Town Council Keeps Rates for AVCE Below SCE Rates

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AVCE officially launched in April 2017 and started providing energy to all residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers within the Town. The Town Council adopted an initial rate schedule to ensure sufficient revenue is collected to cover the operating expenses of AVCE and provide for reserves. In addition to meeting revenue requirements, AVCE’s rates are reviewed annually to provide stability to customers and are typically lower than the Southern California Edison (SCE) per kWh rate. The Council reviewed new rates at the January 23, 2018 meeting and as a result, AVCE customers will continue to receive a minimum of 3% savings on the energy generation portion of their bill, thanks to the rates adopted by the Town Council. In addition, residents that are in the CARE program receive approximately 13% savings on the energy generation rates and Net Energy Metering (NEM) customers that have roof top solar benefit from the program by receiving more than double the credits currently provided by SCE. Rate savings and customer care has made the implementation of AVCE a Town-wide success.

Town of Apple Valley Holds Community Forum

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Beginning April 1, Apple Valley residents will have a choice when it comes to their electrical provider when the Town of Apple Valley launches the Apple Valley Choice Energy Program.

Residential customers will see a 3 percent reduction in energy rates to start and CARE customers will realize approximately 13 percent in savings.

To learn more about the program, its benefits and all of the choices available, the public is invited to attend a community forum on March 7 at the Apple Valley Conference Center, 14975 Dale Evans Parkway.

A brief presentation followed by a question and answer period with program directors will be offered in two sessions beginning at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Participants will learn about this new collaboration with Southern California Edison that saves residents money and maintains programs like CARE and Level Pay.

For more information, call (760) 240-7000 x7522 or visit www.AVChoiceEnergy.com

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A choice brings savings for AV residents

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Hate the high cost of utilities? So does the Town of Apple Valley…and we are doing something about it.

Apple Valley Choice Energy (AVCE) is Apple Valley’s, locally-operated, locally-controlled electrical power provider. Made possible by Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), AVCE offers Town residents and businesses a viable alternative to traditional investor-owned utilities. As a municipal service, we offer rates that are typically more affordable than Southern California Edison (SCE), and with a higher percentage of renewable content.

AVCE seeks only to find the best sources of reliable and renewable energy at the lowest possible price and procure it for our customers. Instead of building costly infrastructure, we’ve collaborated with SCE to have them deliver our greener, more affordable power to electricity customers. There are no duplicate charges because we each provide unique services. AVCE procures electricity while SCE delivers that energy to your doorstep, maintains and repairs the infrastructure that carries it, and provides you with convenient customer services including billing.

Through the CCA process, we anticipate rate savings for our citizens. The Town Council is committed to providing Apple Valley residents, businesses and organizations with cleaner, and reliable energy at an affordable rate. The rates of an investor-owned utility are set by the California Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco. Instead, each year the Apple Valley Town Council will conduct a rate-setting process based on the projected energy costs for that year. This process is held at public hearings during the Town Council’s regularly scheduled meetings. The public is invited to attend.

“We won’t be manufacturing power, or building an energy plant. We are simply buying energy at a competitive price and passing the savings on to citizens and businesses,” explained Public Services Manager Joseph Moon.
The Town Council has approved an implementation plan for the CCA that is now under review with the CPUC. Residents and businesses in Apple Valley will receive at least four notices to explain the plan and their options before the program rolls out in April 2017.

Apple Valley Choice Energy offers “A Better Choice”

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Apple Valley is making a change for the better starting April 1, 2017. This is when Apple Valley Choice Energy (AVCE) will become the Town’s primary energy provider, giving residents and businesses the power to choose lower, stable energy rates, cleaner energy and local control.

AVCE has collaborated with Southern California Edison (SCE) to ensure you receive this cleaner power through SCE’s existing lines and just one bill, which includes charges for both AVCE’s power and SCE’s services. SCE will also maintain the lines and respond to any outages which may occur, as they do now. SO you get the best of both providers: cleaner, more cost-effective power under local control and the convenience of a single source for billing and service requests.

Residents will begin receiving 35% renewable content and low costs through AVCE’s Core Choice program. You also have the option of moving up to More Choice, with 50% renewable content. The Your Choice program allows those generating renewable power on site to continue in a program similar to SCE’s net zero metering. Because the choice is in your hands, if you prefer to stay with SCE, you can opt out of AVCE programs entirely.

What is a CCA and why do we have one?

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AB 117 permits cities, counties, or a Joint Power Authority (JPA) whose governing boards have elected to act as Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) to purchase and sell electricity on behalf of utility customers within their service area(s) or the Kings River Conservation District, the Sonoma County Water Agency, and any California public agency possessing statutory authority to generate and deliver electricity at retail within its designated jurisdiction.

Under CCA Service, a CCA is solely responsible for procuring and providing for their customers’ electric power needs (including ancillary services), ensuring resource adequacy and renewable portfolio requirements, and scheduling and settling with the CAISO. CCAs are required to meet certain requirements with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), in addition to meeting financial and technical requirements with us. The documentation contained within the CCA pages provides information a CCA needs to enroll and operate within our territory.

Many states passed CCA laws as part of electric restructuring legislation in the late 1990s and early 2000s. States that have passed CCA laws include California (2002), Illinois (2009), Massachusetts (1997), New Jersey (2003), Ohio (1999), and Rhode Island (1997). There are many reasons that a community may choose to develop a CCA, including the option to purchase more green power, reduce electricity cost, and provide power from more local sources. For 2013, approximately 2.4 million customers participating in CCAs that source renewable energy, totaling more than 9 million MWh of renewable energy.

Most CCAs are “opt-out” entities, meaning that the customer is by default part of the aggregation unless the customer opts-out. This opt-out arrangement has given community aggregation entities much higher participation rates than utility green power programs. The lowest participation rate for opt-out programs that offer a renewable energy component is around 75% compared to the highest participation rates in the low twenties for the most successful opt-in utility green power programs.