By Luis Amezcua
In the coming months, Alameda County is scheduled to give presentations inviting cities in the county to become founding members of East Bay Community Energy (EBCE). EBCE is the new nonprofit local power agency, which will provide energy consumers a cleaner—and likely cheaper—alternative to PG&E. Established in the “Community Choice” energy model, EBCE will prioritize and maximize community benefits such as the development of local energy resources, clean energy jobs, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The program will give residents and businesses an opportunity to decide where they get their electricity from. Whereas PG&E relies on electricity from dirty and carbon-intensive sources, Community Choice programs can choose clean and renewable power—and the benefits accrue locally, rather than to the shareholders of a for-profit utility.
After EBCE was briefly delayed in early August to give County Supervisors additional time to discuss it, the Sierra Club and our allies, in partnership with the Alameda County Labor Council, developed a set of amendments to the program’s founding document, the Joint Powers Agreement, to shape a program that would do the most good for our communities and environment. Specifically, our main requests for the program were:
- Develop a “Business Plan” that will serve as a roadmap to: develop and integrate local renewable energy resources in the long and short term; and lay out how the program will foster local benefits;
- Limit the amount of “unbundled” Renewable Energy Certificates the program can purchase. When the certificate is unbundled, credit for renewable energy can be purchased separately from the power itself, allowing electricity that would otherwise not be considered renewable to be labeled as such; and
- Take steps to minimize adverse impacts to existing workers in order to ensure a just transition for them.
The coalition’s work was successful. County Supervisors supported the amendments, voting to allocate up to $500,000 to develop a business plan within eight months of setting up the program’s governing board.
The Sierra Club and our allies are actively working to encourage cities to become founding members of EBCE so they have the opportunity to shape this program early on for their local businesses and residents. To date, Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, Piedmont, and Fremont had all signed on. The deadline for all cities to officially get on board is the end of 2016, in order for the new EBCE Board of Directors to convene its first meeting in early 2017. The program’s expected launch date is October 2017.
The Sierra Club applauds the County, numerous cities, and engaged stakeholders for taking the time and effort to make this program a reality. The Sierra Club is excited to be working with a coalition of environmental and labor organizations. This coalition serves as a clear example that picking between the environment and jobs is a false choice—we can have both.