Ava Community Energy
City of Lathrop
Item 2.2
Ava Community Energy Overview
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What is Ava Community Energy?
Ava Community Energy (Ava) is a local community
choice power supplier committed to providing Alameda
County and the City of Tracy with more renewable
energy at lower rates. Ava service will begin in the
cities of Stockton and Lathrop in April 2025.
Ava is the default provider of electricity generation (the power plants) for all customers (residential, commercial, and municipal) in the jurisdictions we serve. Per State law (AB 117), customers are automatically enrolled in
Ava’s service and are billed by PG&E.
As a not-for-profit public agency, Ava reinvests earnings back into the community to create green energy jobs,
local programs, and renewable power projects.
On October 24, 2023,
East Bay Community Energy became
Ava Community Energy
4 History in Brief
5 CCA Steering Committee convened & feasibility
study commissioned by Alameda County
2016 Ava formed as a Joint Powers Authority (JPA)
2018 Launched service to residential and commercial customers in 11 cities and unincorporated Alameda County
2019
2021
2022
Cities of Tracy, Pleasanton, and Newark join JPA
2023
2025
Began service to Cities of Tracy, Pleasanton, and Newark City of Stockton joins JPA
City of Lathrop joins JPA
Service begins to the Cities of Stockton and Lathrop
2024
Unincorporated San Joaquin County joins JPA; service
expected to begin in 2026 (pending CPUC certification)
2015
6 Ava Member Jurisdictions
Alameda County and the City of Tracy are
members of Ava’s Joint Powers Authority
(JPA). In 2022, the City of Stockton joined the
JPA, quickly followed by the City of Lathrop in
2023. These two San Joaquin County cities will
begin service with Ava in 2025.
In July of 2024, Ava's Board approved the JPA
membership request of unincorporated San
Joaquin County. The County's membership is
currently pending certification by the California
Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), with
service expected to begin in 2026.
How it Works
7 Ava Buys Clean Power
Ava buys from, and is
building, clean power
plants. Ava sells the power
to customers at low rates.
PG&E Delivers the
Power
Ava’s power is delivered to
customers by PG&E.
Customers pay PG&E for
power delivery as they
always have.
You Get the Power &
Benefits
You benefit from clean
energy, low rates, local
governance, and
innovative programs.
Customer Billing: How it Works
8 Receive a Monthly Credit
As an Ava customer, PG&E issues a Generation
Credit each month. That credit is the amount PG&E
would have charged you for generation services,
and it offsets Ava charges.
It’s NOT an Additional Charge
Ava charges REPLACE the generation charges
that PG&E used to charge you. It is not a new or
additional charge compared to what you used to
pay.
Billing from PG&E You get a single bill each month from PG&E that includes Ava charges.
Customer Billing: How it Works
9 Your bill comes from PG&E every month.
A. Your Account Number
You will need this number if you change your
Ava service level or choose PG&E service.
B. PG&E Delivery Charges
This is PG&E’s charge to deliver electricity
over their transmission lines, maintain
infrastructure, and provide other services
including their customer service and billing.
C. Ava Electric Generation Charges
This charge covers Ava’s cost of purchasing
clean electricity for customers, plus relevant
local taxes.
D. Total Amount Due
This is the total amount you pay to PG&E for
all charges from both PG&E and Ava.
10 What Are My Options?
Bright Choice
~55% renewable energy
at rates 5% below PG&E
Renewable 100
100% solar & wind
energy at 1/4 cent per kilowatthour above PG&E rates
PG&E
Default for all Lathrop
customers
What are the Benefits?
11 Lower Rates Local Control &
Investment
Sustainability Customer Choice
and Programs
Customer Outreach & Marketing
12 Outreach Timeline
13 February/March April/May June/July
Key Message: Savings on your
electricity bill are
coming - no action
required
Welcome to Ava,
you’ve been
automatically enrolled
to save 5% on
electricity compared
to PG&E
5% savings on your
bill compared to
PG&E standard rates
Channels:
● Enrollment notices (4 notices total)
● Advertising (digital, TV, out of home)
● Event outreach
● Social media
● Website land page
● Press release
● Opinion piece by elected
● Sponsorships (local orgs and sports teams)
● Key account outreach
● Partner channels (chambers of commerce, city,
CBOs)
● Webinars/office hours
● City Council presentation
Enrollment Notice Examples
(will be Ava branded)
● Four (4) notices to every customer
● Variety of formats (e.g., letter; trifold brochure; postcard) ● Emails to customers with email on file
14 Events outreach
15 February March April May June
Farmers
markets
Farmers
markets
Farmers
markets
Farmers
markets
Farmers
markets
Host a webinar Chinese New
Year
Celebration
Asparagus
Fest
Flavor Fest SJ County Fair
Cambodian
New Year
Cinco de Mayo Concerts in the
Park
Earth Day
Note: Ava will hire a full-time outreach coordinator in Stockton or Lathrop.
Advertising
16 February/March
• Savings are coming - no action required
April/May
• Welcome to Ava
June/July
• Find the savings on your bill
Theme Placement
• Digital display
• Social media
• YouTube
• Streaming audio
• Comcast
• Print - Stockton Record
• Billboards
Website landing page
17 • AvaEnergy.org/stockton
• AvaEnergy.org/lathrop
Will include all of the information
that customers need to know, can
be linked from City’s website or
social media
Social media
18 NextDoor - post all Stockton and Lathrop neighborhoods Facebook - boost posts in Stockton and Lathrop
Instagram - ads in Stockton and Lathrop
Twitter - organic posts
LinkedIn - organic posts
Ava will provide a social media toolkit each month for:
• Cities of Stockton and Lathrop
• Local CBOs
• Local Chambers of Commerce
Residential - English
• Intro to Ava
• Ava for NEM
Residential - Spanish
• Intro to Ava
Commercial - English
• promoted by Chamber of Commerce, City
Economic Development Department
• live and recorded for web
19 Webinars and Office Hours
Webinars
• promoted by City, CBOs, posted on social
• live and recorded for web
Office Hours
Do a short presentation and long Q&A. Vary the
locations (coffee shop, library, city hall, etc)
• Feb/March - focus on “coming soon”
• April/May - focus on “welcome”
• June/July - focus on understand your bill
Thank you!
AvaEnergy.org
+1 833.699.3223
[email protected]
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Online
Phone
Email
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