Committee forwards major SFPUC bond appropriations and authorizes reporting amendments; requests rate reports

The Budget & Appropriations Committee considered several SFPUC files May 25 including appropriations for Clean Power SF programs and multiple revenue bond authorizations and appropriations for Hetch Hetchy, power, water and wastewater enterprises. The committee moved to forward the ordinances to the full Board and approved BLA-recommended amendments to include required post-issuance reports in the legislative files.

Dan Goncher, the BLA, summarized the programmatic and fiscal context: Item 8 appropriates $1,586,046 in Clean Power SF revenues and $2,141,546 in California Public Utilities Commission grant funds (total $3,727,592) to fund Clean Power SF capital projects and disadvantaged communities green-tariff/customer programs. Goncher described the Clean Power SF capital program and customer incentives and recommended approval.

The committee also considered Items 9–14, a set of bond authorizations and appropriations that together would authorize and appropriate hundreds of millions in power, water and wastewater revenue bonds (BLA cited figures such as ~$211 million for Hetch Hetchy capital projects, ~$140.9 million in power revenue bonds, ~$704 million in wastewater bonds and ~$141.4 million in water revenue bonds with accompanying appropriations of roughly $793 million and $122.5 million for related projects). Goncher recommended amendments stating the required post-issuance reports will be included in legislative files and asked the Board to request a report from SFPUC on proposed Hetch Hetchy and Clean Power SF customer rate increases in the next two years prior to future committee recommendations.

Supervisors sought clarification on PUC staffing and vacancy assumptions and agreed to request periodic reports on rates, fund balances and debt service coverage ratios. The committee forwarded the ordinances and amendments to the full Board with roll-call approvals where recorded.