The Coast News (Page 1)

A16 THE COAST NEWS
DEC. 16, 2011
Utility bills may be going up for solar users
By Promise Yee
OCEANSIDE — San
Diego Gas & Electric representatives
let solar customers
know at the Nov. 30
City Council meeting that
proposed billing changes
will charge solar customers
to use the energy grid.
Several residents spoke
in opposition to the charges.
Residents expressed concern
that they purchased
costly solar energy systems
with the thought lower energy
rates would make the
investment equitable. Now
solar customers are con-
By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — In its first
and possibly last meeting, a
subcommittee of the 22nd
District Agricultural
Association board of directors
questioned whether Del
Mar Fairgrounds staff actually
defied the law when it
allowed management
employees to cash out
accrued vacation pay.
The subcommittee was
formed to respond to criticisms
in management
reports from the California
Department of Food and
Agriculture regarding
actions by the 22nd DAA,
which manages the stateowned
fairgrounds.
Director David Watson,
appointed to the board earlier
this year by Gov. Jerry
Brown, asked his colleagues
to submit questions and concerns
about the report.
From the responses he
said the major issues are furlough
practices, the process
for tracking dining expenses
and cashing out leave balances.
According to one report,
the fairgrounds improperly
allowed its employees to cash
out accrued leave hours, such
as unused vacation pay, totaling
nearly $600,000 from
January 2005 through Jan.
14, 2011.
The report states the
fair, “without sufficient
authority,” established its
own employee leave buyout
program allowing certain
workers to cash out a maximum
of 80 hours of their
leave balances annually.
cerned that proposed grid
charges will ask them to pay
for extra electricity they
send to SDG&E and electricity
they receive when the
sun sets.
“I make more electricity
and I get penalized for it,”
Troy Roble, energy analyst
for Energy Solutions, said.
“If you don’t think this rate
is going to come back to you
in the form of your bill
you’ve got another thing
coming.”
Some cities have let
SDG&E know they oppose
the grid use charges. These
The state doesn’t permit
such action without approval
from the Department of
Personnel Administration.
Following a 2007 report, the
DPA denied a fairgrounds
request to approve 160 hours
of annual leave.
“We had people that
were hurting,” Tim Fennell,
fairgrounds chief executive
officer, said, noting employees
were forced to take pay
cuts and some had medical
issues, children in college or
spouses who had been laid
off.
“It’s their money and
they earned it,” Fennell said.
“If they quit tomorrow we
would have to give it to
them.”
Fennell said he didn’t
want employees to have to
take on second jobs to put
food on the table or make
house payments.
“I don’t regret making
these decisions,” he said. “It
was a smart business decision
and morally, it was the
right thing to do.”
“I don’t disagree,”
Watson said. “I’m not convinced
it was a clear-cut violation.”
Watson, a land-use attorney,
said there is a “lack of
clarity” in the regulations.
He said when he started
reading the rules he assumed
he could understand them. “I
couldn’t,” he said.
David Lizerbram, also
an attorney, said he felt the
same way. “I’m not going to
say go ahead and operate
outside the law, but I can’t
really get my arms around
cities have large solar energy
facilities.
Oceanside is currently
in the process of building a
1-megawatt solar energy
facility. The city approved
the solar energy facility to
power the San Luis Rey
Wastewater Treatment
Plant. It will be installed,
operated and maintained on
city property by a contracted
third party, SunEdison, with
the agreement that the city
purchases the power the
facility generates at a rate
that is lower than SDG&E
electricity charges. Now with
it,” he said.
Although the regulations
state there can be no
buyback without annual
determination if you are a
state employee, Watson said,
it’s unclear if fairgrounds
employees are, in fact, state
employees.
Fennell said paychecks
come from the 22nd DAA
and not the state. Deborah
Fletcher, the deputy attorney
general who serves as legal
counsel for the fairgrounds,
described the facility as a
hybrid that does its own
recruiting and hiring.
“Is there an argument
that can be made that these
rules don’t apply to the fair?”
Watson asked. Fletcher said
she didn’t know.
Watson said he wasn’t
trying to present excuses for
what some say are blatant
violations of the law, which
he described as “confusing at
best and contradictory at
worst.”
Watson said when commenting
on the accusations
from the CDFA, staff should
have asked the agency to cite
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the grid use charges on the
table, the facility might not
be equitable and the
approved project may be
scraped.
Cari Dale, water utilities
director, said they were
looking at whether the project
is feasible. “With the proposed
rate structure we may
be paying more for power,”
she said. “It’s up in the air.”
Oceanside City Council
has not officially opposed
the proposed SDG&E rate
structure changes.
Mayor Jim Wood said he
currently stands against
the regulation and why it
applied to fairs.
“I would like to put the
burden back on the state to
prove that you are really
state employees,” he said.
It’s easy to say I’ll comply
with the law but tell me
what the law is, Watson said.
“I didn’t come in here to
justify what you did,” he
said, adding that he didn’t
see any demonstration that
the regulations apply to fairgrounds
management
employees.
“I want to be on a board
with a staff that complies
with the law,” Watson said.
“As long as I’m the board I’ll
keep you on your toes.”
Employee leave buyouts
have been suspended since
Adam Day was named president
this summer. The state
billing changes that discourages
solar power.
“A lot of speakers think
that it is going to kill solar,”
Wood said.
When asked if he would
sign a letter in opposition to
rate structure changes, Wood
said he and Councilwoman
Esther Sanchez will sign a
letter, but it is unlikely the
entire council will sign.
“I’m not able to sell the
whole council on it,” Wood
said. “In general, I know
these three guys
(Councilmen Jerry Kern,
Gary Felien and Jack Feller)
suggested the 22nd DAA set
up a program for employees
to pay back the money, a
move adamantly opposed by
Fennell and some board
members.
Watson said employees
would either have to voluntarily
return the money or be
sued for it to be returned.
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don’t say yes to anything.”
Kern said he has not
reached a decision.
“My understanding is
that solar users are not getting
charged hardly anything
at all,” Kern said. “SDG&E is
asking to unbundle that. You
can’t punish people who
can’t afford solar.”
Kern added that
SDG&E is at the beginning
of a two-year process to
change its rates. He said in
six to eight months he would
have a better idea on the
direction the city should
take on the issue.
Subcommittee questions fairgrounds over vacation payouts
The reports also accused
the 22nd DAA of not reducing
its payroll as intended in
an executive furlough order
in effect from Feb. 1, 2009,
through June 2010.
Fennell said the facility
was brought into full
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