Breaking News: The Huntington Beach City Council voted in May 2023 to withdraw from the OCPA organization. This may take many months, maybe a year. The information below if still valid until the process is completed, after which all accounts will go back to SCE.
You probably got this flyer recently in your mailbox (see photo). Maybe you chuck it as more “junk mail”. But this is serious, and you could see your power bill go up by as much as 20% in the coming months if you don’t pay attention to it.
The cities of Irvine, Huntington Beach, Buena Park, and Fullerton have created OCPA (Orange County Power Authority), a company that will take over management of electricity accounts from SCE. All residents of the cities listed above have been automatically opted in.
If you want to keep your service with SCE, you must opt-out before October or you will be locked in with a so-called “100% Renewable” plan that will cost you much more and will not provide you actual renewable energy.
Since SCE distributes electrical power through, OCPA will get the same energy mix as mandated by the State of California’s CPUC (currently 38% coming from renewable energy sources). In order to claim “100% renewable”, OCPA will have to purchase “carbon credits” (which have the same value as the paper they are printed on) to purportedly offset C02 emissions with mitigating measures (such as planting trees, forcing CO2 back into the ground, etc.). If this seems suspect, it is because it is. None of these measures actually reduce emissions.
How to opt-out of OCPA:
– Go to: Considering Opting Out? – Orange County Power Authority (ocpower.org)
– Select “Huntington Beach” from the “Select City” drop-down list
– Scroll ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM of the page, enter your SCE 12-digit account number, last name and ZIP
– Click the “Next” button and click the box to confirm you want to opt-out on the next page.
Make sure to provide an email address so you get a notification that your account has been opted out.
If you have issues with the website, it’s very badly designed, almost looks like it was done on purpose, you can still call 866-262-7693 8AM-5PM to opt out by phone. In any case, make sure you get a confirmation by mail or email.
