Edison/ So Cal Gas / Dept of Consumer Affairs / BBB

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  Please, allow me to briefly tell you about my sustainability project in Watts, Ca and why I can’t pay my utility bill.

  I have sold my duplex in Watts after only two years. I managed to improve the neighborhood without gentrifying the area so my project was not a complete failure. Almost every house in the area is being repaired.

  Although there is a farmer’s market and community garden in the area I was not able to induce my tenants to produce food on the property. I suspect this is because they feel that farm labor is degrading. They still have not been educated as to how unhealthy the food is in lo income areas.  Hopefully, this attitude will change as home food production and healthy lifestyle movements become more popular.

  While there are a lot of hoops to jump though at HUD and Building and safety, I would have to say that the main problems I had were caused by private entities not fulfilling their agreements to me rather than too much government regulation.

  At the top of the list is Denali Solar. The utility bills are very expensive in Los Angeles. I explained to Nathan, their sales rep that it was critical to this project that solar panels were included in order to supplement the tenant’s income so they could afford the rents /mortgage payment. The house sat empty for months so there were no utility bills to calculate rebates.  Nathan waited two months for utility bills to start my solar reservation instead of using a standard sanctioned by the power company. The reservation rebates were not approved until after the 203k loan renovation time ran out so I lost funding for the solar panels. Because of the high utility bills my tenants could not afford the rents.

  I work when I can get it as a sustainable designer.  I enrolled in the states energy upgrade program. I was trained to do energy audits. Unfortunately, the rebates for this are so small no one is taking advantage of them.  The funding tends to go to large corporate projects instead of individual homeowners.

  Because of this and being flat out ripped off by business partners, I had to sell when the price was going up. I could not hold on to the house because I ran out of money.

For this reason I am not able to pay my utility bill and have moved to Oregon to become a hermit.

Curtis Blankinship