City Puts Utility Price Change on Ballot

Anaheim voters will be asked to decide in November whether the City Council can consider what other companies are charging when setting rates for local electricity bills.

The city charter currently requires the council to look only at how much it costs to provide utilities services, any debt owed by the utilities company, or the cost of construction of new facilities.

But the council on Tuesday decided it wanted to add market rates to the equation, voting 3 to 2 for putting a charter amendment on the ballot.

Representatives from Anaheim Public Utilities say with the company’s recent foray into the competitive market, the amendment is needed to provide flexibility. Should other companies offer better rates to its customers, Anaheim Public Utilities could offer a lower rate.

“This is simply an attempt to continue to operate the utility in the most efficient, effective way possible,” said Mayor Tom Daly. The amendment could also allow the utilities company to raise rates, but he emphasized the council would be culpable.

“If the city council sets the rates in a way that is unpopular, future city councils will have to deal with that,” said Daly.

Councilman Tom Tait objected to the amendment going on the ballot.

“It allows the utility to raise the rates,” said Tait. “As a business, you want to charge whatever you can. But as a council member, I represent the rate payers.

Tait called the current system a major protection against unjustified rate increases.

Tait said he worried that if the utilities company lowered the rates for some customers, it could raise rates for others to make up the difference. Most companies are competing to attract large businesses. Hence, if the rates went down for businesses, they could go up for residents, he said.

But Anaheim Public Utilities General Manager Edward Aghjayan said that Anaheim’s rates for residents have always been among the lowest around, and that a cap on maximum profits would remain in place.

“[The amendment] doesn’t give us the leeway to over-collect,” he said.

The council decided unanimously to put four other amendments on November’s ballot. Voters will decide whether to amend the charter to prohibit city employees from holding office as mayor or city council members. They will also vote on whether to prohibit the council from hiring special prosecutors.

Two other amendments will update an outdated charter, said City Atty. Jack White, making language gender neutral, and expanding the authority of the finance director to approve wire transfers, electronic payments and checks.

The council rejected two charter amendments dealing with term limits.

An amendment that would limit the ability of the Anaheim Firefighters Assn. to use binding interest arbitration was put on hold until the State Senate considers a bill dealing with the same topic.

The Anaheim firefighters are among only a few firefighters’ unions in the state to have the legal right to use binding arbitration, a process that allows a neutral third party to rule on issues of contention. State bill SB402 would give police and firefighters throughout California the right to use binding arbitration when two parties reach an impasse. The bill would supersede city laws on binding arbitration, so the council agreed to wait and see how the bill fares when the Legislature returns from its recess on August 7.

Judy Silber can be reached at (7140 966-5988.