Urgency in mailer meets with City Council approval, but more steps urged

Marin Clean Energy has put the Benicia city logo on its envelopes and made other changes in hopes its information mailings about the upcoming power supply change won’t end up in a trash can, recycling bin or shredder, MCE account manager Allison Kirk told the City Council on Tuesday.

One thing the agency has kept: the message, “Do not discard! Important information about your electric account enclosed.”

That message will be on the mailer envelopes, Kirk said, and the literature has been otherwise revised based on comments at the Council’s March 3 meeting.

By then, the first mailed letter had been sent, and both proponents and opponents of the upcoming power supplier switch suggested most customers would be likely to toss out the envelope as junk mail.

MCE has announced it will mail monthly notices through June, describing options available after the Council pursued membership in the not-for-profit agency so it could purchase power on Benicia customers’ behalf.

The second mailer is another informative letter, after which customers will receive three tri-fold brochures unless they have told MCE they prefer to “opt out” and stick with the city’s current power provider, Pacific Gas and Electric.

New MCE verbiage explains that customers who receive financial assistance from PG&E would continue to do so under MCE, but MCE customers who previously had PG&E’s balanced payment plan for electricity will see their monthly bills vary based on consumption.

Kirk said MCE has added information about net energy metering, targeting customers who also get power from their own solar panels.

She said MCE has clarified that customers won’t be enrolled in MCE if they tell the agency they want to stay with PG&E, the opt-out choice.

After the switch, PG&E will continue to handle electricity distribution, equipment maintenance and billing.

So far, she said, 933 Benicia power customers have told MCE they will be staying with PG&E.

While that number, 7.2 percent of electricity customers in Benicia, is higher than other communities that have signed on with MCE, it is still within an acceptable range, Kirk said.

Because Benicia accounts for a small percentage of the power MCE buys, “this won’t cause a rate change,” she said.

On the other hand, she said, the community choice aggregation agency will have a rate increase of 4.2 percent in April, before Benicia switches to MCE.

Since 2010, MCE has raised its rates once each year. Kirk said this is fewer than the times PG&E has raised its rates during that period.

Even with the increase, she said, most MCE options will remain below PG&E rates, though that could change in the future.

Kirk said the average PG&E total cost of 1,210 kilowatt hours (kWh) is $267.23, based on proposed rates for April 2015 to March 2016.

If a Benicia power customer takes no action to opt out, that person’s account will be switched on the May billing date to MCE’s 50-percent renewable energy purchase program. It is called “MCE Light Green,” and will cost customers $253.38 for the same amount of power.

The 100-percent renewable-sourced energy plan, or “MCE Deep Green,” would cost $265.48 for the same amount of electricity.

Customers will have another choice in the future. Called “MCE Local Sol,” this program will purchase energy from solar array sources, and the same amount of electricity would cost $329.61.

Kirk said 44 Benicia customers already have chosen the “Deep Green” option. That is a greater percentage than MCE has seen in other member communities, she said.

Vice Mayor Mark Hughes said of MCE’s information outreach envelopes, “It needs to be crystal clear they need to open it.”

Hughes had recused himself from discussion and votes on MCE, since he formerly worked for PG&E. However, he said City Attorney Heather McLaughlin advised he could address MCE’s outreach process.

He said that under state law, Benicians will automatically be enrolled unless they inform MCE they want to opt out. He asked Kirk how her agency would have handled the mailings and other informational methods had a proposed measure passed that would have required customers to state they wanted to join MCE.

“You’d be creative, to get people to open the envelope,” he told her. He asked her to use the same creativity in the current five-mailout campaign.

“The letter has a lot of information, but you’ve got to get to the bottom to find how to opt out,” Hughes said. “We need for citizens to make an informed decision.”

Councilmember Alan Schwartzman, who represents Benicia on the MCE board, suggested Kirk add, “Your rates are about to change” on the envelope.

Councilmember Christina Strawbridge asked if MCE will integrate money, water and energy savings that businesses and homeowners can achieve through Benicia’s Business Resource Incentive Program and WattzOn, through which usage is analyzed and saving methods are suggested.

“A lot of businesses appreciate the bottom line,” Kirk agreed.

Reaction, she said, has been mixed among commercial customers, and she could not say how many of them are among those who have chosen to stay with PG&E.

Sharon Maher, resident and vice chairperson of the Community Sustainability Commission, urged Kirk to look at social media to provide information.

She said many residents use social media, though she said that some Benicia sites provide opinions and erroneous information rather than facts about MCE, PG&E and the change coming in May.

“Some is correct, and some is not. We’re looking for accurate information,” she said.

Maher praised MCE for taking the face-to-face approach through direct meetings, upcoming appearances at the Benicia Certified Farmers Market when its season opens next month and at the Benicia Mini Makers Fair, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 28 at Benicia Middle School.

Another resident, Dennis Lowry, whose comments March 3 were among those that prompted MCE to modify its next letter to customers, thanked Kirk for those changes, but urged her not to stop.

“I agree we’ve got to do more to get that envelope opened,” said Lowry, who in the past has spoken out against the Council-approved power purchaser switch.

He also called for Kirk to explore multiple ways to catch customers’ attention and asked her for additional verbiage: “If you receive a bill from PG&E, you will be enrolled in MCE unless you choose otherwise.”

Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, who said she has taken the “Deep Green” option, agreed in part with Lowry, but indicated she wanted more information on all the choices a customer has. “They have choices that are not in the literature,” she said.

The Council asked Kirk to make at least one more appearance, at its April 7 meeting, and Hughes added, “I like that you brought up what was said” before explaining how MCE responded to public suggestions. “It’s important that we were heard.”