Sonoma Clean Power coming to Petaluma

The public electricity provider will begin service June 1, offering an alternative to PG&E.|

Petaluma residents and businesses are weighing their options as Sonoma Clean Power, the county’s homegrown public power agency, prepares to become the city’s default electricity provider on June 1.

Petaluma ratepayers - along with ratepayers in Rohnert Park and Cloverdale - will automatically transition to Sonoma Clean Power on the first day of their new billing cycle in June. The three cities mark the final wave of Sonoma County municipalities to join the agency, which began serving customers in May of last year. Customers have the option of opting out and staying with PG&E, the investor-owned utility.

Staff from Sonoma Clean Power are holding several meetings in Petaluma to spread the word of the upcoming transition, arguing the merits of a locally controlled service that currently offers both lower rates and a greener mix of power than PG&E.

“We’re getting really good, reliable results in terms of lowering greenhouse gas emissions while offering something everybody wants,” said Geof Syphers, CEO of Sonoma Clean Power.

Through a model known as community choice aggregation, Sonoma Clean Power purchases electricity on behalf of its customers and delivers it over the grid largely maintained by PG&E. It is the second such agency in California after MCE Clean Energy, which launched as Marin Clean Energy in 2010.

Petaluma’s decision

Petaluma was among the three cities that chose to sit out of the initial launch of Sonoma Clean Power, adopting a wait-and-see approach as the agency began serving ratepayers in Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Cotati, Windsor, Sebastopol and the unincorporated county in May of last year. Healdsburg operates its own utility, and is thus not eligible for the service.

Councilman Dave King, who represents Petaluma on the joint powers authority overseeing Sonoma Clean Power, applauded the city’s caution as a prudent step. As the agency marks one year of service, King said it has managed several accomplishments that bode well for Petalumans.

“First and foremost, the rates are lower than the competitor. You get the same product for a lower amount of money,” he said.

While lower rates are secondary to Sonoma Clean Power’s environmental goals, the agency currently averages between 6 percent and 9 percent cheaper than PG&E. Its board of directors recently voiced strong support in maintaining current rates when the subject is put up for a vote in June, along with a 3 percent boost to the renewable energy in its power mix.

Its baseline “CleanStart” program offers a 33 percent mix of renewable energy and a total of 70 percent from emission-free sources, compared to PG&E’s 27 percent renewables and 60 percent emission-free, according to information from the agencies. A premium “EverGreen” program offers 100 percent renewable power from geothermal sources in Sonoma and Lake Counties for a higher rate.

Public has questions

Questions were varied at a recent Sonoma Clean Power public workshop in Petaluma. Several in attendance brought the postcard they received from the agency in April, with some saying it was the first they had heard of the new agency. Others were well versed in Sonoma Clean Power’s history, asking targeted questions about the agency’s governance.

A representative from Sonoma Clean Power, Nathan Kinsey, addressed concerns. Special PG&E programs for low-income customers and those with medical requirements continue with Sonoma Clean Power, he explained. Those who wish to return to service from PG&E can do so at any time, but will pay a fee if opting out after the first 60 days of service - $5 for residential accounts, and $25 for commercial, he said.

“I like to do my homework beforehand,” said Pam Tarango, a Petaluma resident who plans to bring the information back to five of her neighbors. “Personally, I’m going to give it a month.”

As the largest individual power users in the city, Petaluma businesses have been watching Sonoma Clean Power’s rollout closely since the Sonoma County Water Agency first began investigating the feasibility of an agency in 2011, said Onita Pellegrini, CEO of the Petaluma Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Every business and every resident needs to weigh the pros and cons with their own needs,” she said.

Commercial accounts

Still, some of Petaluma’s largest power users said they are leaning strongly toward becoming a Sonoma Clean Power customer.

Lagunitas Brewing Company, which has embarked on several initiatives to reduce electricity, water and sewer use in recent years, is likely to go with Sonoma Clean Power after the June rollout, said Chief Financial Officer Leon Sharyon. The company uses an average of 425,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month, or as much as 760 homes.

“We’re very interested in it for obvious reasons, sustainability being the primary reason, but also cost,” Sharyon said. “I think it’s our full intention to join come June.”

The city itself also uses a relatively large amount of electricity across all of its facilities, with approximately half - ranging between 22,000 kilowatt-hours and 26,000 kilowatt-hours per day in recent months - used by the Ellis Creek wastewater treatment plant alone, according to Scott Duiven, senior planner. The city will allow its 350 accounts to transition to Sonoma Clean Power in June, and will ultimately determine whether to return any of those accounts to PG&E on a case-by-case basis, he said.

“I have every expectation that the city will become a customer,” said Petaluma City Manager John Brown. “I think we’re going to find that most of those accounts, if not all, will be better served by going that route.”

PG&E’s role

PG&E is required by law to cooperate with community choice agencies. Customers will still receive their bill from PG&E, and the agency will still maintain the power grid and deliver electricity.

“We support customer choice, and we want to make sure all of our customers know their options,” said Brittany McKannay, regional spokeswoman for PG&E.

The two providers instead compete in their power supply, pricing and programs, including “net energy metering” policies that reward customers who feed a surplus of electricity from rooftop solar or other means back into the grid. Sonoma Clean Power recently paid a total of $207,000 to customers who generated enough power to exceed their personal use over the prior year. For PG&E, the benefit currently maxes out when a customer offsets their own annual power usage, regardless of any further energy fed into the grid.

Encouraging solar development

“The really big story so far is that the NetGreen program has made it financially beneficial to make solar that actually fits your energy needs. If you make extra, we just write you a check,” Syphers said.

The local agency also operates a parallel program for larger installations up to one megawatt, suitable for projects like warehouse or parking canopy solar arrays. It has also entered into a handful of long-term agreements to buy power from planned utility-scale projects like a 12.5-megawatt floating solar array in Sonoma County and a 30-megawatt array in the Central Valley.

Syphers said there have been “several hundred” new rooftop solar projects that have come online as Sonoma Clean Power customers. The amount of energy generated across those accounts is still being calculated, but the agency is currently projecting that it will pay customers $480,000 through its net energy metering program in the fiscal year that starts July 1.

Around 90 percent of potential customers have remained with Sonoma Clean Power since its launch, exceeding long-term projections that 15 percent will opt-out. The addition of Petaluma, Rohnert Park and Cloverdale will increase Sonoma Clean Power’s customer base 30 percent, to 200,000 electric meters. The growth will increase revenue to support new programs, like credits to customers for saving energy during peak times of the day, Syphers said.

(Contact Eric Gneckock at eric.gneckow@arguscourier.com.)

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