Councilmember Agran Gives Update on Orange County Power Authority After Council Ignores Request For Presentation

At the Tuesday, October 12th Irvine City Council Meeting, Irvine City Councilmember Larry Agran took matters into his own hands by giving his own update on the Orange County Power Authority. Read his statement below.

On September 30th, I submitted a Memorandum to the City Manager, Mayor and City Council.  The Memo requested an agendized Presentation to the Council and the public regarding the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA).  I regret to report that the Presentation I requested does not appear on tonight’s City Council agenda because it did not receive the required “second signature” under the Mayor and Council’s undemocratic “Rule of Two.”  

So, I offer the following brief report:  In 2019 and 2020 — before Vice-Mayor Kim and I were elected to the City Council — the then-sitting Council voted to take the lead in establishing the Orange County Power Authority. This multi-city authority (which includes Irvine, Huntington Beach, Fullerton, and Buena Park) has been organizing itself for months now, pledging to launch full-scale operations in 2022, and promising to deliver electricity that makes us less dependent on fossil-fuel sources, and helps us reach our ambitious goal of carbon-neutrality by 2030. 

So far, the City of Irvine — and only Irvine — has put $7.5 million into this start-up enterprise.  But this City Council has yet to receive even one public briefing, with appropriate disclosures and accountability for all OCPA financial dealings. 

In recent weeks, there have been major news articles raising troubling questions about the organization and operations of OCPA to date.  For me, the most troubling question concerns the lack of a believable business plan to give us confidence that OCPA will be successfully launched next year, as promised.  Remember, OCPA’s mission is to provide a cleaner, better, climate-friendly mix of renewables than Southern California Edison provides … and at a lesser price.   

Yet, at this moment, as compared with Southern California Edison, it appears that OCPA will be offering Irvine residential and commercial customers a dirtier mix of power — power that is more reliant on fossil-fuels and less electricity produced from solar and other clean, renewable sources.  And, to make matters worse, it appears likely that OCPA electricity will come to us at higher prices than what Southern California Edison now charges.  

If this is the case, it seems that many thousands of Irvine businesses and homeowners alike will choose to opt-out as customers of the Orange County Power Authority; instead, they will choose to stick with Southern California Edison — because for now it is the cleaner, greener, less expensive electricity provider.    

If that happens, what are the chances of a timely, successful launch of the Orange County Power Authority next year? And if the OCPA fails, how many Irvine taxpayer dollars will be lost? These — and other — important questions need to be answered, and quickly. Accordingly, I take this opportunity to publicly renew my request for a comprehensive, agendized Presentation regarding the Orange County Power Authority, Irvine’s role in this new public enterprise, and the extent of our exposure to major financial loss should the Orange County Power Authority fail.