Reasons no. 3 and no. 4 to vote for Props. F and I 

Countdown to public power | September 19, 2001 | SFBG News              
 		 		 		 		
Countdown to public power

TWO PUBLIC POWER initiatives are on the Nov. 6 ballot: 
Proposition I (the municipal utility district) and Proposition F 
(the city-run water and power agency). Here's the third and 
fourth of the top 10 reasons to vote yes on public power this 
fall. 

Local money stays local As the threat of nationwide economic 
recession looms, Bay Area residents are watching not only how 
much money they spend but also where their money ends up. Your 
Pacific Gas and Electric bill lines the pockets of PG's parent 
corporation, which in turn helps another arm of PG – the PG 
National Energy Group – invest in its now vast network of 
polluting power plants along the eastern seaboard. With public 
power, your energy bill sustains local services and local 
workers' salaries. 

Revenues can enrich the General Fund When public utilities pull 
in high revenues, the money isn't used for million-dollar bonuses 
for corporate CEOs. Instead the locally elected utility board 
decides how to spend its extra funds. The board could vote to 
lower consumer rates or to create a special fund (as the 
Sacramento Municipal Utility District has done) to help keep 
rates low when power prices unexpectedly spike. And the board has 
other choices: it could invest in a new wind- or solar-power 
project, or it could turn over a portion of the extra cash to the 
city's General Fund to pay for much-needed social programs. Last 
year the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power gave $122 
million to L.A.'s General Fund. In San Francisco those funds 
could help shelter the homeless or pay for prescription drugs at 
San Francisco General Hospital. (Rachel Brahinsky) 

To read about programs in Los Angeles and Sacramento funded by 
public utility revenues, go to www.greenla.com 
[http://www.greenla.com] and www.smud.org [http://www.smud.org] . 

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