ebce.org
1999 Harrison Street, Suite 800
Oakland, CA 94612
510-219-2121
1-833-699-EBCE (3223)
[email protected]
May 12, 2022
Dear City Manager Black,
On behalf of East Bay Community Energy (EBCE), I am pleased to confirm our staff has completed its membership analysis for the City of Stockton. We had the pleasure of sharing the positive, preliminary findings with your staff on April 21 and thought it would be helpful to summarize our final conclusions via this correspondence.
To recap, the membership analysis involved 1) a quantitative assessment of Stockton’s citywide, electric usage data (as provided by PG&E); and 2) an evaluation of EBCE’s ability to serve electricity customers throughout the City.
In short, our goal was to answer the following question: Can EBCE include the City of Stockton within our growing service area and Joint Powers Authority (JPA), while offering the same level of service we provide current JPA member-jurisdictions and their communities? Based on our analysis, we are more than confident we can.
Moreover, based on our experience serving similarly sized cities—and operating one of California’s largest, most demographically-diverse Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) agencies—we believe an enduring partnership between Stockton and EBCE would advance our mutual, energy-related interests.
Among other things, these include access to more competitive rates and renewable energy supplies. Collectively, EBCE customers have saved about $10 million a year in rate savings, even while they have purchased more renewable energy than they would have with PG&E.
Our analysis determined Stockton’s energy consumers would have experienced similar benefits.
For example, if the City’s residents and businesses had received EBCE service throughout 2021, they would have collectively saved nearly $1.5 million on their utility bills. Meanwhile, they would have purchased at least 6% more renewable energy compared to what PG&E supplied that year. This latter figure may seem modest, but it represents approximately 80 Gigawatt-hours of clean energy—enough to sustainably power 15,700 homes for a year.
Additionally, a partnership with Stockton would help EBCE (and the State of California, more generally) accelerate efforts to electrify the building and transportation sectors. Expanding access to Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC) hubs in Stockton and the Central Valley is critical to this endeavor, particularly given the region’s status as one of America’s most important trading hubs. I know improving local air quality in Stockton is a major area of
ATTACHMENT A
ebce.org
focus for the City Council, and a partnership with EBCE to deliver electric transportation solutions to residents and businesses will be a top priority.
Similar investments in local energy resilience (such as installing solar + battery storage systems at critical municipal facilities) are also among EBCE’s forward-looking strategies to help our communities mitigate and adapt to climate change. If successful, EBCE’s efforts in these areas will not only present new development opportunities; they will also enhance the quality of life by helping to reduce local air pollution and create new, green-collar jobs.
I would be remiss if I failed to convey what a pleasure it has been to work with your talented and dedicated team. As we continue to explore the possibility of Stockton’s EBCE membership, the prospect of collaborating more closely together is highly motivating.
In consideration of the above, I would like to formally invite the City of Stockton to initiate the process of joining the East Bay Community Energy Authority. We stand ready to partner with the City of Stockton to deliver cleaner, more affordable electricity to your residents and businesses. To do so, the City of Stockton City Council must pass a resolution to join the East Bay Community Energy Authority and an ordinance to implement a community choice aggregation program by joining EBCE’s Joint Power Authority. A detailed description of the membership process is included as an attachment to this letter.
Finally, I want to note that this process will carry no direct cost to the City of Stockton, through either this assessment phase or upon joining the EBCE JPA.
If you have questions or would like any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me at your convenience.
Many thanks,
Nick Chaset
Chief Executive Officer, EBCE
Attachments (3):
1) City of Stockton Membership Analysis,
2) Joining East Bay Community Energy,
3) Intro to East Bay Community Energy: Lower Costs + Greener Electricity + Community Investments
ATTACHMENT A