Author: Roger Bloom

Re-elected Irvine City Councilmember Larry Agran and newly elected Councilmember Kathleen Treseder got to work during an 8-hour marathon meeting of the new Council.

And, at midnight, the Council voted 5-0 in support of Councilmember Treseder’s motion to have City staff draft an ordinance that will require most newly constructed homes and buildings in Irvine to be all-electric, with no new gas hookups.

Just in time for the holidays, the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) got a lump of coal in the form of another highly critical review of the agency’s operations.

The auditors for the County blasted the OCPA for offering rates that are significantly higher than SCE rates, and making rate information difficult for ratepayers to find.

Councilman Larry Agran requested an emergency Council meeting to discuss a proposal for the City of Irvine to give OCPA a notice of withdrawal from the agency, effective July 1, 2023, with the caveat that the withdrawal will be rescinded if OCPA takes concrete steps to address the problems identified by an Orange County Grand Jury report and County of Orange audit.

However, Mayor Farrah Khan, Vice Mayor Tammy Kim and newly elected Councilmember Kathleen Treseder voted to remain in OCPA.

The City of Irvine is hosting a pajama party drive-in movie event on Saturday, December 10th at 5:30pm.

Space is limited so registration is required!

On November 7th, a vote to remove Brian Probolsky as CEO of the troubled Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) failed in a closed session of the agency’s board, according to sources at the OCPA and Irvine City Hall.

If OCPA collapses, Irvine taxpayers and electricity ratepayers could be on the hook for tens of millions of dollars in loans, loan guarantees, and other liabilities that OCPA has incurred. In fact, ratepayers in all of the OCPA member cities could be responsible for the more than half-a-billion dollars in energy purchase agreements that OCPA has signed.