Community, Library, Sustainability

Hayward goes carbon free

January 8, 2019

Solar panels lined up at the City of Hayward solar field

Hayward became one of the first and the largest Bay Area city to move onto entirely carbon-free sources of electrical power generation in 2018.

The move began in March with a City Council vote selecting an electricity product for Hayward customers being shifted off Pacific Gas and Electric Company-supplied electricity and onto power supplied by East Bay Community Energy (EBCE).

EBCE is what is known in the energy industry as a local aggregation network.  It is one of several such nonprofit agencies being formed by local governments in the Bay Area and across California to takeover electricity procurement from PG&E and other investor-owned utility monopolies.

In June, Hayward commercial and public agency electricity customers were transitioned off PG&E power and onto EBCE supply. In November, Hayward residential customers were, too.

The goal of EBCE and other agencies like it is to provide a cleaner, greener, more affordable choice of electricity without sacrificing reliability. Under the system, PG&E remains responsible for electricity transmission, maintaining electricity distribution infrastructure, and customer service and billing.