By Lookout Staff
December 8, 2017 -- The City Council on Tuesday voted to join Los Angeles Community Choice Energy (LACCE), a move City officials say will shift all Santa Monica electricity customers to competitive electricity and help boost similar efforts in the region.
The new agency allows cities to purchase electricity in the wholesale power market and sell it to their residents and businesses, according to LACCE.
The agency employs a strategy known as community choice aggregation to provide energy sourced from up to 100 percent renewable sources, compared to less than 30 percent of for Southern California Edison, the City's existing utility.
Under LACCE, Santa Monica's electricity customers will receive the same service and utility bills from from Edison, with the LACCE (CCA) electricity product included, City officials said.
“Santa Monica is seizing every opportunity to better protect the environment,” Mayor Pro Tem Gleam Davis said in a statement issued after the meeting.
“Joining an effort that promotes renewable energy and makes it available to our residents and businesses keeps us on track to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and promotes regional progress towards greater sustainability,” she said.
The strategy used by LACCE "enables local governments to aggregate electric demand and procure and sell electricity directly to residential and commercial customers," officials said.
"CCA enables local governments to reduce carbon emissions associated with electricity generation and support economic development through local energy projects and programs."
To date, the City of Lancaster is the only Southern California CCA that is currently operational.
City officials say that Santa Monica's background in sustainable efforts "will be critical" for working with cities such as West Hollywood, Culver City and Agoura Hills to determine renewable energy goals, utility rates and local energy programs.
The Council appointed Councilmember Kevin McKeown as the primary LACCE board member, with Councilmember Pam O’Connor as an alternate.
David Pettit of the National Resources Defense Council and the Task Force on the Environment was appointed as the second alternate.
