by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
Tone deaf Governor, legislators silent on massive PG&E rate hike
The California Utilities Commission just granted Pacific Gas and Electric a 13% rate hike – ostensibly to pay for under grounding power lines.
Because Gov. Gavin Newsom appoints the commissioners to the CPUC, this is “Gavinomics.” Expect the other utilities to hike the rates as well.
Until so much of California burned down in a succession of recent wildfires, most Californians assumed PG&E and other utilities were already under grounding power lines and maintaining their equipment. We certainly were always told our annual rate increases were necessary for infrastructure maintenance and repair.
Remember, it was only this April 2023 that Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric filed a proposal to install a fixed-rate electric bill system for those under the three largest power companies in the state, the Globe reported. A 2021 report from the University of California at Berkeley recommended that the state link California’s highest-in-the-nation electricity bills to customer incomes – ie. your ability to pay. The real plan is to create income-based utility billing. So hold that thought.
Residential electricity prices in California are already more than twice the national average.
