Opinion: Mayor Agran’s OCPA Row Doesn’t Line Up With The Facts
When I look at Irvine Mayor Larry Agran’s opposition to OCPA and the “facts” that he uses to justify that position, I end up with a lot of questions.
Agran states that SCE is lowering its generation rate slightly, which he states should reduce costs for consumers. What he fails to state is that SCE was mandated to do this by AB205, a law that SCE also lobbied for. You might ask why a utility would lobby for a bill that lowers its rates. Well, the answer to that is simple. In exchange for reducing the rate for the electricity you consume, SCE and the other investor-owned electric utilities got a significant increase in the fixed charge. That increase was from about $10 per month to almost $25 – over twice the national average! That increases the stability of their revenue stream because you pay the fixed charge even if you consume zero electricity.
What does this mean to consumers? Simple: if you use little electricity because you live in a small home, condo, or apartment, because your home is really efficient, or because you have solar panels, your bill will likely go up. If you use a lot of electricity because you live in a large house, or your home is inefficient, your bill will likely go down.
If you think that sounds like encouraging bad behavior, you’re right. Why, at a time when we are trying to fight climate change, would we reward the biggest consumers of energy? Why indeed.
Did you know that the electric utilities are guaranteed an 8-12% rate of return on transmission and distribution line projects? Did you know that they self-approve about 60 percent of those projects without CPUC oversight? Did you know that their spending on those projects in the last 20 years has increased 300 percent while electricity demand has remained flat? Did you know that the increased spending on transmission and distribution lines accounts for over 92% of the increase in electricity rates over that same period?
But there’s more. I was among the 80 percent of consumers enrolled in OCPA when Huntington Beach participated. I opted for the 100 percent renewable energy plan at a premium of about $1-$2 per month over the SCE rate plan. A 100 percent renewable plan was not available from SCE at any price at the time. Huntington Beach’s city council took the city out of OCPA with zero input from the public.
You must ask yourself. Why are these politicians acting this way? Is it because they buy the Trump lie that climate change is a hoax? Is it because they are invested in the electric utilities? Or are they invested in fossil fuels?
Whatever the reason, it sure looks like they are not looking out for their constituents.
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