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Agenda Item

VII. PRESENTATION FROM CLEAN POWER ALLIANCE (Executive Director Ted Bardacke - 8:35 A.M.)

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    Tracy Hopkins over 2 years ago

    Just say "NO!" to CCA in Hermosa Beach! It's risky, costly and not a good deal for Hermosa.

    Community Choice Aggregation is a new program that allows California city governments to operate “communitywide electricity buyers’ programs.” Commonly known as community choice aggregators, or CCAs, these are new government agencies created by Joint Powers Agreement among several cities. Additionally, individual cities may run their own CCA programs.
    Our local utility company, Edison, will still provide transmission, distribution and customer billing services to the CCA agency for a fee that is passed along to consumers.

    Once our city council decides to join or establish a CCA, all residents are automatically enrolled in the program. It will be up to individual residents to “opt out” and continue with their regular service with Edison.

    CCAs are vulnerable to changing market conditions. Energy procurement is risky, complex, costly and long-term. Because withdrawal from CCA membership is cost-prohibitive, our city’s decision to join binds future City Councils and future generations of taxpayers.

    CCAs operate without adequate oversight, virtually invisible to the public. Creating Joint Powers Agencies (JPAs), such as CCAs, costs taxpayers money. JPAs employ staff, set up offices and, most importantly, make decisions -- such as issue debt -- for which taxpayers are responsible but have no knowledge or say. JPA governing board members are not directly elected by voters, which contributes to their relative obscurity and lack of transparency.

    Does the nominal increase in renewable energy use promised by CCAs justify their risks? Unequivocally, no.

    Local government doesn’t belong in the electricity business. It is reckless for government to gamble on risky ventures for which it is ill-prepared and unqualified. “Green” energy companies, consultants, activists and lobbyists all stand to gain politically and financially from the proliferation of CCAs. Public agencies rely on some of these same sources for advice on CCAs -- a clear conflict of interest.

    Today’s cities and counties struggle to provide essential services, including basic public safety and human services. Throwing precious tax dollars into a CCA money pit won’t help the environment, but will burden future generations with additional unwanted debt.