“A new energy provider could be coming to Butte County. Here’s what that means for residents“

By Sarina Grossi

PG&E might not be the main source of energy in Butte County soon. The county’s board of supervisors approved moving forward with adding Pioneer Community Energy as another provider earlier this month.

This follows Paradise, Chico and Oroville all opting to join a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program with Pioneer.

Although the change won’t be immediate, this is what residents should know and expect.

What a Community Choice Aggregation program does

Pioneer Community Energy is an alternative energy provider to PG&E.

PG&E is a for-profit investor-owned utility, meaning that it’s owned by shareholders but acts as a public utility regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.

PG&E operates with its own equipment, and is the largest energy provider in California. Right now, it’s a large source of energy in Butte County. However, it’s not the only one. The city of Biggs has its own energy company.

Unlike PG&E, Pioneer Community Energy is a not-for-profit CCA.

CCAs are public agencies that purchase electricity for communities. They collaborate with investor-owned utilities. This means companies like PG&E still use and maintain equipment to deliver purchased electricity and send bills to ratepayers, but they would no longer purchase power or procure it. Pioneer would provide that service.

“We buy our power on the open market, in many of the same places that the investor-owned utility does,” said Gina Stassi-Vanacore, the director of communications for Pioneer Community Energy. “But because we don’t have the overhead and the legacy costs and some of the other large expenses, we are able to pass savings on to customers.”

Legacy costs are ongoing expenses for things like operation and maintenance or pensions.

CCAs are not owned by shareholders, and are led by a board of directors made up of locally elected officials who live in the communities they serve. For Butte County, Stassi Vanacore said a member of the county’s board of supervisors will join.

Pioneer’s board of directors also annually set rates for community members. Financial decisions are presented to Pioneer’s Audit and Finance Committee, and must be approved by both the committee and board of directors before they are finalized.

Members of the public can also take part in board meetings. Additionally, customer service representatives will be available on a local scale.

“We really are interested in being and are very committed to being a good community partner,” Stassi-Vanacore said.

This structure aims to break up monopolies in utilities and add more competition to the industry.

Pioneer in Butte County

Butte County’s Public Works Director, Joshua Pack, said the choice to join Pioneer was made mainly to work with other cities and counties to produce energy better suited and more affordable for the community.

“By having a broad group of cities and counties, we can negotiate potentially more attractive rates than PG&E can,” Pack said.

An analysis Pioneer conducted last year found that Butte County residents would save about 7% compared to their current energy bill. But Pack said the county believes residents would actually save more.

He said with more cities under Pioneer, the county will have more influence when it comes to negotiating power purchase agreements, or a long-term agreement between multiple parties over electricity supply.

Pack estimates savings could potentially be as high as 15%.

“One of the big drivers is cost and just the ability to get a lower rate and have tens of thousands of our constituents enjoy those cost savings is a tremendous benefit,” he said. “Especially in light of a lot of other inflationary influencers that are impacting our residents.”

Pack said joining a CCA also gives the county and cities more control over what types of power the community invests in, like solar, natural gas, wind or geothermal energy.

Pioneer’s timeline

The change won’t be quick. Pioneer Community Energy will present an implementation plan to the California Public Utilities Commission. That plan gives specific details about how service will be expanded in Butte County. Stassi-Vanacore said the company expects to file the plan in March and hear back from the commission within 90 days.

“We have no reason to believe that they would deny our plan,” she said.

If the plan is approved, the company will again ask the county if they intend to move forward with the partnership. Once they say yes, Pioneer will get to work.

However, Stassi-Vanacore said the commission does require a one year period to pass before starting services.

Pioneer also completed an economic assessment of Butte County to find out when the best time was to start services to avoid heavy impacts on ratepayers. It found that around October 2027 was the ideal time to go live, which is the current anticipated start date.

When the program does go live, residents will be automatically signed up for Pioneer’s services. That’s because state law requires CCA’s to enroll ratepayers in their jurisdictions unless they choose to opt out.

“That’s for two reasons. One is because the legislature really wanted to make sure that all customers in a CCA territory have access to the benefits that CCA offers,” Stassi-Vanacore said. “The other reason is that we will begin procuring or buying energy for the area, and we need to know how much we need to buy.”

Customers can opt out of the program and still use PG&E as their main energy provider if they do not want to switch.

“Residents in this area have not had any other choice for many, many years,” Stassi-Vanacore said. “So if customers want to stay with PG&E, they can, but I will tell you, coming over to Pioneer does offer customers many benefits, and those benefits include competitive rates, which translate to ratepayer savings.”

Although Pack said changes to electricity bills will not start right away, it will give the county time to discuss the changes. That includes community outreach, engagement and education efforts.

“Ultimately, the goal here is the county working with our partners to provide customers with better costs and more local control and better opportunities and better customer service,” Pack said.