Join members and staff of Baykeeper, NEC, and other local environmental groups for a presentation and discussion of Community Choice energy, a new program undere development by the Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA), which is a Joint Powers Authority whose members include the County of Humboldt, the Cities of Arcata, Blue Lake, Eureka, Ferndale, Fortuna, Rio Dell, and Trinidad, and the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District.
RCEA is currently working to establish a community choice energy program for Humboldt County. Community choice aggregation, also known as community choice energy, is a provision of California law that allows cities, counties or joint powers agencies to purchase electricity on behalf of the customers in their territories. Community choice programs differ from municipal utility districts in that they only provide the generation component of electricity services, which accounts for around half of a customer’s electricity bill. The investor-owned utility (IOU), in our case Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), continues to own the electricity distribution infrastructure and to provide electricity transmission, distribution, billing, and related customer services. However, community choice programs are able to determine their own energy supply mixes and rate structures. While community choice is relatively new in California, with three programs currently providing service to customers, there are over 1,000 programs operating across the country in Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.
RCEA will implement the Humboldt County Community Choice Energy program guided by three core priorities established by the RCEA Board of Directors and aligned with the RePower Humboldt Strategic Plan: maximizing the use of local renewable resources, providing competitive rates, and supporting local economic development.
More information is available at:
http://www.redwoodenergy.org/index.php/renewable-energy/community-choice-aggregation
When: Tuesday, February 9 at 6 pm
Where: 1385 Eighth Street in Arcata (the former Yakima factory) on the second floor in the southwest corner of the building.
Space is limited.
Click HERE for RCEA's list of public presentations on Community Choice Energy.
