SLO County could join Central Coast Community Energy. What does that mean for residents?
San Luis Obispo County may soon get more of its electricity from renewable energy sources.
On March 7, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to discuss sourcing electricity for unincorporated areas of the county from Central Coast Community Energy, a provider that obtains renewable energy for its clients.
The board will discuss joining Central Coast Community Energy at its next meeting on Tuesday, March 21.
How does Central Coast Community Energy work?
First, Central Coast Community Energy would procure electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar farms, according to its website.
Not all energy procured by Central Coast Community Energy is renewable, according to San Luis Obispo County administrative analyst Zachary Lute.
Some days, the electricity powering SLO County residents’ homes would be from renewable energy sources, he said, while it might come from a different source — such as Diablo Canyon Power Plant — at other times.
“They’re essentially increasing the amount of renewable and greenhouse gas-free electricity that’s on the grid in total,” Lute told The Tribune. “But the way we actually get the electricity will vary on a day-to-day basis and won’t always be exactly from the source that they purchased it from.”
After Central Coast Community Energy procures the electricity, PG&E would deliver it to customers through its power lines, according to a San Luis Obispo County staff report.
PG&E would also handle customer service such as billing and phone calls.
If SLO County joins 3CE, as it’s popularly known, residents living in unincorporated areas would automatically be enrolled in the program, the staff report said.
They could then choose to opt-out and continue to use electricity sourced by PG&E instead.
Central Coast Community Energy doesn’t have a traditional board of shareholders like PG&E does.
Instead, 3CE has a policy board, which decides on customer rates, budgets and strategic planning.
One of SLO County’s supervisors would sit on the policy board, said Wade Horton, San Luis Obispo County chief administrative officer.
“Because its made of up of elected officials, their constituents will have a voice,” Horton said of the policy board. “That’s going to be different than potentially a shareholder.”
Meanwhile, its operations committee oversees daily operations of the company, the staff report said.
A member of the SLO County Administrative Office would sit on that committee, Horton said.
Central Coast Community Energy claims on its website that it offers lower rates to customers than PG&E, but Horton told The Tribune on Monday he wasn’t ready to discuss that topic yet.
Rate comparisons between PG&E and Central Coast Community Energy will be part of the staff report presented to the board on March 21.
The report will also review the financial stability of Central Coast Community Energy and its potential benefits to the community, Horton said.
Numerous cities and counties on the Central Coast have joined Central Coast Community Energy since 2017, including Santa Barbara County, Monterey County, Santa Cruz County and the city of San Luis Obispo, the staff report said.
Should SLO County join renewable energy program?
On March 7, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Bruce McPherson encouraged the board to join Central Coast Community Energy.
According to McPherson, Santa Cruz County enrolled in 3CE five years ago. It was the first county to join the program, he said.
Though Santa Cruz County customers have the choice to opt out of the program, 95% chose to stay enrolled, McPhearson said.
“Customers have stayed with 3CE because of the significant benefits we offer through community reinvestment in businesses, local government, agriculture, housing, and schools — helping people adapt and prepare for the change in the future of energy and new ways of powering our homes and businesses,” McPhearson said.
Santa Cruz residents save an average of 18% on their energy bill through Central Coast Community Energy, McPhearson said.
“In today’s economy, that makes a big difference to people who are struggling with some of the inflation impacts.” McPhearson said.
On the other hand, Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business of San Luis Obispo County representative Mike Brown called Central Coast Community Energy “one of the biggest Ponzi schemes that’s ever been conceived in the state of California.”
“Basically what they’re doing is promising green energy by buying renewable energy certificates,” Brown said.
That’s partly true, as Lute explained, noting that electricity will be sourced locally from a mix of renewable and non-renewable energy sources.
Brown asked the board to consider if joining Central Coast Community Energy would actually improve rates for SLO County customers, and consider how high the penalty costs of pulling out of the program would be if the company proved unsuccessful.
“We hope you do your homework and not follow the lemmings over the cliff on this one,” Brown said.
This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 8:00 AM.
