Almost all Bay Area electricity customers are now served by a locally run, non-profit power provider in the Community Choice energy model. Click on your county below to find out which Community Choice program provides your electricity and to learn about your energy choices.
What is Community Choice energy?
Community Choice energy is a model that allows for communities to join together to purchase electricity on behalf of their residents and businesses. Community choice programs are administered by local governments with a mission to provide competitive alternatives to for-profit, investor-owned utilities like PG&E. On top of providing cleaner power, Community Choice programs are a great way to accrue benefits locally — rather than to the shareholders of a monopoly for-profit utility. Choosing a local power provider is an easy, economical way to reduce your home or business carbon footprint and help create a healthier environment.
How does Community Choice work?
Community Choice programs purchase power with higher renewable and lower greenhouse gas content than is offered by PG&E. Other than receiving cleaner electricity at competitive prices, all other aspects of your electricity service remain the same. PG&E continues to deliver the electricity, maintain the power lines, handle billing, and respond to new service requests and emergencies. If you want to stay with PG&E for your electricity, you can opt out of your cities program (but why would you?).
What are the benefits of Community Choice?
Community Choice is better for your health, better for the planet, and better for the local economy!
Decentralized, community-based power accrues significant benefits right here at home.
Community Choice:
- Promotes local economic development, including investments in local renewable-energy resources;
- Empowers consumers to choose how their electricity is generated;
- Gives control of local resources back to the community;
- Creates high-paying, local clean-energy jobs (median wages in green-energy careers are 13% higher than the economy average!); and
- Helps your city reach climate and economic goals.
Community Choice Energy safeguards public health, helps protect precious natural resources, and reduces our reliance on dirty and dangerous fossil fuels that cause climate disruption.
Community Choice:
- Facilitates the transition of our economy away from climate-disrupting carbon pollution and toward clean, locally-generated electricity;
- Cuts pollution and resulting impacts on the environment and public health; and
- Fosters dependable, efficient, and resilient local energy economies.
Decisions about rates and investments are made locally and democratically through processes that are transparent and accountable to the community.
Community Choice:
- Free communities from the unstable and steadily-increasing costs of electricity generated from fossil fuels.
- Offer competitive rates—revenue surpluses stay in the community rather than going to shareholders or pricey executive salaries.
- Offer convenient and hassle-free service—PG&E continues to provide customer billing and power delivery.
Learn more about the Bay Area's Community Choice programs below. To find out which program serves your community, head to the top of the page and click on your county of residence.
MCE was California’s first Community Choice program, launched in 2010. Residents and businesses in Marin and Napa Counties, unincorporated Contra Costa County, and the cities of Concord, Danville, El Cerrito, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Oakley, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Richmond, San Pablo, San Ramon, and Walnut Creek can now choose how much renewable energy is in their electric service. MCE customers have joined on a path for a cleaner planet by reducing their carbon footprint and helping their communities lower their greenhouse gas emissions.
People who live in MCE’s service area are automatically enrolled in the “Light Green” 60% renewable energy program. Residents or business customers who have the resources and desire to do more for the environment can opt up to “Deep Green” 100% renewable energy or “Local Sol” for 100% locally produced solar energy. Deep Green costs only a penny more per kilowatt-hour than Light Green rates, so for most residential customers, the additional cost is less than $5 per month. Local Sol is about fourteen cents more per kilowatt-hour, and while it is more costly than Deep Green, it directly comes from solar farms located in your area, ensuring growth of our local green economy.
To learn more, view this Understanding Your Electricity Bill page.
CleanPowerSF started serving San Francisco residents and businesses in 2016, offering cleaner energy at competitive rates. CleanPowerSF is a not-for-profit program operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) that works in partnership with PG&E to deliver cleaner energy to residents and businesses. They purchase clean and renewable energy on behalf of customers, which is then delivered through PG&E’s poles and wires. CleanPowerSF empowers San Francisco energy customers to reduce their carbon footprint while supporting local jobs, stable energy prices, and new clean energy infrastructure.
People who live in San Francisco have two energy choices. You can enroll in the “Green” 50% renewable energy program, which is cost-competitive with PG&E, or you can choose “SuperGreen” 100% renewable energy. The SuperGreen program cost only a penny more per kilowatt-hour than Green rates, so for most residential customers the additional cost is less than $3 per month!
To learn more, view this Understanding Your Electricity Bill document.
Enroll in 100% Renewable Energy now!
East Bay Community Energy (EBCE) is the newest, not-for-profit, local electricity supplier in Alameda County. Unincorporated Alameda County and the cities of Albany, Berkeley, Dublin, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Livermore, Newark, Oakland, Piedmont, Pleasanton, San Leandro, and Union City can now choose how much renewable energy is in their electric service. EBCE provides cleaner, greener energy at lower rates and reinvests earnings back into the community to create local green energy jobs, local programs, and clean power projects.
People who live the EBCE service area are automatically enrolled in the “Bright Choice, which offers” 42.3% renewable energy. Residents or business customers who have the resources and desire to do more for the environment can opt up to “Renewable 100” at any time. Renewable 100 electricity is generated from solar, wind, geothermal, and small hydroelectric plants: clean energy that is never depleted. Renewable 100 costs only a penny more per kilowatt-hour than Bright Choice rates, so for most residential customers, the additional cost is less than $5 per month.
To learn more, view this Understanding Your Electricity Bill page.
Enroll in 100% Renewable Energy now!
