New electricity program to take over three desert cities
A big change could go almost unnoticed for many energy users in the Coachella Valley. As of August 2018, more than 100,000 customers in three desert cities will change their electricity supplier to a community-based, locally controlled program.
Palm Springs, Cathedral City, and parts of Palm Desert will be switching from energy titan Southern California Edison to a Community Choice Aggregation named Desert Community Energy.
“I watch my news nearly every day and this is the first I’ve really heard about it,” said Michael Robert, a resident of Palm Springs.
The new service will begin to go into effect in August and offers more environmentally-friendly and more cost-effective options to residents.
“[This] will give you greener… and more carbon-free energy for a little bit less than Edison now charges,” said Palm Springs Councilmen Geoff Kors.
Customer bills are expected to be about 3% less with the new program, but the bill will still come from SCE, which will also still provide the delivery of the service.
“It will still be their power lines. Their grid. It’s still them delivering the energy. What DCE will do is purchase the energy,” Palm Desert Mayor Sabby Jonathan told KESQ News Channel 3’s and CBS Local 2’s Katie Widner.
DCE has hired an outside agency to shop for the best prices offered by energy providers. Kors said the public entity can offer discounted rates because there are no investors taking a cut. Proponents said that any profits from the program will stay local.
“That could be used to further rate reductions, or to develop some local clean energy choices here in the Valley,” said Charlie McClendon, the city manager of Cathedral City.
Palm Desert residents who are Imperial Irrigation District customers are not eligible for DCE. Residents who are eligible will be automatically enrolled in the ‘Desert Saver’ option, but they can opt-up to a 100-percent carbon free program, or they can opt-out to stay with SCE.
Residents who are in low-income programs with SCE will continue to be under DCE. Jonathan said residents with solar will also see the same benefits between the company and the aggregate.
Kors said that there are about twenty Community Choice Aggregations in California.
SCE provided this response to our request for comment:
Customers that continue to receive energy procurement service from their utility are being adversely impacted by the growth of CCA entities. California law is clear: cost shifts between customer groups are not permitted when communities elect to form a CCA. The law passed in 2002 allows the formation of CCAs as long as CCA customers and remaining utility customers pay for their share of the cost of electricity bought to serve their needs. Current application of the law has become deeply flawed and is leading to costs being shifted from customers of alternative service providers, including CCAs, to customers that continue to receive their energy procurement from their utility. This is not sustainable, and the California Public Utilities Commission has opened a cost-allocation proceeding to address the issue. -S outhern California Edison.
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