The Orange County Power Authority (abbreviated to OCPA) is a joint municipal power authority serving Buena Park, Irvine, Fullerton. It is a community choice aggregation authority, purchasing power on behalf of ratepayers, while Southern California Edison operates local transmission infrastructure and billing. [1]
It currently procures renewable electricity from solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biomass sources, and non-renewable energy from nuclear and fossil gas sources. Three energy rates are provided, "100% Renewable", "Smart Choice" at 72% renewable, and "Basic Choice" at 44% renewable. [2]
In 2019, The Irvine City Council voted unaimously to consider forming a CCE authority with other cities. In 2021, Irvine approved the creation of the Orange County Power Authority. In 2022, Irvine and Buena Park approved the default use of 100% renewable energy for it's ratepayers, while Fullerton selected 70%. Service began for commercial customers in April 2022 and residential customers in October 2022.
In February 2023, the California State Auditor conducted an audit, highlighting lack of board oversight and qualified staff, and the loss of customers, and poor administrative processes. 3 other audits were conducted with similar results. In April 2023, the board of the power authority fired CEO Brian Probolsky in a split vote after audits found Probolsky approved $1.8 million in contracts without board approval. [3] In May 2023, Huntington Beach voted to withdraw from the OC Power Authority, which completed on July 1, 2024. [4]
The Power Authority has completed its improvement plan following the recommendations, which include improving transparency and oversight, and hiring more qualified personnel for power procurement and administration. [5] It also improved processes for reviewing contracting proposals to ensure fair bidding and track project completion.
Orange County is a county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, and more populous than 19 American states and Washington, D.C. Although largely suburban, it is the second-most-densely-populated county in the state behind San Francisco County. The county's three most-populous cities are Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Irvine, each of which has a population exceeding 300,000. Santa Ana is also the county seat. Six cities in Orange County are on the Pacific coast: Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and San Clemente.
Lawrence Alan Agran is an American lawyer and the former mayor and a current city councilmember of Irvine, California.
The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is the transportation planning commission for Orange County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. OCTA is responsible for funding and implementing transit and capital projects for the transportation system in the county, including freeway expansions, express lane management, bus and rail transit operation, and commuter rail funding and oversight.
The Great Park is a public park in Irvine, California, with a focus on sports, agriculture, and the arts. It is a non-aviation reuse of the decommissioned Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro. The Orange County park comprises 28.8% of the total area that once made up the air base. The project was approved by the voters of Orange County in 2002 at $1.1 billion.
Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) are two joint powers authorities formed by the California State Legislature in 1986 to plan, finance, construct, and operate Orange County's toll roads. TCA consists of two local government agencies:
The California Public Utilities Commission is a regulatory agency that regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies. In addition, the CPUC regulates common carriers, including household goods movers, limousines, rideshare services, self-driving cars, and rail crossing safety. The CPUC has headquarters in the Civic Center district of San Francisco, and field offices in Los Angeles and Sacramento.
Santee Cooper, also known officially from the 1930s as the South Carolina Public Service Authority, is South Carolina's state-owned electric and water utility that came into being during the New Deal as both a rural electrification and public works project that created two lakes and cleared large tracts of land while building hydro-electric dams and power plants. Its headquarters are located in Moncks Corner, South Carolina.
Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), also known as Community Choice Energy, municipal aggregation, governmental aggregation, electricity aggregation, and community aggregation, is an alternative to the investor-owned utility energy supply system in which local entities in the United States aggregate the buying power of individual customers within a defined jurisdiction in order to secure alternative energy supply contracts. The CCA chooses the power generation source on behalf of the consumers.
Solar bonds are municipal revenue bonds issued to provide low-interest financing for lower-cost accelerated development of local renewable energy technologies such as solar power.
Chris Norby is an American politician and educator. He served on the Fullerton City Council (1984–2002) including three years as mayor, on the Orange County Board of Supervisors (2003–2010), on the California State Assembly (2010–2012).
Energy Trust of Oregon is an independent nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, United States, offering services and cash incentives to customers of Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural, Cascade Natural Gas, and Avista in Oregon. It also serves customers of NW Natural in Washington.
Net metering in Michigan was a state program that allowed utility customers to develop renewable energy generation projects on-site at their home or business to meet their own energy needs and reduce their electric bill. As of the end of 2015, Michigan had approximately 2,000 net metering customers. The net metering program was replaced with a inflow/outflow program which charges retail rate for grid energy used and pays for excess sent to the grid at a cost-avoided rate. This cost-avoided rate is much lower than the retail rate and each utility must have their price approved by the state utility board in their rate case.
Michael Christopher Carroll is a member of the Irvine City Council in Irvine, California, as well as the Chairman of the Orange County Great Park and the former Vice Mayor. Before joining the city council, Carroll served as Vice Chair of the Irvine Planning Commission and as Chair of the Community Services Commission. Carroll was a bi-partisan appointment to fill a council vacancy in May 2019, and in November 2020 he won a 4-year term as Councilmember, receiving the second highest number of votes in the City’s history.
The Silverado Fire was a wildfire that burned in October and November 2020 in southern Orange County, California northeast of Irvine. The fire started on October 26 around 6:47 AM near Orange County Route S-18 and Silverado Canyon Road, fueled by strong Santa Ana winds gusting up to 80 miles per hour (130 km/h) and low humidity. Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy stated, "The winds were extraordinary even by Santa Ana standards. Fire spread is exceeding more than anything I've seen in my 44 years." The fire initially moved south from Loma Ridge toward the Orchard Hills, Northwood and Portola Springs communities of Irvine before moving southeast through Limestone Canyon and toward the communities of Foothill Ranch and Lake Forest. The fire burned in a path similar to that taken by the 2007 Santiago Fire, mostly through terrain that had not seen significant burning in the 13 years since that fire. 100% containment was announced on November 7, 2020.
Championship Soccer Stadium is a 5,500 seat soccer-specific stadium at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California. The stadium serves as the permanent home of Orange County SC of the second tier USL Championship league after the club began its existence relocating to various stadiums within the county. Championship Soccer Stadium is publicly owned by the city of Irvine and is operated by the Great Park.
Mayoral elections in Irvine, California, are held every two years.
Tammy Kim is an American politician and nonprofit executive. She currently serves as a member of the Irvine City Council in California. Kim is an elected member of the Central Committee for the Democratic Party in Orange County representing California's 68th State Assembly district.
The 2022 Orange County Board of Supervisors elections were held on June 7 and November 8, 2022. Three of the five seats of the Orange County, California Board of Supervisors were up for election. This was the first set of elections held after the 2020 redistricting cycle. County elections in California are officially nonpartisan. A two-round system was used for the election, starting with the first round in June. Runoffs were held in all three districts, as no candidate managed to reach the 50% + 1 threshold.
FivePoint Amphitheatre was an amphitheatre at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California. It opened in 2017 as a replacement for the defunct Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre. With 6,500 bleacher seats, 280 VIP seats, and an approximate 5,500 standing room spaces, it was the largest amphitheatre in Orange County by overall capacity and second-largest in seated capacity, only behind the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa. The site is owned by real estate development group FivePoint and was operated by Los Angeles–based concert promoter Live Nation. The facility consisted of three temporary bleacher sections and a temporary stage with future plans to establish a more permanent amphitheatre on the Great Park premises.
Farrah N. Khan is an American politician serving as the 23rd mayor of Irvine, California. A member of the Democratic Party, Khan first served Irvine as a member of City Council before being elected mayor in 2020.