County Joins Local Community Choice Energy Effort, Appoints Simitian to Clean Energy Authority

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously voted to appoint County Supervisor Joe Simitian to the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Authority. Under the new program, County residents have the option of a locally controlled, sustainable energy provider as an alternative to PG&E. Simitian called the decision, “an important step forward for sustainability and energy independence.”

“This is a program that’s going to give us more local control, more independence, and better energy efficiency,” said Simitian. “We’ve seen a tremendous amount of support out in the community for this idea, and it’s gratifying to see us take the next step towards making it happen.”

The Authority’s first meeting is the evening, April 13th, at 5:00pm in the Board Chambers at the County Government Center (70 West Hedding Street, San Jose).

Santa Clara County is a member of the Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) established among the cities of Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Gilroy, Campbell, and Morgan Hill. County residents will have the option to purchase their energy through the Community Choice Energy program, giving them an alternative to PG&E.

Simitian has been pushing for Community Choice Energy since returning to the Board of Supervisors in 2013. “We’ll be buying power on the open market,” said Simitian, “which encourages the kind of competition that can drive down rates and give us more renewable sources for the energy we need. It’s the same idea as buying in bulk – better rates, and more efficiency.”

State law enables communities to form a Joint Powers Agency to pool the electricity demand of residents and businesses. The practice is commonly referred to as Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) or Community Choice Energy (CCE). This allows communities to purchase renewable or low greenhouse gas-emitting energy at competitive rates.

County residents can expect a number of benefits from joining the CCA, including:

• A choice of power providers
• More local control over energy rates
• Improved regional self-sufficiency
• Lower greenhouse gas emissions, and improved energy efficiency programs

Under the new program, power will still be delivered over PG&E infrastructure, and PG&E will continue to maintain the power lines and provide customer service. Customers will automatically be enrolled in the program, but can opt-out and return to PG&E if they choose to.

 “This is about giving our community members a choice,” said Simitian. “Competition is a healthy thing, and this program helps push us towards more sustainable and affordable energy.”

Prior to his current term on the Board of Supervisors, Simitian authored significant energy legislation during his time in the California State Senate. He is the author of SB 411 (2007) and SB 2Xa (2011), which required California utilities to provide 20% of the State’s energy from renewable sources by 2010 and 33% of the State’s energy from renewable sources by 2020.