Press Release

Ahead of the Holiday Season, Ava Community Energy Provides $16M in Savings to its Customers

The millions in customer credits and savings underscore Ava’s continued commitment to broadening access to affordable clean energy

Oakland, Calif. (December 5, 2023) – Ava Community Energy (Ava), formerly East Bay Community Energy, today announced an investment of $16 million back into the community through the agency’s expanded bill credits and savings program. One of the nation’s top green power providers, Ava’s reinvestment into its ratepayers reflects the agency’s commitment to offering expanded access to reliable and affordable energy, especially for lower-income and underserved households throughout its service territories.

Ava Community Energy’s three-phased customer credits program is the latest expansion of the agency’s unparalleled benefits. The first tranche of these credits and savings came into effect in November, with another portion scheduled to follow through February 2024:

• Beginning in late November, every household on an income-qualifying rate under the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) or Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) programs will automatically receive a one-time $50 bill credit. With about 115,000 qualifying accounts, Ava is putting approximately $6 million back in customers’ wallets.
• Starting in November and continuing on a rolling basis, all Ava residential customers (including those on CARE or FERA) will receive a $7.74 bill credit, and all Ava commercial customers will receive volumetric savings on their bills based on their electricity usage. These two tranches total $10.5 million across residential and commercial bills.

These new savings and bill credits come in addition to the savings Ava regularly provides through its Bright Choice power product, which offers customers a five percent discount compared to the incumbent utility’s rates every day of the year. Through this offering alone, Ava customers are saving $23 million collectively per year versus what they would have paid to the incumbent utility.

“If you’re thinking it isn’t typical for a power provider to issue millions of dollars in credits and savings to their customers, you’re right,” said Nick Chaset, CEO of Ava Community Energy. “However, we don’t aim for typical at Ava. As a not-for-profit public agency, we go the extra mile to prioritize our customers and help save them money, while also improving our community’s energy and economic competitiveness to create a more resilient future.”

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About Ava Community Energy

Ava Community Energy (Ava), formerly East Bay Community Energy (EBCE), is the not-for-profit public power provider for more than 1.7 million residents and commercial customers in Alameda County and the City of Tracy, with service extending to the San Joaquin County city of Stockton in January 2025, and the city of Lathrop to soon follow. As one of 25 community choice aggregation (CCA) programs operating in California, Ava is part of the movement to provide energy choice while expediting local and state-wide climate action goals. Ava is committed to creating a brighter future in our communities and beyond by providing clean power at competitive rates, reinvesting in our member communities, and developing programs that make it easy for customers to discover, try and adopt clean energy solutions. For more information about Ava Community Energy, visit avaenergy.org.