OCPA Losing Juice. Fast.
The other night I was watching our esteemed councilcreatures meet so I could check out the Associated Road conversation and I stuck around for the discussion on whether to hire a “consultant” to figure out the cost for Fullerton to ditch the Orange County Power Agency.
The OCPA was conceived as a way to provide “green energy” alternative electricity to people in orange County who wanted it. The idea was the brainchild of the City of Irvine who paid for the start up costs. Eventually Fullerton, Buena Park, Huntington Beach and the County signed on.
From the get go critics attacked the new agency for secrecy and incompetence and failure to deliver a competitive price. It was up to individuals who wanted out, to opt out, a backhanded way to get, and keep customers. Not a good start.
Flash forward to today.
The County has pulled out of the OCPA, Irvine has been talking about it, too. Last Tuesday the Huntington Beach council voted to do the same; on the very same night the Fullerton City, debated the merits of hiring a consultant to figure out what the financial ramifications might be for us get out, too, before Fullerton is left holding the proverbial bag.
I have no idea why City Hall doesn’t already know the consequences of leaving the agency and why the exact formula wasn’t know before we got into it. Anyhow, the discussion wasn’t all that clear.
Ahmad Zahra, one of the people who voted for Fullerton to join this agency wasn’t there to opine on it. Bruce Whitaker and Nick Dunlap both expressed reservations about the whole deal, but went along with Mayor Jung’s suggestion of having the City Manager ask the agency to tell them what it would cost to bolt, instead of hiring a consultant to do it. That makes sense of course, but begs the question of why this wasn’t done a long, long time ago. Like on Day One.
Shana Charles who comically described herself as a “cost analyst” was pushing hard to waste money hiring somebody to pry the information, somehow, out of the OCPA – no doubt a way to embarrass Jung who is now happens to be the Chair of the OCPA. Her motion died a very slow death.
So where will this all lead? The OCPA claims to have reformed itself, but has provided zero evidence to show it has. The board got rid of the first problematic CEO even as they showered him with praise. As far as I can see this shows that nobody there is serious about anything.
Getting out of OCPA may be expensive and may get more so as members drop out; nobody seems to know, and if they do, they ain’t a-talkin.’ And that’s not only embarrassing, it’s a dereliction of duty on the part of the people who got Fullerton into this mess.
You have ignored Fred Jung’s connection to this rolling disaster. Here’s his press release attacking HB for leaving the sinking ship.
https://fullertonobserver.com/2023/05/17/huntington-beach-city-council-withdraws-from-the-orange-county-power-authority/#comments
I read the Voice of OC on this. Mr. Jung has taken sole responsibility for the bad roll out, so he’s stepping up to the plate.
How is he stepping up? Talk is cheap.
CAN’T FULLERTON JUST GET RID OF BAD POLITICIANS!?! Clone Dunlap and unwind this disaster. Replace Fred Jung! GOOD START!
What an effing mess. I don’t even understand the lack of outrage by Dunlap and Whitaker. I mean really, come on. This is an intolerable fuck-up and nobody’s being held accountable. Jung is stonewalling and the other two are just trying score political points.
How is it a mess exactly? Four audits and a grand jury report found it is financially in good shape. Why is it an intolerable f-up? Grow thicker skin. OCPA is not even close to the biggest mess in Fullerton (Kelly Thomas, redevelopment agency, Jan Flory, Jennifer Fitzgerald, Joe Felz, Ahmad Zahra, etc.) and isn’t the biggest mess in the County (bankruptcy). The board fired the CEO and fired the lawyer. That sounds like more accountability than in Fullerton where Ahmad Zahra still lurks around every corner of city hall. Agreed on Jung. The two are always trying to score political points. It’s their political platform.
And Fred went off on a mad rant about how OCPA has been demonized and politicized, and it’s so unfair. He is squarely to blame for this as we all know he traded his aye vote for a seat on the board of this shitshow. His giant mask must be limiting oxygen to his brain.
Agreed.
And he was just petulant at the meeting when he said let’s just have a vote on getting out altogether.
I haven’t kept up with the details of this whole thing but it sounds like somebody’s scam from the beginning. Getting out? Not a bad idea.
Get rid of Jung and make Ahmad the mayor. That’s what they call a win-win.
It seems like OCPA went out of its way to enforce silence on its member cities by NDAs designed to keep people in the dark. That is a very bad impression to give the public but makes sense if graft is going on.
OCPA failed three or four audits, one from the Grand Jury.
Buenavista, you are spreading information that is not correct. OCPA didn’t fail any audit and you don’t fail a grand jury report. Real knowledge is knowing the extent of one’s ignorance.
Shana Charles is a cost analyst? Haha. More like cost exploder.
I should be freaking out at having the option of alternative energy I guess. Or that this entity didn’t emerge from the womb with a full head of hair on its head. Ok.
No, you should be freaking out because you’re so fucking ignorant.
Prove you know what that word means. Because it seems like you don’t.
A CEO who has zero experience, a board with questionable ties to arrested lobbyists, not divulging information after repeated requests from municipal members – must be legit! Four failed audits.
You REALLY are ignorant.
There it is. For the word “ignorant” to “really” apply you would have to establish what I know and don’t know.
Which you haven’t.
Par for the course here. No intellect, no honesty, just vicious, crabby anti establishment loons.
Please write one GOOD thing about the OCPA’s performance so far. This ought to be good.
Guess you don’t follow the news, do you? But, hey, it’s only the good intention that counts, not the evident cronyism and ineptitude and the radio silence.
You really ARE ignorant, but you do you, Hoog.
You should judge them in whether they ultimately provide clean energy for sale at a competitive price. Anything else is just political churn.
When is “ultimately?” Five years? Ten years? Ever? Two years seems like a long enough time to prove you know what you’re doing. Now please just wander off.
Pretty sure everyone is online this year. It was a phased plan. Not 5 years. Keep pretending to know what you’re talking about.
Phase 1 was predesignated for failure and was a big success.
HB is leaving and Irvine is discussing it this week. Soon it may just be Fullerton and BP holding the empty bag.
C’mon Hoge. Everyone knows SCE has a green option if you wanna throw stupid money at green energy. No need for a bogus CCA to do your virtue signaling.
Don’t talk sense. He gets really annoyed.
It makes more sense to have sce compete for business.
But keep trying.
Virtue signalling to whom? Who do you think I share my utility bill with? Do you even make sense to yourself?
It’s like pulling the string on a right wing slogan doll. Always the same crap making just as little sense.
The point is to buy low or no carbon energy. That simple. And I tried to sign up for that with sce. Never got anywhere. I do have solar panels though. Quite real, really work, couldn’t give a fuck about signalling to who the fuck ever. Because that doesn’t make any sense, never did.
Hit a nerve Mr. BooHoo virtue signaler? It’s the gesture that counts. Bur of course people must be made aware of the gesture or it’s been wasted.
Try gettiing the green option from SCE! Believe in it or not, up to you. Stop trying to reason that SCE is the best thing out there. They suck.
Not one of these fools thought to ask what it would cost to bail out of this scheme before they committed to making the OCPA the default provider ?
Let me tell you that the opt out procedure is not easy it took a lot of persistence bur I’m back with good old SCE
Even more proof positive that Fullerton voters are the most ignorant, programmed sheeple in all of Orange County! Fullerton = Biggest Clown Show on Earth