Time for Larkspur to join Marin Energy Authority - bring green options to Residents

You wouldn’t know it from reading the national press, but not all progress in this country has ground to a standstill!  For instance, Marin is moving forward on one of the more intriguing energy programs in the country – giving consumers a choice in where they get their electricity from, and enabling Marin towns to drastically lower their greenhouse gas emissions.  This is exciting for residents like myself!

Competition is good for the consumer – and in this case, the environment

Everyone likes having a choice in what they buy, and how they live their lives.   But in certain areas, such as buying energy – we don’t have much choice.  For electricity, utility companies have long enjoyed a near-monopoly on our business, with reduced incentive to innovate, provide more customized offerings, etc. 

Enter Marin Energy Authority (MEA). 

What is MEA?

From what I’ve learned, it seems Marin (and CA) decided that in order to drive towards cleaner energy, it made sense to provide an alternative to PG&E.   It took nearly a decade to get MEA up and running, but now it seems to be humming along.  MEA powers 50K homes in Marin, and will soon jump to 90K.  Their goals are to bring more renewal power to Marin – and their current mix is already 27% renewable - double PG&Es.  Marin residents can even jump to a 100% renewal option called “Deep Green” if they choose.

MEA is also starting on “Phase II” of their growth – beginning to source power from within Marin via new Solar installations and Feed-ins from residents.  From a financial perspective, they seem to be in solid shape.  For more info, you can check out their website: www.marincleanenergy.com

Benefit to residents and town of Larkspur & Corte Madera

We are the only two towns in America right now that could allow our residents to have 3 options for how they power their homes using electricity, with a simple vote.  By joining MEA, residents can:

1. Continue with PG&E
2. Join MEA and have two new choices:
   1. Light Green - the default option for MEA
   2. Dark Green – 100% renewal electricity option

In terms of cost – MEA’s Light Green is competitive with PG&E, while Deep Green carries a small premium.

All towns in Marin appear to have set Greenhouse gas reduction goals.  This is in part because of AB 32 (the CA law that our state must get 33% of our power from renewable sources by 2020).  However, a lot of the expected ways for reducing greenhouse gases are on hold due to the "recessionary economy".  New green building and solar power installations are progressing far more slowly than was hoped.  MEA however, is proving a huge win for towns that have signed on.  San Anselmo released their latest report on Greenhouse gas emission reductions, and participation in MEA accounted for nearly ½ of the progress – meaning MEA reductions were equal to all other efforts combined!  Seems like good policy to me.

And of course, the most important point comes back to choice.  Neither the town of Larkspur, nor any resident has to switch to MEA if they don’t want to.

Previous concerns have been addressed

Larkspur passed on joining in 2008 as the idea was just getting off the ground.  The concerns were valid:  MEA was a new idea, there was a cost to join, and it was decided to take a “wait and see” approach.  Now, with MEA finances in very solid shape, the model proven successful, and the cost to join now eliminated – it seems the perfect time to join. 

In fact, the others previous Marin town holdouts - Ross and Novato (see Novato Patch story here: http://novato.patch.com/articles/power-to-the-people-council-votes-to-jo...) - just joined in the past few weeks.   Larkspur and Corte Madera are now the only two towns in Marin that are not part of MEA!

My sincere hope is that Larkspur will also give residents like myself the opportunity to bring 100% renewable electricity into our homes.  Please join me in encouraging the Larkspur town council to join MEA tonight!