Who We Are and What We Do
At Valley Clean Energy, our mission is to provide clean electricity, product choice, and greenhouse gas emission reductions—all with local control at competitive prices.
Valley Clean Energy Alliance—or VCE—is the official electricity provider for residential and commercial customers in the cities of Woodland, Winters, and Davis, and unincorporated Yolo County. We’re a not-for-profit public agency, which means that we’re working 100% for our customers.
VCE offers a choice in electricity suppliers for the first time ever. It also keeps program control and revenues right here at home, where we can create jobs and build local clean energy installations—as many other programs just like ours have already done. We’ll reinvest dollars to boost our local economy while taking control of our clean energy future.
Like all Community Choice programs, once a community votes to join, accounts are enrolled automatically. But you can always opt out if you’d prefer not to participate. You’re not paying any more to be with VCE—our cost on the overall bill (including extra PG&E fees) is the same as you would pay with PG&E.
How Did This Come About?
In 2002, a California bill authorized cities and counties to form Community Choice Aggregation/Energy programs (or CCA/CCE) enabling them to purchase electricity on behalf of their residents and businesses. Transmission/delivery, customer service, and billing remain under the management of the local investor-owned utility—in our case, that’s PG&E. Programs like VCE are “greening the grid,” so that everyone’s electricity is cleaner and less polluting.
It’s an idea that’s catching on, as communities all over the state are seeing the positive difference CCA programs are making. Each program is formed by its own locally designated authorities, who determine specific program benefits with their particular constituents in mind.
VCE was launched in June 2018, when we became one of over 20 operational CCA programs in the state—all of which are offering their customers electricity that’s cleaner and less polluting. And it’s all competitively priced.
Why Customers Love CCA
There are many benefits to a CCA program. Some are universal, and others are tailored to the priorities of the communities they serve.
Benefits include:
- Choice in your electricity provider
- Choice in your renewable content percentage
- Local program control
- Revenues that are reinvested in our communities
VCE offers all of these benefits to our customers right now. And we’re always looking for ways to provide more.