Homelessness: A Modest Proposal
As a service to the community and hopefully at relatively low cost, could it be possible that the Board of Trustees of the San Diego Community College District consider the usage of the Harry West Gym as a continuing education …
UFO Sighted In Encantostan
The recent wet weather in San Diego has caused new plants to germinate. Everything is green now, and the species-specific insects in love with purple and violet flowers must be enjoying all of this. Many years ago, there would be …
Larry Stirling: Adult Supervision Required at City Hall
Larry Stirling, former San Diego city council member and retired judge, had an opinion printed in this morning's Union-Tribune, strongly suggesting that Proposition D should fail and that City Hall requires "adult supervision" going forward. According to Stirling, "Former San …
An Early Holiday Season Arrives With Unlimited CCDC Bailout
Senate Bill 863 removes the tax increment cap on what the Centre City Development Corporation can take away from the City of San Diego's general fund tax revenues in the CCDC redevelopment project area. SB 863 was part of a …
Intervenor to be Squelched in SDG&E/IOU WEBA Case?
San Diego Gas and Electric Company has filed a response to Ruth Henrick's motion for intervenor compensation from participating in a California Public Utilities Proceeding, asking that CPUC not allow compensation for allegedly unproven economic hardship to herself or Attorney …
SDG&E Executive Conflict of Interest Prompts Payment Return by Roberts Campaign
Keegan Kyle at voiceofsandiego.org reported yesterday (October 25) that an executive of San Diego Gas and Electric Company received his campaign donation back from Ron Roberts, the county supervisor for downtown San Diego who is running for re-election in one …
Keeping Southwestern College Credits If Accreditation Is Lost
Southwestern College is now on a 5-month clock to losing its accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges commission on community colleges. While it is possible for Southwestern College administration, faculty and student representatives to meet the deadline …
More SDG&E Energy Rebates Coming?
Word in the power industry has it that there is a glut of natural gas in the nation's supply system. Time will tell if the recent Sempra Energy moves to divest itself of the RBS Sempra Commodities joint venture assets …
CPUC Grants San Diego City and County Party Status in SDG&E/IOU WEBA Proceeding
The City of San Diego and the County of San Diego were granted party status in the state power regulator proceeding that would allow San Diego Gas and Electric Company to bill power customers for the utility's uninsured wildfire legal …
Jerry Sanders as a Time "Intelligent Cities" Leader
As San Diego prepares for the half-cent sales tax hike Battle of the Millennium in the next two weeks, Bruce Katz at Time.com quotes Mayor Jerry Sanders in his article "Intelligent Cities" on how investment is needed in America's metropolitan …
Ramona Sentinel Publishes SDG&E Comments on WEBA Opposition
Rose Marie Scott-Blair at The Ramona Sentinel reported comments by San Diego Gas and Electric spokesperson Stephanie Donovan regarding protests filed by numerous parties against the Wildfire Expense Balancing Account (WEBA) A0908020 application filed with California's Public Utilities Commission. If …
SDG&E Leading Nation in Smart Grid Rollout, Like It or Not
In the future, we will all get more than power for paying our monthly electrical bill. We will also be paying to be controlled from afar, all in what San Diego Gas and Electric Company likes to think is our …
SDG&E Monthly Bills Confusing San Diegans?
Early poll results for U-T website visitors today show about 60% of SDG&E bill payers cannot figure out exactly what they are being billed for. Fully one third of the 128 website visitors responding to the poll say they don't …
Erroneous SDG&E/IOU WEBA Assumptions – Part II
In their amended A0908020 application to bill power customers for uninsured wildfire legal and other liabilities, the investor owned utilities SDG&E, PG&E and SCE are asserting a constitutional entitlement: customers must pay for all operating expenses, even if those expenses …
Recent Political Popularity of Closed Door Negotiations
Closed door negotiations have made an apparently popular comeback in California. Forget about governments operating in sunshine under open meeting laws and principles. Besides, what do the taxserfs need to know about the negotiations? Don't politicians spend enough on advertising …
PG&E Benefits from Massive Sempra Generation Arizona Solar Farm
Onell Soto reported this morning (October 14) that Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, has agreed to sell the 150-megawatt output of a solar farm in Arizona to Pacific Gas and Electric Company. According to Soto, “The [Mesquite Solar …
Erroneous SDG&E/IOU WEBA Assumption – Part I
After comments and protests were received by California's Public Utilities Commission following the filing of an amended A0908020 application by attorneys for San Diego Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and Pacific Gas and Electric companies as investor owned utilities …
Planning for Association of Residential Electricity Cooperatives
Related to comments received earlier, I will be exploring the concept of San Diego residents starting up their own backyard solar farms as always-on grid failure backups and then sharing free electricity among neighbors as an electricity cooperative. If the …
Did Mayor's Blessing Give Away the Proposed Sales Tax Increase Revenue to CCDC?
From last week's announcement of a Sacramento legislative budget deal that included a tax increment cap increase to the Centre City Development Corporation, details are scarce, but Saturday's daily paper carried a front page story on how closed door negotiations, …
Many Opponents to new SDG&E/IOU Proposed WEBA Liability Limit
The recently amended A0908020 application by San Diego Gas and Electric Company and two other California investor owned utilities (IOUs according to state power regulators) for authority to have power utility customers pay for uninsured IOU wildfire liabilities now includes …
Post-Crash Summation and the San Diego City Council Session on Debt Servicing
The October 11 City Council agenda includes an informational item on council member training in debt servicing. Fitch Ratings will be sending Amy S. Doppelt, a managing director who can explain to council members the terminology and usage in how …
San Diegans' Self-Preservation by Keeping an Eye on Council Members
The main way that the people of San Diego will be able to climb out of this economic recession-like trough between the Crash of 2008 and whatever is coming in the weeks and months after the 2010 elections is for …
Scoping Memo Issued in SDG&E PSW/PSW Rate Hike Proposal at CPUC
California Public Utilities Commissioner Nancy E. Ryan issued the scoping memorandum at the end of September for San Diego Gas and Electric Company's rate hike proposal A1007009. SDG&E's PeakShift at Work/PeakShift at Home rate hike proposal is based on time …
Sempra Energy Stock Buyback from RBS Sempra Commodities Asset Sale
Sempra Energy's recent stock buyback announcement in September appears to be consistent with earlier corporate comments of a renewed focus on its energy utilities including San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E). The shift in focus comes at the expense …