City Council declines to join joint energy program

The Menifee City Council voted at its last meeting not to join a group of cities in western Riverside County in a program that would allow cities to purchase energy sources separate from Southern California Edison.

The Western Community Energy Joint Powers Authority would allow cities to purchase power for their own community. According to representatives of the Western Riverside Council of Governments, the program would save residents 3 percent on a $200 monthly bill, or an average of $72 annually ($6 per month).

Participants in the program by residents is optional, said Charles Berglund, management analyst, in his presentation of a study of the program. However, if a city chooses to participate, all its residents would automatically be enrolled in the program and would have to opt out individually to go back to service through SCE. In this program, residents would receive an energy bill from the JPA rather than SCE.

Council member Greg August was the council member most strongly opposed to the program.

“I’m not going to auto enroll people into your program,” August said. “When I got elected, I asked for the people’s trust. They could disenroll, but there’s five things they have to do first. State law is, they are opted in until they decide to opt out.”

Eric Bishop, executive director of WRCOG, urged council members to consider the proposal.

"Maybe $72 doesn't seem like a lot, but if you multiply that over the entire city, that puts about $1.2 million back into the residents and businesses of Menifee," Bishop said.

Bishop said that if the city desired to get out of the agreement, its energy contracts could be put up for sale.

Among five residents speaking in opposition to the proposal was Menifee Planning Commission Earl Phillips, who also is a consultant with the Department of Environmental Health.

"This looks like a new deja vu to me," Phillips said. "I strongly oppose this."

Tony LoPiccolo, executive director of the Menifee Valley Chamber of Commerce, said he believed further research was needed to make a decision.

There was some debate on much of a savings it would be for big businesses. Patrick Ellis, CEO of the Murrieta/Wildomar Chamber of Commerce, said he was disappointed that Murrieta City Council members chose not to participate in a program he said he “poked so many holes in to try to make it sink, but it still floats.”

So far, the cities of Perris, Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, Eastvale and Hemet have chosen to participate, while Temecula and Murrieta voted to wait to receive more information. Ultimately, Menifee City Council members 4-1 to do the same, with John Denver casting the lone opposing vote.

“I feel some uncertainty about this because of a lot of unknowns,” Mayor Pro Tem Lesa Sobek said. “I would like to revisit the program at a later date.”