Stockton Votes to Join EBCE

The City of Stockton has signed on to become an EBCE member, bringing low-cost clean power to California’s 11th largest city, and boosting EBCE’s size and reach.

The City of Stockton is EBCE’s newest member community.

On September 13, the Stockton City Council voted unanimously to join EBCE, and a week later EBCE’s Board of Directors reciprocated, accepting the city into the EBCE Joint Powers Authority. A Stockton representative will join the EBCE board soon and service will start in 2024, after approval by the state utility commission.

“Not only is community choice energy an example of democracy at work, it also provides a sustainable, ongoing channel of resources into our city,” said Stockton City Councilmember Dan Wright. “This is about more than just lowering emissions; this will boost our economic development and resilience for the long term.”

With this latest expansion into the Central Valley, Stockton will become EBCE’s second-largest member after Oakland. Stockton is California’s 11th largest city, with a population of 320,000.

Stockton has grown from a community with agricultural roots to an urban destination with a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural population. Stockton has beautiful tree-lined neighborhoods located on the water, a bustling deep water port, and is home to one of the nation’s largest transportation and logistics hubs. The port, 90 miles inland from San Francisco Bay, allows the city to serve as a major international shipping point for many agricultural and manufactured products of Northern California.

It is also at the center of one of the richest agricultural and dairy regions in California. Throughout the 150 years of Stockton’s history, almost every major fruit, nut, and field crop has been grown in the area. Grapes amount to 40 percent of the fruit and nut harvest while prize-winning wines are produced from many local vineyards.

Currently EBCE serves more than 1.7 million residents and businesses in fourteen cities, plus unincorporated Alameda County. The addition of Stockton will boost annual electricity sales by 20% and increase the number of accounts by 17%.

EBCE started in June 2018 and expanded to Tracy, Stockton’s neighbor in San Joaquin County, in 2021. As one of 24 community choice aggregation (CCA) programs operating in California, EBCE is part of the movement to expedite the climate action goals of their communities and those of California. EBCE is committed to providing clean power at competitive rates while reinvesting in its local communities.

“EBCE works closely with our communities in the East Bay and Central Valley to power everything better,” said Nick Chaset, CEO at East Bay Community Energy. “Welcoming Stockton to the fold advances our mission to scale renewable energy and further diversifies our customer base so we can support more low- to medium-income households, who can benefit from our many local programs.”