Once the OC Power Authority (OCPA) launches later this year, Irvine businesses and residents will be transferred from their current provider of electricity, Southern California Edison, and automatically enrolled in the new OCPA plan.

When that happens, residential customers will pay between $4.25 and $6.38 per month more than they currently pay for energy provided by SCE.

The cities of Irvine, Huntington Beach, Fullerton and Buena Park are part of the OCPA, but only Irvine has agreed to fund the agency through 2022. In fact, $7.7 million of Irvine taxpayer money has already been advanced to the OCPA.

This week, the OCPA board approved an executive employee benefits program that provides 10 weeks of paid leave and a $500/month auto stipend to the agency's CEO Brian Probolsky — a longtime political operative in County government with no energy sector experience, who was hired to run the Power Authority at an annual salary of $239,000.