IRVINE, Calif. — In eight months of operation, the Orange County Power Authority has lost member cities, alienated others and acquired more than 211,000 customers who now receive energy from the public agency.

What You Need To Know

  • The Orange County Power Authority reports that it has more than 211,000 customers

  • The community choice energy program has been around for eight months with current and former board members seeking the replacement of CEO Brian Probolsky

  • The agency recently added a new spokesperson with experience in politics and community choice energy to communicate with member cities

  • The Orange County Board of Supervisors recently voted to withdraw with Irvine and Huntington Beach also considering an exit

Detractors have been quick to question the credentials of CEO Brian Probolsky, emphasizing dismay over a lack of transparency and a muted effort to educate the public on the options available. But Joe Mosca, the new director of communications and external affairs, said new developments in the agency will help it address many of the concerns in the coming months.

The OCPA is shifting away from start-up mode to operations, he said, which will allow it to more aggressively seek and educate potential customers about the benefits of community choice energy.

“We have a very good story, and we’re doing some really good stuff,” he said. “Look at what’s going on: There’s flooding, there’s coastal erosion. There are a lot of reasons for us to work with great urgency.”

That message resonates with many members of the Irvine City Council, which took the responsibility of furnishing the agency with $7 million in seed money and a bank loan of $35 million. But a vocal group of City Council and OCPA board members doesn't think Probolsky has the proper experience.

Mosca comes into his job with political experience as a former city council member of Encinitas and as a chairperson and founding member of the San Diego Community Power. One of his tasks has been to help answer questions for member cities and provide more information.

Mosca said the OCPA has worked hard to improve transparency with outreach efforts to its members. But there’s only so much it can divulge about contracts with energy providers.

He said the agency can’t provide information about the cost or volume of energy it is purchasing because of provisions that are standard to energy purchase agreements.

“I think we’ve come to compromises with our member agencies to provide them with more information than we have in the past, and I think that it’s working,” Mosca said.

He also plans to conduct a series of town halls and have staff available at public meetings to provide information. The office will also expand this year, with plans to add a staff member who can help customers troubleshoot the system or provide information about how to integrate their own cost-saving measures like solar panels. Mosca said the OCPA, which will double in number to 20 staff members in 2023, will purchase its own energy instead of paying a third party to do it.

Huntington Beach City Council member and former OCPA board member Dan Kalmick said the agency is doing what it set out to do: buy energy and deliver it to customers at a lower price than Southern California Edison.

Kalmick, who said he tried to replace Probolsky, said the CEO had been “nothing but professional to him.”

But the complaints about the OCPA leadership have been persistent and issued regularly and publicly. Freshly minted Irvine City Council member Kathleen Treseder has advocated for the firing of Probolsky, citing a lack of experience, since before she was elected in November.

Tony Strickland, Huntington Beach mayor and a new member of the OCPA board, has the same problem.

“You should get someone who is a technocrat,” he said. “If you know their politics, then they’re not the right person for a position of that magnitude.”

For the often mentioned transparency concerns, Strickland said the agency should not automatically opt customers into the program. While other city council and board members advocated for the automatic opt in, Strickland said it is a problem for his residents. He has since asked city staff to explore what costs the city could incur by withdrawing.

“It really became a basic back door tax increase,” he said. “It made it incredibly hard to opt out.”