The Orange County Power Authority’s new E-Bike Safety and Incentive Pilot Program is aimed at promoting safe e-bike usage among our valued customers aged 18 and above. This initiative provides participants with the opportunity to obtain an electric bicycle and helmet at a significantly reduced cost through a voucher system redeemable at local bike shops. Ensuring rider safety is paramount, so completion of an e-bike safety training is mandatory for all voucher recipients, available both online and in person. The Program will begin this Summer for the first eligible 100 applicants.
E-bike vouchers will be for $600 for a standard Level 1 or 2 e-bike and for income-qualified customers (CARE or FERA) $1,500.
More to come, so stay tuned for updates!
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Categories: Local Government, Local News
All customers want is clean, reliable inexpensive electricity. OCPA should stick to that goal instead of spending so heavily on public relations campaigning. Stop wasting our money.
I think this is actually a great program. It makes no sense for people to get rebates on electric cars, but not on electric bikes. Ebike rebates can incentivize people to use ebikes as an alternative to cars. This program seems like a good idea to me for put OCPA’s money where its mouth is and take meaningful steps toward reducing people’s dependence on cars.
Amy – I get what you are saying – but I think it would be better for the state of California to offer such programs. The great majority of customers of OCPA will not be using e-bikes. What OCPA is in charge of is providing clean reliable electricity at lowest price possible. When they use the money to promote rebates and free bikes and cultural events (while nice) that takes away from lower electricity prices which everyone needs.
I agree that it should come from the state, but since it has not, I respect that OCPA is stepping up. The majority of any service’s users won’t be using ebikes because of our car-first infrastructure. If as few people will avail themselves of this rebate as you say, then OCPA won’t be spending much on it anyway.
It’s also possible that OCPA gets tax break because of it (I don’t know, I’m just speculating).
A similar argument could be made for any agency. SoCal Edison should be spending money on upgrading their equipment so they stop causing wildfires, because it’s taxpayers who foot the bill for fighting those fires, not to mention the firefighters who put their lives at risk. Oil & gas corporations should stop virtue signaling and paying for marketing campaigns about carbon credits and other greenwashing efforts, and instead should bow out in favor of more sustainable technologies. At least OCPA is doing something that actually directly benefits customers and fights car dependence/the climate crisis instead of just greenwashing.
Amy – good points – and I totally agree on Edison and oil companies. Also wish you were right about OCPA delivering this program, (which will cost something over $100,000 on top of all the other PR they are doing) through some kind of government grant – but have to notice they didn’t say that.
Do public utilities pay taxes?
My point is that for OCPA to be successful all they have to do is deliver cheap, reliable, clean energy. Everyone would be on board. The agency had a very rough start and just recently another city dropped out. I just hate to see a great thing fail.
And we should lobby our state reps to add incentives for e-bikes if no one is already doing that. Seems the federal infrastructure bill money could include that.
Our discussion made me curious, so I looked it up: Apparently, CA does have a state e-bike voucher program, but unfortunately the window is closed right now:
https://ebikeincentives.org/
I think we would have to agree to disagree on whether it is appropriate for OCPA to host this rebate program. Despite OCPA’s very shaky start, I can respect them trying to do right at this point. $100k seems lile very little to me for a program and company like this. But I can also respect your view of how they should be running their organization as they provide a public utility.