¨
List of Cities Involved in
Municipalization Operations. (August 2004)
Ř
Municipalization Activities That Have Been Challenged in Recent Years
¨
City of Palm Desert,
in September 2003 the Desert Sun, reported that the City of Palm
Desert was entertaining the notion of an electric utility that would offer
electricity services, not to all citizens of the city, but a small number
of customers in new developments.
¨
City of
Irvine,
in July 2003, went into the electricity business. Well, sort of. The
city put a trailer on a patch of vacant land and hooked it to a portable
generator from Home Depot. (No reports on whether there’s a sign on the
generator that says “Irvine Municipal Utility District.”) The city thus
formed a municipal electricity utility to serve the city’s Northern Sphere
in the future. In a special meeting, with scant public notice, the City
Council rushed the alleged utility into existence. The council’s goal was
to beat a deadline by which the
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) was to decide whether
to impose “exit fees” on municipal utilities formed to evade the high
costs of electricity contracts the state unwisely signed during the energy
crisis.
¨
Corona City Council,
at a
special lame-duck session on December 2, 2002, unanimously voted to seek
court approval of a hostile takeover of Southern California Edison’s
electrical distribution system. It was soon apparent that the hearing was
really no more than window dressing to comply with legal requirements.
Despite public testimony three-to-one against the plan, and compelling
testimony from Edison
that the city’s feasibility study was fundamentally flawed, the council
heard nothing to change their minds. Perhaps they were motivated by the
fact that it was disclosed by the city manager for the first time at this
hearing that the city had already spent $900,000 in their attempt!
¨
Anaheim
went into the telecommunications business, using city-owned fiber and
contracting with Spectranet/First World to run the system. Spectranet/First World backed out
when the company had financial difficulties and it became clear that they
couldn't make enough money on the deal.
¨
Long Beach
considered buying
Southern California Edison's electrical system within city boundaries and operating
it as a city electric utility. The city decided not to proceed with the
plan.
¨
Lincoln,
a fast-growing town near Sacramento, considered creating a new municipal electric utility to
serve only new developments. A consultant, Competisys, attempted to
broaden the plan to include cable and telecommunications services. The
city narrowly rejected the entire plan.
¨
Davis,
west of Sacramento, a group of citizens had been circulating a petition to
create a new municipal utility district to provide electric service. The
district would condemn PG&E's electric system and put it to use as its own
utility.
¨
Hercules
(in the Bay Area) is considering a plan similar to
Lincoln's –
to create a new utility to serve only new developments. This utility would
provide electric and telecommunications services.
¨
Palo Alto
built a fiber-optic loop to provide telecommunications
services to business customers, but it has not produced much business for
the city. In 1999, residents succeeded in lobbying for a fiber-to-the-home
trial, in which a small number of homes will receive ultra high-speed
internet access via the city's fiber system.
¨
Palo Alto
considered, but decided not to buy out a cable
television co-op because the financial risks were too great.
¨
Alameda voters approved a charter amendment that allows the city
to build its own cable television network to compete against a private
cable company.
¨
Laguna Irrigation District,
in Kings County, is considering condemning PG&E's electric system within
the district and using it as its own electric utility.
¨
Modesto Irrigation District
considered a similar proposal to condemn existing PG&E property, but
decided to build its own electric system and to "cherry-pick" large
customers who would be profitable to serve.
