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February 25, 2018
The Ventura County Board of Supervisors will vote on Tuesday 2/27, 11 am (or a little after) what the default tier will be for renewable energy for ratepayers in the unincorporated area. Ojai City Council unanimously chose the 100% default level. Other cities will decide later. If Ventura County chooses 100% for the unincorporated areas outside the ten cities, the cities will be more likely to follow and build an ambitious countywide clean energy outreach program . Email your support of the 100% renewable energy default to clerkoftheboard@ventura.org early Monday, February 26.
What is meant by a default level of renewable energy?
Each city that joins Clean Power Alliance gets to make this important decision of which renewable energy product their customers will start at when the program begins. The choices are 36%, 50%, or 100% renewable energy content. The default is the energy product and rate that customers will be enrolled in automatically if they do not make another selection. Customers always have the choice if they wish to opt for a different energy product or opt out of Clean Power Alliance (CPA) all together.
What does each energy product cost?
|
Clean Power Alliance |
Discount on Bills Clean Power Alliance vs. Edison Standard Plan |
Discount on Bills Clean Power Alliance vs. Edison Comparable Plan in terms of renewable energy |
|
36% Renewable Energy |
4% |
4% |
|
50% Renewable Energy |
3% |
12% |
|
100% Renewable Energy |
-7% |
10% |
We want the County and all cities to adopt 100% renewable energy as our default for the following reasons:
- Cities have or are adopting 100% clean energy goals. Some communities have adopted 100% clean energy goals and committed to climate action plans to reduce emissions. Others are working on stronger Climate Action Plans. This is a fitting opportunity to support that proclamation and make immediate and substantial progress on that goal. What better time than now to take action?
- Ten times more people choose 100% clean energy when the default is set at 100% than when it is set at less than 100%. By setting the default at 100%, we will have much more participation at the 100% level. Often it’s just inertia that keeps people from deviating from the default, so if we want to encourage more clean energy, then our default should support that. Here is a study about the “power of the nudge”. It shows that people stay at the default, wherever it is set. When people were given 100% renewable energy as the default, even though it cost a little more 70% stayed at 100%. When people were given a lower cost, lower level (like 50%) only 7% chose to move up to 100%. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-power-of-the-nudge-to-change-our-energy-future/
- The 100% level costs just 7% more than current Edison standard rates. When customers join Clean Power Alliance at the 100% tier, their energy is 70% cleaner than it was with Edison (up from 30% to 100%). That seems like a compelling return. If a household has a monthly electricity bill of $100 for example, it’ll cost just $7 extra for energy made without one drop of fossil fuel. Most probably won’t notice the difference, but for those who want to reduce their electricity bill, they can opt for 50% for a big savings or to 36% for a little more savings.
- Customers aren’t locked into anything. Every resident and business can choose to opt down to a lower renewable tier at any time, and benefit from cost savings and also more renewable energy than they are currently getting through Edison. Or they can opt out of CPA all together.
- Our communities can serve as a model of sustainability. More clean energy means less polluting emissions, which benefits everyone. We will be leaders in securing a clean and distributed energy future.
- Four notices will be sent at the time of the change-over from Edison to Clean Power Alliance. One will come 60 days before the switch and a second one 30 days before the switch. Two more will be mailed after the switch. Each one will explain the different energy products and how much they cost and provide three ways to change: mail, phone or online. Commercial accounts are scheduled to launch June 1 and residential accounts will be later this year. Between now and then, we expect the Clean Power Alliance, the County and the participating cities to do public outreach and communications so that people are informed about their options.
- Case study in Portola Valley where the default was set at 100% renewable energy. Portola Valley is a participating city in Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) in the Bay Area. They joined PCE April 2017 with the 100% option costing 5% less than for the 50% option, which is similar to ours. They have an opt out rate of 5.4% and opt down rate of 3%. So that means that over 90% of their residents and businesses have stayed in at 100%. A city spokesperson explained that we really get one shot at setting the default, it would be really hard to change it at a later time because it would mean notifying everyone all over again which could cause confusion and perhaps then more opt outs. She encouraged us to do it right from the get go.
- It is hypocritical to fight years against fossil fuel power plants and then set the default at less than 100% clean energy. We are done fighting gas-fired power plants at Mandalay Beach. The Edison Request for Proposals will soon provide an incentive for a large amount of local clean energy development. If we choose 50% fossil fuel energy as our default. it sends a message to Edison and state agencies that we accept burning fossil fuel for electricity in our county.
Again, please write to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors and share your support with them for the 100% default for the unincorporated area because it sends a message that we aim to achieve 100% clean energy.
