Letter From Will Wynn Re: Energy Audit Ordinance

A message from our beloved mayor:

June 11, 2008
Dear Friend:

Over the last several months, you may have heard talk about a proposed City plan for achieving improved energy efficiency in existing homes. Some have called it the "point of sale" ordinance, or even the "green home tax." There's been a lot of confusion and misunderstanding on this issue, so I want to try to set the record straight. I hope that you will take a moment to read this.

As you know, we face a rapidly changing energy future. If you like what's happening with gas prices right now, then you're going to love what happens with the cost of electricity over the next few years. Make no mistake: powering our homes and buildings is going to get more expensive, perhaps dramatically. Right now, we have an opportunity to get in front of it.

This matters to you whether you know it or not, because we all share in the cost of wasted electricity. It forces us to make expensive power purchases on the energy markets during the heat of summer, and brings us closer to the day when we would need to build expensive new power plants. This drives up electric rates for everyone, not just those who are wasting energy.

Anticipating these problems, the City Council established an inclusive 28-member Task Force to study and make recommendations on ways to achieve better energy efficiency in Austin homes, rental properties and commercial buildings. This Task Force has not made any recommendations yet, but their draft concept is a far cry from some of the characterizations of it that I've heard.

To be clear, we're still many months and a lot of public process away from considering anything, but if the Task Force's draft concept were adopted today, here's what it would NOT do:

1) It would NOT impose a tax on selling your home.

2) It would NOT require people to make energy efficiency upgrades before they could sell their home.

3) It would NOT require people to pass an energy efficiency inspection or get a "certificate of compliance" before they could sell their home.

4) It would NOT force people to buy expensive items like new air conditioners or new windows.

5) It would NOT cause burdensome delays to home sales.

If the Task Force's draft concept were adopted today, here's what it WOULD do:

1) It WOULD require sellers to get an inexpensive energy audit and provide that information to prospective homebuyers.

Sellers wouldn't have to make upgrades, and they wouldn't have to pass an inspection - they would just have to let buyers know what kind of efficiency condition the house is in. The idea of requiring "audit and disclosure" was recommended by the Austin Board of Realtors (as represented on the Task Force), and I think it's a good one. Information is the first step to making smart energy choices, and buyers deserve to know what they're getting into when they make the biggest investment that most people will ever make in their lives.

2) It WOULD encourage people to VOLUNTARILY participate in a program to achieve basic efficiency upgrades, if a house needs it.

The Task Force is discussing a VOLUNTARY program. Under a voluntary program, "low-hanging fruit" like weather stripping and duct sealing would be prioritized, and spending caps would be proposed. All of Austin Energy's rebates and incentives would be available, including their low-interest loan program. As such, basic energy efficiency strategies would be self-financing - that is, the savings on utility bills would outweigh the cost of the upgrades, which would actually put money into the pockets of homeowners, make home ownership more affordable and secure, and put homeownership in reach of more people.

3) It WOULD set voluntary participation targets and track whether we're meeting our goals over the next few years.

If Austin realtors do what they've committed to do as part of the Task Force and become full partners in this process - and if the City and Austin Energy does what we've committed to do and make this an easy, seamless process - I have no doubt we'll meet our goals. But if we're falling short, we'll need to recognize that and try a different approach. Under the Task Force draft concept, the basic efficiency program could become mandatory if the voluntary program wasn't working.

These ideas are still open to a lot of discussion and debate, but I think we're starting from a good place. If everyone works together in a spirit of good faith and cooperation, I know we can develop solutions that will actually make our homes more affordable, keep electric rates lower for the entire community and put us on strong footing as we enter a shifting energy economy.

I appreciate your interest in this issue and look forward to hearing your input.

Sincerely,

Will Wynn
Austin Mayor

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Shawn Shillington in News on June 11, 2008 8:49 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

John Barksdale

Well here we are, one year after this insipid, ill-conceived Austin Energy Conservation and Disclosure ordinance passed. MDAHMUS, since you think you have the right to mandate an energy audit of my home (which will cost me between $200 and $300), and tell me what to do with my private property, I think I too should have the right to tell you what to do with your time, labor and capital. I want YOU to pay for my mandatory energy audit. Since you think it's such a good idea, then you pay for it. This ordinance is beyond ridiculous. If I own a condominium or manufactured home without a permanent foundation I can use 10,000 kilowatt hours a month of electricity and avoid the ECAD. If I fail to get an audit, the city will charge me with a Class C misdemeanor and a $2000 fine. The amount of electricity I consume (purchase) from the Austin Energy monopoly is my concern and none of yours or Will Wynn's. Yes, Austin Energy is a monopoly because I can't buy electricity from a different provider if I wanted to escape the ECAD's reach. Mr. Wynn, you said the homeowner wouldn't be "taxed", -bullet 1 of your list of hand-wringing statements, but a mandatory energy audit of not more than $300 sounds like a tax to me. Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) performs free home energy audits as does Columbia Water and Light!

Keep your statist, intrusive "great ideas" out of my home.

John Barksdale

identitythefthurts@gmail(dot) com

http://stoptheaustinecad.blogspot.com

mdahmus

Slickshu, posting a comment like #7 (and the other crap you or one of your BATPAC buddies have been anonymously posting over at the Chronicle, which is where this particular fun originated) and then asking me to simmer down and not give into simplistic name-calling is worth at least a silver medal in irony. Good show.

Slickshu

Simmer down -- no need to get so worked up. Robust debate is what makes Austin a lively place, and we're all better for it. We can agree to disagree without giving in to simplistic name calling. I know you're better than that. You get your vote, and I get mine -- we can discuss results Monday.

mdahmus

"Under the Task Force draft concept, the basic efficiency program could become mandatory if the voluntary program wasn't working."

She said she supported the Task Force draft concept - and this is a fundamental part of the concept. Her awful supporters are trying to weasel out of this by pointing to other statements she made, but she has gone on the record as supporting the work of the task force, and that work explicitly includes the possibility of mandatory expenses.

This is so stupid anyways - I support making the whole thing mandatory, but I end up defending Galindo because you guys are a bunch of lying liars. Good show.

mdahmus

Slickshu, you're a lying sack of crap. That's all I have time for right now - but you're a really low human being, and I feel sorry for those who have to deal with you.

Slickshu

Just as a point of clarification, MDAHMUS, I heard you had been banished to Dahmustan, a somewhat deary semi-socialist breakaway republic where logic and reason bow to emotion and anecdotal rhetoric, and you are revered as their fearless (and feared) leader. Feared obviously because you know the exact value and square footage of everyone's home, and by your dictate, the idle rich are summarily sentenced to a life of busting rocks.

Glad you are back, or that the series of tubes known as the internets let you blog from there.

Slickshu

Intersting -- you and Cid Galindo are the only persons who have come to that conclusion. I believe Laura Morrison stated that she supported the concept of a point of sale ordinance, but that many details were yet to be worked out. She followed up by stating that she would not be in support of anything that hit low-income persons and/or impacted affordability, once those details were vetted.

Following your (and Galindo's) chain of logic, I'm offended that Cid hasn't come out squarely against the city indenturing children into forced slavery, or handing over PARD to a gaggle of goth witches, or designating South Austin as a formal sanctuary for hookah smoking polygamists -- at any time the Point of Sale Task Force could propose this, and who's going to fight for us? Who cares about our future? Our families? Since Cid won't address these pressing issues, he must be in full support of them.

God help us.

mdahmus

Slickshu, it's claims like yours that are the lies - I cut/pasted words from the Mayor's own note that show that there is a possibility this task force would result in mandatory costs - something Morrison and her supporters continue to pretend they never said they'd endorse.

The words are right there in this very posting. If not enough people volunteer, it may become mandatory. Period. Galindo is right on the truth of the matter (although wrong on the policy); and Morrison and her supporters are lying.

el_longhorn

I understand and respect the goals, but I do not support making this mandatory. The City, through Austin energy, has been very successful in pushing energy efficiency, solar power, etc. It should continue and enhance those efforts. The price of electricity and the private market seem to be doing a good job of promoting energy efficiency lately - let's see where that goes before shoving anything down people's throats.

Slickshu

Galindo's mailers are beyond "exaggerations" -- they are out-and-out lies, and if you and other Austinites think this it's appropriate for candidates for public office to treat the electorate with this level of disdain and disrespect -- reward Mr. Galindo with your vote. If not, I'd suggest supporting his opponent, Ms. Morrison.

tim

They're both pandering on this issue to the fear mongers. I also think this should be mandatory. It's much easier to roll the cost of a new air conditioning into a mortgage than it is to find the cash to replace it afterwards.

It's common sense. Who wants to buy a house from 1980 and gamble on when the AC's going to go out? I'm sure 99.9% of buyers would like to get that fixed up front.

Austin Energy provides 0% interest loans for 5 years. If that's not enough time to sell your house it's not selling.

mdahmus

I actually support making the process mandatory, which puts me in an interesting position here. People who support Morrison are portraying this as contradicting Galindo's claims that the task force will result in mandatory costs for home buyers. However, pay special attention to Wynn's own words here:

But if we're falling short, we'll need to recognize that and try a different approach. Under the Task Force draft concept, the basic efficiency program could become mandatory if the voluntary program wasn't working.

This, to me, makes Galindo's mailers exaggerations, but makes Morrison's claims misrepresentations.