Welcome to Our Clean Energy Future, CPA Chief Executive Officer Ted Bardacke’s bi-monthly feature where he shares insights into the energy sector and greening our Southern California communities.
This month CPA is marking its fifth anniversary of serving customers. While there is much to celebrate about this milestone – and to remember about the efforts of Los Angeles County, founding board directors, and CPA’s early staff – my focus is on the next five years and what CPA can do to advance the clean energy transition in a way that benefits our communities here in Southern California.
The good news is that we start from a very solid base of strong consumer demand, available investment capital, and willing partners. Customer acceptance and support for renewable energy choices is solid. A recent consumer survey by consulting and accounting firm EY reported that 68% of utility customers want a choice of energy products and that, if offered a choice, clean energy would factor into their decision about which provider and product to choose.
We see this playing out in real time at CPA and in Southern California in general. There is less than two percentage points of difference between customers in communities that have chosen 100% renewable energy as their preferred energy product and those who have chosen less expensive products with a lower renewable energy content. Our fellow electricity provider here in Southern California, SCE, fully subscribed its 100% renewable energy program and now must put newly interested customers onto a waiting list.
Meanwhile, despite recent volatility in energy markets and resulting spikes in bills, the long-term outlook for rates in a renewables and electricity dominated energy sector is promising. With the fuel costs of renewable energy at zero, the trend will be towards more stable prices as we emerge from the short-term volatility and CPA and other providers bring on more long-term contracts at fixed prices. Already at CPA, the price differential between our cleanest product and our one with the fewest amount of renewables has declined by two-thirds in the last four years – well within the cost differential threshold that Yale University’s Program on Climate Change Communication reports that the average consumer is willing to pay for renewable energy.
Within the capital markets, there is plenty of investment dollars ready to construct new renewable energy projects, and recent federal legislation will mean even more capital for the type of projects that benefit local communities and grow well-paying middle class jobs that CPA and its developer partners have pioneered. Since 2018 CPA has signed 30 contracts for approximately 3000 MW of renewables and energy storage with industry leading developers, deploying billions of dollars of capital, mostly here in California.
The unique part of these projects is that the developers are willing to work with us on the qualitative side of things – all our new-build projects since 2019 have or will use union labor with Project Labor Agreements. Many of these projects have targeted hire provisions for specific populations like veterans and those emerging from the criminal justice system, and are responsibly-sited not just to pass government environmental permitting requirements but are ready to be screened for additional environmental benefits through our partnership with The Nature Conservancy. Coming soon will be an emphasis on building up our domestic manufacturing supply chain and siting projects in areas with a high concentration of workers in the fossil fuel industry to strengthen those local economies.
CPA is a disruptor in an energy market that is itself being disrupted. So there will be a lot of bumps along way in this clean energy transition. And there will be a tremendous amount of collective work necessary to maintain the strong social consensus around the transition to high levels of renewable energy. But we can keep our customers happy, rates manageable, and build our way to success in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.
Jennifer Gorman serves as a Project Manager, Local Government Programs for Clean Power Alliance. She supports the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs that support adoption of clean energy technologies for CPA’s local government members. Prior to joining Clean Power Alliance, Jennifer worked as a Consultant and Business Development Manager at Strategen Consulting where she supported clients across their clean energy planning and regulatory innovation practice areas. She has also held internships at the Luskin Center for Innovation working on policy and planning at the water-wildfire nexus; at American Honda Motor on their Sustainable Business Development team; and at the U.S. Climate Alliance supporting their industrial decarbonization and electricity policy domains. Jennifer holds an M.P.P. from UCLA and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley.
Abel Debela serves as Data and Systems Architect with extensive experience in big data solutions and the design of scalable data pipelines for data lakes and data warehouses. He specializes in data integration and automation, with a strong focus on interpreting, analyzing, and reconciling heterogeneous data to deliver meaningful insights through effective data visualization. He has worked extensively with AWS and Azure cloud platforms and brings hands-on expertise in PySpark and leading visualization tools, including Tableau, Power BI, and AWS QuickSight. Abel’s industry experience spans finance, aviation, and public utilities, giving him a well-rounded perspective across diverse business environments. Abel holds a Master’s degree in Advanced Business Analytics from the University of Washington.
Chloe Taurel serves as Analyst, Load Forecasting for Clean Power Alliance. Chloe works on maintaining load forecasting models, ensuring the accuracy of forecast inputs and outputs, and developing standardized reports and dashboards. Prior to joining Clean Power Alliance, she interned at the Michigan Green Building Collaborative, where she analyzed energy trends and benchmarked building efficiency data. She has also conducted research with the Energy Equity Project on energy affordability in historically redlined communities in Michigan and developed an ETL pipeline to centralize energy regulatory data. Chloe earned her Bachelor of Science in Data Science with minors in Energy Science & Policy and Sustainability from the University of Michigan.
Chloe Taurel serves as Analyst, Load Forecasting for Clean Power Alliance. Chloe works on maintaining load forecasting models, ensuring the accuracy of forecast inputs and outputs, and developing standardized reports and dashboards. Prior to joining Clean Power Alliance, she interned at the Michigan Green Building Collaborative, where she analyzed energy trends and benchmarked building efficiency data. She has also conducted research with the Energy Equity Project on energy affordability in historically redlined communities in Michigan and developed an ETL pipeline to centralize energy regulatory data. Chloe earned her Bachelor of Science in Data Science with minors in Energy Science & Policy and Sustainability from the University of Michigan.
Anthony Boukarim serves as Resource Planner, Power Supply, supporting long-term resource planning, portfolio optimization, and procurement strategy to advance CPA’s clean energy, reliability, and affordability objectives. He brings more than a decade of experience in the energy sector, spanning management consulting and advanced energy analytics, with deep expertise supporting utilities and community choice aggregators. Prior to joining CPA, Anthony spent six years at Ascend Analytics, where he led firm-wide renewable energy and storage procurement initiatives. He holds a Master of Science in Energy Resources Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the American University of Beirut.
Kim joins Clean Power Alliance as the Senior Analyst, Rates and Tariffs. Kim is responsible for developing and maintaining CPA’s cost of service and rate models to evaluate the financial, competitiveness, and customer impacts of rate design and rate setting options. Kim held financial, strategy, and planning roles across utilities, consulting, and the energy sector, including roles with Black Hills Energy, Marathon Oil, and Noble Energy. This cross-sector background gives her a broad view of how financial modeling, regulatory strategy, and capital planning intersect to support growth, reliability, and environmental responsibility. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Wyoming.
Mark Hum serves as Senior Associate, Communications and Marketing at Clean Power Alliance. He is a marketing and communications strategist with a background in medtech and life sciences, where he supported initiatives spanning multiple industries across both B2B and consumer-facing brands. His work is grounded in a copywriter’s mindset, starting with audience needs and translating complex ideas into clear, compelling stories that build trust and understanding. Mark has led integrated communications across digital, social, email, web, and stakeholder channels, with an emphasis on accessibility, consistency, and measurable impact. He brings a strong appreciation for structure and narrative, ensuring that every message serves a purpose and connects with people in a meaningful way. Mark holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).
Prapassara “Pom” Saengxuto serves as Finance and Accounting Analyst at CPA. She is a Certified Public Accountant with over 20 years of experience in accounting and finance. Throughout her career, she has worked across a wide range of industries, including public accounting, private corporations, entertainment, manufacturing, consulting and construction. This diverse background allows her to bring a well-rounded and practical perspective to every engagement. Pom is known for her strong dedication, attention to detail, and commitment to accuracy. She works effectively both independently and as part of a team, consistently supporting organizations in making informed, strategic financial decisions. Her approach combines technical expertise with a deep sense of responsibility and professionalism.