Hank Ryan is the Executive Director and energy guru of Small Business California. He asked me to send the letter below to our Small Business California family. Please take a moment and send to me the your energy bill.

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Beginning this fall, all businesses in California will be switched to a "time of use" rate.

SB-Cal is supporting proposed legislation, SB843, in California that could help small businesses save significantly where they use large amounts of electricity during weekdays. Examples include manufacturing, small grocery stores or even convenience stores.

We are asking for businesses in California that would be both willing to share an electric bill and that are already on a "time of use" rate like "A6" in PG&E's territory (GS-1, GS-2 in SCE's territory, ALTOU in SDG&E's territory), to help determine the amount of savings SB 843 could help deliver back to the business.

The legislation allows consumers to "buy" part of a larger solar installation that is located elsewhere. The cost of electricity for the energy from the solar power is 11 cents per kilowatt hour. When businesses use energy during the summer peak times (generally 1-5pm), they pay up to 30 cents per kilowatt hour.

Therefore, those businesses would see a "bill credit" for the energy that the solar power provides during those peak time hours.

We would like to be able to demonstrate what value this might provide to a small business in California.

Please let us know if you would be willing to share your energy bill for the month of June if your business is on a "time of use" rate.

Thanks!
Hank Ryan


I was listening to NPR Scott Simons this morning and he talked about a poll that was recently done.

The question asked was assuming there is a God do you approve of his/her performance? 52% said they did.

This compares favorably with 46% approval of President Obama and 33% of Congress.

It compares unfavorably with Oprah Winfrey's approval rating of 60%.

Scott went on to say that he would like the question asked of God what his/her approval rating was of the people he created?


I frequently rail against elected officials. I also frequently ask people running for office how they would vote when their constituency/supporters support something that they feel is bad public policy.

Taking this the next step what I am asking is would they vote against their constituency/supporters when they thought it was not in the best interest of our country, state, county or city.

Keep in mind in doing so they could lose their elected office or be recalled.

It is easy for us to criticize when we really have no skin in the game. As we look at the battle in Washington we say that it is all politics. The blame lies with Republicans or Democrats. What do we really expect it to be, given the impact it will have on the elected officials' jobs?

Are we not somewhat to blame?

Thoughts?

Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA 94116
shauge@smallbusinesscalifornia.org
415-680-2188