Curtis Watson vividly remembers the day he literally swam through sewage underneath a modular home. Thats the kind of toughness a former member of the 82nd Airborne Division and a plumber of 34 years shows when faced with a dirty job.

The hillside homes sewer had separated because a pipe shifted and completely came apart, leaking raw sewage. Watson put on a contractors rain suit which he threw away when the job was done and fixed the sewer as quickly as possible.

Thats all in a days work for Patriot Plumbing, the Piedmont-based business Watson owns. He prides himself on employing a team of plumbers who tackle the dirtiest, toughest jobs in the region.

The companys general manager, Roger Olson, describes Watson as an intense personality and a good guy to have on your side. Ancient-plumbing conundrums, broken toilets and clogged drains dont intimidate Watson. In fact, they intrigue him.

We do the things nobody thinks can be done or wants to do. It doesnt matter how nasty or complicated we tackle it, Watson said. We find a way to get it done.

Patriot Plumbing services residential and commercial plumbing throughout the Black Hills. The business specializes in updating plumbing when homeowners or business owners remodel or need repairs. Watson and his team also install plumbing in new-construction homes and businesses, and they install water purification systems, standard and tankless water heaters and well systems.

Patriot Plumbings team includes four master plumbers three of whom are veterans and four apprentices who go out on jobs with the master plumbers to learn the trade.

Though Watson will work on custom homes by request, he prefers the complexity of dirty jobs over straightforward tasks such as installing brand-new plumbing.

I do historical remodels, and making something new out of something old is very challenging. It can be dirty and messy and complicated and mean. There can be safety issues, especially on jobs that require working on unstable earth, Watson said.

One of his current jobs is an 1893 house in Deadwood thats being remodeled. Taking something very, very old and making it modern and new you have to step back and figure out how to put in what (the homeowners) want with what you have, Watson said.

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Watson and his crew often are called to repair bad plumbing in newer houses, as well.

Were finding a lot of that. The contractors that build them do an inadequate job. I come into customers homes and make it right, Watson said. We do a lot of bathroom remodels, kitchen remodels, burst pipes, leaks. We replace a lot of toilets because these newer ones dont work very well. We have toilets we (install). They arent cheap, but they work.

For the dirtiest of dirty jobs, Patriot Plumbing has a truck called the rescue unit. Its for getting to places most vans cant go, and its equipped for almost any plumbing problem we come across, Watson said.

Watson sets high standards for his team of plumbers and encourages them to follow his mantra.

Being a plumber is not just what I do, its who I am, Watson said.

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No job too nasty for master plumbers - Rapid City Journal

Somebody ratted Patrick Kelly out to the Philadelphia Gas Works, which dispatched a revenue-protection team to his Fox Chase home in 2015 to inspect his incoming gas line.

Investigators for PGW discovered a flexible metal hose attached to the houses service line, bypassing the utilitys meter. The illegal line supplied free fuel to two furnaces, a hot water heater, a gas range, a gas dryer, and a swimming pool heater.

PGW cut off service to thehouse in the 700 block of Strahle Street and said the customer owed $21,000 for unauthorized gas used from 2003 through 2015, on top of the $7,800 Kelly was actually billed.

A heating and air-conditioning contractor, Kelly denied knowledge of the bypass and complained to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

On Thursday, an unsympathetic PUC voted, 3-1, to uphold a recommended decision that Kelly pay $18,378.72, an amount adjusted down to reflect a change in the estimated date when one of his gas appliances went into service.

Commissioner David W. Sweet cast the only dissenting vote, but notin Kellys favor. Sweet argued that a deadline had passed to legally adjust the amount owed, and that Kelly should actually pay $21,000, plus reconnection fees.

I see no reason for this commission to reach beyond our lawful authority in order to give partial relief tothisparticular complainant, he said.

The panel also rejected Kellys request that PGW give him a payment agreement.

Each year, the PUC deals with thousands of utility customers complaints, a fraction of which proceed through a formal hearing and go to the full commission. But few customers caught with an illegal bypass go public and seek relief from the agency.

Theft of natural gas is a dangerous practice that puts peoples lives at risk and forces honest ratepayers to cover the fuel cost, PGW spokesman Barry OSullivan said Friday. The city-owned utility was satisfied with the PUCs decision, he added.

Kelly did not respond to email and phone messages left with his answering service and his lawyer.

He converted his residence to propane and electric appliances after PGW shut off his service in October 2015 and did not dispute that PGW found an illegal tap on his property. But in testimony before a PUC administrative law judge, Kelly denied knowing anything about the bypass.

Neither PGW nor the PUC attempted to determine who installed the bypass, since Kelly was responsible for it because it was on his property. People can draw their own conclusions, OSullivan said.

Andrew M. Calvelli, the administrative law judge, dryly noted in his recommended decision that Kelly has owned a heating and air-conditioning business since 1993. Mr. Kelly installs a lot of air conditioners, heaters, walk-in boxes and refrigeration equipment as part of his business, thejudge wrote.

According to public records, Kelly bought the house in 2003 for $225,000. It had a gas dryer, a gas water heater, and a gas range.

Kelly installed a 100,000 BTU gas heater in 2003 and added a 50,000 BTU heater in 2009.In April 2014, he had a pool installed at the address, along with a 300,000 BTU gas heater to heat the pool.

The size and installation dates of the appliances were pertinent when PGW went about computing how much unbilled gas was consumed. For instance, PGW said it estimated that the pool was open from May to September, which istypical for a residential outdoor pool in Philadelphia, and was heated to 78 to 80 degrees.

Kelly disputedPGWs methodology, testifying that he let the weather heat his pool, and that he did not maintain the temperature between 78 and 80 degrees as suggested.

I do not find such testimony to be credible, Calvelli wrote in his recommended decision.

The administrative law judge did adjust down the estimated total, which CommissionerJohn F. Coleman Jr. said he found acceptable, despite Sweets dissent.

While I share the displeasure with my colleagues of the conduct of this customer, I believe the evidentiary record requires that we affirm the ALJs decision, Coleman said.

Published: September 1, 2017 5:16 PM EDT

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A PGW customer's plea gets no sympathy from the PUC - Philly.com

Londiwe Buthelezi

Between 40 percent and 70 percent of solar water heater installations were estimated to be unsatisfactory to customers, the Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa ombudsman said yesterday.

The ombudsman, Carel Ballack, said his office received about 15 complaints a month. This number might seem fairly low, but Ballack said this was because the ombuds office was not known to customers.

He said installation problems were not alarming, but customer dissatisfaction also arose from service received after they had installed their solar water heater systems.

In winter there were a lot of complaints about systems freezing, while in summer there were overheating issues.

Eskom has also been telling households that have installed solar water heaters with mechanical dump valves to service their systems twice a year so that these would not develop frost or freeze.

The utility even advised that the use of mechanical dump valves in solar geyser installations was now prohibited by the SA Bureau of Standards.

While faulty installations have frustrated a number of households, Eskom said the only recourse for customers was to approach the ombudsman or revert to the Consumer Protection Act because the customers installation agreement was with the installation company, not Eskom.

Eskoms spokesman for the solar water heater rebate programme, Andrew Etzinger, said in most cases installations were done correctly but acknowledged that the utility had received a number of complaints about faulty workmanship.

He said in such cases, Eskom retained a portion of the payment claimed by suppliers until the faults were rectified. This had caused payment disputes with some suppliers.

In the majority of cases the disputes relate to the quality of workmanship where a supplier believes the quality is adequate and Eskom believes otherwise. Eskom deploys auditors to sites who take photographic evidence to substantiate concerns, Etzinger said.

Last week Frost & Sullivan released findings of its recent study, which showed that the uptake of solar geysers by consumers had been disappointing.

Yesterday, Frost & Sullivan energy and power research analyst Muneera Salie said the issue of faulty installations emerged very strongly when the firm conducted the study. The product is often good quality but the system does not work properly and people feel frustrated.

Customers did not want the product any longer as they thought the solar heater was faulty, but the problem was the installation, she said.

She said the study also found that some installers posed as if they were contracted by Eskom and when people tried to call them when problems arose after the installation, the companies had vanished.

Frost & Sullivans study showed that 40 percent of new suppliers left the industry every year because of disappointing demand and that the solar water heater market generated revenue of only about R810 million last year.

Etzinger admitted that the amount that had to be paid by homeowners for solar geysers, even after the Eskom rebate, was still too high to achieve a large uptake of the high pressure systems.

Eskom offers rebates of between R3 936 and R8 964 on different sizes of high pressure geysers. Through the rebate programmes, including that of the Department of Energy, 336 391 were installed in the country by April 5.

Eskom said the installation companies registered in its rebate programme met the minimum required qualifications and skills.

But Ballack said some installers were not too concerned about the functionality of the system when installing the geysers, while others did not understand the technicalities.

Three years ago, a certain supplier flooded the market with 12 volt circulator pumps, which are not reliable and some consumers are not even aware that their systems are not functioning because of this, Ballack said.

More:
Solar water heater complaints flood in - Independent Online

We previously reported the Washington Supreme Courts decision in Xia, et al. v. ProBuilders Specialty Insurance Company, et al., 188 Wn.2d 171, 393 P.3d 748 (2017), in which the Court applied the efficient proximate cause rule to a third-party liability policy to find a duty to defend.

To recap, Washington law requires insurers to assess and investigate coverage under first-party insurance policies by applying the efficient proximate cause analysis. Until Xia, the efficient proximate cause rule has only been applied to first party insurance policies in Washington. But the Washington Supreme Courts decision in Xia changed that by holding that an insurer must consider the efficient proximate cause rule in determining its duty to defend under a CGL policy.

The issue in Xia was whether the pollution exclusion applied to relieve ProBuilders of its duty to defend a claim against the insured alleging that carbon monoxide was released into the claimants house through a defectively installed vent. ProBuilders denied coverage to the insured contractor, in part, under the pollution exclusion. The Washington Supreme Court held that while ProBuilders did not err in determining that the plain language of its pollution exclusion applied to the release of carbon monoxide into Xias home, under the eight corners rule of reviewing the complaint and the insurance policy, ProBuilders should have noted that a potential issue of efficient proximate cause existed, as Xia alleged negligence in her original complaint, i.e. failure to properly install venting for the hot water heater and failure to properly discover the disconnected venting.

Ultimately, the Court concluded that the efficient proximate cause of the claimants loss was a covered peril the negligent installation of a hot water heater. Even though ProBuilders correctly applied the language of its pollution exclusion to the release of carbon monoxide into the house, the Court ruled that ProBuilders breached its duty to defend as it failed to consider an alleged covered occurrence that was the efficient proximate cause of the loss. The Court granted judgment as a matter of law to the claimant with regard to her breach of contract and bad faith claims.

Soon after the Washington Supreme Courts decision, ProBuilders filed a motion asking the Court to reconsider its decision. However, on August 17, 2017, the Washington Supreme Court denied the motion, leaving in place the holding that insurers must take the efficient proximate cause rule when analyzing coverage under third-party policies.

As discussed in our earlier post, the efficient proximate cause rule applies when two or more perils combine in sequence to cause a loss and a covered peril is the predominant or efficient cause of the loss. Vision One, LLC v. Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co., 174 Wn.2d 501, 276 P.3d 300 (2012). If the initial event, the efficient proximate cause, is a covered peril, then there is coverage under the policy regardless of whether subsequent events within the chain, which may be causes-in-fact of the loss, are excluded by the policy. Key Tronic Corp., Inc. v. Aetna (CIGNA) Fire Underwriters Insurance Co., 124 Wn.2d 618, 881 P.2d 210 (1994).

Insurers must be extremely cautious when assessing the duty to defend and an exclusion that could potentially preclude coverage. Under Xia, liability insurers must examine the underlying complaint very carefully to determine whether there could potentially be multiple causes of a loss, and if so, which cause is the initiating cause. If the initiating cause is potentially a covered event, then there may be coverage and the insurer must provide a defense under reservation of rights in order to minimize bad faith exposure.

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Washington Supreme Court Denies Reconsideration of Its Decision to Apply the Efficient Proximate Cause Rule to a ... - Lexology (registration)

Willowpix/Getty ImagesNothing will wake you up faster than turning on the shower and discovering theres no hot water. It could be an indication that its time to replace your water heater.

The cost of a water heater depends on several factors, such as the type of tank and the labor to install the unit. Storage water tanks average between $650 and $850. Tankless water heaters, which do not store water but use special coils to heat water when you need it, cost between $160 and $1,500.

The nationwide average cost of a water heater is $1,005, including installation.

With such an array of options, shopping for a new water heater overwhelms some people. They have to pick a unit with the capacity to handle the volume of hot water used in the home and one that fits in the designated space in the house.

The obvious difference between traditional storage water heaters and tankless heaters is the size of the units. But the way they heat the water also differs.

Storage water heaters generally cost less and handle large volumes of water better than tankless water heaters, making them a popular choice for families. However, tankless water heaters tend to be more energy-efficient and have a longer life span.

It is possible for a homeowner to install a water heater on his own, but most people hire a professional and need to consider the installation cost when shopping for a system. Installation costs vary depending on the price of labor, the type of water heater, the condition of the existing plumbing, and the permits required.

On average, a 40-gallon water heater and installation will run you $950. The average cost of a tankless water heater and installation is $1,700.

The power source for water heaters can come from gas, electricity or solar energy. Gas water heaters are less energy-efficient than electric ones, but gas heats up water quicker and often costs less. Solar-powered water heaters use energy from the sun and can be up to 50 percent more efficient than gas and electric heaters. But they may not provide enough energy to heat the water on cloudy days, especially during peak use.

Homeowners wondering whether its time to replace the water heater can look for certain signs that indicate the unit is failing. These include leaks coming from the tank, water pooling on the floor around the unit, and rust-tainted water. Failing water heaters also make rumbling or banging sounds and stop heating as efficiently as they once did.

Even if the water heater doesnt show these signs, it may be time to replace the unit if its past its life expectancy. Storage water heaters last 10 years on average, and tankless systems last between 10 and 20 years.

Before shopping for a water heater, evaluate your water usage. This information will help you select a water heater that has the capacity you need, especially during peak morning and evening hours.

When selecting a water heater, its also important to consider the available space for the unit, as well as the existing plumbing hookups and power supply. Switching from a storage tank water heater to a tankless unit or replacing an electric system with a gas one may require additional work to make the area compatible with the new system.

Use Bankrates calculator to figure out what the monthly payment will be on your new mortgage.

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Don't let a new water heater burn your budget - Bankrate.com

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Two Parts:Flushing the HeaterFinishing UpCommunity Q&A

Water heaters should be flushed every one to three years depending on the model and water source. This helps to control the buildup of mineral deposits. Your water heater will operate more efficiently and this will usually extend the life of the heater. Use this guide to flush your water heater.

Part 1

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Part 2

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Are any additives such as distilled vinegar ever used in the flushing/draining process?

wikiHow Contributor

Acid is used but it is a professional task and the acid used will depend on the construction of the heater.

Can I turn off the cold water valve at the tank and take a shower to drain some of the hot water from the tank before I attach the hose to the drain valve? I just hate to waste all that hot water drown the drain!

wikiHow Contributor

That will not work. When you turn off the cold water valve at the top, then no hot water will flow. The best bet is to turn off the heater (gas or electric) and take a shower. The water will slowly get colder as the hot water is used up and replaced by cold.

I cannot get hot water out of my bathroom sink after going through all of the procedures of draining the gas hot water tank. What can I do to get the hot water back in the bathroom sink?

wikiHow Contributor

Check the line from the water heater to the sink. There maybe something blocking the line, a piece of rust if the water heater has a bit of age on it.

What do I do if the water is hot, but gets cold after a few minutes?

wikiHow Contributor

There are many things it could possibly be. 90% of the time, one of the elements have to be replaced (normally the lower one). Then there is the thermostat, the dip tube, sediment, etc.

Does it harm an electric water heater to run it out of hot water when taking a shower?

wikiHow Contributor

No. The tank automatically refills with cold water as the hot is used, so there is no loss in water volume during this time.

Will flushing the water heater help with low water pressure?

wikiHow Contributor

Probably not. Your hot water pipes are probably obstructed, most likely from the plastic stand pipe inside the heater disintegrating and leaving particles in the pipes. You will either need to replace or repair the water heater and flush out the pipes.

How long should it take to completely drain a water heater?

wikiHow Contributor

Probably around 30 minutes.

Why would a water tank not drain?

wikiHow Contributor

You have closed the cold water intake valve and not opened a hot water sink tap to allow the pressure to drain off and allow air into the top of the tank.Like holding the top of a straw filled with water.

Will flushing a hot water heater get rid of the rotten egg smell?

wikiHow Contributor

You may want to check for sulphur in your water if you are on a well-based system.

What can cause only a trickle of water to come out of agarden hose?

wikiHow Contributor

Sediment may be blocking the drain. Mine was so plugged no water would come out at all, so I used a portable air tank to blow air into the drain hose. Always make sure you have a hot water valve open somewhere.

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Earlier this week, Home Depot announced its Q2 earnings, beating Wall Street expectations on all the important metrics. How was the home improvement retailer rewarded? Shares dipped over 3% that same day.

At this point, not even a stellar earnings report can slow down the Amazon effect. Home Depot is currently riding a bubble and Amazon is poised to burst it, as it's been historically keen to do. The e-commerce platform did it before to Circuit City, leading to its bankruptcy 3 years after peak sales, and is doing it again in a number of verticals, like food and industrial supply.

Home Depot will prove to be no exception.

In order to emerge the victor, Amazon doesn't need to replicate all of Home Depot's product catalog to steal away huge chunks of its revenue. Amazon will only need to target the smaller inventory, the pack-and-ship stuff like batteries and bulbs, and offer it at lower prices.

As well, Amazon's deal with Sears to sell Kenmore appliances should send shivers down Home Depot executives' spines, as it's clear Amazon can move further upstream, spreading the disruption.

Alas, Amazon isn't the end of Home Depot's woes. Another reason for the lack of investor confidence is many believe that Home Depot's gross margins have plateaued. It's also suspected that Home Depot's stock has been buoyed for a while by a robust buyback program.

The sustainability of Home Depot's success has been called into question, causing this stock dip in the face of the company's strongest quarter ever. That's the power of the Amazon effect and the fallibility of linear retail growth - it can all be sent toppling.

Home Depot is a home improvement supplies retailer headquartered in Atlanta. Compared to Amazon, it does have a more robust product lineup and a growing focus on professional customers.

The retailer also offers a range of services, from water heater installation to bathroom remodeling, in which customers will be connected with trusted home improvement professionals to fulfill their needs.

Having been in this industry for decades, Home Depot developed a strong sense of brand loyalty with its customers, which has served it well. Unfortunately, that loyalty won't last long if Amazon can successfully duplicates the Home Depot's product and service offerings at a substantially lower price.

If Amazon wanted, it could replicate Home Depot's services, much like it did with Best Buy. In July, Amazon tanked Best Buy's shares over 7.5% (see below) on the news that it would launch its own Geek Squad competitor to help customers set up and fix gadgets, particularly the Alexa-enabled ones.

Amazon already has a division for selling professional services, where individuals can register to perform handyman services and more, akin to Handy and TaskRabbit. While not heavily marketed, a little bit of branding can easily bill it as a top source for home improvement sources and erode one of Home Depot's key defensive moats.

Amazon's size and scope enable it to scale virtually any new business unit it wants, so it wouldn't take much for Home Depot to completely lose this advantage.

Others cite Home Depot's ability to sell large products another competitive advantage over Amazon, but the aforementioned deal with Sears and Amazon's growing furniture delivery logistics will eventually render that moat moot.

Aside from the direct competition, Home Depot's margins wouldn't survive an indirect Amazon assault. If Amazon really targets the smaller products, like light bulbs, tools, and anything else on Home Depot's shelves, the big box retailer's margins will evaporate, forcing it to shrink to stay alive.

The Amazon threat is real and existential. Home Depot can't merely rest on its laurels - it needs to innovate fast.

Amazon shouldn't be the only headache for Home Depot. Housing starts are experiencing a sharp decline, which will send the whole market into a slump, which will necessarily decrease Home Depot's sales.

In the face of this slump and a falling stock, Home Depot's gains mean little. Amazon has never been better poised to cause painful disruption, so the home improvement chain needs to strategize and innovate to survive.

Of course, the only way to defend against or beat a marketplace is to build one of its own. Home Depot needs to create a network of hardware stores nationwide, everything from solo mom-and-pops to regional chains, and facilitate sales through this network.

As well, investing heavily in growing its base of service providers would serve the company well in staving off Amazon's own services offering. That's a low-cost source of revenue that also yields strong loyalty. Upgrading the offerings and making the process less frictional on both sides is key to bolstering that strategy.

Finally, Home Depot needs to evaluate a long-term reorganization. Ralph Whitworth will probably roll in his grave at this notion, but Home Depot should explore reuniting with HD Supply, which was a business-facing unit sold off a decade ago for over $10 billion.

HD Supply's been having a rough summer since its board sold off the Waterworks division, which had the best margins in the whole company. Since then, the stock has taken a beating, cratering around 25%, and the company's struggled to meet earnings expectations.

A newly restored Home Depot would be a big customer, allowing it to negotiate better prices from its suppliers and help margins. It already has the logistics network for moving large quantities of large products to stock its stores, so moving them to fill business orders wouldn't be too much of a strain.

Finally, it can serve any kind of customer that needs nails, bulbs, lumber, or any building material at scale, from weekend warriors and homeowners to massive construction firms and factories.

Serving as both a retailer and a distributor would give Home Depot more room to breathe in the wake of the Amazon effect and, ideally, more time to build its marketplace.

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Not Even Home Depot Is Safe From Amazon - Inc.com

Prime Heaters, a water-Heaters Information source, has launched a new website. The company announced earlier today they have launched a new website to cover information regarding tankless water heaters.

Prime Heaters, which is a popular information source for people who need water heaters, announced that the creation of a special website was the best decision for their customers. Felix Wood, the companys CEO, earlier in the morning said that the high growth for tankless water heaters demands special attention. Felix announced that his companys dedication providing rich and informative news about the fast-growing types of water heaters pushed them to launch a new website.

In the recent past, weve seen tankless water heaters hit the market at a fast rate. Well-known brands are now venturing into the business of tankless water heaters. Unfortunately, few brands explain to customers the in depths of tankless water heaters. We want to fill this void by providing consumers with resourceful bits of information about tankless water heaters. Felix explained.

Created to enhance the user experience, Prime Heater new website, http://www.primeheaters.com, holds multiple features to enable easy filtering of useful content, contacts to the companys writers and easily sort for reviews related to specific types of tankless water heaters. According to Anne Taylor, writer and the spokesperson for the new site, customers no longer have to sort through dozens of review sites to get useful information about tankless water heaters. Anne adds that writers dedicated for the new website are all highly qualified and experienced enough to find in depth and helpful information to customers.

People who will be visiting our new site will be able to sort through articles to find the exact information about tankless water heaters. We have included a sort feature to help visitors sort through articles for the specific information about tankless water heaters they want, Anne notes. Again, we have not just created an attractive website. Its assigned to writes with a deep understanding about tankless water heaters. Anne added.

Prime Heaters has been actively providing information about water heaters for the past five years through private forum. The sites information ranges from news about all types of water heaters to reviews about conventional water heaters. With the launch of the new website, Felix, the CEO hopes to expand their information reach to the huge consumer market interested in the new type of water heaters.

About Prime Heaters

We keep you up-to-date with the latest information about water heaters and your water heating needs through our blog primeheaters.com.

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Prime Heaters Launches New Site Dedicated to Tankless Water Heaters - PRUnderground (press release)

BENICIA >> Tuesdays City Council meeting covered so much ground, that the cannabis legalization discussion had to be moved to September. But there was plenty of time left for the city to get feedback on the new master fee schedule for services.

The city recently audited all the fees it charges for everything from permits to install a water heater, to building a condominium, to the police responding to a false alarm at a house.

The city had been running deficits and under-recovering for years, which is a way of saying they were spending more on services than they recouped in fees.

The overall costs for services is a macro number that takes into account labor, overhead, and anything else that requires city staff oversight.

The city estimated that only 30 percent of costs were being recovered. With the new proposed schedule, the recovery rate will be 60 percent, with a 40 percent deficit that will most likely be made up by the general fund.

But all of that translates to some fees increasing by as high as 400 percent, a hefty number that hasnt gone over well with residents and business owners.

Gina Eleccion, management analyst and a main architect of the new fee schedule, spearheaded a long study examining existing rates and eventually proposing these latest adjustments.

Some are going up, some are going down, but overall, more revenue will be generated for the city provided people actually apply for permits and not blow them off due to cost.

City Manager Lorie Tinfow defended the fee increases by saying that the citys deficits havent just meant less money coming in than going out, but they have affected the citys ability to attract staff.

Retention issues (mean that) we cannot keep up with the market for salaries and benefits, she said at Tuesdays meeting. Weve lost people. Thats why we are really doing this. We cant keep up with the growing costs.

Beyond being able to offer competitive salaries, there are also contractual pension issues that will be ongoing.

One criticism lobbed at the council from unhappy constituents was the idea that a city should run itself like a business dont pay out more than you take in.

Councilmember Alan Schwartzman has tackled this criticism on more than one occasion, but he addressed it again on Tuesday. Numbers of people say, Why dont you run the city like a business? Well, here we are looking at the cost of doing business, and were not anywhere close in some of these different departments and areas, he said, referring to the under-recovery for services. If you are in business and your costs are going up, what do you do? At some particular point you may have to raise prices.

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So council and mayor unanimously agreed that fees had to go up. The question was, by how much?

Councilmembers focused in on line items in the fee schedule, zeroing in on things like bicycle licenses to taxi permits, and whether or not they are even needed.

Other council members like Mark Hughes wanted to see the most common fees for homeowners reduced.

None of this addressed any anger some constituents had with the overall state of affairs, a few of which spoke during the public comments section of the meeting.

A realtor addressed the council and offered that if fees are too high, people might have less incentive to pull permits in the first place. She also noted that when the proper channels are followed, home improvements are officially noted and property taxes can go up, which is good for the city.

Other residents spoke out about excessive fees and overregulation in government in general.

Resident Wayne Fisher took to the podium and said he was renovating his house and he saw that some fees will be increasing by more than 300 percent. The reality is, you dont know the impact this will have, he said. We heard earlier today from people with their water bills. That was a big increase with unintended consequences. You are facing a similar situation with these increases. If you dont know what [the impact is] you shouldnt increase it. I urge the council to vote no, he said.

Others have taken to social media to decry the new fees, arguing that the permit structure wasnt examined thoroughly and that there was no examination of past permits and their individual rates.

Eleccion did indeed look at old permits and their impacts and rates, but in some cases its an apples to oranges comparison since some fees have switched from a valuation model to piecemeal. For example, if a homeowner was applying for a permit to put in a new kitchen estimated at $50,000, a flat rate wouldve be applied. With the new fee schedule, homeowners will now in some instances pay for each job involved with a project, such as new windows, a new floor, or a new water heater.

When the discussion moved back to council, the mayor asked how Benicia compares to neighboring areas and what they charge for fees.

Eleccion said that we did find ourselves much lower than those cities, though a side-by-side comparison is hard to make since all towns break their numbers down differently.

The mayor then asked what the consequences would be if the new fees were not enacted.

City Manager Lorie Tinfow said the budget would stay as-is, and the reserves would be down below 20 percent. She mentioned that some Measure C funds are unprogrammed and could be an option, and that there were other options that she could look into.

Councilmember Mark Hughes agreed to an increase in fees, but said hed like to re-examine the higher permit fees for the things homeowners will most often need, like new water heaters, roofs, or furnaces.

Schwartzman concurred and said it was a fact of life that prices have to be raised at times. Were trying to run a city here, and everybody in this room counts on services. When the costs go up, what do we do? If we dont have enough money to cover it weve got to get it from some place. We can raise taxes or we can raise fees. We dont have a choice.

Cutting services is an option, he said, but no one wants to do that.

Each councilmember had quibbles with particular fees, but it was determined that they could be changed on down the line after the fees are adopted.

Ultimately, the fee increases were approved, with some reductions in proposed permit charges for new water heaters, furnaces, windows, kitchens, and bathrooms.

Staff will come back later with recommendations for more adjustments, the mayor said.

We need to hold ourselves to the promise of being more effective and efficient, said Patterson. The alternative is really reducing services, and none of us want to do that.

So buckle up, Benicia: fees are going to rise starting Oct. 16.

Continued here:
Benicia City Council approves revamped fee rates for services - Vallejo Times Herald

Custom Solar's Houston Sherer works to install solar panels on a home on in Boulder last year. (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)

Whether you support or oppose Boulder's effort to municipalize electricity, it will be years before Boulder or Xcel substantially increase renewable energy sources. The Trump administration seems to think that limiting carbon emissions causes leprosy. Neither of those prevents you from reducing your own carbon footprint right now.

First and easiest, consider subscribing to Xcel's WindSource program. The additional cost is now less than a penny per kilowatt-hour (kWh). If you use 800 kWh/month, that's about $7.00. Sure, you could refuse to sign up, protesting that Xcel shouldn't be charging extra for cheap wind power. We agree, they shouldn't. But you might feel better if you get up smiling every morning, knowing that for a whopping 25 cents, your electricity that day won't consume an ounce of fossil fuel.

You might install solar panels ours provide almost all our electricity, including charging two cars. Prices have plummeted with increased manufacturing volume, federal tax credits knock another 30 percent off, and most installers offer leases or loans. Your actions may encourage others, as research shows that solar panels tend to blossom in a neighborhood. Evidently, neighbors look up and think "Hey, why don't we do that?"

If you have the space, you can install solar water heating. These systems heat water with panels on your roof, then return it to a storage tank that feeds your hot water heater. Our installation lowers our propane use substantially in winter, and provides nearly all our hot water in summer.

If you're buying a new car, consider going electric. We bought a Tesla nearly four years ago, and our only regret is that we didn't buy a bunch of Tesla stock at the same time. We've taken it as far as Steamboat, with a quick stop to charge in Silverthorne. If you drive far every day, you'll want a Tesla or a Chevrolet Bolt; both go over 200 miles on a charge. Electric vehicles qualify for a federal tax credit of $7,500, and a Colorado state credit of $5,000. In the past, Nissan and Xcel have offered additional incentives on Leafs, which explains why they seem to be the "new Prius" in Boulder.

Even Tesla's supercharging isn't as fast as a gas station, so you may want to own or rent another car for long trips. Alternatively, a plug-in hybrid gives you some electric operation before switching over to gasoline. We just replaced our ailing 17-year-old Toyota Prius with a new Prius Prime. It gets about 25 miles on a charge, then over 50 mpg on gas. Our younger son sometimes drives as far as Denver for work, yet went 1,700 miles on the first tank of gas. A friend loves his Chevy Volt plug-in, which has twice the electric range. The Prius Prime qualifies for a $4,500 federal credit; the Volt, with its larger battery, gets $7,500. Both qualify for the $5,000 state credit. That makes it cheaper to buy a Prius Prime than an ordinary Prius hybrid!

Finally, a hybrid can keep you from descending all the way to the consumption of an all-gasoline car. We've averaged 31 mpg with an all-wheel-drive Toyota RAV4 hybrid, even after a winter with snow tires and ski rack, and a summer with our older son blasting the air conditioning. Toyota charges just $700 over the non-hybrid. At $2.50 per gallon of gas, and 12,000 miles/year, that pays for itself in under four years, which is a far better return than the 0.000005 percent or so interest most banks will pay you.

In short, whatever your thoughts about municipalization, you can personally move faster and farther toward a carbonless future, just by changing a few purchasing decisions.

Joel and Jean McCormack live in Boulder.

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Joel and Jean McCormack: Just do it! - Boulder Daily Camera