San Diego Community Power is up and running! We wanted to find out more about what is in store from the new Chief Operating Officer, Cody Hooven, formally the Director of the Sustainability Department for the City of San Diego.

SC4G: Right now, there is only one place residents can get power: San Diego Gas and Electric. The utility has a lot of influence. How will this change when SDCP begins operation?
CH: The State enacted community choice in order to break the energy monopoly model. When you have a monopoly in any sector, there’s no incentive to get the best price for customers, to provide transparency, or even to listen to customer demands. And this has been the model for over 100 years. We hope that customers and elected officials will see that energy is incredibly important and becoming engaged will lead to positive changes for them. We will operate transparently, with open, local meetings that anyone can participate in. And we will dig into the data and opaque regulatory proceedings where decisions are made about energy and be an advocate for the families in our member cities where there really hasn’t been an advocate before.

SC4G: Would you provide a brief overview of SDCP? (Include the cities and others that may sign-on, and a bit about the timeline to be up and running.)
CH: San Diego Community Power will provide electricity procurement service for residents and businesses in our five member cities – Chula Vista, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, and San Diego. We’ll enroll customers in phases, starting with municipal accounts in March, commercial and industrial customers in June, and residential customers in 2022. Our website is www.SDCommunityPower.org.

SC4G: Your recently joined SDCP. Why did you make the switch from the City of San Diego’s Sustainability Department?
CH: Part of my job at the City was to help the Mayor develop SDCP. His direction to me was to form a community choice energy program and to do it with other cities as a collective structure called a joint powers authority. It was a natural transition for me to continue doing that full time once SDCP began to stand on its own two feet and separate administrative duties from the City. I loved working on climate and energy policy for the City, and especially the startup mentality so many sustainability initiatives require, so this was a great opportunity to put my skills in those areas to use and benefit even more people.

SC4G: What do you see as the greatest challenge in your role of COO? What are you looking forward to as your biggest opportunity?
CH: The challenge continues to be building the plane mid-air. But the hardest part is over – we now have a fantastic consulting ecosystem and are beginning to hire top-notch staff. We can tackle any new challenges as a team. I love building teams and programs where challenges can be met with creativity and strategy. I’m incredibly lucky that SDCP provides all those opportunities.

SC4G: As you know, STAY COOL is genuinely concerned with the legacy we leave to future generations. How will SDCP help to improve that legacy? Is there anything that STAY COOL can do to support your efforts?
CH: Starting this year, we are offering a default portfolio product, PowerOn, that is 50% renewable power with an additional 5% greenhouse gas free power. SDG&E is currently at close to 32% renewable power. We also have a Power100 offering that is 100% renewable power. And before 2035, we plan to offer only renewable power, along with a variety of other programs and local development that contributes to local jobs and empowerment of communities of concern. Some things you can do are 1) opt up to Power100 if or when you receive our service (its only going to increase your total bill by a few percent), 2) tell your friends and neighbors to do the same, and 3) weigh in at our Board meetings if there’s something you like or think we should do differently.

Interview conducted by Linda Giannelli Pratt.