Dear Menlo Park City Council,
I am writing concerning item H1 on this evening’s agenda and Staff Report #24-150-CC. In particular, the policy options to convert 95% of existing buildings to all electric by 2030. Here is my experience. I needed to remodel a rental home on Partridge Ave. so I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to prepare for the all electric future for both homes on the lot. What I learned is that It’s going to be very expensive and time consuming. To begin with I had PG&E upgrade the service to both units which only cost me $150 but took approximately 1 year. Putting aside a site-specific expense of $3,435 to remove a heritage orange tree which was a PG&E requirement, I spent $38,829 to upgrade two houses for an average of over $19,000 per home. I have yet to pre-wire the front house which I estimate will cost an additional $6,000 and bring the total cost for the front house to $25,000 which is hardly cost effective, but I have no choice. I have shared the actual contractor bid with my contact at CARB.
I also am working with Pacific Clean Energy to prepare to go all electric including EV charges in two multi-family buildings In Menlo Park. As part of this daunting project, I did research on electric water heaters. It turns out that the majority of the units don’t have the required 750 cubic feet surrounding the water heater to install a heat pump water heater. I will have to go with a two-element water heater which will cost the tenant twice as much for electricity as they pay now for gas according to the EnergyGuide. Where is the justice in that for renters?
I hope the City Council will consider the economic burden residents will bear based on the final policy outcome.
Regards, Evan Collins
