. >> how much did the poll cost the ratepayers of san francisco? >> i cannot answer that. >> i guess the first step is that this came from money given for this program. we've budgeted money years ago to take care of the expenses of lafco and this program. this did not come from ratepayers. the poll cost about $50,000 to do. it did not come from the ratepayers of san francisco. >> it came from where? >> it came from revenue from power sales to the irrigation district and a variety of other customers we have on the power site. >> the people in the best of pay for this? -- modesto paid for this? >> out of the entire budget, you could pick a line item that paid for it. >> i am not sure the right person is to answer this question. maybe miss hale. commissioner torres was just speaking about the participation rates. what would be the participation rate in a 100% clean program -- green program? i would assume if 100% of the people wanted to sign up, we would not be able to provide power at 100% agreement -- green. i am hoping there is room to grow in that

what percentage of ratepayers are in the various tiers? >> on a slide 5, you will see the total number of customers within each. i do not have the percentages in front of me. of the top of my head, tier one represents 54%. it is a slight majority of all customers. when we get down to tier 5, it is only 9000 customers of a total of around 200,000. it is only about 5% of the overall total. >> commissioners, and the other questions? this is the beginning of the first piece of the presentation. i will turn it over to the general manager of the public utilities commission. mr. harrington, do you want to add anything? >> i knothink the good news is t we surveyed people two years ago before we knew much about it. we've been anxious to see what people think about it. we're far enough in the design to come up with more detail and get more information. the great news is that there is a good number of people who really want to have a green product. what is really nice for marketing it is that the difference between 40% rps and 100% of everything was

commissioner torres: so, these will not be borne by the ratepayers of sand and cisco? >> correct. they have the benefit we have of being able to raise the island by 3 feet for a storm system today. it will eliminate the pump stations that necessary to get water off of the island. after 16 inches of sea level rise, we will need to adjust. that is what the project pays for. president vietor: and the project will pay for it? >> correct. >> there will be a shared cost. there are certain things we are paying for. we can talk about that. we would pay for the waste water treatment plant. but the infrastructure to deliver the water there is a mixed cost. we can go through details. >> pc level question -- he would not be paying for those -- the ec level question, he would not be paying for those. vice president moran: we would be talking about the cost of the waste water treatment plant? >> for certain items on there. there will be a number of rate increases over the next 10 years to pay for residents in the southeast, for example, that provides no benefit to treasure island. if treasure i

i am a ratepayer and a member of the good government alliance. i thank you for starting this process and discussion. in 1932, there were lots of reasons why they needed to consolidate into one entity. however, since 1932, there has been no competitive bid process, and as you know, services have expanded to recycling, to transfer station operations, to landfills. it is an entirely different situation. you also know that there are unregulated commercial rates. businesses and small business in san francisco are critically important. it is a relationship directly between recology and business. there is no interface, and this is a problem. i also would like to urge you to take a look at where ratepayer moneys have gone, which is also the brisbane facility. the brisbane facility has existed because of ratepayer costs, and i think the city should have some equity in that. please look at the one-stop complex at the port. barging from the port recologyport now is on a cost- plus contract. this is very unusual. not a fixed price per ton. it is difficult to

additional information could be obtained about where ratepayers are. depending on what happens with rates going forward, maybe the issue of cost will change so that the question is not framed in terms of if you would be interested even if there is a higher cost involved. taken in the context of pg&e having a monopoly on this market and given the billions of dollars that have been spent, it to the extent you want to make an analogy to a political campaign, i think we're actually in pretty the shape. we are in pretty good shape. i would imagine if you look at where we are today and compare it to where we were in terms of people's perception of the program three years ago, i think a lot of progress has been made in the short amount of time. i do look at it as a glass half full perspective. i think there is an opening for us to grow this program. it is something we have not been able to demonstrate. i think it will be powerful to have a program that is effective and runs well. that will go a long way in building more public support for something like this.

but a it would help our ratepayers reduce their cost, it would help our general fund and p.u.c.'s budget as well. i get that solar may not be the most efficient use of our dollars in terms of creating jobs in green-collar work force. i'm wondering, since this upcoming year in essence the program will be somewhat whole. if we could work on developing programs that would actually route folks into energy efficiency and working with our ratepayers -- >> we'd love to do that. that's such a good use of money and that's a long-term training opportunity also. supervisor kim: great. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you, supervisor kim. supervisor chiu. supervisor chiu: a couple questions to follow-up on involving city college. at the southeast campus you obviously have a lot of activities there related to your department's work. how did you come up with the $228,000 for that lease price? >> i have no idea. historically, the building was really almost taken over by city college. in fact, when we started working with different agencies, they thought city college owned the building and it wa

ultimately, we want to have the best service and deal possible for our ratepayers. we want to do that in a way that is consistent with the values of our city. we have heard from the employees of recology. we have heard about the best practices the company follows. i am proud to see that happen in san francisco. i do not think doing what is best for the rate payers and employees is necessarily mutually exclusive. i think there is a way we can do both. with that, i simply ask that we cannot in about three weeks -- that we come back in about three weeks and you are back from the consultant. >> i was just going to affirm that the look of franchise agreements and fees compared to rates and services provided -- we are comparing apples to apples that way. i did hear the consultants say three weeks to prepare the report, three to four. that means we would meet sometime after that, in terms of the timing issue. i would like the consultant to speak to the timeline to make sure. through the chair, i can work with you on the revised schedule. >> i think we can come back or have

reality is with the upgrade in service and the upgrade in facility, how will that still benefit our ratepayers and long- term service in san francisco? so i think it is a macro picture, and recology is best to speak to that, but i want to make sure that we are looking at even if the facility does expand, it stands to have some pretty strong benefits for our service. commissioner mirkarimi: thank you. commissioner campos: let me say that one of the things that i have seen through this process in learning more about how the process works and the work that recology does is that i have been very impressed by the operation that recology runs and the fact that it is an employee- owned company, and having visited the facility, it is very impressive. this discussion is not about the ecology not doing the job that is supposed to be doing, nor is it about the quality of the work. to the contrary, i do not think anybody is disputing that. the question here is what is the city getting -- is the city getting the best deal possible for itself and ratepayers'? that is the central point. looking at what happe

there are two other groups representing pg&e ratepayers.y vote tomorrow. >> thank you, sharon chin in san bruno. >>> public safety may take some big hits as part of contra costa county's efforts to reduce a budget shortfall there. the board of supervisors just approved a budget plan yesterday that includes nearly $50 million in cuts, 138 jobs will be eliminated and 28 of those will be from the sheriff's office. >>> and people in sonoma county can't escape budget cuts, even in death. mortuaries say that the county is so far behind on issuing death certificates needed for burials that funerals are being delayed. the office in charge of that used to have four people working on the certificates but because of cuts and a retirement there is only one person left to take care of everything. the backlog got worse last week when that one person called in sick. >> and government official start cutting and cutting. do they really look at the repercussions? >> the county says it plans to replace the retired worker but the process has taken a lot longer

how often will a ratepayer both to a different -- move to a different tier. if someone is in tier 2, how many are they willing to go up before they would opt out? >> let me answer the question of the movement among tiers. i will return to end to the question to indicate if there is a willingness to stay. today, with nothing available, many customers and all customer consumption his bill and their consumption and the number of kilowatt hours is what determines what tier they are in. come -- customers can move amongst the tiers month to month. they discovered that they have moved into a higher rate half a they have been killed. it is an after the fact awareness. handoff to the second part of your question, the degree to which customers might decide to opt out, and survey can't really speak to that because we asked people about their rate impact at their current level of usage. we did ask about a number of different grade levels that allows us to model some of the curve of the price sensitivity. we might be able to make ruckuses him if they were to go to another

in addition, i want to also remind you we are looking at ways to minimize costs to ratepayers were ever we can. we are going to be one of the largest, if not the very largest municipal issue were in california, if not for the whole year, except in the state of california, of course, who has delayed their bond sale. so, there is a lot of investor cash on the sidelines. we are always seen as a very attractive credit service utility. in addition to that, we may be able to get additional allocation of tax exempt qualifications. we will be going to sacramento to have at this for additional allocation of tax exemption for bonds related to private activity use. you'll recall that we sell 15% of our water -- all little less than that actually -- to private enterprise. we typically have to issue private activity bonds. the volume cap application allows us to possibly do some of that in a lower tax exempt setting. the chances of us getting that are very high, because there are not a lot of other sellers in the marketplace. we have an update on the charity program. the attack on the budget. the wi

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we have such a strong investment rating that allows us to borrow very inexpensively and to save ratepayers a great deal of money. the adjustment of a single notch down word, some additional conservatism would result in about $10 million of additional costs. that is something that we always want to ensure we are providing revenues in a persistent revenue stream to keep that strong rating. the dialogue with the customers has resulted in written responses that are attached before you. that would be 26 wholesale customers that would be part of the group. their preference over zero was that while there are appreciative of the staff taking time to look at alternatives for revenues, and they wanted to continue to do that for next year's rate saving process. the " here -- quote here from mr. jensesn is that -- jensen is that we can meet our quota and provide a means for existing methodology. what you see in your packet today is what our intention is to bring to you for final consideration, that would be a continuation of our existing methodology, and it would mean that we would need to change whol

is it good for ratepayers? there were cards about pg&e. what about smart meters and the safety and reliability of pg&e? there was another card that spoke about, we want more urban gardens. there was an example laid out of a park and other work that has been done here in transforming blighted areas into wonderful urban gardens. and a card about homeless, how the homeless seem to be hanging out quite a bit under the walkways that lead to the rec and park areas off steiner and webster, and what police, rec and park, and others can do about that. those were the other themes in the cards. we hit every other card and the theme identified. i want to thank mayor lee. the new police chief and the whole rest of the city family, for being here. most of all, i want to thank all of you. we come in our district, have made tremendous gains, no matter what neighborhood you come from. i look at the economics that weekly. i look of the public safety stats. i look to the general health and wellness that. many neighborhoods, particularly the ones in the secto

to make it worth your while and make sure you have other ratepayers not being satisfied? that is the question. it really does have to wait until the bill doubt occurs sufficiently to have it covered. -- build out occurs sufficiently to have it covered. president vietor: when is the projection for that build out? >> it really becomes of to the puc when it is ready to be changed -- up to the puc when it is ready to be changed out. president vietor: when with the project be built? >> is a 25-year -- it is a 25- year project. >> 2025. something like that. it is unclear whether it will need all new construction. president vietor: what about the backflow issues? i have climate change, mind. -- on my mind. would we need to do some adaptive measures as it relates to sea level rise? >> the existing plant that is there today operates as a pump station for your outflow into the bay. that is going to provide protection for the sea water coming back. it is probably at an elevation of about 11. >> this is a separate waste water and storm water system. we talk about the ducks -- ducts.

we want to make sure the ratepayer in san francisco does the best deal possible, the best service possible, and competition allows us to return that. >> thank you, for joining us today. we've been talking to supervisor of david campos of district 9. watch for the next episode when we will be back. >> i'm your host of "culturewire," and today, here at electric works in san francisco. nice to see you today. thanks for inviting us in and showing us your amazing facility today. >> my pleasure. >> how long has electric works been around? >> electric works has been in san francisco since the beginning of 2007. we moved here from brisbane from our old innovation. we do printmaking, gallery shows, and we have a fabulous retail store where there are lots of fun things to find. >> we will look at all of that as we walk around. it is incredible to me how many different things you do. how is it you identify that san francisco was in need of all these different services? >> it came from stepping out of graduate school in 1972. i wrote a little thing about how this is an idea, how our world should work.

ratepayer. think you've got a microphone coming your way. >> i wondered if in your exploration of material available, like the murdoch records here and other places you've been, did you sense there is much else that has not been discovered that some other writer may come along and say, and wonder what else is new and i haven't done about john chapman is yet to be discovered in britain about? >> i think there definitely is. for example, one of the things i was hoping -- i think there is a chance that he was baptized by william hargrove, a famous baltimore new church preacher in brownsville, pennsylvania in 1806 of 1807. i can't remember which year. 1806, kind of a mass baptism took place in the modern mongolia river and there were or 40 people. they are in theory at the frank something something, the state historical society of baltimore, maryland state historical society. i go there and open up his journals and it has 1806. the reference was on the back john chapman in the page number correspond

. >> the decision that could let ratepayers, though, off the hook. >> it's something we haven't heard in a long, long time. falling gas prices. when we might get a little relief at the pumps, when we come back. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, >>> it's going to be cooler in the bay area today. fog is rolling in, temperatures in the 60s and 70s. the mother's day forecast coming up. >>> here's something we haven't heard in a long time. you might actually start seeing gas prices start to dip a little bit. the price of oil dropped below $100 a barrel for a while yesterday. it had reached $114 last week. that is up 35% from just february. but now people are driving a little less and that's easing the demand on gas. one expert says the national average could be back to about 3.50 a gallon by mid-june. good news there. >>> triple-a reports the average in san francisco is 4.32 a gallon today. it's 4.28 in san jose and santa rosa. if you fill up in oakland you will pay 4.27. >>> state regulators saying no to pg&e. it cannot track costs and charge customers more. the utility apparently wants to keep official t

>> ratepayers have a right to know where the money went did a good salary, dividends, just to say weit's not enough. we will continue to press forward to see if we mean get an audit or something where we can find out where the money went. >> james: thank you for joining us. >> justine: 1 a switch gears? >> james: thousands packing united center today for the taping of oprah winfrey's final show. i guess you have everything that producers promise big names in hollywood it will redeem police who it is but it sees 20,000. they received 154,000 ticket requests for today. >> justine: apparently mine got lost in the shuffle. you would think it was for a game but it's for oprah. >> james: that is that for us that 10:57 a.m. see you back here at 4:00 p.m. by. >> justine: stay dry.

we want to make sure the ratepayer in san francisco does the best deal possible, the best service possible, and competition allows us to return that. >> thank you, for joining us today. we've been talking to supervisor of david campos of district 9. watch for the next episode when we will be back.