In partnership with four other cities, La Mesa is moving ahead with a community choice energy program that will provide clean energy from renewable sources to about 770,000 customers.
San Diego Community Power, a community choice energy and California joint powers agency, will start serving municipal customers in La Mesa, San Diego, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and Encinitas beginning March 1. Commercial and industrial accounts in the program are expected to start in June and residents will come online as soon as January 2022, a report by the group says.
Rates and service offerings are structured to fall in line with San Diego Gas & Electric, San Diego Community Power Interim Chief Executive Officer Bill Carnahan said Tuesday in a presentation the La Mesa City Council.
Also at the meeting, the City Council approved a second reading of a proposed resolution that declares a climate emergency in La Mesa. The resolution will be presented for adoption by the City Council next month. The City Council also approved adding a San Diego Community Power representative as a 13th member of its Environmental Sustainability Commission.
Community choice programs like the one offered by San Diego Community Power are locally run, not-for-profit agencies that allow for local control of energy choices, which proponents say are a proven path to cost-competitive, 100% renewable energy.
San Diego Community Power will purchase renewable energy and feed it into the electricity grid maintained by SDG&E.
During its presentation, Carnahan and San Diego Community Power Chief Operating Officer Cody Hooven said among the groups’ goals are to have 100 percent renewable energy by 2035 — or sooner. That will help La Mesa achieve its greenhouse gas reduction goals as laid out in its 2018 Climate Action Plan.
La Mesa’s CAP charts a course to reduce community-wide GHG emissions by 53 percent by 2035, and officials said that transition to completely renewable electricity is a key measure for the city.
San Diego Community Power’s Board of Directors include La Mesa City Councilman Bill Baber, Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina and San Diego Councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe. The chair is Encinitas City Councilman Joe Mosca and vice chair is Chula Vista City Councilman Steve Padilla. La Mesa City Clerk Megan Wiegelman is the board’s clerk.
La Mesa resident David Harris, a member of the group’s 10-member Community Advisory Committee, thanked the city for approving community choice energy for La Mesa back in 2019 and touted San Diego Community Power’s importance to the city.
“Upon its launch, SDCP (San Diego Community Power) will provide 50 percent more renewable energy to the electric grid than SDG&E,” Harris said. “Once SDCP begins generating surplus revenue, it will be reinvested in our communities, funding renewable energy products and creating good local jobs for skilled workers.”
San Diego Community Power will send out two notices to customers before and two notices after they are enrolled and service begins, Carnahan said. Participation is voluntary, but customers will be automatically enrolled, according to the group’s statement of intent filed with the California Public Utilities Commission in December 2019.
Notices going out to customers will include information on opting out if customers so choose, and is available on the group’s online site at https://sdcommunitypower.org/your-choice/opt-out/
The city of San Diego financed the group initially by earmarking a half-million dollars in its 2019-20 budget. Since then, San Diego Community Power has also taken out a $5 million bank loan backed up by private collateral and has another $30 million working capital loan with initial revenues to back purchase of power.
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La Mesa readying to launch community choice power program - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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