SANTA CLARA — The Santa Clara City Council unanimously approved on Wednesday adding a surcharge to power customers’ bills to help make up for the increasing cost of obtaining power supply for the city.
At its meeting at Santa Clara Town Hall Wednesday night, the council approved a “power cost adjustment” to be added immediately to residents’ power bills as a way to keep the city from going into debt over the rising cost of power.
Santa Clara Power Director Gary Hall said this adjustment would be a charge on the bill to help recover the costs of power that are beyond the control of Santa Clara Power. The adjustment would go the other way in months where power supply costs are lower than the base rate, where the power cost adjustment would be a credit on customers’ bills.
Based on the average usage of about 999 kilowatts a month, Hall said Santa Clara residents might see about $22 added to their power bill over the next few months.
Hall said the choice was between adding a power cost adjustment, which can by its nature go down as a fee in some months and even become a credit on customer bills, and a straight-up power rate increase that would be a permanent increase to residents’ bills.
Council member Leina Mathis said she sympathizes with residents who would not like to see any increase in their power bills, especially those on fixed incomes. But she said that ultimately the addition of a power cost adjustment surcharge to power bills is still better than a set-in-stone rate increase.
“I understand the need for the power adjustment, but I also hope the residents understand I have concerns about the increase to people’s bills,” Mathis said. “The trade-off is we do this or we go in and actually do an increase to the rate. Regardless, they will pay more per month. This is the lesser of two evils.”
Throwing out a “ditto” to Mathis’ comments, council member Jarett Waite said the power cost adjustment includes a mechanism for the council to review any adjustment increase as excessive and “spread it out.” He said many other cities have had to add power cost adjustments to recoup increasing costs for power generation and Santa Clara’s luck in this regard had run out.
“This is pretty common. We’ve been able to escape this for a long time,” Waite said.
The council held a public hearing at the Wednesday meeting but no residents spoke for or against the power surcharge.
Hall told the council in the next year, while the city is losing some sources of power generation outside town, they are also adding power generation locally.
One of the losses will be the closure in the coming months of the second half of the San Juan Generating Plant in Waterflow, New Mexico, which sends some power to Utah and Santa Clara. New Mexico moved in 2013 to decommission the coal-burning plant for what it said were reasons to reduce pollution and carbon emissions, according to media reports at the time. Half the plant was decommissioned in 2017.
The other loss may be power from the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell, which relies on the water level to stay in operation – a water level threatened by the drought, according to a report by the U.S. Department of the Interior, which runs the dam.
Offsetting some of that will be the planned addition in the next year of two low-emission, natural gas power generators at the local Fort Clara Power Station that would generate 2 megawatts each.
But noting the loss of San Juan and possibly Glen Canyon, council member Denny Drake blamed environmentalist concerns for the increasing cost of electricity.
“A lot of this is because of the environmental moves to close coal plants and stopping hydroelectric for fish,” Drake said. “If we can work with the powers that be to mitigate this, that could go a long way.”
According to its operators, the issue at the hydroelectric Glen Canyon Dam does not have to do with fish, but the level of Lake Powell. The turbines at the dam won’t have any intake if the lake falls below 3,490 feet. According to the U.S. Department of Reclamation, the level of the lake as of Jan. 25 was at 3,532 feet, which is down about 40 feet from a year ago.
Further clarification on “mother-in-law” apartments
The council unanimously approved additional language to a new ordinance it passed back in November on accessory dwelling units, also known as “mother-in-law apartments.”
Legislation passed by the state Legislature last March requires cities to permit and regulate dwelling units where a separate living unit is incorporated with a larger residence. These units can be used as additional affordable housing or for short-term rentals like Airbnb or Vrbo.
The move in November pertained to dwelling units within an existing home. The new language adds clarity that they also include dwelling units that are detached from the main residence on the same property.
Cities are creating accessory dwelling housing ordinances in the wake of legislation passed by the state Legislature last March that required cities to permit and regulate dwelling units where a separate living unit is incorporated in a larger residence. This was seen as a way to expand affordable housing, and such units have also been used as short-term rentals for Airbnb or Vrbo.
In November, city officials said the detached units were already covered by a separate ordinance; however, on Wednesday, Jim McNulty, Santa Clara’s city planner, told the council the language will provide clarity for all accessory dwelling units regardless of whether they are a part of a resident’s property or in another structure on the property.
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