November 2006 Election/Measure H

The vote will determine who will provide electrical service to Davis through this substation.

Measure H and its companion Measure I on the November 2006 Election will determine if not-for-profit SMUD will annex parts of Yolo County - Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento, and surrounding unincorporated areas - into their electrical service, which is currently provided by PG&E. PG&E will continue to provide natural gas service in either case. SMUD would also need to purchase the existing wiring and equipment from PG&E. For annexation to take place, both Measures H & I must pass in Yolo and Measure L must pass in Sacramento and Placer.

Shall the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) annex into its service territory the Cities of West Sacramento, Davis and Woodland and the contiguous unincorporated area of Yolo County for the purpose of providing electric service, subject to the terms and conditions specified in the order adopted by the Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) on June 7, 2006, ordering such annexation?

The City has provided some information about the annexation. They also mailed out a brochure in conjunction with Woodland, West Sacramento and Yolo County.

Election Results

Measure H passed with 51% of the vote and Measure I failed by 10 votes. Furthermore, less than 40% of voters in both Sacramento and Placer Counties were in support of annexation, which means that, even if H and I both passed, annexation could not continue. Therefore, PG&E will remain the electricity provider for Yolo County.

Ballot Lawsuit

In early July 2006, Sacramento resident and previous PG&E employee Betty Dean Elston sued SMUD over the wording of a ballot measure (Measure L in Sacramento County), claiming it was biased. It originally read:¹

Shall Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) provide electric service to the Cities of West Sacramento, Davis and Woodland and portions of Yolo County by annexation; on condition that Yolo customers shall pay the costs of annexation and service and the SMUD Board of Directors shall use any net income from Yolo service to maintain low rates through debt reduction, and invest in energy efficiency and clean energy resources for use in the Sacramento region?

In response, SMUD changed the wording to:

Shall the ordinance of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) establishing the conditions under which SMUD shall provide electric service to the Cities of West Sacramento, Davis, and Woodland and portions of Yolo County by annexation be adopted?

Rate Comparison

Note that the actual SMUD rates for Davis will be higher than those in Sacramento since these do not include the Yolo surcharge (for purchasing PG&E equipment).

Campaign Spending

PG&E as a for-profit investor-owned utility and is allowed to pay for advertising to present their position on this issue, while SMUD, a non-profit public utility is not. As of October 20, PG&E has spent $10.4 million on the campaign. Supporters of the measures (including AKT Development, Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 447, and Nugget Markets) have spent $743,034 out of $1.1 million raised.⁴

The following people have appeared in TV ads:

Stan Atkinson — Stan, former TV newsman and local celebrity, appeared in at least one of the early ads. KCRA did an adwatch report about it. Stan was paid $189,000 to appear in the ad (FPPC filings).

Lon Hatamiya — Lon Hatamiya is a resident of Davis who appears in another ad.

Yard Signs

Several can be found in front of the PG&E Corporation Yard The Yolo County Farm Bureau opposes Measure H (but strangely not I) on the basis of opposing the use of eminent domain.

Footnotes

1. Burks, Courtney. Language used on ballot claimed to be biasing. The California Aggie. 2006-07-06.
2. from http://www.smud.org/residential/rates.html
3. from http://www.pge.com/tariffs/ERS.SHTML#ERS
4. Lau, Edie. A development firm contributes $350,000 for utility's annexation campaign in Yolo County.. The Sacramento Bee 2006-10-28.