Opinion: Leaked Documents Reveal Irvine’s City Manager Engaged in Secret Scheme to Destroy Energy Choice Program and Sell It for Parts

  • March 10, 2025, 6:22 pm America/Los_Angeles

A secret new plot has emerged to dismantle the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) from within. Irvine City Manager Oliver Chi, recently hired a consultant to create documents to push OC cities toward dissolving our local clean power agency, redirecting a purported, and unsubstantiated, $374.8 million into the city’s coffers with no accountability on how it would be spent. 

Chi recently met with Fountain Valley leaders to deliver the unauthorized presentation, despite receiving no direction from the Irvine City Council to engage in these discussions. The public deserves transparency and accurate information when it comes to the future of their energy supply. City Manager Chi should be forthright about his motivations for approaching other cities, especially if he is acting at Mayor Larry Agran’s direction. 

The presentation, shared last week by an Irvine city hall insider, is designed to justify cities’ withdrawal from the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA). The slides present unsubstantiated financial data that positions purported financial benefits of shuttering the agency while ignoring serious consequences, including the loss of the city’s only alternative to monopoly SoCalEdison (SCE), which has increased electricity rates 90% since 2014 and 51% since 2021. Other drawbacks include the loss of Irvine’s $7 million start-up investment in OCPA, relying on dirtier electricity, and forfeiting tens of millions of dollars for appliance rebates, EV chargers, and other programs that would instead line the pockets of SCE shareholders. 

One of the most egregious misrepresentations in Chi’s presentation is the claim that liquidating OCPA’s assets could generate approximately $374.8 million to be distributed among member cities (Slide 7). While the presentation shows calculations, it conveniently omits the fact that OCPA must first settle debts with creditors and suppliers before any remaining funds can be distributed. The idea that OCPA could be dissolved and yield such exorbitant profits is highly doubtful. 

In reality, the destruction of OCPA would leave customers facing higher rates and fewer renewable energy options. OCPA offers lower rates than SoCal Edison and is the only pathway to energy choice in Orange County. The Orange County Register reported last week that the rates of investor-owned utilities are 67% higher than not-for-profit municipal utilities in California. SCE’s profit margins track with this figure; in 2024, the company made $1.6 billion, up almost 10% from 2023. Meanwhile, 16% of its customers are more than $1,000 behind on their bills. This staggering testament to corporate greed begs the question: why does City Manager Chi want to condemn Irvine residents and all of Orange County to the mercy of a monopoly utility? 

If OCPA member cities follow City Manager Chi’s lead and destroy OCPA, residents will be exposed to monopoly SCE’s rising rates without any choice in electricity providers or funding for local energy programs such as batteries or energy-efficient appliances. Even OCPA’s Basic Choice product offers more renewable energy than SCE at lower rates.

Mayor Agran talks about increasing solar rooftops in Irvine, but monopoly utilities kneecapped California’s solar policies in 2023, slashing solar compensation rates for excess energy by up to 75%, resulting in a steep decline in the credits that solar customers receive on their utility bills. The good news is that Community Choice Energy (CCE) programs, including OCPA, are exempt from this policy, which is why OCPA continues to offer solar customers 10% more than SCE for solar compensation. Dissolving OCPA would destroy these options and make Irvine families much less likely to get rooftop solar. 

Agran’s plan also ignores the reality that California has no regulatory framework to create a city-run solar program with an investor-owned utility like SCE, which makes the plan completely infeasible. Focusing city resources on rooftop solar also excludes the 51% of Irvine residents who rent, leaving them unable to benefit from other energy programs offered by OCPA. 

Chi’s presentation represents OCPA power contracts as garage sale items that can easily be sold at a profit. It glosses over the consequences of abandoning OCPA’s renewable energy commitments despite recognition in the presentation that 70% of electricity sold by OCPA is renewable (see Slide 7). By walking away from the agency, Irvine and any other withdrawing city would eliminate its ability to meet its climate pollution reduction goals. 

Instead of supporting a future powered by clean energy, Chi is working to increase Orange County’s reliance on fossil fuels, which matches the city’s record of abandoning plans to create a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP), after spending nearly $750,000 taxpayer dollars on CAAP documents which have never been completed or implemented. 

It’s time for city leaders across our region to push back against officials who mislead the public about OCPA. Staying with OCPA is the best way to protect residents from soaring energy costs and to ensure continued access to affordable, renewable energy. Let’s not allow political gamesmanship and false promises to destroy energy choice and climate action for Irvine.