The Orange County Board of Supervisors Dec. 20 voted 3–2—with Board Vice Chairman Don Wagner and Supervisor Andrew Do dissenting—to withdraw the county’s unincorporated areas from the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA), a local energy provider embroiled in controversy and accused of lacking transparency.
The agency also serves residents and businesses in the cities of Huntington Beach, Buena Park, Irvine, and Fullerton.
The decision came after an audit of the OCPA revealed Dec. 9 that twice as many people opted out of its services—at 16.5 percent—compared to its own projections. The green energy provider lost nearly three times more customers than 19 other community-choice energy providers in California, according to the audit.
Supervisor Katrina Foley, who initiated the audit, said it was “one of the most difficult votes I’ve had since I joined the board.”
According to the audit, the authority could not provide a specific cost for the county’s withdrawal but estimated it to be around $65 million.
The OCPA was formed in 2020 on a promise to supply renewable energy to county residents at a lower cost, as an alternative to the region’s primary electricity provider Southern California Edison.
When the power authority launched services earlier this year, customers were automatically switched over.
However, the OCPA’s electricity has been accused of being more expensive. Supervisor Lisa Bartlett said during an August board meeting some customers in Irvine saw an increase as high as 7 percent, that statistics showed as high as a 7 percent increase in Irvine for some customers.
During the Dec. 20 meeting, Foley questioned the OCPA’s CEO Brian Probolsky on whether more information previously requested by the county could be provided.
“We get a little bit of information but not all of it, and the transparency issue is very important,” Foley said.
Foley asked Probolsky to explain why he disagreed with some of the audit’s findings. He said he didn’t have a copy of the necessary documents with him and didn’t answer the question.
“While I disagree with some of the findings I don’t think they’re unreasonable,” he said.
Chairman Doug Chaffee, a resident of Fullerton, said he also opted out of the OCPA’s services because the solar panels on the roof of his home generate more power than he consumes. He also said the cancellation process was “very difficult.”
He said when he called the agency to cancel, a canned response mentioning “cheaper rates than [Southern California Edison],” which he said is a “clear misrepresentation.”
Customers are also automatically opted into the OCPA’s most expensive plan, with the option to downgrade.
The OCPA—just like Edison—offers three plans for consumers. Their “Basic Choice” plan, with 38 percent of renewable energy, started off with comparable rates to Edison, whereas its 69-percent renewable “Smart Choice” plan and top tier plan with 100 percent renewable energy cost 1 and 1.5 cents more per kilowatt-hour respectively.
During the meeting, Bartlett said she voted against the agency in October because she thought it was “premature.” Referred to her October decision to vote against the OCPA.
“I had hoped my concerns were unwarranted, but unfortunately, they’ve been heightened,” Bartlett said.
She criticized the authority for a “lack of transparency and sharing information with the public.”
Wagner, who is on the authority’s board, said it’s too early to pull out from the authority, which has proven its financial viability.
“Openness and transparency is fixable,” he said.
Wagner added that the agency is “our only opportunity to provide that clean energy.” Community-choice providers such as the OCPA were created in California to offer more renewable energy options locally.
Echoing Wagner, Supervisor Andrew Do said he thought the agency was still “a viable entity that can still deliver on its objectives,” with management issues that can be resolved.
The agency said in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times it was “disappointed” by the supervisors’ decision to opt-out.
“By joining Orange County Power Authority for the first time in its history, the County of Orange brought renewable energy choice, competition, and local control to its constituents on where they get their energy,” the statement read.
According to the agency, its services are equivalent to removing 200,000 cars off the road every year.
“Withdrawing from OCPA removes consumer choice and market competition, adds dirty power to the energy grid, raises rates, and creates an unnecessary liability for the County,” the statement read.
