South City eyes electricity requirements

Earlier this year, the council approved a ban on natural gas hookups to new residential construction, a move following several other cities that have similarly required all-electric power in new homes. Currently, transportation and nonresidential energy are the top two sources of greenhouse gases in South San Francisco, Christina Fernandez, the city’s chief sustainability officer, said.

“In order to meet state mandates of carbon neutrality by 2045 and the city’s own climate action plan, we need a multipronged approach, and that includes electrification,” Fernandez said.

If enacted, a requirement for commercial buildings would likely not take effect until the beginning of 2023, and research and development buildings, which require gas for some functions, would likely be exempt.

The city has in the past also explored exemptions for other business types, like restaurants who rely on gas for cooking. 

Councilmember Eddie Flores questioned the cost of conducting a study of the grid, and queried whether PG&E could do it on the city’s behalf. City Manager Mike Futrell responded that though it was the city’s intention to work with the utility, he suspected an outside view would yield a more “robust” conclusion.

“Asking PG&E to assess the reliability of their grid seems all wrong given recent history,” Mayor Mark Addiego added. 

Addiego, though, did question why it fell on the city to assess the readiness of PG&E infrastructure instead of the state or county governments, as well as questioned what exactly the benefit of a study would be, even if it were to conclude the grid was deficient. 

Futrell said a study would answer specifics as to why power routinely gets shut off in certain areas. 

“Then I will feel more empowered to go to PG&E and say specifically ‘this transformer on this street needs to be upgraded to this’ and we press them to do it,” Futrell said. “Right now, all we can say is ‘power goes out, please fix it, we don’t know why.’”

Futrell said the city could require new developments to agree to upgrade their own power-supplying infrastructure to have plans approved, similar to the way large developments often agree to upgrade connecting roads or sewer systems. Study results could inform such requirements.

Further, Futrell said he has been in contact with a developer with a known power supply issue who, upon contacting PG&E about the problem, was told by the utility that the deficiency could not be addressed due to lack of resources. 

“We need to understand that calculus while we are looking at some 8 million square feet of entitlement headed to council east of 101,” Futrell said.

Addiego expressed confusion, noting that traditionally if a utility, including PG&E, cannot keep up with demand, a rate increase would ensue. 

“It’s remarkable,” Addiego said. “They really are affecting the entire state … when they send that kind of a message out to major developers.”

Councilmember Buenaflor Nicolas, who spearheaded the residential gas ban, queried as to whether the city was currently reaching its climate action goals.

Fernandez responded that a presentation to the council on the subject would be forthcoming, but that either way the switch to electric power would be crucial. 

corey@smdailyjournal.com

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