Debunking The Economic Claims of Prop. H

This week, supporters of Proposition H started running newspaper ads making some incredible claims about the economic benefits of the measure. They promise voters that rates will go down, hundreds of millions will be deposited into the City’s coffers, and all our power will come from clean energy.

Unfortunately, the cocktail-napkin economics supporters of the Measure are selling to voters doesn’t line up with reality. For starters, there are no guarantees in the measure that the 370,000 ratepayers in San Francisco would see lower rates with the Board of Supervisors.

That’s because the Board of Supervisors will have to issue billions of dollars in revenue bonds to acquire power facilities, and to build new power plants as well. The politicians backing the measure have no real idea how much they’ll have to spend - and they’ll have to charge ratepayers to pay back their billions in bonds.

Likewise, the financial crisis that is hitting our country is increasing the cost of financing new energy plants. The measure’s supporters won’t talk about this, because they know that it means the empty promises of low rates and extra money for City Hall won’t be possible in this new economic climate. And again, that means you, the ratepayer, will see higher utility bills - at a time when most folks can’t afford it.

You don’t need to take our word for it - the independent analysis provided by the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) agrees with opponents of the $ 4 billion power grab by the board. Read it online at www.spur.org and decide for yourself if you want politically-motivated economics to drive up your electric bill and cost the city billions.