Chico pushes utility district

The Chico City Council on Tuesday (Dec. 4) voted to move forward on plans to create a community choice aggregation for the region, which would offer an alternative to PG&E for municipal, commercial and residential users.

The city conducted an online survey, which revealed 86 percent of respondents were in favor of a CCA, said Erik Gustafson, public works director-operations and maintenance. He requested the council direct staff to continue investigating the feasibility of a CCA, including looking into startup costs ($2.5 million for phase I and $3 million for phase II, both of which can be paid back with interest after the CCA is established) and a capital improvement project to cover them, starting in fiscal year 2019-20.