By Robert Haugh
At the Santa Clara City Council meeting on Tuesday, the Santa Clara City Council approved a five percent rate increase for all Silicon Valley Power (SVP) customers.
The adjustment will take effect on January 1, 2025, with the new rates reflected in customers’ February utility bills.
The rate increase is designed to address rising material and construction costs, fund essential infrastructure projects, and ensure that the city’s reserves are in alignment with Santa Clara’s growth.
According to City Staff, these efforts are critical for maintaining a reliable and sustainable power system in the years ahead.
The vote for the increase was 6-1. Vice Mayor Anthony Becker was the lone no vote.
In an effort to assist customers in managing their energy consumption and reducing their bills, SVP offers several resources, including:
- Rebates on energy-efficient appliances
- Energy-saving tips customized for individual homes
- Access to a Tool Lending Library for measuring the energy usage of household devices
SVP also offers rate assistance for Mission City residents who can’t afford their payments.
For more information on these savings programs, visit SiliconValleyPower.com/Residents.
[…] Silicon Valley Power […]
SVP must be paying big salaries to Santa Claran’s detriment. Gotta raise rates….
Lington Gordon …. is highly paid as an “Electric Crewman Foreperson”…. “Lington Gordon Jr. in 2023 was employed at Santa Clara and had an annual salary of $851,896 according to public records. This salary was 416 percent higher than the average and 497 percent higher than the median salary in Santa Clara.”
https://govsalaries.com/lington-gordon-jr-182969455
AND…..
Measure I was passed.
Just know that $400 million will not be accounted for.
Rather it will, like all other city bonds, pay the exorbitant salaries of city employees.
https://govsalaries.com/salaries/CA/santa-clara-unified
https://www.santaclarausd.org/about-us/departments/bond-projects
Who in the their right mind would pay $333,332 someone to dole out taxpayer “bond” money?
https://govsalaries.com/salaries/CA/santa-clara
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/santa-clara/?&s=-base
G’luck Santa Clara.
The reason they are increasing rates is to provide more power to the ever growing fleet of data centers. That’s about a 30 % increase in rates in just over a year. These data centers and companies like Nvidia, which is the biggest company in the world by market capitalization, really should be a target to make revenue for the city. Find a way to make them pay more.
I agree with your reasoning, but it’s the state of California that is blocking your idea:
California Constitution (Proposition 218):
Equity in Rates: Fees or rates charged by a public agency must be proportional to the cost of the service provided. This means residential and commercial rates must reflect the costs associated with providing electricity to those respective customer classes.
Prohibition of Cross-Subsidies: Proposition 218 prevents one class of customers (e.g., residential) from subsidizing another class (e.g., commercial). Rates must be cost-justified for each category.
Thomas,
PG&E has even bigger rate increases and their customer base is much more residential than SVP’s. They will have raised rates almost 13 percent this year. Periodic rate increases for everything is simply the norm for everything. And the datacenters here in Santa Clara actually give more economy of scale to SVP to serve us residential customers better and more efficiently. I am thankful for this especially at times like right now with winter storms causing need for a large scale workforce to deal with problems.