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File Number: 21-497 <br />Analysis <br />Many EBCE member jurisdictions have Climate Action Plans (CAPs) with specific greenhouse <br />gas (GHG) emission reduction goals to be achieved by specific dates. Customers receiving <br />Brilliant 100 or Renewable 100 service achieve additional GHG emissions savings that <br />contribute to cities meeting their CAP goals. Three city councils (Albany, Hayward, and <br />Piedmont) passed resolutions in 2018 requesting Brilliant 100 or Renewable 100 service as the <br />default option at the time of the initial program launch. Pleasanton’s City Council likewise passed <br />a resolution requesting Brilliant 100 as the City’s default option at its initial enrollment in 2021. <br />More recently, to continue making progress toward the GHG reduction goals of their respective <br />CAPs, and in light of EBCE’s closure of the Brilliant 100 product, the city councils of Albany, <br />Berkeley, Dublin, Hayward, and Pleasanton adopted resolutions requesting EBCE to: <br />·Set Renewable 100 as the default electricity product for most residential and <br />commercial customers (the City of Dublin’s City Council decision was limited to <br />residential customers for the time being); and, <br />·Set Bright Choice as the default electricity product for customers on discount <br />programs such as CARE, FERA, and/or Medical Baseline. <br />In March 2021, EBCE established a new Default Rate Product Change Policy. This new policy <br />allows for any EBCE member agency to change the default rate product only one (1) time every <br />two (2) years. EBCE will cover the costs associated with a JPA member’s first change to a <br />default rate product. For any subsequent approved change, the member agency must cover <br />EBCE’s administrative costs, such as operational adjustments and customer notifications. It is <br />noted that EBCE does not require a resolution approving opt-ups for municipal accounts, and the <br />administrative costs described above do not apply. The City is currently in process with this <br />transition, opting up all municipal accounts from the current Brilliant 100 rate plan (which will <br />cease as of 12/31/21) to Renewable 100, with the first accounts cycles’ anticipated to begin this <br />October. <br />Because the cities of Albany, Hayward, and Pleasanton initially chose Brilliant 100 as their <br />default product, they are not subject to the Change Policy and will begin implementation of the <br />opt-up to Renewable 100 in January 2022. <br />The cities of Dublin, Berkeley, and San Leandro, who chose Bright Choice as the default service <br />option, are subject to the Change Policy. Default products must be approved by the EBCE Board <br />six (6) months in advance of implementation, which occurs twice a year in March and October <br />(Board approval in September for March implementation, and April Board approval for October <br />implementation). This timeline provides EBCE staff sufficient time to plan for additional <br />renewable energy procurement and other operational adjustments, as well as to notify customers <br />and conduct community outreach. <br />The City of Berkeley’s City Council voted to request separate enrollment timelines for residential <br />and commercial customers. Staff believes this option is also optimal for San Leandro <br />Page 2 City of San Leandro Printed on 9/2/2021 <br />494