Latest Energy Releases

Consumer Advocacy Groups Want LADWP’s Official Watchdog Fired. Here’s Why

Several groups have gathered at Los Angeles City Hall today to call for the firing of an official watchdog charged with fighting for the interests of Department of Water and Power customers. Representatives of Consumer Watchdog and other groups say the utility’s official “ratepayer advocate,” Fred Pickel, has not been...

Consumer Watchdog Kicks Off Campaign To Fire LADWP Ratepayer Advocate Fred Pickel

Santa Monica, CA — Consumer Watchdog, Food & Water Watch, DWP ratepayers and other advocacy groups rally today in front of City Hall to urge the Los Angeles City Council to fire DWP ratepayer advocate Fred Pickel for selling out ratepayers instead of protecting their interests. “Pickel is an energy...

End of Session Hijinks In Sacramento Leave Consumers In Cold

As the legislature ended its business for the year in the early morning hours, legislative leaders proclaimed a prolific progressive session. Not so if you care about consumer protection. Key public interest causes were abandoned because of the power of the usual moneyed interest groups and the dependency of state house...

Power Grid Expansion Plan Withdrawn Amid Political Backlash

The late-session plan to restructure management of the California power grid skidded to a halt Wednesday in the wake of growing opposition from interest groups and a spate of negative publicity. While lobbyists and advocacy groups spent much of the week pressing for passage or defeat of the proposal long-backed...

CAISO Expansion Legislation Delayed Until 2018

According to Natural Resources Defense Council, which backs the move towards regionalization of western energy markets, Holden has said the issue will likely be revisited in January during the second half of California’s two-year session. For now, the conservation group sees a lost opportunity. A quarter of the country's power flows...

EDITORIAL: Shame on Sacramento: Power-Grid Power Play No Way To Run A State

There is just one reason lawmakers try to push through rewritten bills in the final days of the California Legislature’s session each and every September: It’s because they know the more scrutiny the proposals get, the less chance they have of passage. That’s a contemptible, undemocratic rationale. Now — with...

Legislature Pulls Brown’s Electric Deregulation Plan Ramrod After Public Backlash

Sacramento, CA – A public backlash against Governor Brown’s eleventh hour attempt to give Western energy barons and Trump officials power over California’s energy and the state’s laws has ended for the year. Assembly Member Chris Holden has stated his last-minute bills will not go forward after activists and newspaper...

Consumer Watchdog Testifies That Refiners Continue to Get Rich on Inflated Gasoline Prices By Cutting Production To Reduce Supply

Santa Monica, CA – Advocates from Consumer Watchdog testified today at the California Energy Commission’s Petroleum Market Advisory Committee (PMAC) that California drivers are still paying 50 cents more than US drivers as oil refiners continue to reap double their historical profits.  

Report Finds Big Energy Companies Gave Big $ and Got Big Favors From Governor Brown With Dollars and Decisions Flowing In Close Proximity To...

Consumer Watchdog today reported that twenty-six energy companies including the state’s three major investor-owned utilities, Occidental, Chevron, and NRG—all with business before the state

California Consumers Doomed to High Gas Prices as Feds & State Bless Tesoro Purchase of BP Refinery & ARCO Stations

Purchase of BP’s big refinery in Carson complies with anti-trust laws means over time gas prices will go up in the state

As Gas Prices Spike to Record High, Consumer Watchdog Urges California Attorney General to Block Tesoro Purchase of BP Refinery and Arco Gas Stations

California’s drivers and the state economy will pay the price for this merger at the pump. We ask you to halt it on antitrust grounds.

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