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W A T E R I E N E R 5 Y , L I F E RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITIES Board Memorandum P U B L I C U T I L I T I E S BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES DATE: May 21, 2010 ITEM NO: 9 SUBJECT: TREE POWER PROGRAM UPDATE - 2010 ISSUE: The funds for the Tree Power Program's 2010 Free Shade Tree Coupon Campaign are depleting. Additional funding is needed to support the campaign until the program ends on June 30, 2010. RECOMMENDATIONS: That the Board of Public Utilities recommend that the City Council: 1. Approve additional funding in the amount of $120,000 from the Public Benefit Unprogrammed Funds for the 2010 Free Shade Tree Coupon Campaign bringing the FY 2009-10 funding total to $400,000; and 2. Authorize the City Manager, or his designee, the authority to increase change orders for the Free Shade Tree Coupon Campaigns for FY 2009-10 and FY 2010-11 no more than $150,000 per vendor with the total amount not to exceed $400,000. BACKGROUND The Riverside Public Utilities(RPU)Tree Power Program has been successfully operating for ten years. The program provides incentives for RPU electric customers to plant shade trees in locations around their homes or businesses to help conserve energy and save on summer cooling costs. Customers can receive a $25 rebate per qualifying tree, up to five trees per calendar year. In 2001, RPU launched the Free Tree Coupon Campaign. Since then, it runs annually from March 1St to June 30th. A free tree coupon is printed on the back of the March utility bill. Customers take the bill to a participating nursery to redeem the coupon for one free shade tree up to $25. The back of the bill strategy was created to ensure that a free tree coupon will reach all RPU customers as well as bring awareness to the regular Tree Power rebate program. When the first coupon campaign was launched in March 2001, 3,700 trees were planted. This was a significant increase from the 214 trees planted in Fiscal Year 1999-00 off the regular Tree Power Program. To date, over 73,000 trees have been planted by approximately 80 percent of the program's participants utilizing the back of the bill coupon campaign. Staff anticipates 11,000 more trees will be planted from this year's campaign. RPU works with a number of vendors located throughout the City that accept these free tree coupons. For FY2009/10 and FY 2010/11,the vendors are: Parkview nursery,4377 Chicago Ave.; Parkview Nursery,3841 Jackson St.; A&M Nursery, Inc., 10333 Arlington Ave.; and Louie's Nursery, 18550 Van Buren Blvd. It is difficult to determine which vendor customers will patronize, and as a result, this year, some vendors may come close to giving away$150,000 in trees from redeeming free shade tree coupons. Staff recommends that the City Manager, or his designee, be given the authority to approve change orders for this program per vendor up to a maximum of$150,000 for FY 2009-10 and FY 2010-11.