Council agrees to join power authority for city of Oroville
OROVILLE » During an Oct. 22, 2019 meeting, the Oroville City Council directed city staff to join the Butte Choice Aggregate Joint Powers Authority. The council approved a $20,000 deposit Aug. 18 to proceed with the application.
On Tuesday night, the council discussed an ordinance and resolution to recognize the city’s participation in the JPA.
Not all councilors were on board. Eric Smith, in particular, strongly disagreed with the resolution.
“The notion that this program is going to save the citizens of Oroville money
and deliver power at a better price because the government can engage in the private sector and buy it smarter than PG& E is foolhardy and, in my opinion, a sham. Not true. Will not happen. You can add a
whole layer of bureaucracy and then turn around and sell it to make it cheaper. I don't see that happening” he said.
Councilor David Pittman saw things differently.
“I look at this as kind of a joint powers agreement to buy things. If we can buy this power, that's great,” he said. “Anytime we can
modulate the cost of power, that's a big deal. The difficulty we have now is we're at the mercy of PG&E completely. Whatever they decide to do, that's what we're gonna do. We have no authority to change anything. At least in this venue, given the concerns, at least we have the authority to buy a better product in the world
of electricity.”
Vice Mayor Scott Thomson agreed with Smith.
“I'm not against options. I love options, but it really cross grains me fundamentally as far as my view of what the government should and shouldn't do. I' m siding with Eric. I think his points are pretty valid. The fundamental concept of the government coming in and competing with the private sector cross grains me deep,” he said.
Despite SmithandThomson's concerns, the council voted to authorize the implementation of the community choice aggregation program.
The program allows cities to buy or generate its own electricity and sell it to residents and businesses, according to Butte County. PG&E will continue to deliver the electricity and provide meter reading, billing and maintenance services.
“This is a brand new startup. There's a lot of cost in getting this thing off the floor. And that's what this seed money, in part, is all about. And at the end of the day, I don't see it working,” Smith said. “Fundamentally, from a business model standpoint, I'm struggling. I feel like we're gonna spend a lot of money and at the end of the day not be able to deliver. In fact, there's a whole lot of bailout clauses in this thing if you read through it. It's full of challenges.”
After that divided vote, the council made unanimous decisions.
On Feb. 5, 2019, because of the Camp Fire, councilors voted to allow recreational vehicles and other forms of mobile housing on private properties with a permit. Now, because so many homes were lost in the North Complex fire, they voted to extend this courtesy ordinance.
The council then voted to purchase one slide in the Compressed Air Foam Systems unit for newly replaced aircraft rescue and firefighting equipment, along with associated emergency response equipment for two recently purchased vehicles for a total of about $75,000.