Marin cities to examine contract for clean electricity
October is a big month for the future of clean energy in Marin County. That's when the Marin Energy Authority (MEA) will seek the opinions of the county's citizens and elected officials on its draft contract to procure a much greener electricity mix for the county at no extra cost to consumers.
The MEA is the joint-powers authority formed last year to purchase power for its member cities and towns, independently of PG&E, under Marin County's community- choice-aggregation initiative (see May-June Yodeler, page 4). The authority is considering bids received this summer from three finalist bidders - electricity wholesalers who will deliver cleaner power to Marin, at or below PG&E's electric rates.
The MEA aims to have a negotiated contract by Oct. 1, and then will hold public meetings with its member city councils to get feedback. It will then vote on the contract in early November, triggering a 90-day opt-out period in which member city councils can decline to join if they choose. "We really want a lot of input from the public and the city councils," says Dawn Weisz, county community-development planner and the MEA's interim director.
Weisz and the MEA are pleased with the quality of the bids, all three of which offer a mix of power with at least 25% renewable energy - more than double PG&E's current mix - at or below PG&E rates. MEA's goal is to increase the renewable percentage to 50% in four years or less, and to 100% in eight years. PG&E, by contrast, recently informed the California Public Utilities Commission that it does not expect to meet its state mandate of 20% renewable energy by 2010.
Unfortunately, PG&E has drafted a state initiative that would require an expensive two-thirds election for any future community-choice efforts to purchase energy. PG&E has conveniently exempted itself from this requirement. But even if that measure reaches the state ballot and passes, Marin's clean-energy initiative would be protected by a grandfather clause.
When the MEA contract begins in 2010, individual Marin consumers can also choose MEA's "Deep Green" option - to receive 100% renewable energy for a premium that will increase their total bill by 4 - 5%. Consumers will also have the option to opt out and stay with PG&E. With whatever option consumers choose, PG&E would continue to do the billing, maintain the power lines, trim trees, and be responsible for restoring power outages. So apart from reducing greenhouse gases faster, consumers will not be aware of any difference in their power.
MEA's renewable-energy mix may include power from wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and small hydroelectric projects. The three finalist bidders are Constellation Energy Commodities Group, Macquarie-Cook Power, and Shell Energy North America. All of these bidders are deeply experienced and well-financed. Other smaller bidders (such as wind-farm operators) may be considered to supply power from individual projects, says Weisz.
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The county of Marin and all of Marin's cities and towns except three (Corte Madera, Larkspur, and Novato) have voted to be part of MEA. Residents of Belvedere, Fairfax, Mill Valley, Ross, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Sausalito, Tiburon, and unincorporated areas should let your city councilmembers and supervisors know that you support more clean energy and greenhouse-gas reduction for Marin, and urge your communities to stay in the MEA contract. Plan to attend Council meetings when the clean-energy contract will be discussed.
More information is available at www.marinenergyauthority.org