Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune | By Rob Nikolewski

Mark Toney, executive director at The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a ratepayer advocacy group, said the audit raised a number of red flags.

“I think the bottom line is that the utilities are simply not being held accountable by the regulators, and that the regulators need to figure out a way to do a better job,” Toney said. “If they need more resources, if they need more staff, they should ask for it in their budget because everyone who is a (utility) customer is a captive. You can’t go and choose another provider, particularly when it comes to poles and wires.”

A deep dive by the California state auditor did not find any easy fixes for the state’s sky-high utility rates but the auditor concluded the California Public Utilities Commission and its independent consumer division known as Cal Advocates need to do a better job making sure that power companies don’t overstate their costs.

Source: TIME.com | By Simon Shah

“Undergrounding is an effective, but extraordinarily expensive mitigation [strategy,]” says Katy Morsony, staff attorney at the Utility Reform Network (TURN), a utility consumer advocacy organization in California. “It needs to be used strategically, so that it's providing the most risk reduction where it's deployed.” …

TURN has been advocating for cover conductors, which Morsony says provide multi-layered insulation to protect lines from accidental contact with trees and brush. Morsony says the cover conductors protect against a number of different wildfire causes and are faster to install and more cost-effective than undergrounding.

While the exact cause of the wildfire remains unknown, Hawaiian Electric is not the first electric company to find itself facing potential liability in the aftermath of climate-related disasters. As electric companies across the U.S. begin to take steps to reduce the risks of utility-fueled fires, experts tell TIME that modernizing the electric grid and planning for extreme weather events—including having power turn-off plans and preemptively updating utility equipment—needs to be a priority in an increasingly changing climate.

Source: KNEWS | By Shannon Osaka

“In the last decade, electricity prices in California have skyrocketed,” said Matthew Freedman, a staff attorney for The Utility Reform Network, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization headquartered in San Francisco. In the past 10 years, Freedman explained, non-discounted electricity rates at PG&E have increased 84 percent; SDG&E rates have gone up 137 percent.

Supporters argue that the plan will help the state electrify by lowering costs for residents that might not otherwise afford it. Critics, including many California residents, say that it will eat into progress on energy efficiency and that it is unfair to those who are conserving energy.

Source: The Washington Post | By Shannon Osaka

“In the last decade, electricity prices in California have skyrocketed,” said Matthew Freedman, a staff attorney for The Utility Reform Network, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization headquartered in San Francisco. In the past 10 years, Freedman explained, non-discounted electricity rates at PG&E have increased 84 percent; SDG&E rates have gone up 137 percent.

Supporters argue that the plan will help the state electrify by lowering costs for residents that might not otherwise afford it. Critics, including many California residents, say that it will eat into progress on energy efficiency and that it is unfair to those who are conserving energy.

Source: 10News.com | By Austin Grabish

“What it will end up doing is having a slightly higher monthly bill for high-income rate payers,” said Utility Reform Network executive director Mark Toney, who has been pushing for an income-based rate.

“The problem is the sky is the limit when it comes to how much the utilities can request and the sky is the limit to how much the public utilities commission can grant utilities.”

San Diego Gas & Electric is proposing a change in the way it bills customers in response to a state law passed last year that forces utility companies to come up with income-based pricing.

The company wants to charge customers a flat monthly fee ranging from $24-$128 dollars a month in addition to an estimated 27 cents per kilowatt hour of power used.

Source: SiliconValley.com | By GEORGE AVALOS

“The problem is the sky’s the limit for how much PG&E can request for electricity and gas rates, and the sky’s the limit for what the PUC can approve,” Toney said. “We need to limit rate increases to the annual consumer price index.”

Customers for California’s three major power companies — including PG&E ratepayers — can expect to see some big changes in their monthly electricity bills in the coming years as compliance with a new state law begins to unfold.

PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, the three major California utilities whose services include electricity, have filed a joint proposal with the state Public Utilities Commission that sketches out proposed changes in monthly bills.

Source: CBS8 | By Keristen Holmes

"They're the regulatory body that is supposed to take in the public's interest in a for-profit company. Companies that are for-profit and …”

SAN DIEGO — SDG&E customers are speaking out about a plan to raise electricity and gas bill rates…

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune | By Rob Nikolewski

“Even though the (commodity) prices have come down, people are still faced with enormous bills for the past couple of months that a…”

San Diego Gas & Electric announced Tuesday that the natural gas commodity price for March has dropped to 60 cents per therm…

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune | By Rob Nikolewski
(This story is a San Diego Union-Tribune subscriber exclusive.)

“There’s no point in billing people all of it right now when we expect (the commodity price for natural gas is) going to be…”

The California Public Utilities Commission and its independent arm that looks out for ratepayers is looking at measures — at least in…