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This month's news includes a heavy dose of financial updates resulting from our budgeting process and project finance transactions. It's exciting to see what a dedicated public agency can do with a mission to provide clean energy at low rates. If EBCE didn't exist, East Bay customers wouldn't be saving $19 million per year on their bills, CARE and FERA customers wouldn't be be getting a $50 bill credit this this year, and we wouldn't see the implementation of $25 million in local programs. We are so excited to turn these spreadsheet figures into meaningful positive change for our customers, our communities, and the planet. |
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Congratulations to Jennifer D of Oakland, who won an EBCE x Oakland Roots co-branded e-bike! EBCE sponsored Climate Night at the July 23rd Oakland Roots soccer game at Laney College. The halftime show included an e-bike race and selection of the e-bike raffle winner. Fans were encouraged to reduce their carbon footprint on game day by taking BART and marching to the match together from Rockridge and Lake Merritt BART stations. |
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With newly approved fiscal year 2022-23 budget, EBCE board approves greater discounts compared to PG&E, increases local programs, and provides bill credits to low-income customers
East Bay Community Energy recently announced a historic $770 million budget for fiscal year 2022-23. EBCE will use the funds to expand financial and program benefits for its customers and reinvest $25.5 million into its communities in the form of new grants and local programs. Offering more savings compared to PG&E rates, greater incentives, and increased renewable energy deployments, EBCE continues to charge ahead on helping to keep communities resilient amid rising energy demand.
The EBCE Board of Directors’ budget approval will help bolster ratepayer savings, local programs, renewable procurement with short- and long-term investments, and more. Providing customers within its service areas more renewable energy at more competitive rates, EBCE is expanding its benefits, which go into effect in July (and appear on August bills):
- Bright Choice customers receive a three percent discount below PG&E rates, translating to $19 million in annual savings relative to PG&E rates in the 2022-23 fiscal year.
- Renewable 100 customers receive a 25-percent-lower premium than in previous years (premium rate declines from $0.01/kWh to ¾ ¢ per kilowatt-hour) for 100% wind and solar electricity from California.
- Customers on income-qualifying California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) and Family Electric Rate Assistance Program (FERA) discounts receive a $50 bill credit in late 2022, resulting in $6.23 million in immediate savings for nearly 125,000 homes.
- Renewable energy content in EBCE’s Bright Choice power mix will increase by five percent above previous targets, to 50% in 2022. To date, EBCE has cut the ribbon on five renewable energy projects, totaling 335 MW, with seven more projects totaling 677 MW contracted to be built by 2026.
- Moreover, EBCE’s annual budget for local programs will increase approximately 150 percent to $21.35 million, and its funding for community innovation grants will increase to $4.2 million over three years.
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 Two recent podcasts feature EBCE CEO Nick Chaset in conversations about 'Clean Energy Opportunity for Community Energy Providers' and EBCE's efforts to provide renewable energy at reduced costs. Click the links above to listen.
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Procurement strategy to save over $7 million per year for East Bay customers
Since its launch in 2018, East Bay Community Energy (EBCE) has pursued innovative approaches to providing low-cost, clean energy to residents and businesses throughout Alameda County and in the City of Tracy. EBCE is expected to provide on-bill savings of $19 million this fiscal year alone, per its recently-approved budget. EBCE’s latest power procurement announcement is the completion of its second prepay transaction.
An energy prepayment is a long-term financial transaction available to municipal utilities and
tax-exempt entities such as Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) that enables a meaningful power procurement cost savings opportunity. This prepay structure has historically been utilized for natural gas procurement and is now being applied towards renewable and clean energy. As a public agency, EBCE is able to employ its tax-exempt status in order to reduce power procurement costs by prepaying for energy with Morgan Stanley as the prepaid power provider and bond underwriter.
This is EBCE’s second prepay transaction. Together with the savings from EBCE’s initial prepay transaction, EBCE has secured annual savings of over $7 million, which represents nearly a 1% discount to all EBCE customers. Both prepay transactions are 30-year energy contracts. The savings from this second prepay transaction are locked in until 2029, which is when the bonds will need to be repriced, while the savings from the first transaction are locked in until 2032 because it closed on 10-year bonds. The bonds for this prepay transaction, like the first, were issued through the California Community Choice Financing Authority.
“Applying a financial structure that traditionally has been used by natural gas providers to
reduce costs, but now leveraging the tool so public power agencies can lower costs for
renewable and clean energy, helps EBCE to further save our customers money.” said EBCE
Chief Operating Officer, Howard Chang.
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We're hiring! Open roles include:
- Brand Manager
- Building Electrification Program Analyst
- Compliance Management Associate
- Director of Clean Energy Structured Finance
- Director of Infrastructure Delivery
- Energy Efficiency Program Analyst
Details and application information here.
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