Jul. 3--The San Joaquin Valley Power Authority, a partial model for the Marin Energy Authority, has announced it will temporarily suspend efforts to compete with Pacific Gas and Electric by contracting with alternative electricity suppliers.

A state law passed in 2002 allows California cities and counties to combine their citizens' purchasing power to buy electricity, an approach known as community choice aggregation. The Marin Energy Authority, which consists of the county of Marin and all of Marin's cities with the exception of Novato, Larkspur and Corte Madera, has followed the San Joaquin authority's lead by soliciting bids from energy suppliers; the deadline for submitting those bids is July 20.

Dawn Weisz, interim director of the Marin Energy Authority, said the San Joaquin Valley authority's decision will have no effect on the Marin authority's plans. If the bids that come in look good, members of the Marin authority will decide whether to commit to the community choice initiative. If a municipality chooses to join the initiative, residents of that jurisdiction will have to opt out if they want to remain a customer of PG&E.

The San Joaquin authority, a confederation of 12 jurisdictions in the Central Valley, had an objective of offering its member customers a rate that was 5 percent lower than PG&E's.

"The dynamic energy market and credit conditions clearly have influenced our ability to meet our discount objectives," said David Orth, the San Joaquin Valley authority's

general manager.

Supplying electricity more cheaply than PG&E has gotten harder since the global financial crisis began. The depressed economy has reduced demand for natural gas, causing the price for gas, like oil, to drop significantly. In 2008, 39 percent of PG&E's power was natural gas generated.

Orth said several other factors contributed to the San Joaquin Valley authority's decision.

Kings County and the small cities that make up the authority are coping with reduced revenue due to the economic downturn and the possibility of the state borrowing property tax from them due to California's whopping budget deficit. In addition, the credit crunch made it impossible for the authority to find an energy supplier willing to sign an eight-year contract. And, Orth said the authority was deterred by "PG&E's very aggressive marketing and lobbying effort" in opposition.