South San Francisco, CA January 29, 2016 Submitted by Kirsten Pringle, County of San Mateo 
Each of the **cities in the San Mateo County are currently considering whether or not to join Peninsula Clean Energy, San Mateo County’s Community Choice Energy program. Peninsula Clean Energy will serve as an alternate option to PG&E as residents’ and businesses’ electricity provider, offering more renewable energy and local control over electricity. Both the City of South San Francisco and the County believe it is very important to have local residents and business owners weigh in on their opinion of the program. Therefore, the City is hosting a community workshop on Peninsula Clean Energy on Wednesday, February 3 at 6:30 p.m. Here a link to more information about the event.
****In addition to the County itself (representing unincorporated San Mateo County), the cities of Atherton, San Mateo, Menlo Park, Half Moon Bay and East Palo Alto have voted to join Peninsula Clean Energy.
What is Peninsula Clean Energy?
Peninsula Clean Energy is a community choice energy (CCE) program, also known sometimes as community choice aggregation. CCE programs allow local governments to pool the electricity demands of their communities, purchasing power with higher renewable content, and reinvesting in local infrastructure. To learn more about the feasibility of CCE in San Mateo County, click here (PDF).
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
CHOICE
PCE will introduce competition into the marketplace. It will provide ratepayers with a choice about the level of renewables they wish to support.
COMMUNITY
PCE will be a non-profit organization, accountable not to shareholders seeking profit, but to the communities it serves. Surplus funds from PCE will be reinvested in your community to develop local renewable energy projects and create local jobs.
SUSTAINABILITY
PCE will allow San Mateo County to achieve greater greenhouse gas reductions resulting from energy generation.
ECONOMICS
PCE will offer renewable energy at rates competitive to or lower than PG&E.
Residents
Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) will offer renewable energy for your home through your existing PG&E account. You will be able to choose between multiple power options, each with a different amount of renewable energy and all offered at competitive rates.
Residents in PCE’s service territory will be automatically switched over from PG&E when the program launches. Residents can choose to “opt-out” and return to PG&E as their electricity provider at any time. All residents in PCE’s service territories will receive multiple notices about the program before the launch date with information on how to stay with PG&E, if they so choose.
Regardless of whether you are a PCE or PG&E customer, your electricity service will not be disrupted or be altered in any way. You will also continue to receive a bill from PG&E.
If formed, PCE’s electric generation fees will replace PG&E’s electric generation fee. Residents in PCE’s service territories will continue to pay for PG&E electricity delivery charges. These charges include transmission and distribution of electricity. PG&E has always charged for the delivery of electricity; this rate will not change if you are a PCE customer.
Sustainable
PCE will purchase electricity on your behalf: your service won’t be interrupted.circle-PGE
PG&E will continue to deliver the electricity from the grid to your house, maintain the power lines, read your meter, and send you a single bill.
Alternative-energy
The only change is an opportunity to choose between different energy options: CCEs offer options with higher renewable energy content.circle-home
If your home is in a PCE service area, you will be automatically enrolled in the program. You can choose to go back to PG&E at any time.
CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO STATES
You Have a Choice When it Comes to Your Energy
California law allows local communities to break away from their existing electricity providers and purchase electricity for their communities directly from an energy producer. San Mateo County government is asking the City of South San Francisco, and all cities in the County, to join in a partnership to purchase electricity directly from suppliers instead of PG&E. The new partnership, called Peninsula Clean Energy, or PCE for short, promises slightly lower rates, cleaner energy from renewable sources and a choice for residents – PG&E or Peninsula Clean Energy.
Peninsula Clean Energy would be only the source of electricity. All power, whether generated by Peninsula Clean Energy or PG&E, is delivered over PG&E lines, and PG&E will continue to handle all billing and collections, handle all maintenance and repair of power lines, and handle any trouble calls. If the City decides to join Peninsula Clean Energy, by law all PG&E residential and commercial customers are automatically enrolled in the Peninsula Clean Energy program unless they file a form to stay with PG&E-generated power.
The South San Francisco City Council is considering the San Mateo County
proposal to join the Peninsula Clean Energy partnership, and wants your input.
A Town Hall meeting is scheduled for
Wednesday, February 3rd, 6:30 p.m. at the
Municipal Services Building, 33 Arroyo Drive, South San Francisco.
Come and get your questions answered and have your voice heard. You can get more information on the County website at www.peninsulacleanenergy.com.
**In addition to the County itself (representing unincorporated San Mateo County), the cities of Atherton, San Mateo, Menlo Park, Half Moon Bay and East Palo Alto have voted to join Peninsula Clean Energy.