Hayward City Council to Consider Joining East Bay Community Energy
On Tuesday, November 29 at 7pm, the Hayward City Council will consider whether to join a community choice energy program, called East Bay Community Energy (EBCE). Your input is welcome and encouraged. This item was originally set to appear before Council on November 15, but was delayed. For details on this Council item, please click here.
On October 4, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved the formation of EBCE to foster local control and sourcing of more sustainable electricity. For details of this meeting, see items 21 and 22 of this video. East Bay Community Energy will be governed by the EBCE Authority, which will be made up of Alameda County and participating cities within the county.
A community choice energy program allows public agencies to purchase electricity on behalf of their community members, with the goal of procuring more sustainable and local energy. EBCE will purchase electricity for the energy customers in unincorporated Alameda County and any cities that join the EBCE Authority. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) will continue to provide customer billing, transmission, and distribution services. It is anticipated that EBCE will begin serving customers in fall 2017. Learn more at the EBCE website.
The goals of East Bay Community Energy are to use more renewable energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create local jobs, and offer competitive electricity rates. For more information, see this report by Alameda County staff.
For past City of Hayward reports to Council on EBCE, please see the City's webpage.
