Editor,
Recently the San Mateo City Council debated the issue of gas to electric conversion and decided to let the city government buildings electrify first before making any public mandates. Glad they put it on the shelf and hopefully for a long time.
The consequences of a mandate would be catastrophic to San Mateo. The costs of gas to electric conversion is enormous for all stakeholders: single family homes, apartments, restaurants, small businesses, housing providers, renters and commercial properties. San Mateo County Association Of Realtors did an electrification study in 2021. The costs for replacing some or all appliances — plus labor services like electrical panels and wiring including permits — range from thousands to many thousands of dollars. Their numbers are conservative given the high inflation the last five years.
Housing providers, for example, will not be able to absorb all the costs and be forced to raise already high rents. Higher rents would be justifiable since renters would share in the benefits of cleaner air. Also, some renters, though not a lot, own their own appliances, like gas clothes washers, which would have to be replaced.
The best solution is not mandates, but an incentive-based solution with tax credits and subsidies for existing properties. Mandates make sense for new properties or major remodels. In the future, hopefully, common sense solutions will prevail or we all are going to feel lots of financial pain.
Gary Isoardi
San Mateo
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(1) comment
From a green standpoint the cost of converting buildings and homes to all electric would be far higher than building out more solar.
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