Nonprofit leaders say the expansion will save customers 5%. Some customers are skeptical.
STOCKTON, Calif. — John Tovar, of Stockton, hasn’t had much luck finding a deal at the grocery store lately, and at home, it’s no better.
“Sit in a dark house, don’t use lights, put my fireplace on and still get a high bill for my electricity,” Tovar said.
His bill could soon go down by 5% — that’s the promise that nonprofit power provider Ava Community Energy is making.
Their expansion into Stockton and Lathrop in April will mean all electricity customers will be automatically enrolled through them unless they opt-out. The default enrollment is required by state law.
“We’re sourcing the electricity—the energy sources for all the customers—while PG&E continues to be the provider of the services related to transmission, distribution, and metering,” said Ava Community Energy CEO Howard Chang. “Ava Community Energy is providing the power itself.”
The move to expand Ava Community Energy, formerly known as East Bay Community Energy, was not overnight. The Oakland-based power provider launched in 2018, first serving communities in Alameda County and the city of Tracy.
After passing initial hurdles, Stockton City Council members unanimously approved the expansion in 2022. However, challenges came from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the state’s main utility regulator.
State records show that under its former name, Ava Community Energy was cited at least eight times and hit with more than $6.3 million in fines for resource adequacy deficiencies. It’s why the CPUC forced the nonprofit to delay its expansion by a year and stock up on energy.
“We take that very seriously. Reliability is a critical aspect. The first thing I would say is power outages and such are still fully managed by PG&E. Any reliability concerns related to line outages, wildfires, and things of that nature will continue to be under the responsibility of PG&E. We are really sourcing the power,” said Chang. “There was some discussion with the CPUC as to the timing to be able to launch to the city of Stockton. I can assure you, and I can assure our new communities and customers we will be serving, that we have met all those obligations over the last several years.”
A promise to have enough power when needed — all for a lower price — for some, is too hard to trust.
“Bringing in a third party, they’ve got to get something and so how is that going to work?” questioned Tovar. “5% really isn’t much.”
For others, any price decrease helps.
“Something will make a difference,” said Stockton PG&E customer Sandra Clifton Mobley. “It’s better than nothing.”
According to Chang, each local government that opts into Ava Community Energy has representatives on the agency’s board. He says they plan to expand into unincorporated San Joaquin County in 2026.
“We are a nonprofit public agency, so we’re really here to serve the customers,” said Chang. “What we try to do is lower prices so really focused on affordability, providing lower costs to our customers… cleaner, greener power, so really focused on increasing the renewable energy that we’re sourcing and, of course, we’re focused on providing energy-related services as well.”
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