Clean Power SF reports steady participation, new customer programs and outreach

SFPUC staff on Thursday briefed the Local Agency Formation Commission on recent Clean Power SF activity, customer-program rollouts and outreach efforts.

Mike Himes, deputy assistant general manager for the SFPUC power enterprise, said the program’s overall opt-out rate rose modestly to about 4.5% and that the voluntary 100% renewable "Super Green" product grew to roughly 2.2% of active Clean Power SF accounts and accounted for more than 9% of the program’s annual retail sales. "We have also seen our enrollment in Super Green…increase from 2.1 to 2.2 percent of all active Clean Power SF accounts," Himes said.

Himes described a multilingual outreach campaign in April and an experiential in-person activation called the Super Green apartment set deployed at city events to promote upgrades to Super Green. He also summarized customer-facing programs: net energy metering (about 10,000 active accounts), an inverter-replacement program (more than 160 applications and 65 projects completed), peak day pricing (around 40 large commercial customers participating and nine event days called so far this season), and a regional heat-pump water-heater incentive that has supported nearly 60 installations in San Francisco.

Himes said the Super Greensaver low-income program — a 100% renewable product with a 20% bill discount for qualifying customers in state-designated disadvantaged communities — has moved to auto-enrollment with CPUC approval, increasing enrollments to about 1,200 accounts, "which is twice what we had in July." He said the program used a lottery-based auto-enrollment method because available CPUC funding could not cover all eligible accounts.

Commissioners asked for demographic breakdowns of enrolled accounts and clarification of a cited 409,000 enrollment figure; Himes said the 409,000 number corresponds to eligible service accounts in San Francisco and that the program completed citywide enrollment in 2020. The SFPUC offered to provide more detailed participation demographics to commissioners after the meeting.

Jeremy Pollock, LAFCO executive officer, then described LAFCO’s related work on green bank financing and efforts to position San Francisco to apply for federal Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund opportunities. Pollock noted October application deadlines for certain funds and urged quick interdepartment coordination to prepare letters of interest and shovel-ready projects should funds be awarded.

No formal action was taken on the Clean Power SF update during the meeting.