By Bruce Wolfe, HANC Board
Last month's meeting welcomed a very informative panel on the status of Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) in California, AB 2145 (Bradford, D-Gardena) and the future of CleanPower SF, our own CCA program. The panelists were D5 Supervisor and LAFCo Commissioner London Breed, our own Jason Fried as Executive Officer of SF LAFCo , Jed Holtzman of SF Bay Area 350.org, Eric Brooks of Our City and SF Green Party, and, myself, Bruce Wolfe, facilitating on behalf of the HANC Board of Directors. SFPUC Commissioners Vince Courtney and Francesca Vietor declined to attend. Californians for Energy Choice (CfEC) lobbyist David Balla-Hawkins of ART Consulting from the Sacramento area was unable to attend. (Jed, Eric and I are coordinators and also representing CfEC).
The energy business in CA and around CCA is very wonky but all panelists gave excellent reports and explanations everyone could understand. A good outline of the history of CCA and what it brings to CA ratepayers was given. Any CCA formed would bring cheaper and cleaner energy to homes and businesses. Marin and Sonoma Counties have already implemented their programs and are reaping the benefits in addition to plans for local renewable energy build-outs better known as distributed generation.
AB 2145 was the bill to kill CCA. It was hard fought by CfEC and allies who were successful in defeating it with the expert help of David Balla Hawkins despite various, significant labor unions being dragged into the fray under spurious influence by trade front groups, SuperPACs and investor-owned utilities (IOU) like PG&E, SoCalEdison and San Diego Gas & Electric. CfEC is reaching out to them to repair this political damage and explain that CCA is a boon to jobs in the emerging renewable energy industry in CA. They were sold a bill of goods that CCA would reduce jobs.
CleanPower SF is on track to be implemented soon despite the setback in time dealing with AB 2145. Panelist were frank that it was Mayor Ed Lee who pulled the trigger on the bill in announcing his going to Sacramento with others to reverse the CCA law at a September 2013 Board of Supervisors Q&A session. He called for all Supervisors to join “us” in this effort. Who “us” was then is very clear to us now. London Breed has been a strong and outspoken supporter of CleanPower SF. She has been solid at the Board and in LAFCo, and responsive to local advocates (called SF Clean Energy Advocates of which HANC is member).
Everyone left the meeting, including newly appointed SF LAFCo Commissioner and D5 resident Cynthia Crews, feeling very well informed and supportive of efforts of the panelists to implement CleanPower SF.