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# Revised electricity agreement could save City Hall money
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/revised-electricity-agreement-could-save-city-hall-money/
- Published: 2003-06-24T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:24:39.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

for all of the city’s 500-plus meters.

The move will save the city about $135,000 a year from the amount the city would have had to pay Southern California Edison for non-renewable power and a savings of about $51,000 per year over what the city currently pays Electric America for electricity.

In 1999, the city entered into a contract with Commonwealth Energy, now called Electric America. After the first one-year term ended, the city renewed the agreement for another year, ending in June 2001\. That was the year that the market for green energy collapsed as wholesale electricity costs spiraled out of control, city staff said.

Most green energy providers returned their customers to their serving utility and went out of business. Commonwealth Energy was the only green energy provider left in California.

The city again renewed its agreement with Commonwealth Energy and renegotiated the price for the electricity to obtain a 5 percent discount off of Southern California Edison’s tariff that the city would have had to pay. Commonwealth extended that contract until June 2003.

Now the city has revised the agreement. The proposed three-year term will provide the city with a greater level of certainty over electricity costs, city staff said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 24, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/062403.pdf?ref=smdp.com)