The Fillmore City Council voted to accept the Clean Power Alliance’s invitation to join the joint powers authority and approved the first reading of an ordinance to implement community choice aggregation (CCA) in the city.

City staff told the council the Clean Power Alliance (CPA) prepared an impact study and recommended membership; staff recommended the council adopt membership and select CPA’s “lean” power (roughly 40% clean energy) as the default option but said the council could defer choosing the default until 2026. The council approved the motion and the ordinance first reading; the roll-call vote as recorded was Council Member Brogi — No; Mayor Pro Tem Perez Mendez — Yes; Mayor Villasenor — Yes; Council Member Garnica — Aye. The vote passed.

The CPA study examined multiple rate and energy-content scenarios and compared them to Southern California Edison (SCE) default rates. Staff and CPA representatives told the council that historically a CPA “lean” generation option has been about 1–2% lower on a total-bill basis than SCE’s total bill; that comparison can vary as SCE changes rates multiple times per year while CPA typically sets rates annually. City staff advised that if Fillmore joins, the city must adopt the implementing ordinance and approve the CPA joint-powers addendum by Nov. 30 for residents to be eligible for CPA service starting in 2027. CPA’s board is scheduled to hold a public hearing Dec. 4, 2025, and staff would then submit required filings to the California Public Utilities Commission.

Public commenters representing local and countywide climate and community groups urged the council to join and to default to higher renewable mixes. Brooke Baltazar, community organizing manager for Climate First/SeaFrog, said CPA reinvests revenue into local resilience measures and cited CPA’s 2024 procurement of new battery storage and renewable generation capacity. Karen Lais, speaking as a longtime Fillmore resident and member of a teen center, urged the council to adopt 100% renewable energy as the default to make sustainability more accessible to lower-income households.

Council members who supported joining emphasized that membership expands consumer choice: residents would be automatically enrolled but can opt out at any time. Council members who expressed caution asked for stronger community outreach and for clearer, localized billing comparisons before selecting a default energy product.

Staff said CPA will run a coordinated outreach campaign with the city, including a local in-person meeting Oct. 23 at the Fillmore Active Adult Center (6–7:30 p.m.) and a likely virtual session in early November; comments may also be submitted through CPA’s Valley Express web pages and CPA channels.

Next steps for the council: finalize adoption of the implementing ordinance (second reading) on a later meeting date if desired, and, if membership is to proceed, complete the JPA addendum and required filings by the Nov. 30 deadline cited by staff.