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Here We Go Again

It may be 2020 but it’s starting to feel like 2018 all over again. A big election is looming and tenant advocates are once again bringing a rent control measure to the California ballot. 

At Livable we provide a Ratio Utility Billing System designed to help reduce your environmental footprint while generating revenue for your property. You may have started a conservation program in your properties, let the Livable team further your savings and teach you new and improved ways to save. 

At the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020 Livable along with several utility-based companies did our part to make sure that residents were able to afford their utilities. In April 2020 Livable announced that we were suspending all late fees until July 1, 2020. Throughout the pandemic, we have remained committed to promoting conservation through billing and education, and with no minimums.

 As we get ready to say goodbye to 2019, it’s only natural to look ahead. In addition to what is sure to be a heated national political season in 2020, there are several statewide measures in California to keep an eye on, including a possible overhaul of Prop. 13 and another proposition that would allow municipalities to extend rent control to most units that are at least 15 years old. 

 After ignoring the will of the voters, who just last year decided against loosening statewide restrictions on rent control, California state legislators recently passed a new law that will cap annual rent increases at 5 percent plus inflation.

Based in San Francisco the Livable team is no stranger to the dangers of hot weather, including the increased chance of wildfires - it takes a spark to create miles and miles of devastation. Fires strike throughout California each year, especially in the fall months, and can cause catastrophic property loss like in the Woolsey fire in Los Angeles or even worse cost lives like the Camp fire in Northern California in 2018.

At Livable, our livelihood is power and utilities, so, of course, we are big on how conservation and the wise use of our resources can counteract worrisome trends such as climate change. This global phenomenon has already impacted us in California with the now-continuous threat of drought and wildfires and will only get worse if we don’t make energy conservation a priority.