KLCS TV’s OC World Features Exclusive OC Power Authority Interview
September 8, 2023
What’s the Future for OC’s Fledging Power Agency?
OC World is grateful to Mayor Jung and Councilmember Treseder for their cooperation in helping us to educate and inform the community of Orange County about issues of significance in their lives.”
IRVINE, CA, UNITED STATES, September 8, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ — OC World, Orange County’s sole public affairs news and features program, has produced a special 30-minute program with insights into the future of the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA). Guest host and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Rick Reiff interviews OCPA leaders Fullerton Mayor and OCPA Chair Fred Jung and Irvine City Councilmember and OCPA Vice-Chair Kathleen Treseder for the wide-ranging OC World interview which aired this past Monday on KLCS-PBS.
OC World Co-Founder and Executive Producer Scott Hays said, “OC World is grateful to Mayor Jung and Councilmember Treseder for their cooperation in helping us to educate and inform the community of Orange County about issues of significance in their lives.”
During the interview, Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) leaders admit the electric cooperative got off to a rocky start, but they assert that they are transforming the embattled agency and working to gain the trust of current and potential customers.
“You don’t have the luxury of a talent pool when you’re struggling to just get started,” said Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung, OCPA’s chair and the only surviving director from the original board formed less than three years ago. “My first day of being sworn in, the next day was a meeting, and I had little to no knowledge of the agency when I joined as a board member, so you are playing catchup the entire time.”
They point out that energy cooperatives such as OCPA are touted as California’s energy future, providing greener and sometimes cheaper power than the big utilities. But critics contend they’re little more than bureaucratic middlemen. OCPA has been racked by management turmoil and customer defections, criticized for generally high rates and targeted by two outside audits and the grand jury.
“I think that there definitely was (a credibility issue) up until maybe a few months ago. I would agree with that,” said Irvine Councilmember Kathleen Treseder, a climate scientist at UC Irvine and new vice-chair of OCPA. “But we’re a new agency now.”
Treseder said OCPA is planning a “global” search for a permanent replacement of its ousted CEO, who had been criticized for lacking any energy industry experience. Treseder also said the agency has improved its transparency and community access.
They both said rates have been reworked and OCPA’s basic cost tier is now lower than Southern California Edison’s.
The interview can be viewed on OC World’s YouTube station here. For more information about OC World, visit www.ocworld.org.
About OC World
OC World is a nonprofit multi-media company which produces Orange County’s sole public affairs news and feature programming. Fiscally sponsored by Charitable Ventures, OC World is committed to share bold but balanced news stories affecting Orange County citizens and beyond. OC World airs on PBS affiliate KLCS-TV, a multiple Emmy Award-winning noncommercial PBS affiliate station broadcasting to 15.5 million households from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Now in its third season, the program won Best Long Form Programming or Documentary at the 73rd annual Golden Mike Awards for the documentary Hope Dies Last.