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The 2015 Clean Power, Healthy Communities Conference Clean energy leaders from across the United States gathered in Oakland, California on March 5, 2015, to discuss how to advance community-based alternatives to the centralized corporate energy model. The Clean Power, Healthy Communities Conference, hosted by the Local Clean Energy Alliance, brought together 150 clean energy advocates and […]

In an apparent about face, San Francisco’s Mayor Edwin Lee, who has been blocking the launch of the city’s Community Choice energy program, announced on January 26th that he would support moving the CleanPowerSF program forward. “I call on the SFPUC (San Francisco Public Utilities Commission) to develop a program that is affordable for customers, greener

Kirsten Schwind, Local Clean Energy Alliance (LCEA) Steering Committee member, Al Weinrub, LCEA Coordinator, and Colin Miller, Clean Energy & Jobs Oakland Coordinator celebrate the AB 2145 victory. As the final gavel fell on this year’s state Senate legislative session at 3am on August 30, AB 2145, the bill meant to kill Community Choice energy

AB 2145, the monopoly utility bill meant to kill Community Choice energy programs in California, continues to move forward in the State legislature.  On Thursday, August 14, despite the best efforts of a broad coalition opposing the bill, AB 2145 passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is now headed for a full floor

On June 23 AB 2145 passed out of the California Senate’s Energy Committee somewhat weakened but still tremendously lethal. The  bill, introduced by powerful corporate forces, is meant to kill Community Choice energy programs in California. Despite a powerful statewide effort to bury AB 2145 in the Senate Committee (see for example, the June 19 Oakland

On June 19, a spirited noon-time crowd of over sixty people rallied outside PG&E’s Webster Street payment center in downtown Oakland to protest PG&E’s backing of AB 2145, the Monopoly Utility Power Grab of 2014. The bill is meant to prevent the establishment of new community-based energy programs under California’s 2002 Community Choice energy law.

On Tuesday, June 3, 2014, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to take the first steps in establishing an East  Bay Community Choice energy program, approving $1.3 million in funding for an exploratory phase. The Board chambers were packed with supporters, many wearing yellow T-shirts with the slogan “Want a Choice?”  and waving color-coordinated

Californians for Energy Choice, a diverse coalition opposing an effort by the  state’s investor-owned utilities to gut Community Choice energy, decried passage of AB 2145 by the California Assembly on May 28.  Labeling the bill the “Utility Monopoly Power Grab of 2014,” the coalition noted that if passed by the California Senate and signed into

On Saturday, April 5, the Clean Energy & Jobs Oakland Campaign of the Oakland Climate Action Coalition hosted a community forum and town hall on the future of energy in Oakland: “Growing Clean Energy Jobs in Oakland.” Many thanks to all who partnered, participated, spoke, and volunteered! Youth UpRising in East Oakland provided the venue for

By Rosana Francescato At a recent Local Clean Energy Alliance event in Oakland, Brad Heavner, Policy Director for the California Solar Energy Industries Association (CALSEIA), gave the scoop on what’s happening next with net metering in California and talked about the implications of AB 327, signed into law last year. Initially, solar advocates opposed the bill. But without