When the Orange County Power Authority launched earlier this year, it wasn’t the best timing.
The war in Ukraine had started just a few months earlier, driving up natural gas prices nationally as a series of volatile market conditions made it difficult for anyone to purchase power, including the fledgling agency committed to bringing more renewable energy to Orange County.
Despite that, there isn’t any evidence the board of directors or staff ever discussed delaying the launch, or altering any of its schedule to respond to the shifting market.
The agency came online shortly after Western Community Energy, a similar program based in Riverside County, declared bankruptcy, citing an over reliance on consultants as one of its problems.
Power authority leaders pushed ahead, describing their dependence on outside consultants as a “risk management strategy,” instead of an issue.
These are just some of the examples laid out in a series of scathing reports over the past year about the county’s green power agency that led county supervisors to withdraw this month, as questions about the agency’s ability to succeed continue growing.
Supervisor Katrina Foley, who was the deciding vote, said she wanted to start looking at joining a different program that would still let unincorporated Orange County receive renewable energy, but that the OC Power Authority was not in the residents’ best interests.
“I was so hoping I wouldn’t have to make this vote,” Foley said. “It boils down to trust...
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