News Article

June 26, 2009
Community energy plan on suspension
By Gabriel Dillard / The Business Journal

The San Joaquin Valley Power Authority, a group of 11 cities and one county that hoped to supply power to more than 112,000 customers, has temporarily suspended its efforts due to market conditions.

Board members of the authority — consisting of Clovis, Corcoran, Dinuba, Kerman, Kingsburg, Lemoore, Hanford, Parlier, Reedley, Selma, Sanger and Kings County — voted June 25 to temporarily suspend the program. Their plan was to sell energy to constituents at lower rates than utilities Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Southern California Edison.

The authority has been working for several years on the program, dubbed Community Choice. It had been negotiating with CitiGroup’s energy arm, but tight credit markets and volatile energy prices hindered that effort.

And with the state planning to get a third of its energy from renewable resources, up from the previous 20 percent, implementing the program has proven a challenge for the authority. But David Orth, the authority’s general manager, said in a statement that all efforts toward Community Choice would not cease.

"We will continue to monitor these issues for changes that will make conditions more favorable for implementation of Community Choice," Orth said.

The authority is the furthest along in the state to implementing Community Choice. Similar efforts are underway in the communities of Marin, San Francisco, East Bay and other areas, Orth said.