Author: Franklin J. Lunding

It has now been a year since the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) launched. In April 2022, all Irvine-based businesses were automatically transferred from their previous electricity provider — Southern California Edison (SCE) — and enrolled in the OCPA electricity plan at a significantly higher rate. Six months later, in October 2022, Irvine residents were enrolled in OCPA, also at a higher monthly rate.

Irvine residential customers are also paying more. On average, residents are being charged $30.52 more every month by OCPA for the same 100% renewable electricity that SCE offers. That means, on average, Irvine families are now paying $366.24 more in electricity costs each year
 

On Saturday (April 22nd), we will commemorate Earth Day. In the run-up to this year’s...

After years of persisting in his efforts to implement the will of the voters … and to make good on the promise Irvine made to veterans and their families more than a decade ago, Councilman Larry Agran finally won Council approval for construction of the long-promised Veterans Memorial Park.

Kim spent several minutes complaining about Agran’s proposal being called a Veterans Memorial Park. She insisted that all of the elements in Agran’s plan — the control tower, planes, and military artifact displays; the Walk of Honor; the Great Memorial Meadow; and every other amenity honoring the former air station — should be referred to instead as a “botanical garden.”

Three years ago, the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) was established with the promise that Irvine electricity ratepayers would receive greener energy at lower rates, and that the agency would provide the public with full transparency.

Through its own audit, the County of Orange found the same problems, resulting in its decision to pull out of OCPA. Why won’t Irvine protect the City’s taxpayers and ratepayers?

There is an ongoing FBI investigation into public corruption at Irvine City Hall involving disgraced political consultant Melahat Rafiei.

It should be obvious to everyone that it would be a conflict of interest to have the City investigate itself … with the Council directing and overseeing the investigation. A friend who teaches legal ethics and is an expert witness in these matters told me that any internal investigation by the City that was controlled by the Council would itself be unethical, lack credibility, and viewed as highly questionable.