The city of Chula Vista’s trajectory to give residents energy provider choice was solidified last week in a 3-2 vote to join a regional Joint Powers Authority led by the city of San Diego, and establish Community Choice Aggregation along with La Mesa, Encinitas and Imperial Beach.
“It’s incumbent on all of us as elected officials to make sure that we’re doing the right thing by our communities and by our world and by our children,” Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas said at a CCA press conference on Monday. “We must do everything we can to set those policies and institute those programs that will help us reduce our carbon footprint.”
Like Salas, council members Steve Padilla and John McCann voted to move forward with CCA, while council members Jill Galvez and Mike Diaz voted against it, citing concerns about jumping into the JPA too quickly.
“This is like a marriage, getting into a joint powers agreement with other cities is a marriage that will be very difficult to extricate ourselves from,” Galvez said during last week’s council meeting, surmising it would be better to not enter into a political arrangement because SDG&E will use 100 percent renewable energy by 2045 and may charge residents exit fees.
The cities of La Mesa and Encinitas voted to move forward to join the JPA and establish CCA unanimously. The city of Imperial Beach voted to move forward with a unanimous vote. The final step to move forward with the JPA was determined by a 7-2 vote by the San Diego City Council on Tuesday.
Ultimately, the JPA aims to provide residents with rates that are lower than or competitive with SDG&E by 2021, and achieve 100 percent renewable energy by 2035 or sooner.
According to city conservationist Cory Downs, the goals of the JPA include increasing local control and minimizing risks while providing local benefits such as the creation of new jobs.
An Oakland-based consultant group hired by San Diego city staff estimated that a CCA could offer residents rates that are five percent lower than SDG&E and generate an estimated average net income of $110 million per year.
Downs said the future JPA board will ultimately determine what the rate discount is for ratepayers.
Upfront costs of establishing a separate public agency, which will be known as the San Diego Regional Community Choice Energy Authority, will be funded by the city of San Diego.
Each city that is part of the JPA will appoint a board member and an alternate that will have the rights and responsibilities of the primary board member in his or her absence.
Board members are to be appointed by Oct. 1.
California is one of seven states where CCA is authorized and is currently home to 19 CCA programs, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
CCA was first established in California in 2002, and allows local governments to buy power contracts on behalf of residents from an alternative energy supplier, while still receiving distribution services from an existing utility provider — in this case SDG&E.
By December, the CCA JPA plans to adopt an implementation plan and select a banking partner.
In order to effectively launch CCA by 2021, the SDRCCEA must submit an implementation plan to the California Public Utilities Commission before Jan. 1 2020.
Downs said if the JPA fails to submit an implementation plan to the CPUC before Jan. 1, establishing CCA would effectively be pushed back a year.
