CEO Report Item 7
CEO Report Item 7
TO: Ava Community Energy Board of Directors
FROM: Howard Chang, Chief Executive Officer
SUBJECT: CEO Report (Informational Item)
DATE: November 19, 2025
________________________________________________________________________ Recommendation
Accept Chief Executive Officer (CEO) report on update items below.
Executive Committee Meeting
An Executive Committee Meeting was held on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. Members received updates on proposed JPA amendments, the SmartHome Battery and Resilience Hub Programs, and a review of the selection process for the Customer Programs Roadmap consultant. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at 3 pm.
Financial, Administrative and Procurement Subcommittee Meeting A Financial, Administrative and Procurement Subcommittee Meeting was held on Friday, November 7, 2025. A quorum was not present for this meeting and items were presented on an informational basis. The next Financial, Administrative and Procurement Subcommittee meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at 3:30 pm.
Community Sponsorship Deadline – November 30
To encourage and support community engagement, Ava awards local organizations with community sponsorships. Funding areas include, but aren’t limited to, sports, art, music, and STEM. The maximum award amount is $2,500 per organization per award round, with as many as 20 recipients funded per round, depending on the number of qualified applicants.
Applications for the latest round of funding close on November 30. Learn more and apply for a sponsorship on the Ava Community Energy website.
New Employees
Ellen Kwok – Machine Learning & Operations Associate Engineer CEO Report Item 7
Ellen joined Ava on October 16th, 2025, as the Machine Learning & Operations Associate Engineer. She will be supporting the EAS team by taking ownership of various data pipelines and improve overall operations to align with machine learning operations best practices.
Prior to Ava, Ellen worked as a software engineer at Wells Fargo for 3 years, where she led refactoring and optimization of legacy data processing workflows and developed natural language processing models to streamline complaint processing. During this time, Ellen also obtained the Google Cloud Digital Leader certificate. Before Wells Fargo, Ellen explored several disciplines and worked in an EdTech non-profit and a fintech SaaS, where she contributed to various workflow optimization.
Ellen holds a bachelor's degree in Cognitive Science with a concentration on computational modelling and data science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Nadiyah Helal – Power Resources Analyst
Nadiyah joined Ava on November 13, 2025, as a Power Resources Analyst. She will be supporting Renewable Electricity Credit (REC) commodity portfolio management, procurement, and compliance.
Prior to Ava, Nadiyah worked on supply chain risk modeling for energy technologies at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She also has experience in critical minerals research, sustainability consulting, and climate resilience planning. She maintains pro bono involvement with Engineers Without Borders USA in the San Francisco Professional Chapter.
Nadiyah holds an M.S. in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Energy, Civil Infrastructure, and Climate from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Davis.
Local Development Update
Given the high number of local development activities and varied status of design, implementation, and operations, we will aim to provide a summary update of all programs and services on a quarterly basis via the CEO report. The purpose is to keep the Board appraised of Local Development Programs and activities at a summary level. Action items and deep dives will continue to be brought forth on an as needed basis.
CEO Report Item 7
Program Name Status Description Key Metrics Key Upcoming Dates Planning
Customer
Programs
Roadmap
In
Development
Define Ava's customer programs
roadmap for 2027-2032 N/A
Consultant Contract authorization
request at November Board
Meeting
Transportation
Electrification
Ava Charge Operational
Developing portfolio of EV fast
charging sites on City land across
Ava's service territory with a focus
on locating near underserved multi-family dwellings
Oakland City Center West
garage with 31 chargers is now
in operation
Ribbon cutting November 19
Additional sites to launch in
2026/27
Ava SmartHome
Charging Operational
Program to shift home EV charging
away from peak hours while
helping customers lower their cost
of home EV charging.
>2,200 EVs enrolled, VPP KPIs
are being met Additional enrollment ongoing
Ava Bike Electric Operational
Program to provide incentives for
customers to purchase electric
bikes, CARE customers receive
higher incentives and 40% of
allocated funds
Over 12,000 applications
received, 6,716 vouchers
distributed, and 1,440 e-bikes
purchased. CARE customers
redeeming 2.5x faster than non-income qualified customers Drawing on 4th Tuesday of each
month. Ava will not proceed with
a lending program and has
allocated all funds to the
incentive program
Building
Electrification
Health-e
Communities
Pilot Operational
Direct installation program to
replace gas stoves with induction
for CARE customers and complete
indoor air quality monitoring to
evaluate air quality impacts. Installed 162 induction cooktops Ava is reviewing the results of the
pilot and will come back to the
Board with a recommendation.
Applications closed in September
Building
Efficiency
Accelerator Operational
CPUC funded program to complete
energy efficiency and building
electrification projects on
commercial and industrial
customers, like LED lighting and
heat pump water heaters
On target to reduce
consumption by 13 GWh, 14
customers engaged in 48
unique projects
Program enrollment ends April
2026
CEO Report Item 7
SolarApp Heat
Pump Water
Heater permitting Canceled
Contract with SolarApp to add heat
pump water heaters to their online
permitting application
Solar App will deliver lessons
learned from permitting
departments, HPWH installers
and manufacturers on the value
of expedited permitting
Contract cancelled due to
Federal withdrawal of IRA
funding and SolarApp needing to
focus on core solar permitting
business. Ava collaborating with
BAAD and other CCAs on
pending HPWH regulations.
Resilience
Critical Municipal
Facilities
In
Development
Program to provide resilience on
critical municipal sites. Eight
projects across four cities will
provide bill savings
Installing 258kW of PV and
1.34MWh of batteries
generating 778k kWh of clean
energy in year 1.
On target to achieve mechanical
completion by the April 15,
2026th NEM2.0 deadline
SmartHome
Battery
In
Development
Program to provide $15M in upfront
and ongoing incentives for
residential solar and storage
projects and community resilience
hubs
Enroll and manage 21MW of
solar paired batteries for
residential and low- income
customers and community
resilience hubs.
Action item to the November
Board meeting to approve the
budget and program design
Community
Grants
EV Charging Operational
Both parties have identified multiple
sites and are evaluating feasibility
studies.
2 grants of $300k over 3 years
Green the Church has installed
their first project at Glad Tidings
Church in Hayward
Interfaith Power and Light and
Green the Church continues to
work on identifying sites to build
community owned level 2 EV
charging stalls.
Youth Training Operational
Rising Sun Center for Opportunity
and AGAPE (a partnership
between Cypress Mandela Training
Center and Revalue.io)
Grant of $300k over 3 years
trained over 150 youth in
electrification trades
Students are beginning to
matriculate into the job market.
Rising Sun is developing an
online jobs platform to help
graduates find work in the trades
Community
Resilience Hubs Operational Emerald Cities Collaborative Grant of $300k over 1.5 years
completed three community
workshops with over 170
participants and 26 unique
community-based organizations
ECC and Ava staff have
developed a definition and
eligibility criteria for Community
Resilience Hubs that we will
present to the Ava Board in
November.