Sonoma Clean Power Announces 2014 Progress Report

2014 Audit Confirms First Year of Service Produces Impressive Benefits

(L to R) SCP CEO Geof Syphers and Sebastopol Mayor/SCP Board Member Patrick Slayter present Keller McDonald, Superintendent of West Sonoma County Union High School District with a check representing the school district’s annual NetGreen cashout from SCP.

With the first year of service to Sonoma County customers complete, Sonoma Clean Power (SCP) has announced its 2014 progress report, which includes the following.

• Greenhouse gas emissions were 48% below PG&E’s last published data from 2013. The total estimated savings is 53,579 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which will be confirmed once PG&E publishes its actual 2014 emissions data in early 2016
• $13.6 million in total bill savings for customers
• Energy mix is 36% renewable plus an additional 44% hydropower. The agency is already meeting the 2020 mandates for all California utilities to be at least 33% renewable. By comparison, PG&E’s mix was 27% renewable and 8% hydropower.
• NetGreen program payments to solar customers of $207,000; one-third of which went to public schools
• All Sonoma County cities voted to join SCP [note: Healdsburg has its own municipal utility and does not participate in SCP]

“We knew the agency was doing great things from the beginning,” said current Board Chair and Cotati City Councilman, Mark Landman. “But benefiting customers and the environment at the same time is really something to be proud of. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I’d like to commend CEO Geof Syphers and his staff on guiding the agency to produce such remarkable results in its first year,” added Landman.

SCP began serving their first phase of customers in May 2014; the second phase in December 2014 and the cities of Cloverdale, Petaluma and Rohnert Park in June 2015. The agency is serving the electricity needs of approximately 90% of eligible customers, or about 198,000 accounts.

“It’s exciting to have just passed the one year mark and have such outstanding results to report,” said Supervisor Susan Gorin, who also served as the agency’s Board Chair in its inaugural year. “With all Sonoma County customers now receiving SCP service, we expect 2015’s results to be even more dramatic,” added Gorin. “It’s particularly gratifying to see solar customers receiving payment for the surplus energy they’ve produced, with schools being among the top recipients.”

“We’re getting a lot of questions about what’s next for us, which is different than just a year ago,” said SCP CEO Geof Syphers. “Initially we got questions about how we would ever be able to deliver on our twin goals of providing cleaner electricity at a lower price than PG&E. The joint rate comparison that PG&E’s mails out each year confirms that our customers are getting cleaner power and saving anywhere from 6-11% off their total electric bill,” Syphers added.

Now that all cities are receiving service from SCP, the agency is focused on program development.

Sonoma Clean Power is a not-for-profit pubic agency, and is the official electricity provider for Sonoma County, offering cleaner electricity to residential and commercial customers in all Sonoma County cities and the unincorporated areas of the county.

For more information, visit sonomacleanpower.org or call 1 (855) 202-2139.