If it is passed, the Proposition 16 amendment on this year’s ballot will require local governments to obtain two-thirds voter approval before they can provide electricity to new customers or expand their services. In other words, citizens could block attempts by their city councils to expand the service area for existing public utilities or create new ones.
Supporters of the proposition claim that it gives the taxpayers greater say in how their money is spent. Opponents insist that it simply entrenches PG&E’s position as the state’s leading electricity supplier.
“We feel it’s bad public policy that serves mainly to limit competition for PG&E,” says Mayor Patrick Burt of Palo Alto.
Among these opponents are the cities of Santa Clara and Palo Alto. In Santa Clara, for example, the nonprofit Silicon Valley Power significantly reduces electrical costs to its customers by 24 percent (for larger industrial customers) to 46 percent (for residential customers).
“We’ve had great success in our city with public power,” says Steve Van Dorn of the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce, and several large businesses, including Yahoo, want to get hooked up as well. This could be hindered if the measure passes.
Obviously, PG&E supports the measure. A spokesman, Andrew Souvall, says that the company plans to spend between $25 and $ 35million to the pro-Prop 16 campaign. The California Chamber of Commerce supports it too, though it may have to contend with local chambers like Santa Clara’s, which are becoming more vocal in their opposition.
Read More at the Business Journal.
A question for anyone out there.
I seem to remember a policy that gives public utilities a preference for cheap hydro power. Is this still operative?
Yes, public electric utilities get to buy federal power cheap. what’s really interesting and what these public utilities like Santa Clara’s Silicon Valley Power is they operate as a commodities broker, ie, they buy federal power cheap and then sell it to other utilities for more $. right now they are buying/selling power for this coming hot summer. Its not that they are a great business model they just found a loop hole in the deregualtion of electric power that happened over a decade ago. It works like this – Buy Low – Sell High. its not rocket science, just a scam they’ve been allowed to get away with.
Moreover, with cheap electric they have established a very nice tax base, all those high tech firms get very, very cheap power. Try to find out how much they pay – Silicon Valley Power (a public entity) will not release that info citing the “customers privacy”
The little City of Santa Clara has a $1/2 Billion surplus because of this racket and it comes at the expense of other electric users, like San Jose and other cities serviced by PG&E. District 3 in SJ is larger than the entire city of Santa Clara yet has not nearly the tax revenue all because of this oversight in deregulation.
Silicon Valley Power would love to be able to sell electric outside of its service area, and why not? It would be just a bigger “buy low, sell high” market for them.
and who knows maybe then they could build 3 or 4 more football stadiums
PG&E corporate monopoly is spending $30 million to stop any city or county from having municipal utility and 15-25% lower electrical prices to protect their high profits
PG&E monopoly does not want to pay individuals with solar or wind for power generated which would increase sustainable energy production
Do you trust PG&E to do the right thing for environment, California and residents or to delay sustainable energy to maximize their monopoly profits?
Vote NO to PG&E Monopoly’s High Prices
I agree.
From what I’ve read, various municipalities that have their own electrical utility mechanism often pay a lot less than those of us stuck with PG&E. Proposition 16 seems to be little more than an attempt to make it more difficult for people to get out from under the PG&E umbrella. How does that benefit any citizen of this state?
VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 16!
people are missing the point of the advantage that Muni’s (Municipal utilities) have. As I stated, because of a oversight in the electric deregulation they get to buy federal power that IOU’s (investor owned utilities) can’t. this makes it unfare to the vast majority of people who don’t reside in a Muni service area as they have to indirectly subsidize the electric costs of Muni customers. If you live in Santa Clara your electric costs are 1/3 cheaper than if you live, oh say in East San Jose. Part of that is due to PG&E having to buy extra power at peak times. a big part of Santa Clara Electric margin comes from buying exclusively at Federal Power and selling higher to PG&E customers.
PG&E is highly regulated as are their margins, so don’t get stung by that old rant. the city of San Jose is not going to start its own electric company. Just imagine what that would turn out to be, more city union pensions, bloated workforce and capital costs that would never be recouped. everything the city operates now, operates in the red. So all San Jose could do is buy power from Santa Clara which would see all of the profit benefit, lower taxes, lower utility rates and better services, but none of that would come to San Jose.
As for the PG&E wind/solar payments. That stuff is heavily subsidized thru tax benefits and payment by PG&E and those expenses in turn are born by renters, elderly and poor just so some “green person” can feel good about themselves. Hint: those 20 year payback solar panels on your roof are going to be E-Waste before then.
A brief history lesson: In the postwar sprawl era, PG&E threatened every town in their franchise area with a legal challenge to their incorporation if they didn’t exclude providing energy from their city charters. Santa Clara and Palo Alto were already incorporated and now have some of the cheapest electricity in the State. Fast forward to 2002: PG&E files for bankruptcy. They are trying to protect a franchise that has outlived its economic value.
It seems like every ballot measure coming along the last 10-20 years has been some deceptive con job where it makes it sound like you voting for something good if you say yes but in reality its all some funded front for special interests or corporate interests.
The best policy seems to be “just say no” on all ballot measures that are not presented in plain english. The shorter the better. The more commercials needed, the more no votes they should get.
The only bright spot in our weak economy is the paid initiative industry which helps out with lots of low paid, low skilled jobs for signature gathering as well as high end spin-doctoring and media work.
> It seems like every ballot measure coming along the last 10-20 years has been some deceptive con job where it makes it sound like you voting for something good if you say yes but in reality its all some funded front for special interests or corporate interests.
True.
And this is the strategy of the dark side to never allow the passage of another Prop 13 and to make sure that the feckless, dishonest, corrupt, union owned and operated legislature holds on to the reins of power.
My advice: don’t reject an initiative out of hand. Find out who are the supporters and opponents and then decide.
ALWAYS reject any initiative sponsored by government employee unions. Don’t be tricked by unions masquerading as “Sheriffs”, or “Police” or “Public Safety” ASSOCIATIONS.
ALWAYS consider voting for any initiative supported by the Libertarians or an AUTHENTIC taxpayer organization, like the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Again, beware of phony “taxpayer” groups set up by the dark side.
Just to add advice from my own experience here for over 10 years:
If the initiative involves a sales tax, ask who will be spending the money. If you cannot elect, recall, nor run for a seat on who will be spending the money, vote NO.
If it’s a bond initiative, ask about how much time the bond in question will last for. Also, ask how will the interest and principal on the bond be repaid for and when.
Ask who will be sitting on the “watchdog” committees responsible for monitoring how your money via the initiative will be spent. Also ask whether or not you can qualify for a seat on the committee. Ask whether or not the committee’s findings can be overruled by the agency the revenue ultimately goes to. For government infrastructure projects, ask how will cost overruns be covered.
If the sales tax or bond supporters cannot clearly answer these questions, or if the answers are not to your satisfaction, vote NO.
Howard Jarvis is a real taxpayer organization and other “taxpayer” groups are phony? We are all taxpayers. Since when did Howard Jarvis and those against public service become the voice for all of us. I tend to disagree with every recommendation coming from so-called taxpayer groups like Howard Jarvis. I’d say they are the phony taxpayer groups and those who care about the public good are the AUTHENTIC ones. It’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it?
Before you open that big mouth of yours, you should look at the Website of Howard Jarvis and See what they Promote… they “are” the single most “Authentic” group that support Less taxes… Period…
(and I will forgo calling you some choice names)
The Problem Here is that the concept of 2/3 of a public vote at it very base may seem rediculous, however, it’s intent is so that it makes it hard for Local Gov to Become “Utilities Exchanges” without a super majority of the “informed” public…. There can and Are some good Local Gov. Utilities company’s, however, there are many that Milk the system and pass that “extra tax” on to other Electric company’s like PG&E, so in a sense, they are not saving everyone money… they are just stealing it from one group and passing it on to another… and keeping alot of it in the process…
Look up the facts before you vote… otherwise We’ll all continue down this road to our demise
Everyone concerned about the future of PUBLIC POWER better tell to all of their friends, relatives and neighbors to vote no on Proposition 16.
I see several PG&E ads every day and they worry me. How many people are dumb enough to go for $36,000,000+ worth of propaganda.
I know this is a really old article, but I wish to add my experience with Silicon Valley Power and PG&E.
So when I lived in San Jose, my bill was always around $200 and more in the summer (at the highest it was $300), and this was for an apartment and I rarely if ever used the AC. I also use LED lights and other energy efficient bulbs and products when I can.
Now that I live in Santa Clara, my June power bill is $57.
That’s right, PG&E stole an extra $150 bucks from me every month. If you want a private company to take care of anything, they are going to find a way to make money off of you. It’s that simple.
I’ve also had times where they tried to con me into paying more, like once they charged me $800 for one month for a 900sq/ft apartment, with no AC. It took a few months, but I got them to lower it to $300ish.