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Reimaginando la Energía para Nuestras Comunidades &
Libro de Tácticas del Pueblo: Justicia y los Servicios Públicos & Historia de Las Utilidades
TOPICS: TOP FAQ | COSTO | SAVINGS | CHANGES | RELIABILITY | JOBS | GOVERNANCE
TOP FAQ:
Cambiando a una empresa eléctrica sin fines de lucro. SDGE es un monopolio con fines de lucro. Al cambiar a una empresa eléctrica sin fines de lucro y públicamente responsable, las tarifas podrían reducirse al menos un 20% (también nos ahorraríamos pagar altos salarios corporativos y presupuestos publicitarios).
Al envolverte como voluntarios o hacer una donación a Public Power San Diego, podemos incluir una medida en la boleta electoral para convertir/cambiar a una empresa de servicios eléctricos sin fines de lucro y obtener el control local.
A diferencia de SDGE, que existe para maximizar las ganancias de sus accionistas, una EDE sin fines de lucro ahorraría cientos de millones de dólares al año. Para empezar, la EDE eliminaría el margen de ganancias brutas del 20% de SDGE (que incluye impuestos sobre las ganancias) sobre la electricidad.
En el rango del 20% a corto plazo.
Al dejar de pagar las ganancias de la SDGE y los impuestos asociados, y mucho más después. Ahorraríamos 20 billones de dólares para 2042 solo de las ganancias evitadas de SDGE, suponiendo la tasa histórica de crecimiento de las ganancias de SDGE durante la última década.
A diferencia de SDGE, que existe para maximizar las ganancias de sus accionistas, una EDE sin fines de lucro ahorraría cientos de millones de dólares al año. Para empezar, la EDE eliminaría el margen de ganancias brutas del 20% de SDGE (que incluye impuestos sobre las ganancias) sobre la electricidad.
La EDE no tendría que pagar por una nueva y costosa transmisión que se haría innecesaria con el aumento de la energía solar local.
La EDE quedará fuera del control de la Comisión de Servicios Públicos de California (CPUC en inglés) que actualmente está capturada por intereses con fines de lucro. La CPUC ha aprobado aumentos continuos de tarifas del 10% anual durante al menos los próximos cinco años. SDGE proyecta aumentos del 10% en los próximos cinco años. No cuestionan significativamente los planes de los monopolios con fines de lucro: SDGE, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison.
Los proyectos solares y de baterías construidos por la EDE se financiarían con tasas municipales exentas de impuestos más bajas.
La EDE centraría su desarrollo de suministro en la energía solar local, la opción energética más accesible para abordar la crisis climática.
A diferencia de SDGE, que existe para maximizar las ganancias de sus accionistas, una compañía eléctrica sin fines de lucro eliminaría el margen de ganancia bruta del 20% de SDGE sobre las ventas de electricidad, reduciría en gran medida los salarios inflados de los ejecutivos y promovería y protegería la energía solar local, la opción de energía más asequible y confiable.
!Sí!
La mayoría de los residentes de San Diego (60%) apoyan reemplazar a SDGE p
No.
Estamos comenzando con la Ciudad de San Diego porque se han completado los estudios necesarios de los costos y beneficios del poder público. Al comenzar en la ciudad de San Diego, nuestro objetivo es crear un modelo éxitoso que eventualmente pueda replicarse en todo el condado. La Constitución de California permite que los servicios públicos municipales se expandan a otras comunidades si esas comunidades optan por unirse a los servicios públicos municipales.
La empresa de servicios públicos sin fines de lucro sacaría un bono de ingresos municipales para pagar a SDGE el valor tasado de aproximadamente $2.3 billones. El bono sería reembolsado por los contribuyentes, a un costo de aproximadamente 3¢ Kw/H durante 30 años. Esta es una pequeña fracción de los 48-50¢ Kw/H que ya estamos pagando. No se impondrán nuevos impuestos y la Ciudad no estará sujeta a nuevos riesgos financieros. Su capacidad para endeudarse no se ve afectada porque los bonos se basan en las tasas. Las tarifas actualmente incluyen los impuestos que SDGE debe pagar. La empresa de servicios públicos sin fines de lucro no tendría que pagar esos impuestos.
¡Sí!
Consulte las Secciones 1 y 104 de los Estatutos de la Ciudad de San Diego:
Sección 1: “La corporación municipal ahora existente y conocida como “La Ciudad de San Diego”… podrá poseer y adquirir propiedades dentro o fuera de sus límites, ya sea para fines gubernamentales o privativos, o cualquier propósito municipal, ya sea por sucesión, anexión, compra, creación , arrendamiento, donación o expropiación.”
Sección 104: “El Consejo podrá fijar el plazo de cada nueva franquicia de acuerdo con las leyes del Estado de California, siempre que cualquier franquicia pueda terminarse mediante ordenanza siempre que la Ciudad decida adquirir mediante expropiación o de otro modo la propiedad de cualquier empresa de servicios públicos. necesario para el bienestar de la Ciudad, dicha terminación será efectiva en el momento y no antes del pago del precio de compra de la propiedad a adquirir”.
SDGE ha reconocido que la Ciudad puede ejercer este derecho en cualquier momento.[3] SDGE recibirá una compensación justa por los activos eléctricos, idealmente acordando mutuamente con la Ciudad un precio de compra.
Si SDGE se niega a vender o insiste en un precio indebidamente inflado, la Ciudad puede emprender una acción de expropiación en virtud de su derecho de dominio eminente. Si el sistema de distribución eléctrica se adquiere mediante expropiación, los tribunales determinarán el monto de la justa indemnización. Un estudio encargado por la ciudad de San Diego en julio de 2023 estimó el valor justo de mercado total de la red de distribución de la ciudad en $1.7 mil billones.
No es decisión de SDGE.
La Ciudad tiene el derecho establecido en los Estatutos de la Ciudad de adquirir la red eléctrica de la Ciudad de SDGE si determina que es por el bienestar de los habitantes de San Diego hacerlo.
SDGE comprometerá muchos millones de dólares en una campaña de desinformación pública para evitar perder su rentable franquicia eléctrica monopólica en la ciudad. Es por eso que necesitamos miles de partidarios individuales para ejercer su derecho a reducir las tarifas de los servicios públicos. SDGE ha reconocido que la Ciudad puede ejercer este derecho en cualquier momento. SDGE recibirá una compensación justa por los activos eléctricos, idealmente acordando mutuamente con la Ciudad un precio de compra. La Ciudad se ha comprometido a eliminar gradualmente el uso de gas natural para 2035 y, por esa razón,
PPSD no propone adquirir los activos de gas natural de SDGE. Si SDGE se niega a vender los activos de distribución eléctrica o insiste en un precio indebidamente inflado, la Ciudad puede emprender una acción de expropiación ante los tribunales en virtud de su derecho de dominio eminente. El tribunal determinará el importe de la compensación justa por los activos de la red de distribución.
COSTO
La ciudad ha evaluado el valor de los postes y cables de la red de distribución (estudio de julio de 2023) en 1.7 billones de dólares. Esta suma representa el valor de mercado del “Costo original menos depreciación – OCLD (por sus siglas en inglés)”, también conocido como valor justo de mercado, de los postes y cables.
El costo de “separación y reintegración” de la red de distribución de la ciudad, para reconfigurar las subestaciones que sirven tanto a los residentes de San Diego como a las comunidades vecinas, se estima en el estudio en alrededor de $250 millones. Finalmente, el estudio estima los costos iniciales en 300 millones de dólares. El costo inicial total de “valor justo de mercado” para adquirir y poner en marcha la EDU sería de aproximadamente 2.3 billones de dólares. SDGE creó su propia estimación interesada, de 4 a 5 veces mayor que la estimación del estudio, para socavar los valores razonables y bien fundamentados de ese estudio.
Absolutamente no.
Los residentes de San Diego ya pagan una “hipoteca” a SDGE sobre el valor de mercado de los postes y cables. La compañía eléctrica sin fines de lucro financiaría este gasto de capital con un bono de ingresos. El bono sería reembolsado por los contribuyentes durante un período de 30 años.
El costo amortizado para comprar activos de distribución eléctrica de SDGE al valor de mercado actual en la ciudad de San Diego, incluidos los costos de indemnización y puesta en marcha, sería inferior a $0.02/kWh. [1] Eso sería $10/mes sobre el uso mensual promedio de un cliente residencial de aproximadamente 600 kWh por mes. [2] Compare esto con los aumentos del 10% anual ya aprobados en su factura mensual de SDGE proyectada por la CPUC.
Este gasto de capital se recuperaría de un alto volumen de ventas de energía eléctrica a los clientes de la Ciudad, más de 8 billones de kilovatios-hora por año, durante 30 años.
A modo de comparación, la tarifa eléctrica residencial minorista todo incluido sin descuento de SDG&E fue de $0,48/kWh en 2023.
[1]Estrategias de Nueva Generación. Costos totales de adquisición de electricidad = $2.300.000.000 (bienes de capital, indemnizaciones, capital inicial); bono municipal, 30 años, 4% de interés (factor de recuperación de capital = 0,0578), ventas de 8 mil millones de kWh/año. Requisito de ingresos de adquisición total unitario = ($2,3 mil millones x 0,0578)/8 mil millones de kWh/año = $0,017/kWh. [2] El consumo residencial medio es de 600 kWh/mes. 600 kWh/mes x $0,017/kWh = $10/mes.SDGE recibirá un precio justo por la red de distribución eléctrica. La compra se financiará sin fondos de la Ciudad ni nuevos impuestos. La compra se autofinanciará mediante bonos de ingresos municipales a largo plazo que pagarán los clientes de electricidad.
El costo de pagar los bonos será pequeño en comparación con los grandes ahorros obtenidos. Las finanzas de la Ciudad no estarán expuestas a ninguna nueva deuda. Los montos de los bonos no tienen ningún impacto en el endeudamiento de la Ciudad porque están respaldados por pagos de los contribuyentes y son responsabilidad exclusiva de la EDU sin fines de lucro.
No.
SDGE no solo recibirá una compensación justa, sino que, para empezar, los contribuyentes de la ciudad de San Diego y todos los demás clientes de SDGE pagaron por los activos. Aunque sus clientes pagan para construir, operar y mantener toda la infraestructura de SDGE (y pagan para obtener ganancias), SDGE conserva la propiedad legal de los activos. Esto cambiaría pasando al poder público.
No.
Con un valor de bono de 3.1 billones de dólares (que incluye la compra del sistema de distribución eléctrica a 1.5 veces el valor justo de mercado, los costos de indemnización y los costos de puesta en marcha), el impacto en las tarifas eléctricas sería inferior a 0.03 dólares por kilovatio-hora (kWh).
Un bono de ingresos municipales. Este enfoque financiero se describió en el informe de consultoría de JVJ preparado para la Ciudad en 2020, y nuevamente en el estudio de julio de 2023 para la Ciudad preparado por NewGenStrategies: ver PDF en inglés.
Sí.
Otro ahorro de costos para las empresas de servicios públicos sin fines de lucro es que no pagan impuestos. SDG&E ha pagado consistentemente alrededor de $200 millones por año en impuestos sobre la renta.
AHORRO
Una compañía eléctrica sin fines de lucro ahorraría inicialmente entre un 20 – 25%, principalmente eliminando ganancias e impuestos que de otro modo serían recaudados por SDGE, y reduciendo sustancialmente la paga de los ejecutivos al rango típico de servicios públicos comparables.
El cambio a una compañía eléctrica sin fines de lucro también eliminaría los gastos de SDGE en salarios excesivos de los altos ejecutivos (11 millones de dólares por año para el director ejecutivo en 2020), publicidad, contribuciones a candidatos y funcionarios electos, organizaciones de lobby e influyentes organizaciones no gubernamentales locales. organizaciones con fines de lucro.
SDGE actualmente obtiene más de $1.4 millones por día en ganancias de sus clientes de la ciudad de San Diego. Casi el 90% de ese beneficio proviene de el lado eléctrico del negocio. Una compañía eléctrica sin fines de lucro de la ciudad de San Diego no obtendría ganancias de los clientes de San Diego.
La misión de la compañía eléctrica sin fines de lucro será reducir las tarifas eléctricas maximizando el desarrollo local de baterías y energía solar. Esta energía local, generada y utilizada en el sistema de distribución de bajo voltaje, no estaría sujeta a los altos, onerosos y crecientes cargos de acceso a la transmisión impuestos por SDGE a toda la energía minorista entregada.
Esto daría como resultado que la energía solar y el almacenamiento local sean la opción de energía de menor costo para los residentes de la ciudad. La propuesta de la compañía de electricidad sin fines de lucro comenzará a operar en enero de 2031.
El costo de producción de la energía solar comercial en tejados será un tercio de la carga de transmisión proyectada por SDGE en 2030, según las previsiones de costos de producción del Laboratorio Nacional de Energía Renovable.
La Comisión de Servicios Públicos de California (CPUC por sus siglas en inglés) proyecta que las tarifas aumentarán para los clientes de SDGE a un ritmo del 10.4% anual.* Suponiendo esa tasa de aumento y la ganancia diaria actual de $1.4 millones, la siguiente figura muestra cómo esa ganancia aumentará a aproximadamente $20 billones para 2042.
Las tarifas de energía sin fines de lucro son sustancialmente más bajas. Las tarifas residenciales de SMUD (servicio público), PG&E y SDGE se comparan en la siguiente figura. La factura mensual de un cliente residencial de SMUD es ahora aproximadamente un tercio de la factura mensual de un cliente residencial de SDGE por la misma cantidad de electricidad utilizada.
Comparación de tarifas eléctricas: SMUD, PG&E y SDG&E:
CHANGES related to no-profit power
Public power utilities are common across the United States. In California, 46 out of 49 electric utilities are public electric utilities – and they all provide reliable electricity at rates significantly lower than SDGE.
The benefits of public electric power are local control, more accountability, better service, higher reliability, lower rates, a stronger local economy, and better prospects for achieving high renewables generation. Of all the municipalities in the US that have actually made the switch to 100% renewables power, all of them are no-profit electric utilities. View article.
“San Diego Community Power” is a not-for-profit that contracts for the power supply used by San Diegans. That power is transmitted over SDGE poles and wires.
The no-profit utility would takeover SDGE’s role, owning and operating the poles and wires, and setting electric rates. In contrast to SDGE, the no-profit utility would focus on rapidly expanding the local solar power supply, and when necessary, build those projects using low cost tax exempt municipal bonds.
San Diego Community is our “community choice” energy provider. The state passed a “community choice” law in the wake of the California energy crisis of 2000-2001 that enables communities located in investor-owned utility (IOU) service territories to select and provide their own power supply if they choose to do so. Under this structure, the IOU (SDGE) continues to own the poles and wires and to deliver the power supply.
SDCP is a non-profit entity with a mission to provide less expensive renewable power at a faster pace than SDGE. However, to date SDCP has chosen to follow a similar procurement model as SDGE. Power supply costs account for only about 20 percent of a residential customer’s bill, with the remaining 80 percent associated with delivery and related costs. Instead of supporting local solar, they are pursuing the more expensive course of procuring remote power that requires high cost transmission to reach customers.
A no-profit electric utility that owns and operates our poles and wires, bringing the entire City of San Diego electric system under local control, has the greatest potential to reduce rates, achieve faster decarbonization, and work synergistically with SDCP.
SDCP is a seven-jurisdiction joint powers authority, consisting of San Diego, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, Encinitas, National City, and San Diego County. As noted, SDCP procures electric power supply for member cities and the County unincorporated areas, while SDG&E continues to provide transmission and distribution service.
If the City of San Diego establishes an independent no-profit electric utility, it will take over the electricity distribution, billing, and customer service within the city limits. SDCP will supply power to the new utility at a wholesale level. That will remain true over time if SDCP concentrates on developing the local solar and battery storage projects the public utility will require.
The not-for-profit utility will build its own solar and battery power if the market cannot provide those resources at competitive prices.
About 25 percent of California’s electric power is provided by no-profit electric utilities. Overall there are 46 such public utilities in California, the largest being the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD). Notably, San Diego has a nearby not-for-profit electric utility – the Imperial Irrigation District (IID).
More than 30.
Long Island and Kauai Island have converted from private monopoly utilities to public utilities in the recent past. The Long Island Power Authority, with 1.4 million customers, is much larger than a City of San Diego not-for-profit electric utility, with 600,000 electric customers, would be. In Southern California, the cities of Moreno Valley and Corona have recently established public electric utilities for new customers. Around the state, the City of San Francisco and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District are pursuing public power.
Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), 1998
Immediate rate reduction of 20 percent. LIPA rates continue to be lower than those of downstate New York private utilities. LIPA is a leader in clean energy.
Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC), 2003
Under private utility control, KIUC had the highest electric rates in Hawaii. It now has the lowest rates and highest renewable energy percentage. It is the nationwide leader in community-scale solar plus battery storage.
Moreno Valley Electric Utility, 2004
Provides electric service to new commercial and residential developments in Moreno Valley. It received the American Public Power Association’s “Excellence in Reliability” award in 5 of the last 7 years (including 2023).
Corona Municipal Electric Utility, 2001
Provides fully bundled electric service to City of Corona owned and operated facilities and eight areas within the City. The public utility was established in response to state-wide rolling blackouts and electric price instability.
Yes.
Here is a map that shows those who are currently exploring Public Power or have recently.
Yes. There are several examples:
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The City’s not-for-profit Public Utilities Department (PUD) provides water and wastewater service to City residents.
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The Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) is a joint powers authority non-profit agency. MTS grew out of San Diego Transit. San Diego Transit was formed in 1967 when the City took over the private transit operator serving the City at the time. MTS member cities include San Diego, Chula Vista, Coronado, El Cajon, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, National City, Poway, Santee, and San Diego County. Elected officials from each jurisdiction, including San Diego County, serve as the board of directors. The City of San Diego has the most representation with four members.
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Newly formed San Diego Community Power (SDCP) is a joint powers authority composed of six cities and the County,
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UC San Diego also operates largely as an island of electric self-service within SDG&E – a standalone microgrid – in effect functioning as a de facto municipal utility.
Reasonably well. The Public Utilities Department was honored in 2016 and 2019 as a “Utility of the Future Today.” It is developing the cutting-edge “Pure Water” program that purifies recycled water to produce safe, high-quality drinking water for the City. The intent of this program is to provide one-third of the City’s drinking water by 2035.
The PUD gained notoriety for billing errors in 2017, when about 0.2 percent of bills required correction after being sent to customers. City Councilwoman Barbara Bry called for an audit in February 2018. New procedures were put in place to reduce billing errors in response to the audit. This incident showed the power of local control – customer complaints resulted in successful corrective action by the City Council.
The PUD has a better credit rating than SDGE. The Fitch bond rating for the PUD is AA- and BBB+ for SDGE.
With SDGE, there is really no accountability for their issues.
Not-for-profit electric utilities generally provide more revenue to their communities than private monopoly utilities.
Not-for-profit electric utilities contributed 5.6 percent of electric operating revenues back to the communities they serve (2016 data). In comparison, investor-owned utilities paid a median of 4.4 percent of electric operating revenues in taxes and fees to state and local governments.
SDG&E provides franchise fees equivalent to 3.0 percent of its electric and natural gas sales to the City of San Diego. These fee payments, which are pass-through payments from residents to the City, amounted to $63.7 million (pg 5) in fiscal year 2020 on an estimated $1.8 billion in SDG&E sales revenue generated in the City.*
A fee of comparable value, $63.6 million (pg.5), was also collected for the Utility Undergrounding Surcharge Fund. SDG&E collects these fees from City residents and transfers them to the City. These fees are not paid out of SDG&E revenue (pg.2).
In contrast, Austin Energy, the not-for-profit electric utility of Austin, Texas, contributed $109 million to Austin’s General Fund in 2018 on sales of $1.2 billion. This amount is approximately 9 percent of Austin Energy’s sales revenue – a rate three times higher than the San Diego franchise fee.
[4] NewGen Report, Table 3, pdf p. 45. SDG&E electric revenue from San Diego sales, 2017 = $1.551 billion. SDG&E natural gas revenue from San Diego sales, 2017 = $0.226 billion. Total San Diego sales, 2017 = $1.777 billion.
The City of San Diego has ample solar potential to auto-supply with local solar power. The solar potential of residential and commercial rooftops in San Diego is approximately 9,000 GWh. The solar potential of commercial parking lots is approximately 6,500 GWh. Available ground-mounted sites in the City have a solar potential of approximately 5,000 GWh. In combination, the solar potential of San Diego is in the range of 20,000 GWh per year. This is far greater than the 8,000 GWh of new solar power needed by 2039 to offset imported (transmission dependent) grid power.
An EE target reduction of 20 percent, or approximately 2,000 GWh of the projected 2039 net electricity demand in the City, will be achieved by the not-for-profit electric utility by focusing EE upgrade efforts on customers using disproportionately high amounts of electricity. An opt-out program structure would be used to maximize the potential gains as fast as they can be achieved. On-bill financing available to all customers including renters – with payment tied to the meter number and not an individual – would fund a substantial amount of this local clean energy development.
CONFIABILIDAD
Yes. SDGE’s record is problematic.
SDG&E territory has experienced three major blackouts in the last decade: April 2010, September 2011, and August 2020.
All three blackouts occurred under conditions that SDG&E should have been able to meet without interrupting power to customers. SDG&E avoided blackouts during the SDG&E-caused 2007 wildfires in part by obtaining emergency power from UC San Diego, which self-supplies with its own generation.*
*San Diego Union Tribune – Letters, Generation of power outside SDG&E grid, November 17, 2007.
It would be a different set of risks – but known and the fear-based unknown.
The known risks of staying with SDGE: continued rate increases of 10% per year for the next five years and the foreseeable future after that.
Continued expensive wildfire costs. We need not build or pay for new expensive and risky transmission lines through fire prone and wildlife habitats. Since the 2007 Witch Creek, Guejito and Rice wildfires in the San Diego area that destroyed more than 1,300 homes and killed two people, SDG&E has spent about $5 billion in ratepayer funds on wildfire prevention.
San Diego has sufficient solar resources within its boundaries to meet the needed electricity demand. The no-profit utility would have the mission to reduce rates and risks and would not require additional construction of expensive and risky transmission lines.
The unknown risks can be summed up as fear of change. Experience tells us that no-profit utilities work well – they are more reliable and have lower rates due to their structural and local controls.
Distributed, locally-generated solar power would Increase resiliency.
The existing SDGE model of importing power via long transmission lines increases the number of potential soft targets for failures or terrorism. The National Defense Strategy (NDS) emphasizes “deterrence by resilience” as a central strategy to protect critical infrastructure. Distributed solar make it more difficult to intrude on the power supply.
Local solar with batteries gives us local control. During recent heat waves, buildings with solar power did not suffer power outages. Those connected through under-maintained equipment had outages exactly when they needed heat relief.
Only utility-scale (large) battery storage facilities, that place a huge amount of stored energy in one location, present substantial fire risk. State Regulators gave the for-profit monopolies including SDGE carte balance size and locate battery storage facilities. Without limits on the amount of energy being concentrated in one spot – the installs have become too large to be safe.
The worst fires come from an older lithium battery chemical composition (manganese/nickel/cobalt). This was the battery type responsible for the fire earlier in Otay Mesa, County of San Diego. Lithium iron phosphate battery chemistry has a lower fire risk, but fire risk is still present. Relatively fire prone battery installations are made more hazardous in proportion to their size.
You can get the same capacity in a distributed network with much less risk. Ten thousand home battery systems equal the output of one medium-sized utility-scale battery storage facility, but one ten-thousandth of the energy is stored at each site (with comparably lower impacts for fire).
MORE INFO on battery storage issues: http://www.stopseguro.org
TRABAJO
The International Brotherhood of Electric Workers (IBEW) Local 465 represents SDGE’s electrical workers.The no-profit utility would welcome SDGE’s IBEW 465 union workers and honor their collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with SDGE. It is required by state law to do so. IBEW 465 also represents public electric utility workers. Imperial Irrigation District (IID) to the east is a public electric utility. IBEW 465 represents IID workers. The transition of IBEW 465 workers from SDGE to the City’s no-profit utility should be relatively seamless for the workers. All public electric utilities in California are union.
Yes. The public utility will be obligated by law to retain all workers covered by a CBA with SDGE, for the subset of SDGE territory to be served by the public utility, prior to the transition to public power.
The IBEW 465 contract with SDGE has a Loyalty Clause that requires IBEW 465 members to promote SDGE interests at all times:
The Local Union agrees for its members (who are employees of the Company) that they will individually and collectively perform loyal and efficient work and service, that they will use their influence and best efforts to protect the property of the Company, and its service to the public, and that they will cooperate in promoting and advancing the welfare of the Company and the protection of its service to the public at all times.
Source: Amended Agreement between SDG&E and Local Union 465, Clause I.3
California Public Utilities Code 854.2: for three years after the transition period … the successor employer shall provide … no less than the wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment provided before the change of control (by the IOU) … and shall maintain no less than the total number of covered employees (on staff) before a change of control. This is the minimum protections currently. Additional protections would be addressed in the initiative language. If you are interested, please volunteer to serve on the Unions Team of volunteers.
A variety of governance structures are used by existing California not-for-profit public municipalities, reflecting a mix of elected and appointed approaches:
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Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) is governed by an elected seven-member board of directors.
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Imperial Irrigation District (IID) is governed by an elected five-member board of directors.
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Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is governed by a five-member Board of Water and Power Commissioners appointed by the mayor of Los Angeles and confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council.
The seven-member Anaheim Utilities Board is appointed by Anaheim City Council.
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The Riverside Board of Utilities is a nine-member board appointed by the Riverside City Council.
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Pasadena Water and Power is governed by the Pasadena City Council.
PPSD is evaluating whether an appointed Board or a directly-elected Board is a better alternative for San Diego.
In any case, expertise on the Board will be required to effectively oversee management and operations of the public utility. A third option being evaluated is to directly elect a portion of the Board and have the elected Board members appoint additional Board members with appropriate qualifications. This was the governance structure proposed in the 2023 Maine public power ballot initiative..
Under the third option four “expert” Board members would be appointed, each a registered voter residing in San Diego, encompassing four distinct fields:
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Law: Specializing in utility, business, regulatory, or finance law
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Economics: Focused on utility or business economics
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Mechanical or electrical engineering: Expertise in electricity generation, storage, efficiency, or delivery
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Environmental and social justice advocacy: Experience in energy issues affecting low-income and moderate-income individuals.
Board members would be appointed for staggered five-year terms to ensure continuity. The appointment process for appointed Board members would be comprehensive and include minimum qualifications and interviews. For example, addressing experience, each appointed Board member must have at least ten years of direct experience in their respective field.
The senior executive management would include positions such as strategic planning staff, engineering and capital planning staff, regulatory and compliance staff, and control room operators. These roles are filled by employees working directly for the public utility. In contrast, for other staff positions, the utility may employ qualified independent contractors selected through competitive bidding, in line with the principles of managed competition.
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Direct Employees: Key positions like senior executive management, strategic planning, engineering and capital planning, regulatory and compliance staff, and control room operators are staffed by city employees.
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Independent Contractors: Other operational roles may be filled by contractors, chosen through competitive bidding. These contracts, capped at five years, are based on experience, system knowledge, reliability, safety, and potential to enhance customer service and employee morale.
Sortition is the practice of selecting individuals for public office or decision-making roles through random selection, similar to drawing lots.
Importance of Sortition:
- Promotes Equality and Fair Representation:
- Since candidates are chosen randomly, sortition offers an equal chance for all citizens to participate in governance, reducing the influence of wealth, power, or popularity. It can result in a more representative cross-section of society compared to elections, which often favor certain demographics.
- Reduces Corruption and Partisanship:
- By removing the need for elections, sortition minimizes the influence of campaign financing, lobbying, and political parties. Officials chosen by sortition are not beholden to special interest groups, which can reduce corruption and partisan bias in decision-making.
- Diminishes Elitism:
- Sortition helps prevent the formation of political elites by ensuring that ordinary citizens, not just career politicians, have the opportunity to govern. This can lead to more diversity of ideas and policies that better reflect the broader population.
- Encourages Civic Engagement:
- Since every citizen has a chance to be selected for governance, sortition fosters a greater sense of civic responsibility and engagement. People may become more informed and involved in politics, knowing they could be called upon to serve.
- Increases Legitimacy:
- Because sortition is random, it can be seen as a fair and impartial way of distributing power. This can increase the legitimacy of government decisions, as they are made by people who are not campaigning for reelection or subject to political pressures.