Community Power Against Nuclear Energy, once again!

(11/2020) Local Clean Energy Alliance needs you to speak out at the November 18 East Bay Community Energy (EBCE) Board meeting, 5:00 pm, to defeat another attempt to include nuclear energy in EBCE’s power mix. You can read our talking points on this Google Doc.

 

Despite the Board having decided only months ago to reject nuclear energy, EBCE staff is bringing the issue back because some cities see PG&E's nuclear as a cheaper way to get "carbon-free" energy at a competitive price—despite the many downsides involved.

 

In April of this year, amid the chaos of a newly declared global pandemic, the EBCE Board of Directors rejected a staff-conceived proposal to include nuclear energy in the public agency’s power mix. They did so after 64 community members waited 5 hours to urge the Board not to let PG&E dump its dirty nuclear energy onto our Community Choice energy program.

 

This time the item is being framed as an option to keep the carbon-free Brilliant 100 product, available for individual cities. Both Hayward and Albany have opted all municipal and residential accounts into Brilliant 100, which is the same price as PG&E’s energy, but costs 1% more than EBCE’s default Bright Choice product, in order to achieve big GHG emission reductions on paper (while local emission remains unchanged). However, the cost of Brilliant 100 is now more expensive compared to PG&E’s energy.

 

According to EBCE staff, there will be two separate issues on the Board’s agenda on November 18. One will concern the future of the Brilliant 100 product, with one of the options for that product to include nuclear energy as a cheaper “carbon free” source. The other item will be a repeat of the April question of whether EBCE will accept nuclear into its power mix. You can sign up to speak at the November 18 meeting once the agenda is posted (usually a few days before the meeting), so you can enter the appropriate agenda item numbers in the Google sign-up form. 

 

East Bay Clean Power Alliance (EBCPA), which includes the Local Clean Energy Alliance, Sierra Club, and other East Bay allies, have been urging Board members to ask staff to present other options besides including nuclear energy in Brilliant 100. For instance, EBCE’s recent audit confirmed almost $22 million above the $60 million surplus revenue already anticipated for the fiscal year 2019-2020. $12.7 million of that $22 million has been approved by the Board for 2020-2021 as a Rate Stabilization fund. EBCPA is urging the Board to consider subsidizing Brilliant 100 for cities who want to opt accounts into that product for a 2 year period in lieu of adding nuclear energy. EBCE staff has estimated that such a subsidy would cost $3 million/ year at current enrollment  for the Brilliant 100 product.

 

One of the issues that staff has not made clear is that if the Board were to vote to accept nuclear energy for Brilliant 100, nuclear energy will appear on EBCE’s Power Content Label . At various public meetings staff have implied that the nuclear energy could be credited only to those cities that opt for Brilliant 100. However, as an electrical load serving entity EBCE must submit one official Power Content Label, required by the state and approved by the California Energy Commission that shows the energy types and percentage for all the agency’s products combined. This is standard for other Community Choice programs, municipal and corporate utilities.

 

We urge you to sign up to speak out against nuclear power! To learn more about the nuclear cycle’s hazards and risks, register to attend the upcoming Community Power Against Nuclear Energy webinar, November 12, 2020, 6-7:30 pm.