Podcasts Technology AWESome EarthKind High Impact Clean Energy Community Action - with Jeffrey Domanski of Community Choice Aggregation

High Impact Clean Energy Community Action - with Jeffrey Domanski of Community Choice Aggregation

Published: Nov. 9, 2020, 5 a.m.

Quantum Quote:\xa0 \u201cCommunity Choice Aggregation (CCA) is something that brings in a beautiful win-win scenario. It's a program that allows towns, cities and villages to pass a local law, decide how they want to administer the program to get their power, and then go out into the marketplace with all that aggregate demand to purchase renewable electricity - and get it for less than people have been paying for dirty power.\u201d

What if you can join together with your community to have a sustainable source of energy?\xa0

What if you can help with climate change and provide your children with a better place to live?

Do you want to use your buying power in cooperation with your community to aggregate demand and gain leverage to negotiate better electricity rates with competitive suppliers and choose greener power sources?

Jeffrey Domanski has worked for more than 25 years as a multi-disciplined environmental professional focused on sound economic development and resource conservation strategies in the built environment. He is also the executive director of a nonprofit called the Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership.

In this episode, Jeffrey talks about how Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) programs allow communities to procure power on behalf of their residents, businesses, and municipal accounts from an alternative supplier - while still receiving transmission and distribution service from their existing utility provider in a more wholesome, environment-friendly, no-hassle way - with less expense and many consumer safeguards and cost advantages.\xa0

CCAs are an attractive option for communities that want more local control over their electricity sources, more green power than is offered by the default utility, and/or lower electricity prices.\xa0

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Sign up for the free 90-minute AWESome EarthKind\u2122 Clean Energy Demonstration to discover 3 simple actions you can take to start saving money and make the world a better place \u2013 without having to learn complex technology.

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SuperNova #1: \u201cA very common question that we get from people is, \u2018Are you replacing my utility?\u2019 A lot of people have an interesting relationship with their utility. But most people are concerned about losing reliability\xa0 With a CCA, they keep the utility\u2019s distribution and reliability - but now have a better, more environmentally responsible, and less expensive electricity supply.\u201d

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SuperNova #2: \u201c[on CCA\u2019s consumer protection ] It's simple. You're not locked into anything, you can opt-in and opt-out at will.\xa0

SuperNova #3: \u201cWe're [Community Choice Aggregation] a resource to the community, to make sure that they know what's happening with the programs and how it compares to what's happening in the marketplace, what's coming on the horizon, and what they should be looking for.\u201d

SuperNova #4: Nine states \u2013 California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island and Virginia \u2013 have enacted Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) legislation that empowers local governments to aggregate the electricity loads of residents, businesses, and/or municipal facilities.\xa0 In 2016, community choice aggregations sold 8.7 billion kilowatt-hours of green power to 3.3 million customers. A number of other states are also exploring CCAs. To learn more on the status of states' efforts to enact CCA-enabling legislation, visit: http://www.leanenergyus.org/cca-by-state/.

Worst Clean Energy Moment: \u201cI'd say it was kind of the arc of the career. It was a bit of an extended bad moment where I'd worked for a number of years as a technical resource, a technocrat of sorts, and recognized that we were not changing the world that we worked in.\u201d

Ah-Ha: \u201cThat sad realization about the way people think and act on environmental and energy issues was also coupled with that aha moment about how to change behavior - and that's really had an impact.\u201d

Best Advice: \u201cHave low expectations.\u201d

Personal Success: \u201cGood record keeping and project management.\u201d

Internet Resources: Living on earth podcast resource.\xa0

Book Recommendation: Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth And Happiness By Richard H. Thaler and Cass R Sustein

Magic Wand: \u201cI just want to just put a bubble around my kids in a very unobtrusive way, just to protect them. Because they're phenomenal people. I got two kids. And I can't wait to see the impact they have on the world.\u201d

WTF or F: \u201cA nominally downpouring experience of hiking the Adirondacks.\u201d

One thing that Energizes Jeff today: \u2018Being a crazed evangelist about behavioral strategies.\u201d

Parting Advice: \u201cRemember that we are storytelling animals. If you want somebody to be moved - tell a story. That's really essential. That is how we remember and what motivates and moves us. And so that's a really worthwhile effort.\u201d

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