Choice Energy, Launched October 2020, City of Pomona

The city of Irvine decided to form a CCE program in 2018. Since then the cities of Buena Park, Fullerton, and Huntington Beach have joined Irvine in executing a Joint Powers Agreement forming the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) which became effective in November 2020.  Any city in Orange County may join the OCPA so that its residents and businesses may enjoy its benefits. 

Many south Orange County city are bisected by the boundary between SCE and SDG&E which runs along La Paz Road in Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills Drive in Laguna Hills, and Crown Valley Parkway in Laguna Niguel.  To see the actual, complicated boundaries, please open these maps.

The next deadline for joining the OCPA is December 31, 2021, and residents would begin to enjoy the advantages offered by the OCPA two years later.

These cities may want to join the OCPA if their voters prod their city councils into action:  Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, and San Juan Capistrano.

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Our members and supporters living in the unincorporated areas of south county will be able to choose 100% clean electric energy beginning in 2023.  Thanks for the decision of the OC Board of Supervisors, the county has signed up as the fifth member of the OC Power Authority, and it will be represented on the Board of Directors by Third District Supervisor Donald P. Wagner.  He said “Orange County residents deserve flexibility when it comes to how they power up their homes or businesses. Because of the partnership with OCPA, my constituents can soon access competitive energy rates, and more options to leverage clean energy, whether you go carbon-free or 100% renewable,” said Supervisor Donald P. Wagner. “Serving as your Orange County Supervisor, I support renewable energy development, conservation programs, and efforts to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to leave the world in better shape.”

We couldn’t agree more and hope city councils in our area will finally do the responsible thing and vote for CCE.

The Orange County Power Authority’s (OCPA) Board of Directors adopted a rate structure for the electric energy it will begin to deliver to its commercial and residential customers Buena Park, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, and Irvine in October of 2022; however, it has been recently (summer 2022) superseded by these rates published on the OCPA's website. 

These figures have been taken from material submitted by staff to the OCPA Board.

Each of OCPA’s member cities will have to decide which of these choices will become their default.  Most lean toward the Smart Choice, although the Sierra Club recommends the Premium Choice to be the default since most customers will stay with the default.  Who would not want to spend $8.45 a month for keeping our children’s and grandchildren’s planet a little more comfortable?

For solar roof owners, OCPA will set its Net Energy Metering (NEM) to 10% above SCE’s.

What this means is that OCPA customers can have 100% renewable electric energy for $6.38 more a month than what they currently pay to SCE, an investor-owned utility.  This is the result of forward-looking city councils in Irvine, Buena Park, Fullerton, and Huntington Beach.  Those of us living in other OC cities are envious, out of luck, and why?  Because our city councils seem to be not all that interested in switching to renewable energy and in reducing their residents’ greenhouse gas emissions.  This is an election year, and it is up to voters to elect city council members who realize that climate change is real and that measures to reduce GHG emissions need to be taken, if not yesterday, but then today.

During this past week I virtually attended the board meeting of the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) and the Mission Viejo City Council, both took place on Tuesday, July 13.  The OCPA meeting's highlight was a presention about risk management which certainly raised my eyebrows:  I was astonished at the amount of monetary discretion the authority's CEO is to have over risky on the spot energy purchases with little oversight.  I also noted that a lot of issues remain undecided and that a 100% green choice for future customers of OCPA was not mentioned, in fact, the environment got short shrift, but please watch the video of the meeting and form your own opinion.

The same day, a number of us urged the MV City Council again to put CCE on their agenda again and to discuss this important, GHG reducing issue at public meetings.  The response from the mayor, Trish Kelly, was that the council is waiting for a report from the OCPA and that there continues to be a problem with the city being served by 2 utilities (SCE and SDG&E), when in fact, such a problem does not exist.

Finally, on the same evening the Laguna Beach City Council met and decided to go ahead with CCE.  Staff is now studying which power authority fits the needs and requirements of Laguna Beach best, Hooray!

Submitted by Ed Maurer

On its April 26 meeting, the Mission Viejo city council was provided with an update on CCE and OCPA.  In reacting to this report, the council indicated that they would ask Brian Probolsky, CEO OCPA, to make a presentation.  We regard this as a step, albeit small, forward.

OCPA has been mired in controversy lately, and a good description of the current state of affairs can be found in Gabriel San Román’s piece in the LA Times of July 4, 2022.  For climate warriors who have been urging OC city councils to join OCPA, this situation demands a time out until OCPA cleans house.  In addition to the Grand Jury Report mentioned in the Times, the OCPA board of directors ordered a report about Brian Probolsky’s whistleblower complaint from the  international law firm of Seyfarth Shaw.  This investigative report should see the light of day  ̶  I’m careful with my choice of words here  ̶  by the end of July, so that the OCPA board of directors will have had time to digest both rep̶̶orts by the time their next public meeting takes place, probably on August 3.

We’ll prepare another update after this decisive meeting.

The Orange County Power Authority, aka OCPower, has been in full operational mode since the end of October when it launched service to nearly 800,000 residents in the cities of Buena Park, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, and Irvine.  This is in addition to its having connected 38,000 commercial customers in these four cities in April of this year.  Its first rollout proved to be successful with a participation rate of 92%.

Since OCPA is the sole local provider in Orange County able to offer 100% energy produced from renewable sources, these are big steps toward lowering greenhouse gas emissions in our county.

The OCPA Board of Directors met on December 13, and staff reported some very positive news: 

• A complete financial audit of the agency conducted by Pisenty & Brinker LLC resulted in a clean bill of health.  The auditors stated that OCPA is financially strong, that no significant deficiencies were found, and that no changes or corrections are needed.
• Staff has worked up a suggested rate plan for 2023 that puts OCPA in a competitive situation vis-à-vis SCE:  OCPA rates will be 2% lower than SCE’s!  This may appear to be an insignificant difference, but it is only a beginning.  We need to remember that this price differential will increase as renewable energy gets less and less costly. Here is a rate comparison for a typical residential Orange County household in 2023 that will go into effect in January 2023:

*38% renewable energy

**69% renewable energy

These charts were lifted on 12/13/2022 from the OCPA Staff Report, Item 9.2., page 56 (https://www.ocpower.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/December-13-2022-OCPA-Board-Agenda.pdf)

These figures show that anyone lucky enough to live in Buena Park, Fullerton,  Huntington Beach, and Irvine can receive electricity generated from 100% renewable sources for only an additional $5.24 a month!

The Clean Power Alliance in Los Angeles is growing, while OCPA is shrinking.  Read part of a recent CPA press release:

The Clean Power Alliance (CPA) Board of Directors voted today to add the cities of Hermosa Beach, Monrovia, and Santa Paula to its Joint Powers Agreement. The action paves the way for residential and commercial electricity customers within the three cities to begin receiving clean renewable energy from CPA in 2024. Each of the cities voted earlier this year to join CPA to provide service to residents and businesses. 

The CPA leads the nation in serving the most customers with 100% renewable energy. The not-for-profit Los Angeles-based clean energy provider currently serves the counties of Los Angeles and Ventura, as well as 30 cities within both counties. The addition of these three cities will bring the total number of CPA member communities to 35 and highlights the momentum among Southern California communities making leadership decisions to address the impacts of climate change with sustainable solutions….

Founded in 2017, Clean Power Alliance is the fifth largest electricity provider in California and has the most customers receiving 100% renewable energy in the nation. CPA serves approximately three million people via one million customer accounts, providing clean renewable energy at competitive rates.  Visit www.cleanpoweralliance.org.

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