DATE: May 10, 2021
TO: Council Sustainability Committee
FROM: Director of Public Works
SUBJECT
Title
Default Electricity Product from East Bay Community Energy
End
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
That the Council Sustainability Committee (CSC) reviews and comments on this report and provides a recommendation to Council for a new default electricity product to take effect January 1, 2022.
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SUMMARY
When East Bay Community Energy (EBCE) launched in 2018, Council chose Brilliant 100 (100% carbon free electricity) as the default electricity product for Hayward. In 2020, when it appeared that Brilliant 100 would no longer be offered, Council provided its ranked choices for a replacement. Council's top choice was to maintain Brilliant 100 with a subsidy and Council's second choice was to make Renewable 100 the default. The EBCE Board extended Brilliant 100 for one more year, but it will not be offered as of January 1, 2022. Staff is seeking a recommendation from the CSC for a new default product for the community, to be effective January 1, 2022. Staff has identified the following three options for the CSC's consideration:
1. Renewable 100 as the default for all customers (residential and commercial) with the exception of residential customers that receive income or medical-related discounts. This option would maximize greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, but would result in rate increases for most customers.
2. Renewable 100 as the default for non-discounted residential customers. Commercial customers would move to Bright Choice. This option would cause Hayward's GHG emissions to increase and would result in rate increases only for residential customers that do not receive income-qualified or medical-related discounts. Commercial customers would default to Bright Choice and would experience a small decrease in rates.
3. Bright Choice as the default for all customers. This option would cause the largest increase in ...
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