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Choosing a Renewable Energy Supplier with Jenn McMillin of SOPEC

• Guest: Jennifer McMillin • Episode 63

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Are you curious about making smarter, greener choices for your electricity supply? In this episode, we speak with Jennifer McMillin with the Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC).  Jenn is SOPEC's Regional Director for Northeast Ohio and provides tips and insights for choosing a 100% renewable energy supplier for your electricity needs. SOPEC is a leader in community choice aggregation in Ohio, providing competitive rates and substantial savings to residents in member communities, including the City of Cleveland. 

In Ohio, we can choose where our electricity comes from and there are many ways to choose renewable energy for your home or business. Green energy suppliers such as SOPEC use Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to document, authenticate, and track that energy flowing into the power grid comes from a clean, renewable power source. Consumers can then select one of these renewable energy suppliers either on their own or participating in their community's contract with an aggregator like SOPEC or NOPEC. Join us as we break it all down for you so you can make and informed, sustainable energy choices. Investments in renewable energy projects are paying off but we have far to go to further green our grid. Choosing a renewable power supplier through our consumer choice is one way we can all show our support.

Guest:
Jennifer McMillin, Regional Director for Northeast Ohio with the Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC)

Resources:
About SOPEC
CIty of Cleveland Community Choice Aggregation Program
SOPEC Job Openings
Green-e® Certified renewable energy
SOPEC Solar Assessment Programs
PUCO Apples to Apples
EPA Green Power Communities



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Contact us:
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Diane Bickett:

You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, a podcast for the eco-curious in Northeast Ohio. My name is Diane Bickett and my producer is Greg Rotuno. Together we speak with local sustainability leaders and invite you to connect, learn and live with our community and planet in mind. Hello friends, in this episode we're talking about how to best choose a renewable energy supplier for your electricity needs, and speaking with us today is Jen McMillin. Jen is the Regional Director for Northeast Ohio with the Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council, also known as SOPEC. Sopec is an electricity aggregator that supplies its member communities with 100% renewable power and helps communities achieve their sustainability goals.

Diane Bickett:

Here in Ohio, we're fortunate to be one of the 29 states that allow consumers to choose their electricity supplier, but with that choice comes questions like how can I choose a renewable energy supplier, how long a contract should I commit to? Should I participate in my city's contract with SOPEC or NOPEC or shop on my own? And where does that renewable energy come from? I have so many questions, and you probably do too, so let's get those answered. Welcome, jen.

Diane Bickett:

Thanks, Diane, glad to be here. Yeah, so I heard a presentation you gave a few months ago where you were talking about SOPEC and how Cleveland is now a member of SOPEC and how its residents are now benefiting from low-cost renewable energy. So your presentation prompted me to check on the electricity rate I was getting from my supplier and after comparing my rate with the many new options available, I learned that I was paying more than twice what I needed to to source renewable energy. I also learned that maybe signing up for that energy supplier at a grocery store wasn't the best idea. So live and learn. So, Jen, we can all be smart consumers of electricity, and SOPEC, I believe, is helping lead the way. And tell us a little bit about your organization.

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah, I'd love to, but I just want to say first that I think that experience that you had is not even uncommon.

Greg Rotuno:

Right.

Jennifer McMillin:

Okay, people, we have busy lives and maybe we don't pay as much attention as we should to our utility bills and even when we look at them they can be a little hard to understand and even overwhelming. Right to know what can you do about that electricity bill? So I think maybe people are almost a little afraid of them and they just pay the bill every month. So your experience is not uncommon and I'm glad to be able to talk a little bit about where the consumer does have a little bit of ability to shop for savings.

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah, we're accosted at the grocery store we want to do the right thing.

Diane Bickett:

We don't have time to do all the research, so we sign up and it's a great introductory rate, but then that usually expires after a time which is what happened to me? Yeah, exactly.

Jennifer McMillin:

So well, let me start by telling you a little bit about SOPEC. So you mentioned a couple of things, but SOPEC is a regional council of governments and what we do is provide energy services to member communities, to political subdivisions, nonprofits, faith-based organizations and other communities, public agencies within Ohio. So, as an organization, our mission is really to provide simple and reliable public energy programs that help our communities achieve both energy and sustainability goals. So we try to provide a lot of support on the energy front for communities, because lots of communities don't have a dedicated energy manager or someone who fully understands electricity procurement, so we're able to step in and fill a really valuable role there. We currently have 38 member communities across Ohio, ranging in size from very small villages and townships to larger cities, including Cleveland. Size, from very small villages and townships to larger cities, including Cleveland, Dayton and Athens. And, as you already mentioned, our default product is 100% renewable electricity for all of our community choice aggregation programs.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, I used to think SOPEC stood for Southeast Ohio Public Energy Council. Well, we're doing business now, but you are based in Athens.

Greg Rotuno:

Yes, yes.

Jennifer McMillin:

Based in Athens. We have offices in Athens, Dayton and now Cleveland and Upper Arlington and Columbus. So we are statewide.

Diane Bickett:

You're statewide and you're growing and you're hiring too. So we'll get to. You're statewide and you're growing and you're hiring too. So we'll get to that towards the end, very exciting. So there are two energy electricity aggregators that I'm aware of NOPEC and your SOPEC. My community is a member of NOPEC but it didn't. My community isn't signed on to the 100% renewable option. There's only four, I believe four cities that have. So they're moving in that direction, but they're not as far along as you are in terms of providing the renewable energy to communities. So tell us a little bit about how electricity aggregation works. How does SOPEC source its renewable energy and provide that to communities and, small businesses?

Jennifer McMillin:

Yes. Aggregation is that you're essentially combining the purchasing power of lots of residents and small businesses and communities and what we do then is we bundle all of those eligible residential and small business accounts together to receive a competitive supply rate so a community can actually join. You have to actually join SOPEC and become a member. Again, we're a council of governments, so we're governed by the members we serve. And then all the eligible residents and small businesses within illuminating company territory here in Cleveland then are automatically rolled into our program. So it's an opt-out program. So if you're eligible, that means you have not selected your own supplier and you're not on an income plan like PIP you're automatically rolled into our program and you can choose to opt out if you want. So we serve residents of the investor owned utilities. You have to be in illuminating company territory. We are not able to serve customers in a municipal utility like Cleveland Public Power.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, so that's a first. On EcoSpeak CLE, there was a fire alarm go off in the building that we're recording in, so we'll just keep going, because apparently we're not on fire. So where were we? Oh good, oh, my goodness. Let's define renewable energy for a minute. What energy sources are typically in a renewable energy portfolio? Who decides? Is that a regulated thing?

Jennifer McMillin:

So renewable energy, I feel like for most people refers to solar and wind.

Jennifer McMillin:

It can also refer to hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal sources. Okay, it is defined by the state in that there is. Ohio has a renewable portfolio standard that currently mandates that Ohio's electric distribution utilities have to have a minimum percentage of renewable content in the electricity that they supply. That's only eight and a half percent by 2026. Oh geez, yeah, that number was higher slightly, but House Bill 6, among other things, reduced that renewable portfolio standard down to 8.5 percent and, of course, took away some of the other energy efficiency measures that the utilities were offering.

Diane Bickett:

How does SOPEC choose its renewable energy providers?

Jennifer McMillin:

So SOPEC has an exclusive arrangement with one supplier and that is AEP Energy. So we work with them to supply the electricity for all of our communities and members. So what we do like many large organizations who can't necessarily put solar on all their rooftops or land is we purchase renewable energy certificates. And just to explain what that means a REC is how they're commonly referred to represents one megawatt hour of electricity that's generated by a renewable source and put into the electricity grid. So it's a way of tracking renewable energy from its source. And I'm just going to say that that's important because otherwise it's nearly impossible to track the source of energy. Once an electron enters the grid, sure, whether it comes from a solar panel or a coal plant, once you put it into the grid it is flowing with the rest of the electrons like a drop of water down a river right.

Jennifer McMillin:

So RECs are. It's an important way to be able to track our program and Green E is a verification and certification process that allows the user to know that those are verified and legitimate sources and that we are the only offtaker of that power. We really only consider wind and solar and very carefully selected hydroelectric power for our programs.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, I'm excited that AEP is your supplier because it's also my new supplier, because I went on the PUCO Apples to Apples site and switched from my high-cost renewable supplier to AEP, so I'm glad to know that that's been a verified source of renewable energy. Who does the certification? Is it a national organization For Green E?

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah, yeah, I actually can't remember the name of the organization that runs Green E. Yeah, yeah, I actually can't remember the name of the organization that runs Green E, but it is, it's it's widely, widely accepted and in fact, it's what the EPA also leans on for some of their green power programs and verification systems.

Diane Bickett:

Green E is similar to like LEED certification through the US Green Building Council.

Jennifer McMillin:

It's kind of a stamp of approval for renewable energy.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, so how long have you been at SOPEC?

Jennifer McMillin:

I started in February of this year. Oh really, yeah, congratulations. Thank you.

Diane Bickett:

Before that I remember you were with the Sustainability Office with Cleveland State right how long were you doing that?

Jennifer McMillin:

I was the Director of Sustainability at Cleveland State for the last seven and a half years and I've been, but I've been working in the higher ed sustainability sector for probably a total of 15 years. I actually worked at another university overseas for about seven years before that.

Diane Bickett:

So a lot of time in higher ed, yeah. So as a sustainability director for Cleveland State, I assume you're involved with energy efficiency issues and things like that. What other types of projects were you implementing there?

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah, so being kind of the one person director of sustainability, I know a lot of my peers would feel the same way. We're doing a lot of things right. Everything from waste and recycling and composting programs Always starts there on planning and setting standards and looking at cleaning supplies and, you know, landscaping and all sorts of things. I also was part of the small team that actually did the electricity procurement for the university, so I got really familiar with the markets around gas and electricity and purchasing electricity for a large organization.

Diane Bickett:

Excellent. Well, thanks for all that work. I'm sure education was probably a big part of your role too.

Jennifer McMillin:

I didn't even mention that, did I?

Diane Bickett:

Never-ending process of educating students and faculty.

Jennifer McMillin:

A lot of student and faculty outreach and education and fun stuff as well. Engagement activities with students living in the residence halls.

Diane Bickett:

Is there still a director of sustainability over there? Who is that person now?

Jennifer McMillin:

I don't believe there is anyone at the moment. Okay, I'll put the pressure on to fill that role.

Diane Bickett:

Can we talk about some steps for choosing a renewable energy supplier? So I get say I'm sitting in my kitchen and looking at my bill and I want to become a more conscious consumer of electricity. What tips would you have for any listeners to kind of go through that process and select a renewable energy provider?

Jennifer McMillin:

So if you are not part of an aggregation program like SOPEC, where you can sign on and somebody else has done the homework for you and you're able to just receive that rate with 100% renewable power, or you could potentially be with an aggregator where you have the option to select 100% renewable power for yourself, even if that's not the default product for the whole community. So keep in mind that that's an option as well. How would I know if that's an option.

Diane Bickett:

I haven't heard of that.

Jennifer McMillin:

So, for example, you could go to NOPEC's website and look at the different product options and there is a 100% green power option that you can select for your individual household.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, I didn't know that.

Jennifer McMillin:

Yes, yes, and then the other thing that you can do, as you have mentioned, is go to the PUCO's website, which is the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. They have a very useful site, which is the Energy Choice website, commonly referred to as Apples to Apples, and what you can do is you can filter for 100% renewable energy options with your specific utility, so whatever region of Ohio you are in, and then you can see what the options are. And then I do have a couple of pieces of advice for what people should think about if they're going to go select their own independent supplier. So I think, number one, people are probably going to sort it by price, right? What is the price per kilowatt hour that you'd be paying for that renewable power? And then the other things you would need to look at are whether that rate is fixed for a certain period of time or whether it's a variable rate, and how long that rate is good for. Okay, right, Probably my mistake at the grocery store, right?

Diane Bickett:

Yeah.

Jennifer McMillin:

Well, so put it on your calendar right. If you know you signed up for a 12-month contract, put a note on your calendar to go re-evaluate your options 10 or 11 months into that contract. You should also then be looking for whether or not it auto. Does it have an auto renewal process and if so, what happens to the price then? Maybe it goes up. Is there an introductory rate? Is the first month's rate really appealing and then it's going to go up on you? You should look to see whether or not there's a service fee every month. That happens occasionally. And is there a termination fee where, let's say, six months into your 12-month contract you find a much better deal and you want to leave? Is there a termination fee to end that contract?

Diane Bickett:

I see you go to Apples To Apples and everyone's familiar with that there's dozens and dozens of energy suppliers. It's just. The list goes on and on. Keep scrolling down. How do I know that those but I love that they're showing the companies that do offer renewable energy how do I know that they're either GreenE certified or reputable?

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah. So I mean honestly, I think the best you can do is do your own due diligence right. So their website will be listed there. So I've gone and had a look at several of them and they give you varying levels of detail right. They will usually tell you whether or not the wrecks they're purchasing are maybe 100% wind, and many of those come from Texas. You might get that level of detail. If you don't, I think calling the supplier and asking them, you know, is useful information and shows them that consumers want transparency as well. That's a great tip.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, I think it's important to look at our bills. So in our, you know, every electric bill had like with the illuminating company you can calculate your cost based upon, because they'll show you 12 months worth of kilowatt usage. So you can just multiply that out. It'll also show, I think, who I think. If you go to the illuminating company website, they'll have something called the price to compare number.

Diane Bickett:

So that's the number you would need. So look at your bill first. Use that price to compare number, which might be different than what's on the apples to apples site.

Jennifer McMillin:

Correct. Yeah, the price to compare on your bill is the number that you want to use as your point of comparison for that fee. You're going to see on apples to apples.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, so that would be like the illuminating company's charge for their power.

Jennifer McMillin:

Okay, if you were to receive your power directly from the illuminating company utility, from the illuminating company utility, that price to compare is the price you would pay. Okay, so when you're looking for a new supplier you want to just compare those two rates per kilowatt hour. And I think it might be helpful if I explain just a little bit about the other things that are happening on the utility bill so you know where you have the ability to make a selection. So there are really utility bills, have a lot happening and a lot of different charges, but you can really simply break it down into two different types of charges. So on an illuminating company bill it's sort of on the right hand column and on the lower side there is a box that will say charges from the illuminating company and that is the part of your bill that you have absolutely no control over, because that is what the utility, the fees that the utility charges to maintain the lines and the wires, the infrastructure and the equipment that actually brings the electricity to your home.

Diane Bickett:

Yeah, I think it's called the distribution charge. Yes, exactly.

Jennifer McMillin:

The box below that is going to be called charges from insert the name of your electricity generation supplier. Insert the name of your electricity generation supplier and that is actually for the electrons that are delivered to your home, the actual electricity that flows through those wires so that it turns the lights on, and that is the rate that we have some ability to choose right. In an energy choice state where we have a deregulated electricity market, consumers have the ability to select a supplier. So it's that supply rate that you are able to go and shop for a competitive price. And that's also the part of the bill that community choice aggregation programs can influence that supply rate Excellent.

Diane Bickett:

Let's talk about Cleveland. So Cleveland is the one Northeast Ohio community that SOPEC is serving now. When did Cleveland become a member of SOPEC and how did that come about?

Jennifer McMillin:

So Cleveland joined SOPEC last summer. They put out an RFP a request for proposals to get an electricity aggregation provider, and we were successful in our submission to that proposal. So Cleveland residents started receiving power through the SOPEC aggregation program in August of 2023. Okay, and I'll just say a Cleveland resident will know that they're on the SOPEC aggregation program Just by looking at their bill. They're going to see two things. They're going to see AEP Energy listed as the supplier. They're going to see two things they're going to see AEP Energy listed as the supplier and then for the rate, they're going to see 6.762 cents as the rate they're paying, though that'll be listed in dollars on the bill, so it'll actually say 0.06762 on the bill.

Diane Bickett:

Yeah, that's where it gets a little confusing too.

Jennifer McMillin:

6.72 on the bill, which has been a great rate because the price to compare over the last year has been it has varied from 9, 10, 11 cents, so the 6.762 that we're offering has been a very competitive rate for Cleveland residents.

Diane Bickett:

That's great. And if they're members of Cleveland public power, not members of but if they're getting their power from CPP, they're not part of that program. Correct.

Jennifer McMillin:

They're not eligible for community choice aggregation as part of a municipal utility.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, what else do you want Cleveland residents to know about the program with SOPEC?

Jennifer McMillin:

Well, I think the most exciting thing that they should know is when we calculated the savings for Cleveland residents over the first year of the aggregation program. The SOPEC program was able to save Cleveland residents and small businesses over $13 million.

Greg Rotuno:

Really.

Jennifer McMillin:

Wow In electricity supply charges. When you compare that to the illumin, eliminating company's price, to compare, $13 million in savings.

Diane Bickett:

Wow, that's amazing.

Diane Bickett:

Well, check your bills, people, because it matters, it matters, it does, yeah, especially when I went from 12 cents a kilowatt hour down to less than six. Yeah, yeah, so yeah, that's a lot. It's like double Okay. In fairness to NOPAC they wanted me to mention because I talked to Deepa yesterday. She wanted me to mention that they have four communities in Northeast Ohio that are on their 100% renewable plan, and that's Lakewood, cleveland Heights, south Euclid and Sheffield Village. Hopefully there'll be more going forward. And she also wanted me to mention that Cleveland is also a NOPEC member for their natural gas supplier, correct? So they're both NOPEC and SOPEC. So just to confuse you all a little bit more. And NOPEC has like 240 cities across Northeast Ohio. What would be the future outlook, you think, for our grid and in terms of the amount of renewable energy that's coming into it?

Jennifer McMillin:

Hmm. So I guess I'll start by saying, you know, natural gas currently fuels the largest share, you know is the largest part of Ohio's total electricity generation, so fracking and all that.

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah, so I actually went to look up the figures. So we had it, so I had it in front of me. So in 2022, that was the most recent figures I could find Natural gas was about 51% of Ohio's power source, coal was 37%, nuclear was 12% and renewables 4%. And then just to dig into that renewables a little bit further, what I found was wind power is the majority of that about three-fifths of our state's renewable generation, and then most of the rest was solar.

Diane Bickett:

So that's where we're at currently. That's generation in Ohio. That's why, when AEP gets its wind, it's coming from Texas.

Jennifer McMillin:

Much of it much of the wind wrecks come from Texas.

Diane Bickett:

Okay.

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah, yeah. So, um, there are wrecks are not a perfect solutionables built out in Ohio both for the benefit of our you know, our own residents and air quality right for our residents. And you know I'm hoping that state policies move into a little bit more favorable direction to be able to make that an easier process.

Diane Bickett:

Yeah, we all hope that state policies move in that direction. I mean, I think we're seeing a lot of commitment on the part of Cleveland and other cities and maybe that helps with kind of moving that political needle. I learned that Cleveland is part of the Green Power Partner with EPA. Can you talk about what that is?

Jennifer McMillin:

Yes, so Cleveland is an EPA Green Power Partner community. I believe they joined in 2014. And what that means is that a minimum of 5% of the community's total annual electricity use must come from renewable sources. Okay, organizations 5%, 5% Okay, yeah, organizations can join another EPA Green Power Partner Program. So it's a pretty big initiative. Cleveland has been. Cleveland was already a member when they joined us, but I just have to share a really fun SOPEC fact, and that is there are 19 EPA Green Power Partner communities across Ohio, and each and every one of them are SOPEC members.

Jennifer McMillin:

So those are all of our communities, ranging from the small villages to the city of Cleveland. And here's the other fun thing Across the US, for all of the EPA Green Power Partner communities, 18% of them are in Ohio.

Diane Bickett:

Really, yeah, wow, yeah, that's amazing.

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah, slightly unexpected but such a great statistic and we're really proud of the you know, of our role in bringing those communities you know into being eligible for that Green Power Partnership.

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah as you should be, so support our members on their journey towards sustainability. So I guess a couple of interesting things are. We support the City of Athens Community Solar Program, so that started in June of 2020. And the funds from that go to fund solar projects for public buildings in the City of Athens go to fund solar projects for public buildings in the city of Athens. We recently worked to support the city of Dayton's application to Bloomberg Philanthropies and Dayton was selected as one of 25 US cities as part of that program to implement sustainability initiatives locally. Program to implement sustainability initiatives locally Excellent. And then we have a community grants program where we support things like solar installations, battery storage and EV charging in our communities.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, so you really are growing and as. I mentioned earlier, you are hiring. Yeah, what jobs do you have available, can I?

Jennifer McMillin:

tell you just a couple more cool things. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, no, you're fine, but I wanted to just brag a minute about our grants team, because we have been extremely successful over the last year on the federal grants front, and so we have either directly received or supported other organizations to receive over $24 million in grants in the last year, and so just a couple of examples of that funding is.

Jennifer McMillin:

So we received from the USDA, we've got a RETA grant and there's the REAP program, and through that program we are able to provide free solar assessments to agricultural producers across the state of Ohio, which shows them what their opportunity is and what some of the available financing might look like. But now we're able to take that a step further and also provide them with the grant writing services to be able to go and apply for the funding streams or rebates and tax credits that might be available to them. So that's one of our initiatives. Of our initiatives, and the really big one that we are very excited about is we have now received two rounds of funding through the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant, or CFI, which is through the US Department of Transportation. So we got a $12.5 million grant in the first round and then in actually it's round 1B, we just received another $4 million, and so with that $16 plus million we're going to be able to deploy electric vehicle charging stations across Southern Ohio and in many of our member communities.

Diane Bickett:

Very nice. How many charging stations do you think you'll be able to employ or deploy with?

Jennifer McMillin:

that I feel like the number is 250-ish. Wow, okay, I'd have to double check, but it's a big number.

Greg Rotuno:

Excellent.

Jennifer McMillin:

And then you asked me about jobs.

Diane Bickett:

I did. But I want to go back to the farm solar program because I think there's some controversy or people will. Certain politicians will say, well, we're going to give up all our farmland and put solar farms in. I mean, is that I mean? Can you speak to that?

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah, so it is a controversial issue in Ohio in many rural communities, which you will have seen by watching the news, and I think there's valid arguments on both sides. I actually grew up on a small farm in Minnesota. I actually grew up on a small farm in Minnesota, and so I actually see the side of the farmer and the land owner wanting the ability to diversify their income, which is pretty valuable for a small farmer. So I think that solar can really play a role in rural communities and I think there's some really interesting work happening on agrovoltaics right, where maybe it's not one or the other, so there's really interesting research happening looking at the interaction between a solar array and some in between the rows or shade crops, right. So perhaps they're not mutually exclusive.

Diane Bickett:

So, yeah, I think there's a lot of opportunity there. Thank you for explaining that. Okay, back to the job opportunities Go.

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah, so we are very excited to be growing pretty rapidly. We have the positions we have available that I would love to see some applications come in for are an associate in-house general counsel position. We are looking for an EV project manager and technical expert to help us support the big grant that I just mentioned, and we are looking for a Southwest Ohio regional director.

Jennifer McMillin:

So it's just similar to my role, but in the Southwest part of the state. And then we've got two upcoming positions that we're not actively recruiting for right now, but we're going to be looking for two more grants specialists to join us in the pretty near future?

Diane Bickett:

Excellent, excellent, well. So what's your website where people can access those job postings?

Jennifer McMillin:

sopec-ohiogov Okay, dash O-H, actually. Okay, that'll be in the show notes.

Diane Bickett:

Okay, well, let's wind up with our tip time. I think you know not. Do you have any tips for folks who want to go solar, putting rooftop solar on their homes? We've done an episode on that early on, but anything new?

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah, good question because we've talked about how do you select a renewable energy supplier for your home. But if you want to take the next step and actually go solar on your rooftop, I always point people to the Solar United Neighbors Cooperative Program for solar because that allows you to have somebody do an assessment to look and see if solar is even right for your home and then it's like aggregation for solar purchasing right Because you're coming together in a cooperative with other members of the co-op to get that kind of bulk purchasing economy of scale with your solar panels.

Jennifer McMillin:

Yeah, so it should make it more affordable for an individual.

Diane Bickett:

Yeah, and it was for me back in 2017. We joined the Cuyahoga County Solar Co-op and they worked hand-in-hand with United Solar Ohio.

Jennifer McMillin:

I always have trouble with that Solar United Neighbors? Yeah, what do I have trouble?

Diane Bickett:

Thank you for that, okay. Well, I have a quick announcement too. Our next Eco Meet CLE is going to be held on November 19th at Great Lakes Brewing Company. It's our, not annual. We've done them three times a year for three years now networking event and beer drinking event. So please join us, and thank you to SOPEC for being a very loyal sponsor of our events as well.

Greg Rotuno:

You're welcome, all right.

Diane Bickett:

Well, thank you for joining us. I learned a lot today.

Jennifer McMillin:

Good Thanks, diane. Take care. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of EcoSpeak CLE. You can find our full catalog of episodes on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are available the first and third Tuesday of each month. Please follow EcoSpeak CLE on Facebook and Instagram and become part of the conversation. If you would like to send us feedback and suggestions, or if you'd like to become a sponsor of EcoSpeak CLE, you can email us at hello at EcoSpeakCLEcom. Stay tuned for more important and inspiring stories to come.

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Diane Bickett

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Greg Rotuno

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