Monterey Bay Community Power (MBCP) is the local community choice energy (CCE) program soliciting our county and local cities to join. Is this a private company competing with PG&E? No, MBCP is a public entity whose employees are covered by the PERS retirement plan. California law enables MBCP to take over managing how PG&E customers get their electricity. And do ratepayers get a choice? No, not until after your city or county votes to enroll you in MBCP collective. Then you can “opt out.”
And just how does MBCP attract cities and counties to join its collective? With money, in the form of rebates to electric users. But where does the money come from? Well, part of it comes from diverting profits that would have gone to PG&E but now goes back to consumers. Sounds good so far, if you are a consumer. That is, until you realize MBCP is tax-exempt. It pays no taxes in California, ever, part of the joint powers agreement structured by the state of California.
This fact is important because PG&E does pay taxes. These taxes pay for our public schools and other public services. Without PG&E’s tax money, how will these be paid? That’s right. You and I and all of our neighbors will have to pay the bill. Sweet deal for MBCP. We get a rebate, which may or may not be enough to pay the bills when Diablo shuts down, and the county and cities no longer have PG&E tax revenue.
And MBCP bragged about its commitment to spending any surplus funds on energy-saving projects and projects benefitting our respective communities. We would have local “representation,” but not control. Each community has a full or partial vote at the ever-growing table. When more communities join (currently 19), the voices of the others are diluted. If and when it becomes absolutely necessary, SLO could create its own CCE, just for our county.
MBCP has been able to afford rebates because it has had Diablo’s nearly 20,000 gigawatts of clean power. Similar quantities of carbon-free energy will not be readily available when Diablo is shut down. Can we expect the government to bail us out?
Looking across the state, Los Angeles and Ventura counties—including Ojai, Carpinteria, and Camarillo—have seen rising rates resulting from their CCE’s choosing 100 percent carbon-free electricity. There simply is not enough solar and wind energy in the entire United States capable of sustaining zero carbon. Who are we fooling?
San Luis Obispo County 5th District Supervisor Debbie Arnold recognized this “fast hustle” tactic for what it was. Arnold’s experience and dedication to her constituents helps our county make the right decisions for the right reasons, and not govern like lemmings, doing something just because everyone else is doing it.
And don’t forget. Handing the government ultimate control over a major portion of the means of production is classic socialism and communism. Let’s remember, we still live in America, not Venezuela or China. Δ
Michael T. J. Mullen writes about community choice energy from Paso Robles. Send a response for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Aug 22 – Sep 1, 2019.
So if I want to join the CCE, my city or county needs to join into the CCE. If they do join, and I don’t want in, I can then opt out. Seems like a no brainer.
Ask yourself; Why would you be required to “op out” rather than “Opt in”? Could it be because they count on the uninformed, busy people to fail to see the small print on the contracts. BINGO!
Just like the schools who require the parents to “opt out” of sex education for their 3 and 4 year old children!
The reason why MBCP is the default service in its territory, which means automatic enrollment at launch with opt-out, is not to try to trick people. It is because it is a local, not-for-profit public (you can go to their decision-making meetings and speak to them) agency, and the legislature rightly concluded that such an agency should be the default service, not the large for-profit, distant utility.
The article is filled with misunderstandings and misinformation. I’ll just touch on one. No public agency pays taxes. There is no diminishment in taxes PG&E pays as a result of Community Choice arriving on the scene. In fact, PG&E loses no profit to Community Choice. PG&E’s profit is based on a guaranteed return of 10-11% based on infrastructure investments on transmission & distribution. They do not make a profit on the generation side, selling kilowatt-hours of power. That is the only part of the electricity system CCAs are involved in.
For accurate information about Community Choice Energy visit http://www.cleanpowerexchange.org or http://www.cal-cca.org
“And don’t forget. Handing the government ultimate control over a major portion of the means of production is classic socialism and communism. Let’s remember, we still live in America, not Venezuela or China. “
Harry S. Truman had this to say on the subject: “Now that is the patented trademark of the special interest lobbies. Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years.
Socialism is what they called public power.
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called farm price supports.
Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
When the Republican candidate inscribes the slogan Down With Socialism on the banner of his great crusade, that is really not what he means at all.
What he really means is, Down with Progress. That is what he means.”
There are so many things wrong with this opinion piece. Here are a few:
“profits that would have gone to PG&E but now goes back to consumers”
– PG&E does not profit from procuring power BY LAW. They do profit from running their own power plants like Diablo, but overall, as another poster accurately said, they make their money from managing the lines.
– We will be losing tax money from Diablo when it closes, that’s true… but it’s not right to conflate that closure with MBCP coming to town. They’re completely different events and the only relationship is that with Community Choice energy, we no longer have to rely on PG&E’s mix of power and that will be important when Diablo closes.
“We would have local “representation,” but not control.”
– Compare the multiple board seats we have now with the ZERO that we have on PG&E’s opaque governing structure and the CPUC’s board. We get literally NO say currently so this is a huge improvement in governance of our local energy.
“MBCP has been able to afford rebates because it has had Diablo’s nearly 20,000 gigawatts of clean power”
– this is wholly inaccurate. MBCP gets 34% of it’s power from solar and wind power and the remaining is contracted from large hydropower, making it 100% GHG free. They get nothing from Diablo and never have.
“rising rates resulting from their CCE’s choosing 100 percent carbon-free electricity”
– this is also inaccurate. Community Choice programs generally offer a base level of carbon free power and then an increased level for more money. This is a choice… just like you have on PG&E to choose their fully solar option, which costs more. The REAL story is that community choice programs manage to offer more GHG free power for less money across the board.
“means of production is classic socialism and communism”
– this is ridiculous on its face. MBCP buys power from the open market for power, just like everyone else. The fact that we have representation on their board is DEMOCRATIC, not socialist. Don’t let these scare tactics fool you. Mullen and Debbie Arnold are just obstructionists for progress with no real arguments as to why… which is why he closes with an opaque and ridiculous cry of communism! Get real, folks.