>> >> january 30th, 2015, >> >> >> city of san francisco >> >> january 30, 2015, >> local agency formation commission >> joint public utilities

commission >> >> please stand by... >> city of san francisco

>> local agency formation commission joint meeting with public utilities commission >>

>> good afternoon and welcome to the joint san francisco public utilities commission and local agency formation commission meeting of the board of supervisors and commission. my name is john avalos chair of lafco and joined by public utilities

commission ann caen. and lisa. we are broadcast by sf sf govtv staff. madam clerk call the roll. >> avalos, present, breed present, commissioner campos, absent. commissioner crews, present mr. chair, you have a quorum. >>supervisor john avalos: okay. that's a quorum for lafco. we can call the roll for the puc. city clerk: president cane, present, courtney, more an. we have a

quorum. >> we have a quorum for puc and lafco. item no. 3. city clerk: opening remarks and discussion of expectations for the joint meeting. >>supervisor john avalos: thank you, this is a meeting that is long time coming and great to see that we are meeting together early in the year. this meeting is to get an update or hear back from ner next and the report from pg & e application for a green tariff action as to what we are trying to do for cleanpowersf and how we can do feasibility study for

community choice aggregation program which is going to be a key part of today. the board of supervisors and lafco have been working for about 10 years on creating our cleanpowersf program. we are close to being ready to launch and august of 2013 but we couldn't find unity with the public utilities commission at that time. since we have ask ner neck next to do the report. we'll do whatever we can to do bring 100 percent renewable energy and it's something that we owe to future generations to be able to put forward

measures that will reduce the impact of climate change duringoing our local part. it's been a long time struggle to keep the process going. but this week mayor lee indicated that he will be supporting clean power for moving forward in san francisco. i saw his press release about the communication program in competition with pg & e's monopoly here in the bay area. it's something that city san franciscans have been looking for and to make sure we have a clean sf program

and make sure it's really in charge of greenhouse gas reductions. i'm excited about this and looking forward to working together and the mayor is excited about this too and look ing forward to work with my colleagues. i'm hoping to move as quick as possible with this program. if we put forward 30 mega watts of 100 percent renewable energy we would have removed 149 tons of c02 a day. and that level continues to come forward in san francisco in terms of the atmosphere being polluted if you will.

where by the end of the summer look to launch the program. i want to make sure the public utilities commission can provide us a sense of a time line with how to move forward and under the auspicious of the community choice aggregation program. i'm very happy to be in this position that we are actually seeing city hall come together to support cleanpowersf and let's move on. president ann caen do you have remarks? >> i do. i'm very happy to be joining in this meeting with public utilities commission and lafco and you supervisors. this is almost

like a birthday or anniversary. it's so nice to be here at this meeting and have people here to participate. just think in a year we'll be celebrating the first year anniversary of cleanpowersf. i think we are on the path now and going there. i'm looking forward for today's presentation and discussion from the report of enernex report. i viewed the report and talked with staff and am very uncouraged about the information they setforth and it will bring together a direction for the path we should be taking and also very importantly to the point of setting those rates. we are looking for that. so our commission is looking forward to working with lafco

on this effort. and at this point i would like to ask if there are any commissioners that would like to make any statements before we begin. >>supervisor john avalos: commissioner vietor? >> yes, i would like to make a couple of comments. thank you very much. i too want to take a moment to acknowledge this moment in time. it's really been an historic week for many of us who have been working these many many years to make community chose aggregation a reality here in san francisco. with the announcement of mayor lee and board president london breed asking to prepare a plan for cleanpowersf, we not only have the go ahead to finally get to the finish line but san francisco is demonstrating it's dedication and leadership in the climate change. there is no time to waste. we have seen blizzards and wildfire

and entering the fourth year of drought. greenhouse gas emissions continues to increase rather than decrease. rel -- resilience in climate change. from president obama and now adapting a change in climate is now a priority. community choice aggregation, cleanpowersf is one of the biggest and best ways for san francisco to contribute to this important goal. not only will community choice aggregation and clean power san francisco reduce greenhouse gas emissions but will create green jobs and help avoid disruptions and a greater economy all at a more affordable rate than pg & e. there has been a lot to carry

us through this point. many felt like they carried the baton like a marathon. many included those involved and now i want to recognize supervisors campos, wiener, breed and our entire board of supervisors for voting early on to adopt this program. they have consistently championed the need for this program in san francisco and kept the issue front and center. i also want to thank publically mayor lee and his staff for staying with us and partnering with us as well as the san francisco public utilities commission staff for continuing to work with the board, lafco and commission to come to a final ground. i have been bashing them for years to come up with a program to make it work. i'm so excited to work

with you harlin. and most importantly, i want to thank the stakeholders and the community members who kept along this fight and reminded us all along to keep this program. this has been a long hall and this program is for you. finally, i know the mayor has asked us to complete the cleanpowersf plan by the end of the year. we could not wait too long to start this program. the drought is scary. i'm asking to accelerate the timeline and come back by february with an earlier date to complete the plan and launch the program. thank you. avms avalos thank >>supervisor john avalos: thank you very much. commissioner crews. >> >>cynthia crews: thank you. i just want to thank everyone for the

opportunity to be here at what is an historic moment in combatting climate change and being a leader, to combat climate change for san francisco and for climate advocates. i was at a conference completely unrelated to climate change, but the first thing i saw this morning was a presentation on creating a culture of co-creation. i thought well, isn't that what we want to do today. that sets the tone of what we want to do is to have a culture of co-creation of lafco, of the puc, of the mayor and the department of environment and all of these groups coming together. labor, coming to go to create this program that will change our city, that will

change our planet. i just want to say how happy i am to be here with you today and that my intention for this meeting is a culture of co-creation. thank you. >>supervisor john avalos: thank you, commissioner campos? >>supervisor david campos: thank you, mr. chairman and madam president and to the commissioners of puc. it's good to be here in this chambers in this joint meeting. i want to begin by thanking our chair of lafco, chair avalos for the leadership he has shown and all the work he's done in the last few years and i want to thank president breed who has been working to reach across the aisle and to get to an understanding with the mayor as we move forward and i also want to thank mayor lee for his support for this program. what i would

say is that it is an historic moment, but those of us who have been working on this for many years know that community choice aggregation has had many historic moments along the way and every time that those moments happen it's very exciting because you think of the possibilities, but i think that as i said at the earlier press conference, i think the devil really is in the detail and the work that we do in the next few months will show whether or not this historic moment is truly as historic as we hope it is. and i think that it really comes down to having very specific timelines and having an aggressive robust agenda. and i appreciate that the general manager is also here and i know this is a priority for him and i like forward to

working with him. someone at the press conference noted that one of the things that has been missing from this program, three things, he said jobs, jobs, jobs. i think it's true. jobs are important. there will be different moments throughout this process where there will be deficiencies in terms of the program. no program is perfect. there will be no perfect program coming out of this process because no such thing exist. there will be things that each and everyone of us will probably want to see in the program that are not in the program to the full extent that we would like. it's just the nature of any program of any project as complicated as this is especially when you have the different interest that are implicated. i don't think that the missing piece has been jobs or for that matter anything else. i think the missing piece for me is the political will. the will to

actually put a program in place. i think if the political will is there that we can work together to have a program that creates those jobs. that have a program that actually addresses the climate change as so crucial and that addresses the very important practical concerns that have been raised by the puc along the way. i think if each party has that political will, this program will be successful. if it is not successful, it will be because that political will is not there. the one thing that i want to say is that as we continue down this road the one thing that i want to be very mindful of is that for me it's not just about addressing climate change which i believe is the most significant issue facing not just san francisco, the country, but the world. but it's also about creating

independence from pg & e, or at least creating some competition for pg & e. i think that one of the reasons why the city and county of san francisco has been where it has been when it comes to its power and energy is because we've had a monopoly for many years. you know, i grew up and was born in guatemala, and in guatemala, in the town that i grew up in power went out all the time; and as someone who was living in a third world country, you never thought something like that would happen in the united states. yet, in san francisco the reliability of our system is not what you would expect and if you can ask so many of our residents who have had to deal with issues over reliability and the reason why that's there is because we have a company that has

had a monopoly for so many years that it hasn't had the incentive to really address those tissues in the way that you would expect. so one thing that i am very fearful of i don't want to see cleanpowersf to be a trojan horse supported by pg & e. that is a very real fear that i have and a very real fear that many of our advocates have. i look forward to working with you and i think it's very exciting and those who are making it a priority and making it very clear. what i said to president breed is we need to make sure to expand the level of

engagement throughout all of san francisco when it comes to community choice local aggregation and that includes the diverse community and community of color. that will make this effort work. >>supervisor john avalos: thank you, commissioner campos. commissioner breed? >>supervisor london breed: thank you. i think after more than a decade we have almost won the unwinnable fight in moving cleanpowersf forward in san francisco. this is a huge step and huge accomplishment and as we all know cleanpowersf is one of the things we can do and it has been one of my highest priorities as supervisors. i was told that clean power was dead and we wouldn't be able to get it done. we didn't stop adrenal -- and

didn't stop dreaming. the commissioners of lafco continue to bring it to the forefront and we are thrilled and excited to know the mayor is on board to help us move this forward. right now the political will is there and it's our job to hold the political will accountable to making sure the details of this program are the kinds of details that we believe will make sure that this program is a success. so i just wanted to thank some of the folks that i have been working with on this particular project and starting with my colleagues, supervisor avalos has definitely been a champion along with supervisors campos and mar and supervisors and commissioner cynthia crews. they have all been dedicated to this program and lafco member

jason fried and many of the advocates who have continued to push this forward and one of the most dedicated advocated help with david brooks and the rest. this is really a historic moment and i'm looking forward to this meeting along with the members of the puc commission. i know and that you are dedicated to making this happen. i'm looking forward to a date when these rates can be set so we can move this thing forward before the end of the year. so director kelly, we are going to be watching you along with your staff and working together to get this program implemented in a timely manner. when i say timely manner, i don't mean december 31, 2015. a lo