SLO County may finally provide an alternative to PG&E. Here’s what took so long | Opinion

In a better-late-than-never situation, the county Board of Supervisors will reconsider joining Central Coast Community Energy — or 3CE — when it meets on Tuesday.

It’s one of several policy decisions the new, liberal-leaning board has been reviewing since it took over in January.

This one is a no-brainer. Of course the board should reverse the wrong-headed decision of the previous majority by joining 3CE.

That will allow residents of unincorporated communities to choose between PG&E, an investor-owned utility, and 3CE, which is a nonprofit government consortium authorized to buy electricity on behalf of its residents.

Every household should be allowed to make that decision, instead of having elected officials make it for them, which has been the case for county residents living in unincorporated areas.

While practically every jurisdiction on the Central Coast — including all seven cities in SLO County — already belongs to 3CE, conservatives on the Board of Supervisors refused to join. That robbed customers in communities like Los Osos, Cambria and Nipomo of the opportunity to take advantage of lower rates offered by 3CE.

Opt-out was called ‘very problematic’

The reasons conservative supervisors gave for rejecting 3CE were flimsy at best.

When a vote was taken in 2020, they objected to automatic enrollment. (Under state law, customers are automatically enrolled in community choice energy, though they are given the opportunity to opt-out and stick with their utility company.)

“This opt-out ... we know from experience it’s just difficult for people to keep up with things. You lose things in the mail ... the opt-out, I think, is very problematic,” Supervisor Debbie Arnold said then.

Let’s think about that.

Supervisor Arnold did not trust her constituents to be able to keep track of their mail or fill out a form — even though the state requires sending multiple notifications alerting customers to the opt-out provision.

These are the same constituents who manage a host of other obligations — paying bills, renewing car registrations, voting — yet they don’t have the presence of mind to read and respond to an important notice about their electricity?

That’s as absurd as it is insulting.

Former Supervisor Lynn Compton raised another objection: SLO County would be overwhelmed by the more liberal cities and counties represented on 3CE’s policy board. She was especially concerned about the city of San Luis Obispo.

“For the most part,” she said, “when San Luis makes decisions, they are not the decisions that people in my area want to make.”

That’s the same rationale the old board majority used when it voted to withdraw from countywide Integrated Waste Management Authority — another decision that’s being debated.

3CE has a 2-year track record

It’s understandable that public officials were wary of community choice energy when it was first authorized by the state Legislature in 2002. But that’s more than 20 years ago, and the program now has a track record.

According to a SLO County staff report, 3CE has received clean bills of health in annual audits and has a strong credit rating from Standard & Poors.

And it’s currently offering a residential rate that’s 39% lower than PG&E’s, according to the staff report. Rates also are lower for other customers, such as businesses and public agencies.

The county is projected to save $620,000 by switching its properties in unincorporated areas to 3CE — an amount that would make up for any additional costs the county would incur.

Another incentive: 3CE has taken a more aggressive approach to switching to 100% renewable energy. Its goal is to reach that milestone by 2030, compared to PG&E’s goal of 2040.

Doe that mean every household should abandon PG&E?

Of course not.

Rather, residents of the unincorporated county should be offered the same opportunity as customers in Pismo Beach or Paso Robles or San Luis Obispo — a chance to analyze the differences between the two energy providers and pick what’s best for them.

It’s about time the Board of Supervisors gave them that option.