Irvine Budgeting Millions To Launch OC Power Authority In Spring 2022
The OC Power Authority will be looking to formalize terms for new cities that may want to join the Power Authority and will review the 2021-22 Fiscal Year budget at tomorrow’s meeting. To attend the May 11, 2021 meeting at 10AM, click on the agenda for Zoom link and details. The Power Authority is looking to formalize terms for new cities to join. Until now, cities were not asked to contribute monetarily to join which served as an incentive for cities to join early while giving members the opportunity to help guide the formation of the organization. The first two recommended general guidelines state:
- A member that joins in 2021 would be invited to join at no cost. Members that join in subsequent years would be charged a to-be-determined fee designed to offset a portion of the Authority’s out of pocket costs for onboarding each new member not to exceed $100,000.
- A member that joins would get one seat on the Board. Upon approval by the Authority Board of Directors, the new member would serve in an ex-officio status until the calendar year in which the Authority launches services in its community. An ex-officio member serves as an advisory, non-voting member of the Board and/or committees of the Authority. Ex-officio members serve at the pleasure of the Board. An ex-officio member is not considered a “contracting party” as that term is used in California Government Code § 6502. At the start of the calendar year of launch the member’s ex-officio status cease and the member will have full rights as an Additional Party, as that term is defined in the Joint Powers Agreement.
The proposed FY 2021-22 budget will be reviewed. OCPA is currently in a startup phase and are preparing for the Phase 1 customer launch anticipated for Spring 2022. Staff intends to bring this item to the OC Power Authority Board for final approval in the June 2021 Board meeting. All initial costs will be paid for by the City of Irvine. For the complete report see starting page 15 of the agenda packet.
Transparency
As noted in a previous Irvine Watchdog article, as of February 2021, meeting videos were no longer provided to the public. We ask that the OCPA provide links to the meeting videos once again so those who are unable to attend the 10AM meetings can watch at a later time. To submit a public comment email: [email protected]
2 Comments
Branda Lin
May 10, 2021 at 10:43 amThe new OC Power Authority’s 2021 budget includes $35.5 million in anticipated electricity sales, but most of the public are unable to attend the meetings which are scheduled at 10am on Tuesday mornings. And unlike City Council meetings for all the participating cities, the meeting videos are not archived or available for playback.
Based on meeting Minutes, the number of public comments during meetings has decreased since January. Does OCPA have something to hide?
deefox
May 10, 2021 at 5:26 pmThe Orange County Power Authority doesn’t want the public to know how much the City of Irvine is investing in this program. Farrah Khan is being used as a pawn to go along with whatever Mike Carroll proposes. Mike Carroll stole over $70,000 of taxpayer funds to promote himself for a seat on the Irvine City Council. Not only did it work but Farrah Khan covered it up. Why? Because he was already selected to be the ring leader of this supposed green energy deal. The City of Irvine is providing the financing yet the City is not involved in the spending . . . the unexperienced Mike Carroll is. And the residents who will be automatically enrolled in this program and removed from Southern California Edison, do not have a say in any of the costs that will be inflicted upon them. Worst yet, the residents are paying for all this spending to start this program. The COO is making over $200,000/yr., not including paid cell and car allowance, health and retirement plans, severance package, vacations, etc. The City Council’s responsibility to the public is to lower the cost of their utilities. Residents choose among three electricity rate plans:
a 36% renewable energy mix that’s slightly cheaper than Edison’s base rate
50% renewables that’s on par with Edison
100% renewables that’s more expensive than Edison
The residents were suppose to have a say in these three options, but guess what? Farrah Khan and Mike Carroll already decided for us and residents will be paying MORE for 100% renewable! So much for a community choice program. This program is nothing more then a scam that allows political leaders to get rich off of us. They are nothing more then the middle people that make deals with energy suppliers.
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