Utilities: Legislation is too costly

CITY HALL — Burbank Water and Power officials are urging the City Council to oppose legislation that would force them to produce a third of their energy from renewable sources by 2020, arguing the requirements would drive up utility rates and strain existing electric transmission assets that the state is in short supply of.

The council on Tuesday is slated to review two bills — Assembly Bill 64 and Senate Bill 14 — that aim to regulate renewable energy into the state from outside sources. The council last year voted to increase the city’s renewable portfolio standard from 20% by 2017 to 33% by 2020, mirroring the proposed bills. But the divergence between the city’s plans and the bill’s requirements comes in delivery.

Nine percent of the utility’s renewable energy comes from a mix of hydrologic and wind projects in states such as Utah, Oregon and Washington.

Another 2% comes from in-state, bringing the utility’s total to 11%.

Burbank is on pace to have 20% of its energy come from renewable sources by 2011. And Glendale, which is at 21% with about 12% coming from out of state, bested its goal of reaching 20% by 2017.

General managers for both utilities said they opposed the legislation.

“Bottom line is they are bad bills,” said Ron Davis, general manager of Burbank Water and Power. “What they are doing is basically pandering to political interests of labor and trying to accomplish the interests of the environmental community that needlessly drives up the cost of achieving 33%.”

The bills, one of which was authored by Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, have the potential of substantially negating both utilities’ ability to count renewable resources obtained from outside the state.

Among Burbank’s commitments are a 16-year contract with PPM Energy Inc. to provide 5 megawatts of wind power from a facility in southwest Wyoming and a 20-year contract for wind energy from a new facility being built in central Utah.

“This is a huge, huge project,” Krekorian’s press secretary, Jeremy Oberstein, said.

“This would precipitously change the landscape in California for years to come.”

The bill would create green jobs across the state, he said, and has bipartisan support.

Still, the utility has been working with the bill’s authors for several months and don’t appear to be nearing a resolution, said Lianne McGinley, legislative analyst for Burbank Water and Power.