Irvine, Huntington Beach, Fullerton, Buena Park Commercial Customers Automatically Switched from SoCal Edison to OC Power Authority on April 1. Last Day To Opt Out Today.
The Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) is automatically opting-in all commercial customers in the participating cities of Irvine, Huntington Beach, Fullerton, Buena Park on April 1, 2022, from Southern California Edison (SCE). The last day for commercial customers to opt-down or opt-out is today by calling 1-866-262-7693.
Residential customers will automatically be switched over from SCE to OPCA on October 1, 2022. Residential customers can opt-down or opt-out in August 2022.
There were three tiers of rates the participating cities could choose from. Irvine, Huntington Beach, and Buena Park chose the 100% renewable tier as the default option, which is depending on the size of the business is 6.2% – 7.3% higher than SCE’s rates. Fullerton chose the Smart Choice (69% renewable).
Rates for Large Commercial Customers with the 100% renewable energy choice tier will be seeing a 7.3% increase from SCE rates.
Rates for Medium Commercial Customers with the 100% renewable energy choice tier will be seeing a 7.2% increase from SCE rates.
Rates for Small Commercial Customers with the 100% renewable energy choice tier will be seeing a 6.2% increase from SCE rates.
The OCPA notified the Irvine City Council that four notices would be sent to all commercial customers prior to the April 1, 2022 launch. The first postcard was to be mailed out on February 7, 2022. The second was supposed to be issued on March 7, 2022. However, from an informal survey on the Irvine Watchdog Facebook group, it appears most businesses did not receive even one notification.
Rates for Residential Customers
Residents in the participating cities of Irvine, Huntington Beach, Fullerton, and Buena Park, will be automatically switched over from SCE to OCPA on October 1, 2022. Residents can choose to opt-down or opt-out in August. Irvine residents will see a projected 5.6% increase from SCE’s rates.
2 Comments
ScottK
March 30, 2022 at 1:23 pmThis entire “thing” is stupid and corrupt. It diverts money to “friends of commissioners”, some of whom have zero relevant education or experience, AND the end result enriches a few people at the expense of the public FOR NO ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFIT.
There are state laws mandating conversion to renewables already. SCE can take our money, tap some keys moving the renewable generation they already buy into “our” column, and call it a day. Seriously. Since they buy the vast majority of the power they sell as opposed to owning or building lots of generation capacity, your higher rates don’t accelerate a transition to green energy at all. By 2030, 60% green is mandated. We’re below 40%.
Having some (suckers) volunteer to take on a bigger slice of the expense doesn’t make more renewable generation happen any faster. It’s just cost shifting and adding more administration $$$
Dee Fox
March 30, 2022 at 10:30 pmI’m not surprised businesses are not being notified. No mention about opting out from Farrah Khan or Mike Carroll at the last city council meeting either. They can’t profit if they don’t have our money. This program is beyond corrupt. We will be lucky if they purchase reclaimed renewables but it most likely will be the bait and switch, buy cheap fossil fuel and sell it like it’s clean. Mike Carroll and Farrah Khan can’t even answer questions about this program, they have to refer you to someone else, usually the same guy that consulted Western Riverside until they went bankrupt. They have been very low key about this organization, refusing to bring it to the city council, even when Mike Carroll asked for another $5 million, on top of the $2.5 million he already got. This is all Irvine tax dollars….Mike Carroll generously offered our funds to pay for all the other cities that wanted to get on their money wagon. But the customers who stay enrolled in this CCA and don’t opt out have to pay it back to Irvine, on top of whatever their rate is. And, yes, Irvine customers are included in the payback. So, essentially they are paying twice. And Mike Carroll won’t disappoint when it comes to stealing our tax dollars…I wonder if he will pay back the the rest of the $70,000 that he stole when he makes his profits? Marin County is the oldest CCA and Mike Carroll uses them as a roll model…they launched prior to the pandemic, when the economy was good and were able to build up reserves. They recently got caught “greenwashing” and have been under scrutiny ever since. It takes 3 years before the public will know what these new CCA’s are actually purchasing…CA Legislator AB-1110. By then these city council people will be making profits and people will be used to paying the higher rate and they won’t want to pay a fee to go back to SCE, that’s what they are “banking” on. Just like now, hoping nobody will be aware they are being placed in this program …. Because if they don’t get your money, they can’t operate to make a profit, for themselves, not to go back into the community, I can assure you of that.