Monterey Bay Community Power Project

• In early March, the Monterey Board of Supervisors finalized their vote to join Monterey Bay Community Power, joining Santa Cruz and San Benito counties to form a tri-county community choice energy project that will place control over energy supplies in local hands. This vote was of great significance as it secured the support of all three counties and pushed the Monterey Bay Community Power Project past one of many obstacles to come for this revolutionary tri-county energy initiative.
• The project, recently joined by San Juan Bautista, still has more progress to be made, as of the twenty-one cities within the three counties of Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito, two cities, Del Rey Oaks and King City, have still refused to join this tri county agency, with Del Rey Oaks City Council voting against the Project on March 28th.
• Supporters of this community choice energy project intend to move forward with door to door canvassing in Del Rey Oaks with the hope of garnering enough community support to sway the City Council to vote on the issue again in May.
• Monterey Bay Community Power, an initiative driven by Santa Cruz County Supervisor Bruce McPherson, would not only emphasize local control over energy but would stimulate local economic development by keeping both energy and money local and creating local energy jobs. Furthermore this community choice energy project is projected to offer cleaner energy at similar rates to PG&E, and would emphasize investment in local renewable energy projects, which would play an important role in achieving California’s recent ambitious goal to reduce state emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.
• Monterey Bay Community Power will open for enrollment this summer and will automatically register residents from its counties, who will be given the option to remain with PG&E. 
• Roughly half of Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito’s green house gases are estimated to come from the projection of energy. As California is arguably the United States’ leader and pioneer in energy sustainability and environmental policy, if this tri county initiative is successful in promoting clean local energy at comparable PG&E rates, then this could set an innovative example of sustainable energy reliance for other counties and states to follow. For details and more information please visit the Monterey Bay Community Power Project at: http://montereybaycca.org