Q&A with Fred Jung, Orange County Power Authority Chair

The Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) Board of Directors recently elected Fred Jung to serve as its new Chair. Jung, who also serves as the Mayor of Fullerton, takes over during a pivotal time for the public agency. Over the past year, OCPA has taken significant strides forward, albeit with some growing pains along the way. We sat down with the new Chair to find out why he believes so strongly in OCPA and why he’s excited to be a part of it, especially at this moment in time.

As the new Chair, what are your priorities for OCPA?

• Enhance our customer communication and community outreach to convey the importance and benefits of having community choice energy.
• Instill greater trust with the communities we serve through increased transparency.
• Continue to strengthen our competitive position and ensure our financial resilience by delivering on our promise to bring Orange County cleaner energy at competitive rates.
• Begin reinvesting revenue back into the community by offering energy efficiency rebates, educational programs, and grants for businesses to create more energy-efficient facilities. OCPA will begin announcing some of these programs this year.

What are OCPA’s greatest accomplishments over the past year?

• Giving residents and businesses a choice in their energy future for the first time ever.
• Launching commercial and residential service has resulted in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions equivalentto taking 200,000 cars off the road annually.
• OCPA is financially strong with healthy reserves and for the second year in a row an independent auditor reported that OCPA’s financial statements are accurate and comply with national accounting standards.
• OCPA’s Basic Choice electricity generation rates are now less expensive than Southern California Edison’s equivalent generation rates.

Why is the transition to renewable energy so important?

It is more cost effective to address climate change now. If we wait, then the negative effects of climate change worsen and will end up costing us more in the long run to mitigate. Climate change is the existential threat to this generation. We are duty bound as elected leaders to make sure that we address this in a timely manner. The Orange County Power Authority, and its dedication to renewable energy, offers the benefits of addressing climate change in a timely manner. We must make sure that our impact on this world is positive and not a net negative.

For someone who is on the fence about OCPA, what would you like to tell them? 

If you truly care about climate change, being an OCPA customer is one of the easiest and most effective steps you can take. CCEs are putting renewable energy onto the grid at a faster rate than corporate utility companies – that’s a fact. And you get to decide how much renewable energy you want to help OCPA procure to put onto the grid. You have the power to leave a better environment for your children and grandchildren through OCPA by reducing dependence on fossil fuels. I’d say that’s something worth investing in.

About Orange County Power Authority

The Orange County Power Authority is a not-for-profit public agency that offers clean power at competitive rates, significantly reducing energy-related greenhouse emissions and enabling reinvestment in local energy programs. To learn more, visit www.ocpower.org.