Garcia: San Antonio’s $50 million question
People walk by protest banners after a panel discussion between San Antonio climate activists and Rudy Garza, the interim CEO of CPS Energy, about the future of J.K. Spruce Power Plant Thursday evening, April 28, 2022, at Woodlawn Pointe Auditorium.The uncertainty contained in those two sentences from City Manager Erik Walsh tells us a lot about the $50 million question that looms over the heads of San Antonio council members.
San Antonio recorded its hottest-ever May, June and July this year. Over those three months alone, the city had 50 days with high temperatures of at least 100 degrees. The short-term problem is that local customers of CPS Energy, the city-owned utility, need some relief from this summer’s exorbitant bills. The long-term problem is that the city needs to move toward greater sustainability and energy efficiency to avoid becoming an unbearable heat island.
The October credit will be administered across the board, to all residential and commercial customers of CPS Energy. The credit will be about 13.5 percent of the amount of your July bill. For the average CPS Energy customer, that means a $31 credit.The most common objection was that while the $31 credit would be nice for consumers, it would make much more sense to take that money and invest it in policies that will better equip the city to combat climate change.
Bravo recommends spending $10 million to convert local buildings to community resiliency centers; $20 million for residential weatherization and energy efficiency enhancements; and $20 million in tree planting and other efforts to reduce the urban heat island effect in San Antonio. North Side Councilman John Courage used Twitter to tell his constituents that his office is “considering alternatives” for the use of the surplus revenue.
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