The people of Riverside were sold on a socialist scam called” Community Choice”. The government would sell families and businesses energy, then they first bought from a private utility. What could go wrong, using a middle man, who took money for administration and “future growth? The costs went up and the people stopped paying more, so the government energy effort literally went bankrupt.
Something worse could have happened—it could have “succeeded”. They could have become a monopoly, the only customer for the private utility company. The government of Riverside could have raised the cost of energy to anything it wanted, rationed it and at the same time lower the price it paid to the private utility, till the private firm went belly up. That is how socialism works—it is always a failure.
Now the good people of Santa Barbara, thinking they are going to pay a ;little more, to save the planet, will forced middle class people out of the area and kill off a tax paying utility. That is how socialism works.
Community Choice Clean Energy Coming to Santa Barbara South Coast in October
Customers will have a range of options depending on how much they want to support renewable energy
By Jade Martinez-Pogue, Noozhawk, 8/6/21
Clean energy is coming to the Santa Barbara South Coast this fall to help meet the goal of 100% clean and renewable energy by 2030, and giving customers the choice to choose between various electricity services for the first time.
In October, Carpinteria, Goleta, and the unincorporated area of South Coast residents will automatically be enrolled in Central Coast Community Energy’s clean energy services, and Santa Barbara residents will be enrolled in Santa Barbara Clean Energy’s services.
Both community choice energy agencies are working to meet the goal of 60% clean energy by 2025, and 100% clean energy by 2030—15 years ahead of the state’s goal of 100% clean energy by 2045.
The Santa Barbara community has been requesting clean energy for years, and in 2017 the Santa Barbara City Council adopted the ambitious goal of 100% renewable energy for the entire city by 2030, according to Alelia Parentau, climate and energy manager.
“The council adopted that community-efficient goal having in mind the fact that Santa Barbarans have been asking for cleaner energy for a long time,” Parentau told Noozhawk. “Santa Barbara Clean Energy was the only pathway to achieve that goal. We wanted to get there fast, and all the community choice energy programs around us are sort of getting to the same goal eventually, but we wanted to get there on our terms.”
Santa Barbara Clean Energy offers three choices to customers: 100% Green, Green Start, and Resilient.
“Santa Barbara Clean Energy is about options. Today, a customer really only has one choice,” Parentau said.
The Green Start option offers 50% or more carbon-free energy at the same standard rates that Southern California Edison offers, and 100% Green offers 100% carbon-free energy for about $5 more per month, according to Parentau.
The Resilient option offers 100% carbon-free energy and solar for net metering customers, or people who already have solar, and those customers will get paid more for their solar than what SCE offers, she added.
Commercial customers who stay in the 100% Green Choice option will see an increase in their bill of approximately 4-7%, industrial customers will see an increase of about 9%, and agricultural customers will see an increase of about 6%, Parentau said.
“It is really important to note, however, that the increase is specifically related to the much greener, cleaner energy product,” she added. “A way I like to think about it is that it’s essentially the equivalent of offsetting all of your electricity needs with onsite solar, at a fraction of the cost.”
Everyone will automatically be enrolled in the 100% Green service, but can opt down to the Green Start option if they want their electric bill to stay the same.
“People ask how you can possibly do more to make your home more environmentally sustainable, and this is it,” said Kirsten Ayars, public outreach liaison for Santa Barbara Clean Energy.
Santa Barbara Clean Energy also will offer reduced rates to income-qualified customers so that their rates stay the same as SCE’s low-income program, according to Parentau.
Customers will be able to opt out and go back to SCE only, but there is no financial or environmental benefit in doing so, Parentau said.
Santa Barbara Clean Energy is expected to generate about $10 million in revenue for fiscal year 2022, and $24 million in fiscal year 2023, Parentau said, adding that the majority of revenue is to offset power supply costs.
Services for commercial customers are set to begin in March 2022.
Santa Barbara Clean Energy will purchase sustainable electricity, and SCE will continue to deliver the power, maintain the infrastructure, and issue one single bill to customers.
“We’re not taking over the infrastructure piece, so it won’t affect people’s service at all,” Parentau said. “Folks won’t even notice a change unless they are really paying attention to the wording on the bill; the big change is for the environment.”
SCE will continue to provide the transmission and distribution services, the only difference is Santa Barbara Clean Energy or other community choice energy agencies will provide the electricity.
“SCE supports customers’ right to purchase power from a community choice aggregation, and we routinely provide factual analysis to jurisdictions that request it as they consider their decision to launch a community choice aggregation or join an existing entity,” SCE spokeswoman Diane Castro told Noozhawk.
The local control and ability to set rates locally allows Santa Barbara Clean Energy to reinvest any surplus revenues that do arise back into the community, Parentau said.
Santa Barbara Clean Energy will use any additional revenue that comes forth for actions such as reducing rates, offering incentives, adding more solar panels, or bringing in more electric vehicle charging stations, Parentau said.
“The bigger picture is Santa Barbara will get to invest in local energy programs to help our community become resilient and offset some of the larger impacts we’ve all experienced,” Ayars added. “That’s the look ahead for the future so that Santa Barbara Clean Energy helps us make a difference at the start with greenhouse gas-free energy and then can make our community more sustainable in the long term based on local decisions.”
Some incentives are already set up for customers, including a test induction cooktop kit complete with pans and a reduced-cost electric bike membership with Santa Barbara BCycle.
For the other South Coast communities, the enrollment period for Central Coast Community Energy, a public agency known as 3CE, opened at the beginning of August, and services are set to begin in October. 3CE will enroll 35,000 South Coast SCE customers to give residents a choice of how and where their energy is sourced.
Santa Maria, Solvang, and the unincorporated areas of northern Santa Barbara County began services with 3CE in January, and enrollment rates for those areas remain at around 95%, Shelly Whitworth, spokeswoman for 3CE, told Noozhawk.
“We are on a pathway to 100% clean and renewable energy by 2030, with a milestone of achieving 60% just around the corner by 2035,” Whitworth said. “Customers are receiving competitive rates on electric generation while their dollars are going towards our pathway of supporting clean energy.”
3CE offers two choices to customers: 3CE Choice and 3CPrime. 3CE Choice generates electricity from clean and renewable resources such as wind, solar, and geothermal, and will reach 60% clean and renewable energy by 2025, and 100% clean and renewable energy by 2030, according to Whitworth.
3CPrime supports 100% California eligible renewable energy generated solely from solar and wind, and is available to all customers at an added cost of eight cents per kilowatt-hour, Whitworth said.
While the automatic 3CE Choice option is offered at a slightly lower rate than SCE’s services, it “would be a bit difficult for a residential customer to feel that difference,” Whitworth said, adding that businesses might notice a slight dip in their electric generation cost.
All 3CE customers will automatically be enrolled in the 3CE Choice offering, and have the option to opt up to 3CPrime, or opt out of the service overall.
“Every customer has a choice, and the enrollment period gives them time to really evaluate what their choices are,” Whitworth said. “They have never had a choice before, and it is important to learn about those that they have now.”
The enrollment period ends in December, and customers can learn more about the different options by clicking here.
Throughout the month of October, Carpinteria, Goleta, and southern Santa Barbara unincorporated area customers will become customers of both 3CE and SCE, and monthly electric bills will still be issued by SCE.
“Both the economic and environmental benefits that 3CE provides are anchored in a commitment to not just sourcing clean and renewable electricity but growing these resources in ways that contribute to grid stability and support customers and communities with the transition from fossil fuel sources to clean energy solutions, accelerating progress towards California’s ambitious climate goals,” Whitworth said.
