The People’s Clean Power Alliance (Alliance) calls on Ava Community Energy (formerly East Bay Community Energy), the public electricity Community Choice agency servicing Alameda and San Joaquin Counties, to reject support for the California Grid Regionalization Senate Bill 540 (SB 540).

Community Choice programs in California were created to supply local clean energy to electricity customers in the cities and counties they serve. It is extremely disconcerting that the Ava Community Energy Board Members would consider supporting this grid regionalization proposal. SB 540 not only harms local clean energy producers, but also exposes California’s renewable energy market to federal oversight. If California joins the regional energy market we could lose the protections for customers currently guaranteed by California’s Independent System Operator.

SB 540 proposes that California participate in a broader Western regional energy organization, with the promise that by doing so, energy market participants will save money, increase grid reliability, and reduce the risk of power outages. However, these promises are dependent on actions that would be out of the control of California. The Alliance believes that these are false promises that do not outweigh the risks of the Pathways Initiative. Areas of concern about SB 540 include:

1. Exposing California to federal administration oversight: There are very real concerns raised over how the Pathways Initiative would put California’s energy markets under more direct control by the federal government. The current federal administration has already overstepped federal authority, killed clean energy investments, and gutted many regulatory measures, especially with regards to the environment. By putting California in the line of fire of a dangerous and authoritarian federal administration, we would be putting the nation’s top state leader in renewable energy investments at risk of being annihilated.

2. Losing CAISO Protections: California’s Independent System Operator (CAISO) was specifically created to make sure certain protections are in place for the people of California: reducing costs, protecting the public’s health and environment, and maximizing energy availability. SB540 has no such protections.

3. Uncertain benefits for California: The estimated saving of $7 million to $32 million for the Ava is an estimate. Actual cost savings are highly dependent on how many entities join the regional organizational market, and the overall size of the market’s footprint. Ava’s budget is $1 billion, and projected savings will be somewhere between 0.7% and 3.2% of said budget.

4. Distracting from local clean energy investments: Ava’s initial mandate under its Joint Power Agreement (JPA) was to promote the development and usage of state, regional, and local renewable energy production. Ava’s mission and goals are to focus on local investments in a robust clean energy economy. SB 540’s proposed Western regional energy market goes completely against that mandate. Procuring power from other states is in direct defiance of Ava’s goals, and flies in the face of the agency’s commitment to local clean energy investments.

At the March 19th Ava Community Energy Board meeting, there was a fast tracked action item from staff that urged the Board to vote for Ava to publicly sign on as a supporter of SB 540. This was disconcerting because historically, the Board has been offered items as informational items first before they come to a vote. In addition this bill requires full transparency on the issue and time to understand the ramifications of regionalizing our grid.

Thankfully, through the advocacy by our community the Board voted to delay the rushed vote, citing the need to know more about the bill before being able to make a vote in good faith. The Board has delayed the vote to April 16th, and we need to make our opposition to Ava’s support of the bill heard.

The Ava Community Energy Board of Directors needs to reject signing on in support of SB 540 and instead, focus on legislative bills that support true local clean energy infrastructure, and put power back in the hands of the people.

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*Ava Community Energy (formerly East Bay Community Energy) is an electricity agency that powers Alameda & San Joaquin County cities. The cities currently powered by Ava Community Energy are: Albany, Berkeley, Dublin, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Lathrop, Livermore, Newark, Oakland, Piedmont, Pleasanton, San Leandro, Stockton, Tracy, Union City, and unincorporated Alameda and San Joaquin Counties. The Ava Community Energy Board of Directors is made up of elected officials representing these cities and counties.