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May 18, 2026
Honorable Mayor Mahan and City Council
City of San José
200 E. Santa Clara Street
San José, CA 95113
Subject: Public Comment on Item 6.1 — Support for San José Clean Energy Programs Roadmap Status Report
Dear Mayor Mahan and Councilmembers,
As Co-Directors of the CCA Workforce & Environmental Justice Alliance, we write in support of Item 6.1, the San José Clean Energy Programs Roadmap Status Report, including adoption of the resolution approving the proposed programs presented in the Roadmap update.
San José Clean Energy has demonstrated important leadership in connecting clean energy programs with affordability, equity, environmental justice, and workforce development. The Programs Roadmap builds on that leadership by moving SJCE from policy direction and planning into customer-facing programs across buildings, transportation, distributed energy resources, and affordability.
We especially appreciate the Roadmap’s emphasis on data-driven prioritization, affordability, and practical barriers to participation. Community input re flected that
affordability is central to whether residents and businesses can participate in clean energy programs, and that many barriers are tied to housing type, upfront costs, infrastructure access, and other conditions outside a customer’s direct control.
Successful programs will depend not only on the goals they set, but on how they are designed, procured, delivered, and evaluated.
We also support the Roadmap’s future direction around building electrification, distributed energy resources, demand flexibility, and aggregated approaches that can help customers participate at a neighborhood or portfolio scale. As these concepts are further developed, early attention to workforce, affordability, and equity considerations can help make programs more practical, scalable, and connected to durable high-road workforce pathways.
This is especially important as SJCE advances consultant scopes, pilot design, technical assistance, contractor development, procurement, and market-building strategies, including the Commercial Technical Assistance services, the Direct-to-Renter Portable Heat Pump Pilot, heat pump market readiness work, and future electri
fication and aggregation concepts.
High-road approaches can support affordability when programs are designed carefully. Direct install programs are especially well suited to high-road implementation because they help ensure that public and ratepayer investments produce reliable installations, trained workers, durable career pathways, and programs that scale while providing better quality installations for low-income residents, renters, small businesses, and environmental justice communities. The high-road badging requirements that SJCE recently developed are an example of the kind of high-road innovation CCAs should explore and re fine.
We respectfully urge the Council to support Item 6.1 and adopt the resolution approving the proposed programs. SJCE has an opportunity to model how Community Choice Aggregators can move from clean energy procurement into customer-facing programs in a way that is practical, replicable, and grounded in real community bene
fits.
Thank you for your leadership and continued commitment to clean energy programs that bene
fit San José residents, workers, businesses, and communities.
Sincerely,
Eric Veium, Tim Frank, and Leslie Austin
Co-Directors, CCA Workforce & Environmental Justice Alliance