Butte County and Chico create new energy authority

OROVILLE >> The Butte County Board of Supervisors and the Chico City Council have officially entered into a Joint Powers Authority agreement and created the Butte Choice Energy Authority.

Through a Community Choice Aggregation program, Butte Choice Energy Authority seeks to allow Butte County and Chico, the county’s largest city, to aggregate buying or creating electrical power for residential, commercial and municipal customers, and to meet their electricity needs.

“The creation of Butte Choice Energy Authority provides residents of the unincorporated area of the County, as well as the city of Chico, a choice for where they purchase their energy from,” stated a joint press release.

Butte County and the city of Chico announced they anticipate launching the new energy authority by the spring of 2021.

The inaugural Butte Choice Energy Authority board meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Butte County Board of Supervisors Chambers, 25 County Center Drive, Suite 205, in Oroville. The meeting is open to the public.

People will still get bills from PG&E. But the part of the bill that pays for buying electrical power will be transferred by the utility to a joint powers authority that will be set up by the city and the county.

PG&E will maintain ownership and operation of the local electrical transmission system. But the power flowing through the system to local homes and businesses will have been purchased by the joint powers authority.

The Joint Powers Authority should be able to get power cheaper, largely because PG&E has a number of long-term powerbuying agreements at higher costs than the current market.

Favorable rates could come from buying from the number of small hydroelectric plants in the county.

With Butte Choice Energy, people might by able to pay a little more to get “greener” energy from renewable sources. All those options will be determined locally, rather than in the PG&E offices in San Francisco.

Residents and businesses will be able to stay with PG&E, but they will have to make the step of opting out of of Butte Choice Energy.

Steve Schoononver contributed to this report.