City leaders at the head of Orange County’s green power agency are moving to oust their controversial CEO, Brian Probolsky – a politically-connected power broker – just as he’s filed a whistleblower legal complaint alleging board members themselves are double-dealing to take over the agency.
The chaos is just the latest dramatic development at the agency since Probolsky took over in 2020 with residents, city council members and climate activists pointing out his lack of any experience in the industry as the head of an electric utility or even a college degree.
Officially called the Orange County Power Authority, the idea behind the initiative is one championed by climate activists across the state attempting to set up local utilities that can generate power in sustainable ways.
Yet the agency has faced transparency and accountability issues since its inception.
Board member Dan Kalmick, also a Huntington Beach city councilman, said one of the key issues behind the move to discuss firing Probolsky is community trust.
“Residents and businesses don’t know who we are and other elected officials aren’t interested in doing business with us,” Kalmick said in a phone interview. “We tend to operate as a rather opaque organization.”
Questions surrounding the CEO have only continued to mount following the abrupt resignation of chief operating officer Antonia Castro-Graham last December, a price hike with the agency’s rollout after it was promised it would be cheaper than Southern...
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