Despite ambitious climate goals set by the state and many jurisdictions throughout the Bay Area, several counties and cities are re-evaluating their mandates for all-electric buildings, with Foster City officially pausing efforts to adopt more electrification building codes.
Patrick Sullivan
Even though California’s building codes already push for all-electric appliances in new developments as part of its emission reduction efforts, many cities and counties throughout the Bay Area have adopted reach codes, or rules that go beyond state-level decarbonization regulations. But of those jurisdictions, some, including Brisbane, San Mateo County and Contra Costa County, have recently stopped enforcing such rules temporarily, largely in response to legal concerns arising from a recent court case ruling Berkeley’s natural gas ban illegal.
And while Foster City never fully adopted such reach codes, its wait-and-see approach is in part guided not just by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent decision, but by what some of its leaders say are infrastructure and cost barriers that make sweeping electrification mandates practically untenable.
Based on projections from Frontier Energy Group, load capacity will be insufficient on the city’s current distribution system by 2030. And one of the main power lines serving the largest number of residential and commercial customers, for instance, is already at 89% capacity, according to its report.
Necessary service upgrades — an already expensive endeavor often required when upping one’s electrical panel — can cost property owners thousands of dollars more in Foster City as well, as the area’s electrical services run underground. Such infrastructure requires more trenching and construction, especially compared to above-ground service upgrades.
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“You’re talking about a substantial amount of money that probably a senior citizen would not have, nor would a city want to be involved in loaning $20,000 to $30,000 to upgrade an electrical [system],” Mayor Patrick Sullivan said.
Since the Berkeley ruling, regional agencies, including Peninsula Clean Energy, and local jurisdictions have been reworking the language in their reach codes so they are tethered more closely to performance metrics, like air quality and energy consumption, instead of explicitly requiring all-electric appliances. While the technical wordsmithing may prove more legally defensible, the underlying impact, which would in effect phase out reliance on natural gas, has still raised concern for several of Foster City’s leaders, not due to a desire to scale back sustainability initiatives per se, but rather because of ambivalence over whether Pacific Gas and Electric can deliver.
“I don’t see how we can look at reach codes reaching beyond what the state is offering if we can’t supply the power,” Councilmember Jon Froomin said. “It puts the cart before the horse. I think we need to engage with PG&E and determine if there’s the ability to add the capacity, how long that will take and what their plan is.”
At least we can say reality is finally setting in, but imagine all the money wasted debating and creating reach codes when we all knew electrical infrastructure was nowhere close to supplying electricity for an all-electric boondoggle. And all this tomfoolery because folks want to move carbon emissions from their locale to natural gas power plant locales. Let’s hope more common sense prevails.
Let's hope that the other cities around here follow suit. The Reach Codes were always grist for political grandstanding but now we have a breath of fresh air from a reasoning mayor in FC. I have been saying this for a while. They are right in FC, aside from the homeowner upgrade costs, PG&E will not any time soon be able to accommodate the increase in demand. I am anxiously awaiting the eat crow statement form the Belmont City Council as I am also encouraged to note that the PCE is walking back its ambiguous electrification propaganda.
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(2) comments
At least we can say reality is finally setting in, but imagine all the money wasted debating and creating reach codes when we all knew electrical infrastructure was nowhere close to supplying electricity for an all-electric boondoggle. And all this tomfoolery because folks want to move carbon emissions from their locale to natural gas power plant locales. Let’s hope more common sense prevails.
Let's hope that the other cities around here follow suit. The Reach Codes were always grist for political grandstanding but now we have a breath of fresh air from a reasoning mayor in FC. I have been saying this for a while. They are right in FC, aside from the homeowner upgrade costs, PG&E will not any time soon be able to accommodate the increase in demand. I am anxiously awaiting the eat crow statement form the Belmont City Council as I am also encouraged to note that the PCE is walking back its ambiguous electrification propaganda.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
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Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.