The Oakley City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to take a wait and see approach on Community Choice Programs and decided to revisit joining Marin Clean Energy (MCE) next year.
Had the Oakley City Council approved the Letter of Intent, Oakley resident, Commercial and municipal entities would have begun a process of being enrolled in MCE within a matter of six months without little outreach to the community.
Ratepayers could opt out of MCE within a 60-day period at no cost. After that, there would be a $5 fee. Also debated was a fee by PG&E called an “exit fee” which would be a $13 monthly fee to PG&E for those who continue to use MCE which wiped out any savings in energy costs.
The Council had discussed the issue on two prior occasions, but had not held any outreach to the community or forum to explain what the City was trying to achieve.
Prior to going into council discussion, Mayor Kevin Romick suggested they revisit the item in a year to allow for more fact finding and see where the county was headed.
“Community Choice is the wave of the future, I think eventually all cities and counties in the state of California will be offering community choice options for everyone, I think unfortunately for the city of Oakley that is not today,” said Romick.
Romick highlighted the primary goal of this process was to provide the residents of Oakley the ability to pay less for their electricity by adding a choice and that choice was MCE.
“Historically, MCE rates have been less than PG&E. However, with new information that we received last week that the current MCE rates are higher than PG&E, it makes it a more difficult decision to make at this time,” explained Romick. “I’d like to take the next 6-to-9 months and see what other cities are making and adjustments to the rates PG&E is making and see if the state legislator might change the law to not allow the full opt in process which frustrates us all.”
Romick hoped that within a year, with new information, they can re-analyze and re-evaluate where to go.
Oakley Planner Josh McMurray stated he wanted to clarify some information that has been stated over the past few weeks.
He noted staff first learned about Community Choice Energy in the summer of 2014 when MCE gave a presentation at the Mayors Conference. He says since that time, staff had been watching the issue and researching.
“Late last year, staff engaged with Marin Clean Energy to seek out the steps it would take to join from a city perspective and at that time, we learned that MCE board approved an inclusion period that expired on March 31 where the inclusion fee would be waived,” said McMurray. ”Staff engaged them after we learned that and since that time and we have had three public meetings all agendasized, all noticed with an agenda put out.”
McMurray also stated that MCE has partnered with the county who is on a separate path which had held three public meetings in December around the county.
“They have completed their information gathering and plan on presenting to a standing committee and then present their findings to the Board. That presentation will be next month,” said McMurray.
McMurray says the County will decide from three options from creating their own program which would be a Contra Costa County exclusive, partnering with Alameda County, or join Marin Clean Energy.
McMurray stated that there is two contention points that keep coming up.
“One is the opt in, so basically by the city council approving an ordinance tonight and going through the membership analysis and if its favorable and Marin Clean Energy decides to opt in the city, everyone would be opted in and you would have to be opted out if you don’t want to be an MCE customer in terms of who produces the energy,” explained McMurray. “We as staff, anyone you ask wish that was not the case, unfortunately state law doesn’t say the other option exists where everyone can opt out of PG&E and into MCE.”
McMurray highlighted by doing it this way, it gives these new programs a customer base.
“We wish we could change that, but its state law,” said McMurray.
McMurray says the exit fee is not static, its variable and depends on your rate plan, when your bill transitions over to MCE and energy use. It also does not apply to solar users who are generating a “net zero”.
McMurray further highlighted that staff has put in a lot of time to researching this item and stand behind their original recommendation.
For more background on the previous City Council Discussion on Marin Clean Energy, click here.
2 comments
No doubt ECT’s Editorial had a lot to do with this Council making the right decision. McMurrays comments are disturbing.
Thank you ECT!!!
This is def a wake up call for many Oakley residents, including myself, that we need to ATTEND city meetings to know what is happening in our city. I appreciate being able to follow the issue through the detailed articles by ECT – thank you.
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