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Tri‑County REN and 3CE report expanded incentives and training; county urged to track ratepayer flows
Summary
3C REN and Central Coast Community Energy presented 2025 impact reports showing thousands of rebates and trainings across the Tri‑County region, heavy North County participation, and increased incentives for heat pumps and small businesses; supervisors asked staff to better track local public‑purpose charge flows and reach into Lompoc and other hard‑to‑reach areas.
Representatives of the Tri‑County Regional Energy Network (3C REN) and Central Coast Community Energy (3CE) briefed the Board on their 2025 annual impact reports, highlighting programs that push electrification and workforce training across Ventura, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.
3C REN staff reported roughly 1,000 households and businesses reached in 2025 with energy upgrades, $5.5 million in incentives across the Tri‑County region (about 60% of which served Santa Barbara County residents or businesses), and workforce training with more than 2,800 training participants. Programs prioritized “hard‑to‑reach” residents including multifamily properties and north‑county communities; staff noted multifamily and small commercial programs and new assistance targeted to agriculture and critical community facilities.
3CE described a portfolio of generation and storage procurements and programmatic activity, including large new contracts that staff said are reducing generation rates for county customers. Spencer Brandt said the policy board recently voted to reduce the community choice aggregator’s generation rate by 25% and outlined upcoming programs such as a virtual power plant incentive and expanded fleet electrification assistance.
Supervisors asked how much local ratepayer money is flowing back to the county via the public purpose charge and urged staff to work with utilities and the CPUC to provide clearer accounting of local contributions and returns. Staff acknowledged difficulties obtaining audited breakdowns from some investor‑owned utilities and said they will continue to pursue the data and report back.
What’s next: 3C REN and 3CE will continue program rollout, and county staff will attempt to obtain more precise accounting of local public‑purpose funding and return on investment in Santa Barbara County.
