Orland council OKs joining Pioneer Community Energy; ordinance to implement community choice aggregation advances

The Orland City Council voted 3–2 Tuesday to join Pioneer Community Energy and to authorize the city to implement a community choice aggregation (CCA) program, a move city staff said aims to reduce energy costs for residents while expanding local renewable procurement.

Lisa Delavi, community outreach manager for Pioneer Community Energy, told the council the authority’s impact assessment found the expansion would not harm existing Pioneer customers and that the recommended launch timing is October 2027. “Yes. We can expand into [Glenn] County, Orland, and Willows with no financial impacts to existing customers while still protecting our rate payer savings,” Delavi said.

The vote followed about an hour of staff presentation, questions from council and residents, and public comment. Councilors raised questions about opt-out rules, service reliability during outages and whether Pioneer’s procurement approach could result in future higher costs if state incentives or market conditions change.

Delavi said customers would be automatically enrolled but could opt out online at no penalty. “There’s no cost to opt out,” she told Council Member McDermott when asked about…