San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Rate Fairness Board

MINUTES

Wednesday, February 14, 2007
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Room 421, City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, CA

Members
Bobbrie Brown. Chair
 Howard Ash, Vice Chair
Todd Rydstrom, for Edward Harrington
Ben Rosenfield, for Ed Lee
Nadia Sesay
Vacancy
Vacancy

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

At the request of Chair Bobbrie Brown, Howard Ash acted as Chair and called the Rate Fairness Board meeting to order at 4:14 p.m. and roll call was taken. Present: Bobbrie Brown, Howard Ash, Linda Yeung for Ed Harrington, and Nadia Sesay; there was a quorum.

2. Public comment on items within the Board's jurisdiction but not on the agenda

There was no public comment at this time.

3. Discussion and possible action to approve minutes of January 10, 2007 meeting

Ms. Brown moved to approve the minutes from the January 10, 2007 meeting with Mr. Ash’s changes. Ms. Sesay seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.  

4. Discussion of ongoing Board business

Mr. Tony Winnicker, PUC Director of Communications, spoke on the progress of SFPUC staff’s proposed rate presentations at community and other group meetings across the City. Mr. Winnicker explained that 28 meetings had been confirmed to date and that the schedule is on track to exceed the number of meetings held two years ago for the last rate proposal. He went on to describe the first three meetings, including type of meeting, estimated number of attendees, and types of questions asked. In general, customers are not expressing significant opposition to the rate proposal.

Mr. Winnicker also explained that Communications would be developing a Proposition 218-compliant mailer including key public meeting dates.

Ms. Yeung reported on the Controller’s office six-month report and its projections as it relates to the PUC.

5. Discussion and possible action to establish criteria to evaluate rates. This item was continued from the previous meeting.

Ms. Brown moved to adopt the criteria and Ms. Sesay’s seconded the motion; the motion passed unanimously.
 

6. Discussion regarding Draft Rate Report

Mr. Ash had extensive feedback on the draft proposal. Key comments included: difference in size of tiers between Water and Wastewater; would like to see information on municipal paying and non-paying customers; would like to see all rate schedules and number of customers in each; why changes in the water service charges are different, i.e. what is the cost rationale for the charges; and why is there no longer a proposal to include Water in the low-income programs; why there isn’t a tiered rate for multi-family residential Water customers.

Mr. Bill Laws, PUC Rates Administrator, presented a new chart he prepared that details the average charges for water and wastewater utilities across the country based on average local use.

7. Discussion regarding new Board business

Mr. Ash proposed an additional meeting so that the Board members could discuss their own report. The group decided to meet March 28 at the Bill Graham Auditorium, 4 p.m. - 5:15 p.m., before the scheduled community meeting.

Mr. Ash requested details on how Wastewater Capacity Charges are collected for projects that do not require DBI permits. 

8. Adjournment

On behalf of Chair Brown, Mr. Ash adjourned the meeting at 6:04 p.m.