I received this email from a concerned voter:

Hello,

As I sit with my power having gone out half an hour ago and reflect on the fact that power outages are now a norm for me since moving to Orangevale, I pull out my ballot and wonder if any of the candidates for Ward 1 Director will address this issue. Any plans to put the power lines underground instead of up on poles, fully exposed? I’d love to hear from you on this issue.

Thank you,

I hope that by sharing my response, it can give you better insight into how I think about these issues:

I’m sorry to say I don’t have a clear answer for you. My role as a board member is to ask good questions and be transparent about the trade-offs when making decisions.

The district can give a more accurate report, but just a rough estimation: it costs about $1m/mile to underground power lines. SMUD revenue is about $2b/yr. So raising rates 10% would allow SMUD to underground about 200 miles per year.

I’m curious how you would evaluate this trade-off.  SMUD is already working in under grounding power lines though I’m not sure at what rate currently.

Alternatively, the same money could be spent on solar+battery incentives which could take a home entirely off the grid. At $30k/house would mean 30 homes could be entirely self sufficient for the same amount of money as under-grounding a mile of power line… Not only that, it increases the supply of energy on the grid which would reduce energy prices…

The point I really want to make here is that I believe the role of a board member is not to have a a fixed agenda with predetermined decisions. A board member is supposed to be a representative of the community, not an industry expert with their own agenda. So you decide to vote for me, my commitment is to ask good questions — the district is full of experts who can report answers. My role as a board member is make decisions transparently alongside community input on how to weigh the trade-offs.

Thank you for the question,

Chet