All Piedmont residential electric service accounts are to be enrolled in alternative service plans depending on Council action Monday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m.

The City Council will consider enrolling all residential electric service accounts in Piedmont into either the Brilliant 100 Service Plan or the 100% Renewable Service Plan offered by East Bay Community Energy (EBCE) during its regular meeting on May 21, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 120 Vista Avenue. Doing so will be an important step in achieving the City’s climate action plan goals. Residents are encouraged to attend.

During its May 7th meeting, City Council received an informational report (http://www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/html/govern/staffreports/2018-05-07/EBCEupdate.pdf) delineating the three service plans that (EBCE) is offering to its customers. Formed in 2017, EBCE is the community choice aggregate for participating jurisdictions throughout Alameda County. Electrical customers in these jurisdictions, including Piedmont, will receive cleaner, greener electricity, as well as local control over their energy supply through EBCE. Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) will still deliver the electricity, maintain the lines, and handle billing.

Both the Brilliant 100 and the 100% Renewable Energy service plans are completely carbon-free and will help Piedmont reach a goal in the recently passed Climate Action Plan (CAP) 2.0 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Should, the Council select it, the 100% Renewable Energy service plan would fulfill another goal of the CAP, which calls for 100% renewable energy as the default enrollment service plan for Piedmont residents.

EBCE has asked jurisdictions that wish to opt in their residential accounts to a service plan other than Bright Choice to make this decision by June 6th, 2018. If jurisdictions take no action, all residential electrical accounts will be automatically be enrolled in the Bright Choice service plan (85% carbon- free).

Regardless of the Council’s decision regarding the default, Piedmont residents and businesses will still have the option to enroll in any of the three EBCE service plans or to continue purchasing their electricity from PG&E by making that choice before or any time after the November launch of EBCE’s service.

Residents currently enrolled in PG&E’s assistance programs such as the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE), Medical Baseline, and the Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) program will retain the same discounts when receiving EBCE service. Also, Piedmonters with on-site solar energy systems can be enrolled in any of EBCE’s three service plans starting in 2019. These customers will be enrolled in the month of or the month after they receive their 2019 annual True-Up Statement from PG&E. In regards to residential customers with rooftop solar energy systems, EBCE has indicated that at a minimum it will match the net energy metering offering provided by PG&E.

The agenda report for this item can be read HERE. 

Public testimony is invited and encouraged during the May 21st meeting. Written comments may be submitted in advance of the meeting to the City Clerk’s Office at citycouncil@piedmont.ca.gov or by US Mail to City Clerk, 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont, CA 94611. All comments submitted will become part of the public record.

The meeting will be televised live on KCOM-TV, the City’s government TV station, and will be available through streaming video on the City’s web site www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/video.

For more information on EBCE, please visit EBCE’s web site at https://ebce.org/, or contact Annie Henderson, Vice President of Marketing and Account Services for EBCE at ahenderson@ebce.org.