Stanton is the latest Orange County city to consider joining the Orange County Power Authority, an alternative energy provider aimed at reducing carbon footprints. 

City council members expressed interest in the possibility of joining at their April 22 meeting, but directed city staff to begin research once Irvine makes a final decision regarding their status. 

Irvine is one of four Orange County cities currently part of the power authority, but the council voted late last year to consider exiting. They have yet to make a final decision on leaving. 

This comes as the OC Power Authority recently announced plans to reduce the amount of green power they purchased for customers as electricity prices spike, asking cities to shift their residents down to dirtier power. 

[Read: OC’s Green Power Agency Could Lose Most of its Customers]

Two years ago, the agency also faced concerns from state auditors surrounding the agency’s spending and concerns about lack of leadership, forcing a series of reforms at the agency to help it stay alive. 

[Read: What is the Future of the Orange County Power Authority?] 

Stanton City Councilman Donald Torres, who directed city staff on April 8 to add the discussions to the agenda for the April 22 meeting, said that he didn’t want them to wait for Irvine to do research regarding joining. 

Mayor David Shawver said that he didn’t want to rush into a decision.

“I would recommend this council give them a little bit more time and a little bit more space before we make a decision of investing time and money into further study,” Shawver said. “There’s so many variables that take a lot of time and a lot of studying.” 

Shawver also said that engaging the city attorney and staff to do research would be costly, and he didn’t think that the item was important enough. 

“We’re not rushing anything,” Torres said. “There might be a city or two leaving, but that still doesn’t change the amount of data that we collect, or the research that staff would do into this.” 

If city leaders did decide to join before the end of the year, residents likely wouldn’t begin receiving power until 2027. 

Councilman Victor Barrios said at the April 22 meeting that he wanted city staff to compare residents’ bills with Edison and with OCPA. 

Councilman John Warren said that his view of the power authority has changed recently due to reorganization. 

“Where it is now is much more like a newer organization. I do think it’s worthwhile that we do our due diligence and study the issue,” Warren said. “It doesn’t mean we’re signing the contract.” 

City Attorney HongDao Nguyen said at the April 22 meeting that she would not start researching until the next fiscal year due to the amount of projects her staff is working on. 

“I personally would not want to do a quick once-over of something like this.”

Emily Wilson is a Voice of OC intern. You can reach her at egwilson33@gmail.com or on Twitter @ewilssson.