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BACKGROUND EBCE formed in 2016 as a joint powers authority to provide cleaner, greener energy at lower rates to customers throughout Alameda County. EBCE purchases electricity and works with PG&E, who delivers the power, maintains the grid and bills customer accounts. EBCE customer accounts are still entitled to PG&E's special pricing, efficiency programs, and rebates. EBCE began services to municipal and industrial/commercial customer accounts in June 2018 and to residential customer accounts in November 2018. When EBCE launched in 2018, three electricity products were offered: • Bright Choice — which provides 38 percent renewable energy with 85 percent carbon free' energy at 1.5 percent lower rates than PG&E2. • Brilliant 100 —which provides 40 percent renewable energy with 100 percent carbon free energy (60 percent being large hydro power) at rates equal to PG&E. • Renewable 100 —which provides 100 percent renewable energy with 100 percent carbon free energy at rates one penny per kWh more than PG&E. EBCE also created the Local Development Business Plan program which allocates approximately $8.5 million per year to local development initiatives such as funding for solar + storage projects and electric vehicle charging infrastructure development (CALeVIP). The CALeVIP project is a multi-year development program in which the California Energy Commission is matching EBCE's investment amount. This program could be a great resource for the City toward implementing the City's Climate Action Plan (CAP) 2.0 actions. To ensure fiscal stability, the EBCE Board adopted a financial reserve policy in 2018 establishing reserve fund targets along with minimum and maximum contribution limits, for the purposes of establishing supporting agency credit, and to support the Local Development Business Plan funding. The fund balance currently stands at just over $90 million. As it relates to rate setting, since 2018, the EBCE Board of Directors have mandated that the rates of the entry level service of Bright Choice remain 1.5 percent less than PG&E and the intermediate service level Brilliant 100 remain at price parity with PG&E, thus tying EBCE's rates to PG&E's rates. When PG&E's rates fluctuate, so do EBCE's. Since 2020, EBCE has faced financial constraints, which have made it difficult to remain competitive with PG&E. These constraints include the following: ' According to California's renewables portfolio standards, eligible renewable energy sources include biomass and biowaste, geothermal, eligible (small) hydroelectric, solar, and wind. All renewable energy is also carbon free energy. The two sources of carbon free energy that are not renewable are nuclear and large hydroelectric. 2 PG&E's 2018 power mix was 39 percent renewable, 13 percent large hydroelectric, 34 percent nuclear, and 15 percent natural gas. 2