The Ocean Beach Planning Board meets Wednesday night, November 1 inside the OB Rec Center at 4726 Santa Monica Ave. Their meet begins at 6 pm.
Notable agenda items include a presentation by a representative volunteer of Power San Diego campaign about this upcoming ballot initiative. The presenter will spell out the justification for non-profit control as well as the mechanics of how it is possible.
From the campaign’s website:
Welcome to the Power San Diego Ballot Initiative
The Grassroots Campaign for Change!
The Power San Diego Ballot Initiative is here to give San Diegans a voice, and an option to change our energy future. Power San Diego is a growing coalition of San Diegans who are committed to creating a nonprofit utility that meets San Diego’s needs.
San Diegans currently pay the highest rates in the country to a company with the lowest customer satisfaction in the west and third worst in the country. It’s time to change this!
Power San Diego wants to create a not-for-profit local authority. One that is owned by the people and operated for the people. Lower rates, no fixed charges while also protecting your roof top solar is a future we can have. Let’s cut the profit going to shareholders and invest in our communities!
We are Power San Diego and we hope you will join us to make the change San Diego so desperately needs.
The other item of note is a continued issue from the board’s previous 2 meetings, “Operating Procedures and CPG Application.”
Here is the link to the current draft of bylaw changes and operating procedures.
The City – in all of its infinite wisdom – is forcing all of the community planning panels from around the city — all 51 of them — to reapply to be their community’s planning group to the city council. In doing so, the city over turned every election of the dozens of community planning groups held last March 2023.
It’s especially insulting to the OB Planning Board because the board was the very first planning committee to be democratically elected by its community way back in July 1976.
Here is the official agenda for 11/1/23:
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How about government working for the people and not the profiteering corporations through the CPUC? Empowering California through affordable energy?
As of Dec. 7, signatures are being collected for the Power San Diego initiative. Look for tables with petitions at the OB Farmers Market on Wed. evenings.
To find locations that may be more convenient, go to https://wearepowersandiego.com/power-san-diego-events/
To volunteer to collect signatures, go to https://wearepowersandiego.com/volunteer or sign up at a tabling even listed on the Events calendar.
The information presented by the San Diego Public Power representative will be extremely valuable. It will provide you with the necessary information to evaluate, and respond to, the SDG&G campaign to defeat the Public Power option. Please attend!
But, if you cannot attend, go to the link provided above “campaign’s website” and get lots of information there.
Not holding my breath, so to speak, due to who owns the infrastructure and barriers to entry.
The not-for-profit Power San Diego will purchased the infrastructure now owned by SDG&E. Instead of paying ever-increasing fees for SDG&E new infrastructure and profits going out of state to parent company Sempra (Texas), City of San Diego ratepayers will be paying a fixed rate to pay of the bond issues to purchase SDG&E infrastructure.
While I agree that this may seem improbably to many of us, keep in mind that there are numerous jurisdictions around California and the U.S. which have successfully made the transition. It will take several years once approved by voters but, in the meantime, our rates from SDG&E will continue to go up.
There were only a few people at tonight’s OBPB Public Power presentation so please take Geoff’s great advice and go to the campaign’s website.
Thanks, Nanci. As of Dec. 7, signatures are being collected for the Power San Diego initiative. Look for tables with petitions at the OB Farmers Market on Wed. evenings.
To find locations that may be more convenient, go to https://wearepowersandiego.com/power-san-diego-events/
To volunteer to collect signatures, go to https://wearepowersandiego.com/volunteer or sign up at a tabling even listed on the Events calendar.
I like the idea of eliminating fixed costs. SDG&E has been successfully moving more and more of our bill from use based to fixed for many years now. Their motivation for doing that is clear.
1) It lessens how much they have to pay solar customers for energy buy-back
2) it discourages conservation
3) it allow them to keep a larger part of your bill now that most rate payers get electricity generation through community power.
Re a municipal power company: “The feasibility study found that if San Diego could purchase SDG&E’s electrical grid within city limits for $2 billion, ratepayers could save between 13% and 14% in the first decade. If the purchase price were $6 billion, those savings would be wiped out in the first decade — but would gradually climb to between 5% and 6% after 30 years.” https://www.kpbs.org/news/local/2023/07/20/study-finds-municipal-utility-could-save-san-diego-ratepayers-up-to-14-in-10-years