Stockton and Lathrop Launch
of Service
MRL Subcommittee Meeting
December 20, 2024
Background
2 • The cities of Stockton and Lathrop, both in San Joaquin County, will start receiving Ava service in April 2025
• Both cities have selected Bright choice for default service • Unincorporated San Joaquin County will start Ava service in 2026
• The demographics of Stockton and Lathrop are different than our current service area. That presents communications challenges: • Lathrop - new city, fast growing city, lots of rooftop solar • Stockton - one of America’s most diverse cities, very high portion of customers on CARE/FERA, relatively low literacy rates, high proportion of Spanish language
• This is our third mass enrollment phase as an organization, so we have a lot of experience and learnings that we will apply • Key messaging will be about Ava providing savings • We’re working closely with City staff and local CBOs, are hiring a local staff member, and contracting with local vendors to ensure we understand our audience and messaging accordingly
Ava and New Communities - Brief Comparisons
3 City Total
% of Total
Average Residential
Monthly Usage
Average Residential
Monthly Bill
NEM CARE (total electricity)
Lathrop 8,088 38% 34% 370 kWh $155
Stockton 112,260 19% 46% 455 kWh $190
Ava 643,165 20% 19% 360 kWh $150
This will be our first mass enrollment as Ava Community Energy!!! Mass Enrollment Objectives, Strategy, and Approach
4 Objectives:
• Inform residents in Stockton and Lathrop about Ava Community Energy launching our electricity service in April 2025
• Increase Ava brand awareness in a new market
• Maximize retention of customers in Stockton and Lathrop (minimize opt-outs) Strategy:
• Regulatory compliance (enrollment notices)
• An informed customer is a good customer
• Meet people where they are (digital/social, out-of-home, events, languages) Approach
• Keep messaging simple because this is a new product type • Focus messaging on automatic savings
• Work with local partners to help carry the message: cities, chambers of commerce, community-based organizations. They bring credibility to Ava and the city is the “reason” we’re doing this
Marketing, Outreach, and Education Campaign Tactics
5 • Enrollment notices - 4 per customer, via USPS and email, English and Spanish • Also special notices to customers on CARE/FERA, NEM, BPP, PDP, AMP • Advertising - digital, social media, streaming audio, TV, out-of-home, etc. • Event outreach - we’re hiring a full-time outreach coordinator for SJ County • Social media - organic and paid
• Website landing pages - /stockton, /lathrop, /welcome • Press release - also maybe a media event
• Opinion piece by elected official - TBD
• Sponsorships - in discussion with Stockton Ports and Stockton Cargo • Key account outreach
• Partner channels - social media and newsletter toolkits for cities and other partners (chambers of commerce, CBOs) to distribute
• Webinars/office hours - to answer questions about bills in May/June • City Council presentations
Campaign Themes and Messaging
6 Ava is coming soon!
You’ll be automatically
enrolled and start saving
on your energy bill in
April—no effort required.
You’re saving on
clean electricity
Stockton/Lathrop’s choice
for clean energy and lower
rates.
Ava Community Energy is
your local not-for-profit
electricity provider.
Benefits of being an
Ava customer
Service: understanding
your bill
Programs: DCFC, e-bike,
SmartHome
Community: local
sponsorships
April – May June – July Feb – Mar Apr – May Feb – Mar June – July 7 Digital Display and Out of Home
February - March Coming soon!
April - May Welcome to Ava!
June - July Now you’re saving!
8 Landing Pages
• These are currently in preview-mode only, unpublished • https://avaenergy.org/welcome/
• https://avaenergy.org/community/who-we-serve/stockton/ • https://avaenergy.org/community/who-we-serve/lathrop/ • There will be re-directs from /welcome, /stockton, /lathrop • The cities and other channel partners will direct constituents to these pages
• Our advertising and enrollment notices will direct customers to these pages
9 TV Ads
• 0:15 and 0:30 versions to place on Comcast and YouTube • Each will have versions in English and Spanish
• They feature Ava staff and “talent” from the Stockton area • We will have three different messaging versions:
• Coming soon!
• Welcome to Ava!
• Now you’re saving!
Local Support for a
Community-Aware
Launch
10 • We have held several face-to-face meetings with City Staff including sustainability managers and Public Information Officers to ensure we understand how they communicate
with constituents and what channels are available to us • We had an information sharing meeting with numerous
CBOs, hosted by Little Manila Rising
• Ava is hiring a full-time, bilingual San Joaquin County Outreach Coordinator based in Stockon - we made an
offer
• Ava is contracting with a Stockton-based media placement company to help run a substantial ad campaign
• Ava is selecting a local PR/influencer outreach consultant