CEO Report Item 12
CEO Report Item 12
TO: Ava Community Energy Board of Directors
FROM: Howard Chang, Chief Executive Officer
SUBJECT: CEO Report (Informational Item)
DATE: May, 21, 2025
________________________________________________________________________ Recommendation
Accept Chief Executive Officer (CEO) report on update items below.
Executive Committee Meeting
An Executive Committee Meeting was held on Wednesday, April 7, 2025. Members received updates on the FY 2025-26 Draft Budget, Critical Municipal Facilities and San Joaquin County 2026 Enrollment. The next Executive Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 2, 2025 at 3pm.
Financial, Administrative and Procurement Subcommittee Meeting A Financial, Administrative and Procurement Subcommittee meeting was held on Thursday, May 8, 2025. Members received updates on the Prepay transaction and the FY 2025-26 Draft Budget. The next Financial, Administrative and Procurement Subcommittee meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 9, 2025 at 3:30pm.
Marketing, Regulatory and Legislative Subcommittee Special Meeting A Marketing, Regulatory and Legislative Subcommittee Special Meeting was held on Friday, May 9, 2025. Members received an update about Ava’s legislative priorities. The next Marketing, Regulatory and Legislative Subcommittee meeting will be held on Friday, June 20, 2025 at 10 am.
Oakland Residential EV (Electric Vehicle) Charging Cord Guidance Oakland recently adopted a new administrative policy (guidance) that will make it easier for residents to get an EV, by allowing them to run cords across the sidewalk to charge personal EVs at the curb. To comply with the policy, they must occupy ground-floor homes/units with adjacent sidewalks, lack access to dedicated off-street parking, and be located in single-family and multi-family residential zones. Additionally, the sidewalk grade must be 5% or less and the cord must have ADA-compliant cord cover/ramp. This makes Oakland one of just 6 U.S. cities that expressly allow residents to run an EV charging cord across the sidewalk to charge a personal EV and is the only city that allows L2 cords.
CEO Report Item 12
CalCCA Annual Conference
The annual CalCCA conference was held in Irvine, CA April 28-30. This was the largest CalCCA conference in history bringing together over 870 attendees from across the energy landscape.
In addition to a strong staff contingent we sent Directors Barrientos, Brown, Gonzalez, Roche, and Tregub to network, share our expertise, and learn from our fellow CCAs and partners. Next year’s CalCCA conference will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of CalCCA and will be held May 12-14, 2026 in Sacramento.
Fremont Residential Transition to Renewable 100
Fremont will become the ninth (9th) Ava city to make Renewable 100 its citywide default (joining the cities of Albany, Berkeley, Dublin, Emeryville, Hayward, Piedmont, Pleasanton, and San Leandro), following a unanimous vote by its City Council in June of 2024. It will also be the largest to do so in terms of both electric load and population served. Ava staff has been coordinating closely with Fremont’s City staff to prepare for the City’s residential default enrollment to Renewable 100 this August (note: Fremont’s non-residential/commercial and industrial customers are scheduled to default to R100 in August of 2026, per Ava’s Board action on July 17, 2024).
Ava and Fremont staff have held regular, monthly meetings since February to coordinate community outreach and prepare Account Services-related operations ahead of the City’s default transition. These include, but are not limited to the following:
• Drafting talking points and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the City’s staff and elected officials to use for public-facing communications, as well as a social media/newsletter marketing toolkit.
• Developing four (4) customer enrollment notices (mail & electronic), the first of which is scheduled to be mailed to Fremont residents the week of June 22. • Drafting a one-page flyer for the City to share with the School District. • Creating a dedicated webpage which will include a webform customers may use to choose Bright Choice if they prefer to do so. This webform is scheduled to become active on Monday, June 2.
• Registering for community events, such as the Fremont Festival of India in August and the Fremont Festival of Arts.
Launch to Stockton & Lathrop
Ava’s newest customers in Stockton and Lathrop are starting to receive their first bill with Ava’s generation service. The “first bill” has, based on previous enrollments, resulted in higher call volumes and customer opt-out activities, as the bill may be their first experience with Ava Community Energy. The overall opt-out rate for Ava's new communities has only increased by
0.5%, from 5,468 opt-outs to 5,996 total.
During the month of May, customers receive their fourth and final (required) notification of Ava’s service, following monthly notices that started in February. A sample of the first notification mailer can be found on the Stockton and Lathrop personalized web sites.
Jurisdiction Number of Accounts Number of Opt Outs Percentage Opt Out Stockton 112,168 5,719 5.1%
CEO Report Item 12
Lathrop 8,272 277 3.4%
Total 120,440 5,996 5.0%
New Employees
Courtney Wall – Contracts Manager
Courtney joined Ava's Power Resources team on 4/15/2025 as a Contracts Manager. Courtney will support managing Ava's portfolio of renewable energy and storage projects including long term PPA contract administration and reporting.
Prior to Ava, Courtney has spent 9 years in renewable energy operations including roles at Intersect Power, Cypress Creek Renewables, and Recurrent Energy. Most recently, she supported Intersect Power's transition into an Independent Power Producer (IPP) by leading the implementation of and overseeing the reliability compliance program for a 2.2 GW PV and BESS operating portfolio. Courtney holds a B.A. in Political Economy from the University of California at Berkeley.
Ava in the Community
To raise awareness of our service, support our community, and stay close to our customers, Ava sponsors and staffs events throughout our service territory all year long. Stop by to say hello at any of these upcoming events between May 21 and June 18. Learn more at https://avaenergy.org/about-ava/meetings-events/events/ Date Event Location
5/23/2025 Newark State of the City Resource Fair City of Newark 5/24/2025 Oakland Roots vs New Mexico United Oakland Coliseum 5/29/2025 Oakland Soul vs Pleasanton Rage Merritt College 6/7/2025 San Leandro Cherry Festival Downtown San Leandro 6/7/2025 Oakland Soul vs Stockton Cargo Oakland Coliseum 6/7/2025 Oakland Roots vs El Paso Locomotive FC Oakland Coliseum 6/15/2025 Annual Juneteenth Celebration San Joaquin Fairgrounds