Why Haven’t Irvine Residents Been Updated on the Orange County Power Authority … Even Though Millions of Dollars in Irvine Taxpayer Money is Funding the Project?
In November 2020, environmental advocates were excited to learn that the City of Irvine was leading the effort to establish a California Community Choice Energy program, known now as the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA). The City of Irvine is funding the project through 2022.
Irvine City Councilmember Mike Carroll is the Chairman of the five-member OCPA Board. Mayor Farrah Khan also sits on the Board.
Now, nearly a year after the OCPA was established, clean energy advocates are voicing serious concerns regarding the lack of transparency and a series of questionable decisions by the OCPA Board, including the hiring of an inexperienced CEO who is being paid $239,000. And Irvine taxpayers — who are funding the OCPA — have been kept in the dark as to how their money is being spent. (So far, Irvine has invested more than $2 million in the OCPA and will be responsible for millions more over the next year.)
