Prompted by reporting by Bay Area News Group, Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, said he planned Thursday to introduce a bill that would require cities, school districts and other agencies to seek competitive bids on energy contracts. A 1983 law exempted those projects from the kind of bidding required on other contracts.

Yee said Wednesday he was motivated, in part, by reports that Chevron Energy Solutions had plied officials at the Mt. Diablo Unified School District with drinks and golf discounts as the company worked to secure one of the nation's largest school solar-power contracts. Following the news reports, the district decided against a no-bid contract and signed an agreement with SunPower Corp. after a bidding process.

"Sole-source contracting is just fraught with problems," Yee said. "It just creates the sense that there is some underhanded dealing going on."

Some who have supported solar bidding nevertheless appear anxious about the bill. A bidding requirement could make innovation difficult in the California solar market, said Sophie Akins, a San Diego attorney who has worked with school districts on solar contracts.

The lack of bidding sometimes allows public agencies more flexibility and makes it easier to find qualified solar companies, Akins said.
 

"I think it would have a chilling effect on solar projects around the state," she said. "You wouldn't want to eliminate the creativity that comes from the private sector."