OC Green Power Agency Approves Rebranding Plan While Bleeding Customers
Orange County Power Authority executives are investing $750,000 in a marketing plan over the next six months to promote the agency, after a series of failed audits led to the departure of two agency staff .
The new marketing plan comes after about a quarter of the agency's residential clients left after the agency opened last year in the cities of Fullerton, Irvine, Huntington Beach and Buena Park, according to a report by the California State Auditor's Office.
Evaluators say agency staff kept occupancy at around 5% as residents registered directly with Southern California's newest competitor Edison, unless they had completed paperwork for leave.
The company is losing more customers after Huntington Beach announced Tuesday night that it was leaving Orange County, with its nearly 200,000 residents.
[ Read: Huntington Beach opposes controversial green energy agency]
After four failed audits, the agency's board promised a wave of reforms, including a comprehensive audit plan and new transparency with CEO Brian Probolsky.
[ Read: Orange County electrical authority fires controversial CEO after two years of unrest]
Now they hope to win back some of their lost customers by investing more in their marketing efforts.
Initially, the agency envisioned an advertising investment of approximately $3 million over the next two years, but questions arose as to whether the contractor would provide a robust communications plan.
The new plan would cost $750,000 for the rest of the year, but it's unclear how much it will cost.
The marketing deal is with Reveal Inc., part of the agency's PR group. With this, from April 2021.
Irvine Councilwoman and agency board member Kathleen Treseder said she felt the agency needed to find a new service provider after criticizing the agency for not making adequate advertising to customers and failing to contact residents after several audits.
"I'm very attentive to the information coming out of the OCPA and I'm disappointed with the lack of marketing," Treseder said. "The Reveal agency has had its share of negative press, and I think the public has a little less faith in agencies when you think of new startups."
The company's first contract with Revell in 2021 was among contracts canceled by state auditors, which Probolski said were improperly approved and failed to report costs to the board.
When asked why Reveille was chosen, Probolsky could not answer, the state auditor said.
[ Read : OC Green Energy Agency slams state auditor on transparency and sourcing]
Reveille's contract first came when Probolsky came on board in March 2022 and requested a two-year, $590,000 extension on Reveille's contract.
[ Read : OC Green Power Agency extends contract signed by CEO last year]
At the board meeting, company officials admitted that since the electricity authority was collapsing, they were unable to communicate properly with the public and were not prepared for the negative response they received.
“The agency was unaware,” said communications director Joe Mosca, who will take over as interim CEO later this month. "He followed the conventional wisdom, which is basically less communication."
Nevertheless, Moscow has always shown strong support for the newly expanded contract with REVIL.
Moscow "State control, many criticisms that there is not enough communication." "This plan will increase the level of communication to communicate who we are and the benefits of being part of OCPA."
Also at the meeting, Reveille CEO Brenda Springer said all communications she sent had been approved by the previous board and executive, Probolsky.
"Ultimately, it's up to our clients to decide what strategy and direction they want to take, and we respond to that," Springer said. "I certainly understand your concern, but I would like to plead that the best is yet to come."
Treseder had a quick follow-up.
"Do you have any strategies and things you want to do because of the staff and the old board?"
Unanswered question.
Board members eventually voted to give Reveal a six-month contract, following a review in December and a petition from another company, Wicked Bionics, to compare the two companies.
Fullerton Mayor and Council Chairman Fred Jung said the only remaining source of blame for the agency's failure to properly flag blame rests on his shoulders as a council member, but he said that they had to act immediately.
"I don't know if any of us on the board anticipated the negativity associated with starting this business," Jung said. "At this stage we need a good start, we have crises to resolve."
Noah Bisiada is an OCC reporter and member of the GroundTruth Report on America initiative. Contact him at nbiesia@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada .
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