The City Council of Culver City voted on December 11 to join the Los Angeles Community Choice Energy Authority (LACCE), making it one of the first cities in the County to join. LACCE is a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) organization that will purchase electricity on behalf of its member cities for sale to residents and businesses in their communities. Formation of CCAs are authorized under California Assembly Bill 117 (2002) and California Senate Bill 790 (2011), which allow local governments in California to purchase electricity in the wholesale power market and sell it to their residents and businesses. CCAs are an alternative to electricity provided by an investor owned utility such as Southern California Edison (SCE). A CCA is not a municipal utility, as SCE will continue to provide transmission and distribution services, power line maintenance, and even customer billing services. “By joining LACCE we are giving our residents and businesses more options for clean energy,” said Culver City Mayor Jeff Cooper. CCAs offer communities more choices about where their energy comes from. LACCE intends to purchase cleaner, more renewable electricity and offer it to the Culver City community. LACCE will also develop energy programs to reduce the effects of climate change. For example, it could provide incentives and rebates for rooftop solar installations, energy efficiency projects and reduced charging rates for electric vehicles. LACCE plans to commence service citywide in January 2019. Once established, SCE will continue to maintain the electrical distribution system, meter use and invoice LACCE customers. Councilmember Meghan Sahli-Wells will be the City’s representative to the LACCE Board of Directors, and Councilmember Goran Eriksson will be the alternate representative.
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