Want to save money on your power bill? Fresno councilmember wants to go around PG&E
Fresno Councilmember Luis Chavez said he’s spearheading an effort to give residents a potentially cheaper energy provider than Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
Chavez said Fresno residents could save an average of 20% on their monthly bills if they can buy their energy through what’s called a “community choice agency.” There are 19 of them in the state.
Chavez said he thinks Fresno would have an appetite for a new option especially following the controversies PG&E has seen in recent years.
The company is coming off several years of major disasters including the Camp Fire in Paradise last year and other major fires in recent years across the state. Then there was the fatal San Bruno PG&E explosion in 2010.
PG&E this month brought its listening tour to Fresno ahead of an effort by the company to raise rates for consumers throughout the state next year to help pay for wildfire risk management and insurance.
“Right now you have a situation where a private company that answers to shareholders can raise rates because of mismanagement,” Chavez said.
Community choice agencies are made up of clusters of cities that buy power generated by solar arrays and windmills in the state. That power is then sold to local residents at a rate cheaper than what PG&E typically offers, according to numbers from those companies.
PG&E continues to own the infrastructure so residents would see no change in how they get their energy except it would look different on their bills, according to the Center for Climate Protection, a nonprofit helping to spread the options around the state.
Chavez said he met with Sonoma Clean Power, the energy provider for a cluster of cities in Sonoma County. If the City Council gets behind the plan, Fresno could join that group or another to provide the cheaper option to residents.
The Central San Joaquin Valley already generates a lot of alternative power, but the power is sold out of the area. About 260 megawatts are generated in Fresno County and 318 megawatts in Kern County, for example, according to the Center for Climate Protection.
The Valley gets so much sun that it has caught the attention of the solar companies, Chavez said.
“We in the Central Valley generate that energy but don’t have the option,” Chavez said. “How can we be a driver of the clean energy but not let our residents benefit?”
PG&E spokesperson Denny Boyles released a statement on behalf of the company, saying it has supported legislation related to the alternative energy providers.
“For more than 100 years, it has been PG&E’s privilege to provide our customers clean, reliable and affordable energy, and we look forward to the opportunity to do so for many years to come,” the statement said. “At the same time, we respect the energy choices that are available to our customers, and will continue to cooperate with local governments as they consider pursuing and/or developing a (community choice agency) program.”
The community choice agency would also allow users who care about the environment, and can afford to do so, to pay a little more for 100% renewable energy.
Sonoma Clean Energy estimates the average PG&E customer pays about $125 a month compared to $123 a month on the Sonoma plan. Those who want 100% clean energy pay $135. Those are Sonoma numbers, but advocates say rates are higher in the Valley so there’s a greater potential for residents to save.
The Valley has some of the worst pollution in the state with certain communities ranking in the 97th percentile or higher for poor air quality. Clean energy could benefit those residents, according to advocates.
Community choice agencies serve about 11 million people in the state with “far cleaner power” than PG&E, according to Woody Hastings, energy program manager for the Center for Climate Protection.
“They are pretty big thing now. They’ve been kind of obscured because most people don’t pay too much attention to the whole electricity world,” he said. “They just flip the switch and pay the bills, but that is changing.”
Hastings said PG&E makes its money by charging users to deliver the electricity through poles and wires so the company shouldn’t see ill effects from a new provider coming in.
If the city adopted the new provider, residents are automatically opted in, Hastings said. There’s no need to register and no change to how the bills go out. Residents can opt out and continue to pay PG&E for the energy and the delivery.
The city is conducting an energy study that could be complete in about six months. The study is expected to determine whether the option is viable for Fresno.
This story was originally published August 26, 2019 at 4:42 PM.
