Clean Power Alliance External Affairs Manager Dalia Gomez visited La Cañada Flintridge to inform residents of a tentative timeline and the available options regarding the company becoming the city’s default electricity service provider in the future.
The town hall, hosted by the city on Jan. 23, was a chance for residents to review a detailed outline of the Clean Power Alliance, or CPA, and how it will affect electricity delivery.
Gomez provided some background information on CPA and how it serves 32 jurisdictions throughout Los Angeles and Ventura counties and will be adding an additional three members in 2024, including Monrovia, Hermosa Beach and Santa Paula.
She also broke down how electricity is delivered to customers from CPA.
CPA will purchase the clean power, while Southern California Edison will deliver it. Customers will receive a single monthly bill, which includes Edison’s charges for electricity delivery and CPA’s charges for electricity supply and generation.
“Under the Community Choice Aggregation model, the CCA procures the electricity for their customer, but California Edison is responsible for delivering that electricity to our customers and is responsible for the maintenance of the power lines and the power poles,” said Gomez. “And they continue to be responsible for reading meters for customers as well as they continue to be responsible for sending one monthly bill to all customers.”
As LCF residents have been told from the beginning, customers of CPA enroll at a preferred energy option by their jurisdiction but can change or opt-out any time.
“And you can opt down or up anytime,” said Gomez. “You can join at 100% green and then in a couple of months decide that you want to opt down a little bit.”
LCF residents have three rate options when it comes to CPA:
- Lean power: provides 40% clean energy content at the lowest cost option and is generally about a 1-2% discount to Edison’s base rate.
- Clean power: provides 50% renewable energy content and is generally at parity with Edison’s base rate.
- 100% green power: provides 100% renewable energy content and is generally at a 3% premium to Edison’s base rate.
Gomez also shared the current preferred energy options among the jurisdictions they currently work with.
The most preferred energy option among 25 communities, which includes Los Angeles County, Alhambra, South Pasadena and Monrovia, is 100% green power.
The clean power option holds about six communities, and the lean power option holds four.
Rooftop solar was also discussed and Gomez said that CPA customers are eligible to receive bill credits that would offset energy charges and get cash back when they generate more power than they use in a year.
“If you have solar panels at your home or business that were approved by SCE on or before April 14, 2023, nothing changes,” the Alliance said in a presentation. “You will retain your legacy status and will be enrolled in CPA’s and SCE’s Net Energy Metering programs for the duration of your 20-year legacy period.”
CPA LAUNCH TIMELINE IN LCF
At the end of March this year, the city’s membership in the CPA Joint Powers Authority will become official and starting in 2025, the city will select the preferred energy option and start more community engagement in the form of social media, events/forums and outreach.
Starting August 2025, CPA will mail four notices to all customers and in October, residents will begin receiving power from CPA. During that time, customers can also start to choose a different rate or opt out.
Gomez also shared some resources with residents, including a bill comparison calculator, frequently asked questions from CPA customers and customer programs, to name a few.
To view more resources, visit cleanpoweralliance.org and click the menus on the top right to explore resources for residential or commercial customers.
First published in the February 8 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
