{"article":{"id":12596,"heading":"Public power gives San Francisco the juice (Medea Benjamin)","author":"Medea Benjamin","created":"2001-11-03 07:32:56","modified":"2005-08-15 00:42:39","last_modified":"Mon, 15 Aug 2005 07:42:39","article":"
Keeping the lights on
Public power gives San Francisco the \r\njuice

By Medea Benjamin

San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, \r\nNovember 1, 2001


IMAGINE that you're renting an apartment from an \r\nabusive landlord. He's one
of those guys who cruises around in the new \r\nMercedes but keeps crying
poverty and jacking up the rent. When you need \r\nrepairs, he's nowhere to be
found. Then one day you discover that he has so \r\nmismanaged his business that
he's filed for bankruptcy. Just when you're \r\nfeeling totally despondent, you
discover something else -- you have a chance \r\nto buy the apartment, free
yourself from the abusive relationship, build your \r\nown equity, take control.
You'd jump at the chance, right?

Well, apply \r\nthat logic to San Francisco's power system. Right now, our
landlord is \r\nPG&E, a company that took in $5.1 billion in profits in the past
three \r\nyears and squirreled it away in a newly created and unregulated
\"parent \r\ncompany.\" Then, when the utility company ran into debt, it refused
to dip \r\ninto the parent company's funds and instead declared bankruptcy on
April \r\n6.

It's a company that provides lousy service and has let its \r\ninfrastructure go
to pot. It's also a company that recently oversaw the \r\nstate's stiffest rate
increase ever -- socking us with the highest rates in \r\nthe nation after
Hawaii.

This is the company that has been spewing \r\npollution from its Hunters Point
plant for decades, severely compromising the \r\nenvironment and health of that
community, while making no significant \r\ninvestments in renewable energy to
replace our reliance on fossil \r\nfuels.

But on Nov. 6, we have a chance to move from renters to owners. \r\nWith
Proposition F and Measure I, San Franciscans have a unique opportunity \r\nto
say good riddance to PG&E and set up a public power system. Why \r\ntwo
initiatives? PG&E is bound to try to hold up these efforts in court, \r\nas it
did after a similar initiative passed in Sacramento in 1923. As \r\na
protection, we have two possible roads to public power:

Measure I \r\nuses a statewide act to create a Municipal Utility District (MUD)
run by an \r\nelected five-member board.

Prop. F amends the city charter to convert the \r\ncity's Public Utility
Commission into a Municipal Water and Power Agency \r\n(MWPA) run by an elected
seven-member board.

If both measures pass, \r\nthe MUD will take precedence unless it gets tied up
in court for more than \r\ntwo years. In that case, the MWPA will deliver public
power.

Public \r\npower is not a new, untested concept. It exists in more than 2,000
cities \r\nacross the United States, cities that at some point in their history
decided \r\nthat electricity was too important a resource to be left to the
vagaries of \r\nthe market. Here in California, there are 31 public power
entities, including \r\nour state's largest city, Los Angeles, our state
capital, Sacramento, as well \r\nas Palo Alto, Alameda, Glendale, Anaheim and
Pasadena.

To scare away \r\npotential voters, PG&E is claiming it will cost taxpayers $3
billion to \r\nbuy its assets. The state Board of Equalization sets the real
cost as closer \r\nto $750 million. PG&E also fails to explain that we would
finance this \r\nwith revenue bonds that are repaid with income from electricity
bills, not \r\nnew taxes.

Public power would result in major savings for ratepayers. \r\nHistorically, U.
S. Department of Energy data show, public power is 31 \r\npercent cheaper for
residential customers than investor-owned power. In Los \r\nAngeles, rates are
22 percent lower than PG&E rates; in Sacramento, \r\nthey're 30 percent lower;
in Palo Alto, they're 43 percent \r\nlower.

Where do the savings come from? Public power systems can get \r\nlow-interest
bonds and loans, don't pay federal income tax, don't pay \r\nshareholder
dividends, and don't shell out hefty salaries for managers. Last \r\nyear, PG&E
had 47 executives earning more than $250,000; public power \r\nagencies had, at
most, one person at that salary. And PG&E outspent \r\nSacramento's public power
agency 16 to 1 for statewide \r\nlobbying.

Public power not only saves ratepayers money, it saves energy. \r\nEnergy
efficiency and conservation are by far the fastest and cheapest ways \r\nto meet
our energy needs. Public utilities are there to serve consumers, \r\nnot
shareholders, so they can make saving energy a priority. Sacramento, \r\nfor
example, fulfilled its entire growth needs in the '90s through \r\nenergy
efficiency. But for PG&E, the more energy it sells, the more it \r\nmakes for
its stockholders.

Under public power, the mix of energy \r\nsources will change as well. Power
from the Hetch Hetchy water and power \r\nsystem, much of which is presently
diverted to Central Valley irrigation \r\ndistricts, could be used to supply up
to 40 percent of San Francisco's \r\ndemand. We will also reduce our dependence
on gas-fired plants as we \r\ntransition to solar and wind power.

So, Nov. 6 presents a \r\nonce-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you want power that
is affordable, if you \r\nwant to move from polluting fossil fuels to clean
energy, if you want your \r\nenergy system controlled by elected officials
accountable to the public, vote \r\nyes on I and F.
-----------------------------
Medea Benjamin, founding \r\ndirector of Global Exchange, is a candidate for the
Municipal Utility \r\nDistrict Board, Ward 4.


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<\/div>\r\n\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"Nov. 6 presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you want power that is affordable, if you want to move from polluting fossil fuels to clean energy, if you want your energy system controlled by elected officials accountable to the public, vote yes on I and F.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2001\/11\/_powersurge_.htm","filesize":"6.1 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2001\/11\/12596.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}