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Supervisors send Sustainable Energy Account priorities to full board, adopt amendments
Summary
The Budget & Finance Committee voted without objection to send an ordinance establishing priorities for the mayor's energy conservation account (to be renamed the Sustainable Energy Account) to the full Board of Supervisors, adopting two amendments that rename the fund and make the ordinance prospective for unencumbered solar project funds.
The Budget & Finance Committee on May 1 forwarded an ordinance that sets priorities for spending from the mayor's energy conservation account (MECCA), with amendments renaming the fund the Sustainable Energy Account (SEA) and making the ordinance prospective for unencumbered solar project funds.
Chair Supervisor Jake McCullough read the priorities into the record: first, conservation and energy efficiency measures; second, renewable energy projects; limits that expenditures generally be for city‑owned or city‑related facilities (with nonprofit residential housing as an exception); and preference for projects that include environmental justice and workforce development components. The ordinance requires an annual report each Oct. 1 on SEA spending.
Ed Harrington, general manager of the Public Utilities Commission, told the committee the PUC plans near‑term uses consistent with the priorities: lighting and HVAC upgrades at city buildings, power purchase agreements for projects coming online at Pier 96 and the Sunset Reservoir, and expanded solar at Civic Center sites and the main library. Harrington described the SEA as the city’s account rather than a mayoral slush fund and said staff will provide a detailed analysis of how the priorities intersect with pending solar legislation.
Supervisor Jake McCullough moved the amendments and, after a second, the committee adopted them “without objection” and sent the ordinance to the full Board of Supervisors with the committee’s recommendation. The committee and PUC staff also discussed reserving funds and the PUC’s budget adjustments for water debt service and wastewater capital needs, which the PUC said the SEA priorities do not alter.
What happens next: the ordinance will appear before the full Board of Supervisors for consideration; the committee required an annual October report on SEA expenditures to ensure transparency and alignment with the stated priorities.
