By Teri Sforza, Orange County Register
The choices we’ve made have led to the pickle we’re in.
Our electric bills in California are the highest in the nation, save for poor Hawaii. Rates have doubled over the past decade. They’re about twice the national average and continue to rise, outpacing inflation. Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and Pacific Gas & Electric rake in big profits even as they seek rate hikes.
All this has sparked white-hot fury as officials scramble to divine how to fix things. But first it starts with blame: Whose fault is this?
Auditors lay some of it at the feet of weak watchdogs who just don’t or can’t bite (we’re talking about you, California Public Utilities Commission, and you, Public Advocate the PUC branch that’s supposed to represent the little guy).
Meanwhile, the PUC and the investor-owned utilities say that hardening the grid against devastating wildfires has been terrifically expensive, as have forward-thinking programs such as goosing green energy adoption (particularly, subsidies to rooftop solar owners that subsequently penalize non-solar owners) and reducing bills for low-income Californians (the cost of which falls on the backs of ratepayers, rather than the state’s general fund, where most welfare programs live).
And consumer groups seethe over the “excessive profits” these investor-owned utilities are guaranteed by the very regulators overseeing them. Edison reported income of $1.6 billion for last year; SDG&E, $891 million; PG&E, $2.4 billion.
“It’s time for regulators and lawmakers to take decisive action to reduce these excessive profits and ensure that utilities are held accountable for their role in this affordability crisis,” said Lee Trotman, spokesperson for The Utility Reform Network, in a prepared statement. “Families should not have to choose between paying their electricity bills and other basic needs.”
Today, for-profit utility rates in California are 67% higher than those of public utilities, said Consumer Watchdog in a statement. For all the sometimes-conflicting explanations, there’s one thing everyone agrees on: Something has to give.
