Orange County residents are receiving the latest reminder that government promises are easier to make than fulfill. Consider the county’s ballyhooed promise to create an electrical-power authority that would boost the use of clean energy and empower consumers by replacing profit-driven investor-owned utility companies with a public agency.
In 2002, the Legislature authorized communities to create these Community Choice Aggregation entities, which trade electricity in areas served by utility companies. We never saw much purpose in it, given utilities still generate and distribute the electricity. New bureaucracies never improve efficiency, but the concept appealed to politicians’ “green” sensibilities.
Nevertheless, Irvine did the groundwork to create the Orange County Power Authority. The county government and three other cities (Buena Park, Fullerton and Huntington Beach) agreed to participate. But on Tuesday, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to pull out of its contract after a host of failed OCPA promises and scandals.
This pullback was a no-brainer after the release of a highly critical audit the board authorized in August. Auditors found customers opted out of OC’s power authority at double the rate predicted by the agency. The agency launch hiked rates for residential and commercial users. The audit questioned a wide range of OCPA management practices.
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County auditors separately concluded OCPA “failed to properly put contracts out to bid and justify why they were working with certain contractors,” the VoiceofOC reported. Supervisor Katrina Foley, who voted to end the contract, is right that it comes down to a matter of trust and transparency.
Earlier this year, the Orange County Grand Jury said it was “particularly concerned that OCPA is operating without in-house leadership with sufficient expertise to oversee the very complex decisions involved in energy planning and transactions.” That was just one of its many critical findings.
The authority issued a statement defending its practices, but it’s time for the four cities to pull the plug, also. We’re never surprised when a government agency fails to live up to expectations, but wonder why it takes elected officials so long to learn that lesson.