Parasites Don’t Exist Without a Compliant Host and That’s You!

by Andy Caldwell

You probably don’t know that you have been signed up – without your permission – to have your electricity delivered from an energy parasite.

Central Coast Community Energy, also known as 3CE, is the largest of these local energy parasites. They are a community choice aggregator which means they are a local government energy co-op that controls what electricity sources are used to create the electricity you receive. What this means in practical terms is that PG&E and So Cal Edison must deliver electricity that has been purchased by 3CE to their former customers using their transmission grid, hence the term parasite.

All SLO County and Santa Barbara County are now part of 3CE, except for the City of Santa Barbara (it has its own co-op) and Lompoc (which has had its own utility for decades).

The purpose of these co-ops, in part, is to get to 100% renewable energy faster than the relevant CA mandate to do the same. Moreover, 3CE is also investing in its own power generation that is not without controversy. That is, don’t call this green energy.

For instance, you may have heard the uproar about the solar utility in the Mojave Desert that was bulldozing a significant number of Joshua trees. That was the ecological green virtue-signaling 3CE. Then there is another project that 3CE is partnering with others in New Mexico that will require the siting and construction of power lines through a pristine wilderness area in Arizona. The SunZia project will construct new power lines some 550 miles long to be able to tie that project into our grid. It is estimated to cost $10 billion.

Das Williams’ Payday is Secured

The arguments we heard from the enviros to exceed the already aggressive CA timeline to go all renewable had to do in part with making green energy cheaper by eliminating the profit motive of our privately owned utilities. That is, 3CE, by taking over the grid, promises to plow back into the community what would otherwise be corporate profits. Hence, 3CE induced local governments to sign up promising they would get some freebies including electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. They also promised that the electricity they purchased would be cheaper for the customer base than what is being charged by the utilities.

However, in addition to being a parasite, this energy generation and delivery model is also a house of cards. As large as PG&E and So Cal Edison are, they can’t rely upon themselves to keep the lights on in CA. No, they are part of a multi-state co-op that moves power between a dozen states or so for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that California is generating too much solar power during the midday (at the expense of power sources that generate power 24/7), and thereby, CA doesn’t have enough power to keep the lights on during the evening hours without spending billions more on explosive battery energy storage systems.

Hence, CA finds itself either giving away – or selling – excess solar, or worse, simply unplugging the solar power because the grid can’t handle the mid-day surge. And yet, they keep building more. Of course, that means the move away from the 24/7 capabilities of dams, natural gas, coal, and nuclear is nothing but a multi-billion-dollar fool’s errand.

On a side note, former Santa Barbara County Supervisor Das Williams – who advocated for all this while in office – after having lost his reelection bid, landed safely in a pile of cash as he is now Senior Advisor of Policy and Legislative Affairs for Central Coast Community Energy, also known as 3CE, at an annual salary of $270,000.

It pays to be green, I guess.

In Conclusion

3CE adding even more solar and wind is a solution in search of a problem. That is, consider the fact that 3CE rates are now almost identical to PG&E, as Mike Brown of COLAB SLO reports, with one key exception, and that is cost of subsidies.

Check out this chart that demonstrates the losses of 3CE along with subsidies that accompany the mandates that are forcing wind and solar upon us:

3CE, with a $580 million operating budget, lost $36 million in FY 2023-24. The large reserves that it accumulated in its early years of operation cushioned the loss. Nevertheless, the staff is recommending a rate increase for April 1, 2025.

If you are one of the customers of 3CE, you can opt-out by calling 1-877-455-2223 and giving them your account information. For City of Santa Barbara residents, the phone number to opt out is (805) 897-1979.

These community choice aggregators, along with the umbrella push for all things “renewable,” have caused CA energy prices to skyrocket because the eco-activists running CA don’t understand the difference between what works and what sounds good.

Andy Caldwell, Executive Director, COLAB