City Council
MEETING DATE: 7/11/2018
TITLE:
Title
Desert Community Energy Enrollment Options and Advisory Committee
End
FROM:
Charlie McClendon, City Manager
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
This item is presented for information, discussion and direction.
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BACKGROUND:
Cathedral City is a member of Desert Community Energy a Community Choice Aggregation or CCA offering electricity to consumers in our City in cooperation with Southern California Edison. SCE will still provide the distribution system and do the billing, DCE will purchase the electricity directly from the power generators. The result will be cost savings for customers, higher usage of clean energy sources such as solar and wind, and increased local control. In general, the DCE rate structure will mirror the existing SCE structure with rate savings built into the basic rate plan, the Desert Saver Plan. Customers will automatically be enrolled in the Desert Saver plan unless they opt for the Carbon Free plan or opt to remain with SCE. DCE also offers a Carbon Free option, providing 100% carbon-free electricity at rates identical to current SCE rates. More detail on the plans and how to opt up or out can be found at desertcommunityenergy.org
DISCUSSION:
The City of Cathedral City is also a consumer of electricity and a customer of SCE. CM Kaplan requested a discussion item to allow Council to consider what option the City will choose. CM Kaplan is also the City's representative on the DCE Board.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Choosing the Desert Saver plan will result in savings of about 3% on the electricity consumption portion of the City's electric bills. Choosing the Carbon Free option will result in costs that are equivalent to existing costs. Funding for City electric bills is included in the budget. CVAG has provided an estimate that the incremental cost difference for City accounts between the Desert Saver and Carbon Free options is about $5,300 annually.
CM Kaplan has ...
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