Approve enrollment of the Yolo County electrical accounts not covered by existing solar and renewable accounts in the Valley Clean Energy UltraGreen Program and authorize certain County officials to take necessary actions to enroll. ($37,500 impact all funds) (Rinde)

On June 7, 2022, the Board of Supervisors received an update on several proposed early action projects to further the County's climate action and sustainability initiatives, including an option to enroll the County's electric accounts within Valley Clean Energy's (VCE) service territory and not covered by Solar/Renewable projects in the VCE UltraGreen program. The Board supported the concept at this time; however, these concepts were requested to come back with additional information including the cost for approval. 
 

The VCE UltraGreen program provides 100% renewable and 100% carbon-free electricity for an increase of 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour. This compares to their existing standard portfolio, which has a 45% renewable content and is 75% carbon-free. The VCE Service territory covers the Cities of Davis, Winters, and Woodland, as well as the unincorporated areas (however, it does not cover the City of West Sacramento). Thus, the County can only enroll the accounts in VCE's Service Territory in this program which would exclude the buildings in West Sacramento. The County has also made significant investments into Solar facilities in 2010 and 2012 at various locations throughout the County. Those solar installations receive credits against the bill based on the energy generated by those installations. Many of those solar agreements have rates that were agreed to when installed with PG&E, where enrollment in VCE and in the UltraGreen program could impact the level of credits received. Thus, the County at this time is not enrolling any net energy metering (NEM) accounts that are tied into solar installations and is instead enrolling only the non-NEM accounts currently with VCE. County staff plan to revisit these elections periodically in the future to determine if additional accounts (NEM) or accounts outside VCE's service territory require additional action (such as enrolling in a similar PG&E program). 

If the Board supports this action, VCE will need to receive a letter from the County (due to the volume of accounts) asking VCE to enroll the accounts in the program. VCE staff will confirm that the changes have been processed as to the energy mix that will be received going forward and will enact on a subsequent billing cycle. Depending on timing, the County expects that this change, if approved, would be effective with the September billing cycle. At this time, 87 accounts have been identified for enrollment, and after working closely with VCE, the estimated annual cost for this adjustment will be $37,500 per year. Should the County decide in the future for fiscal or policy reasons to revisit the election in the UltraGreen program, the County could opt-down to the Standard Green service in a similar manner where the County would communicate an election to change accounts back to that product and VCE staff would process it and it would become effective in the next available billing cycle.

Recommendation: 
County staff recommend that the Board approve the enrollment of the Yolo County electrical accounts not covered by existing solar and renewable agreements in the Valley Clean Energy service territory be enrolled in UltraGreen. In addition, staff recommend that authorization be given to the County Administrator, Assistant County Administrator, or designee to take necessary actions to enroll and to make future modifications, as needed. 

This item was a collaboration of Community Services with the Yolo Climate Action Commission, Valley Clean Energy and the County Administrator's office. The County Administrator's Office is bringing the item forward as that department is the administrator of the County's electrical accounts. 

Not applicable. The County's electrical service is not subject to competitive bidding.