The CPUC will decide whether to follow TURN's recommendations to prevent utility shut-offs this Thursday, February 4th

TURN's response to PG&E's unfair power grab

Consumer groups throughout California today applauded a decision by the State Senate Rules Committee to deny Commissioner Rachelle Chong another term on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Mark Toney writes in the San Francisco Chronicle that conservation and energy efficiency will save more energy than expensive, unproven smart meters.

Labor Day Call to save 1,000 Jobs from being eliminated by SoCal Gas' Smart Meter plan

TURN is moving our office July 9th, 2009 - July 12th, 2009. Click here to see our new contact information and alert your friends and colleagues.

TURN explains "smart meters" with a brief fact sheet

TURN pushes for efficiently-run energy efficiency programs and demands accountability from energy companies and state government

CPUC President Michael Peevey granted $843,000,000 more than the CPUC's own analysts recommended. Compare Peevey's giveaways to Edison to the original proposed decision.

CPUC President Michael Peevey is giving his former employer, So Cal Edison, billions of dollars in rate hikes — millions more than the CPUC's own analysts recommended

Notice of Ex Parte Communication between SCE representatives and CPUC President Michael Peevey's staff

Utility companies rewarded for energy efficiency standards they didn't meet

Schwarzenegger reappoints reckless deregulators Rachelle Chong and Michael Peevey to the Public Utilities Commission. TURN Executive Director Mark Toney said consumer groups had hoped to see some fresh faces on the CPUC in 2009. “The Governor should appoint Commissioners who put affordability, accountability and sustainability first, rather than taking us back toward the dark days of reckless deregulation,” he said.

TURN attorney Marcel Hawiger explains how Californians can get "More Green for Less Green" and encourage renewable energy that doesn't force taxpayers and rate payers to spend more.

Unfortunately, the most reliable thing about PG&E is their greed. Despite all the extra money PG&E has already collected, it claims consumers in northern California must pay even more if they are tired of substandard service.

CARE for California- Why TURN is demanding that big business pay their fair share

SoCal Edison wants to charge about $100 more a year per customer. Learn why it happened, how it will affect you, and how to fight it.

Clotheslines vs. climate change institute- read TURN's editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Utility Reform Network (TURN) announces the appointment of nationally recognized consumer rights advocate Mark W. Toney, Ph.D., as Executive Director, effective January 1, 2008. Toney brings a wealth of organizing and nonprofit leadership, including 12 years of experience as a utility consumer advocate.

Wood is a nationally recognized expert on consumer issues who brings a wealth of experience and commitment to TURN’s board.

Letter to CPUC President Peevey: It’s now nine months after the Commission’s deregulation of telecommunications services in the state through its Uniform Regulatory Framework decision. It seems like a good time to gauge the success of this effort.

Find out how much more you're paying since the CPUC deregulated phone service.

Few reruns could be more unwelcome than a rerun of deregulation, and even fewer have been outlawed by the Legislature. But if the Governor and his representatives on the CPUC have anything to say about it, we'll all suffer through a remake of one of the worst chapters in our state's history, regardless of the law that prevents it.

Letter from California legislators to CPUC commissioner Peevey warns against CPUC re-opening "direct access" for power companies.

The recent decision by the Schwarzenegger PUC to deregulate phone service is the latest and most dramatic example of the Commission's ideological shift away from consumer protection toward a radically laissez-faire approach.

Consumer groups urged the California Senate Rules Committee not to confirm Rachelle Chong as a member of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), arguing that the Schwarzenegger appointee has ridden roughshod over consumer interests to promote a pro-telecom industry agenda.

Thursday, August 24, San Francisco -- Today's CPUC decision giving Verizon, AT&T and other large phone companies carte blanche to raise rates is bad news for consumers. TURN, California's leading utility consumer representative, warned today that rate hikes will surely follow the decision, and that business and residential consumers will have little recourse when that happens.

Wednesday Aug. 23, San Francisco -- With the California Public Utilities Commission poised to deregulate phone service across the board, consumer advocates are warning that rapid jumps in phone rates are ahead. The CPUC is about to unveil a "Uniform Regulatory Framework" (URF), scheduled for an August 24 vote, that is a virtual wish list for mega-monopolies AT&T and Verizon, giving them the ability to raise rates at will.

July 6, 2006 -- Is it possible that the legislature can be unanimous, bi-partisan and absolutely wrong? For starters, check out electricity de-regulation in 1996: it passed the legislature with unanimous votes, and after a few years turned into the largest human-made (as opposed to natural) disaster that the state has ever seen. The current unanimous support for Speaker Nunez’ video franchising legislation (AB 2987) won’t cause the same disaster. After all, electricity is a very touchy product, used in virtually everything, required to be in balance at all times, and with no substitutes. Cable TV is just a means of entertainment, and allowing telephone companies into the video market while removing local regulation over the cable industry surely will not be society-disrupting.

June 5, 2006 -- Now that the verdict is in and Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling have been convicted of crimes unrelated to the California energy crisis of 2000-2001, the time is ripe for reflection on the enormous impact that a single company, Enron, had on the deregulation disaster that nearly bankrupted this state. While most of the public’s attention has focused on the various manipulative strategies, such as Death Star and Ricochet, that Enron’s traders employed to take advantage of consumers in California, the real story began much earlier.

Exactly one year after the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) suspended the Telecommunications Consumer Bill of Rights, consumers frustrated by inadequate service and inaccurate bills returned to the Commission with evidence that the same complaints that fueled initial passage of the measure continue to grow at an alarming rate.

A broad coalition of consumer groups today demanded rejection of a proposal that would drastically cut back on telephone consumer protections previously approved by the California Public Utilities Commission.

Proposition 80's objective is to say "never again!" to reckless energy policies. It puts California firmly on course toward a more reliable, stable and consumer-friendly energy future, and it does so by forbidding any future experiments with unregulated electric prices.

In 2001, Californians responded to the meltdown of the deregulated electricity market with unprecedented conservation efforts. But those efforts are threatened by "smart" meters - an experimental program that is no more likely to benefit consumers than the deregulation experiment did.

Consumer advocates today joined other opponents of the proposed SBC/AT&T merger in urging the California Public Utilities Commission to reject the plan. TURN, California's largest statewide utility consumer advocacy organization, said a super-sized SBC could mean super-sized phone bills for the consumers who can least afford it.

San Francisco--Despite the unchallenged fact that the only way to prevent another energy crisis is to require the utilities and other power suppliers to rationally plan for the future, Governor Schwarzenegger has vetoed AB 2006, legislation that would have required just that sort of planning. The veto confirms emerging concerns that special interests are in control of the Governor's energy policy and consumers have been shut out.

San Francisco--A multi-million dollar media and lobbying campaign by SBC paid off big for the phone giant today when the California Public Utilities Commission acceded to its demand to raise wholesale phone rates. SBC has been pushing for increases in the rates competitors pay for the use of the phone lines or UNEs (Unbundled Network Elements), increases that will result in windfall profits for the Texas-based company. Not only is today's decision likely to drive many of their competitors out of business, but it could also pave the way for increases in the rates California consumers will pay for local phone service.

Decision ignores problems with SBC and Verizon phone service quality

After quickly reviewing the settlement agreement released by the CPUC and PG&E, TURN estimates that the deal will cost customers much more than PG&E led the press to believe, at least $8.87 billion dollars.

CPUC votes to keep "direct access" from CA's failed deregulation plan

TURN will challenge PG&E's demand that customers pay it an additional half a billion dollars in excess rates.

Negotiated rate settlement a good deal for consumers, says TURN

TURN presents a bankruptcy plan for PG&E that won't bankrupt ratepayers.

Commission lets energy generators keep most of the money they gouged from Californians.

CPUC's bailout proposal offers PG&E almost $3 billion of taxpayers' money.

Thanks to a new CPUC ruling, the little guys will shoulder utilities' debt burden.

PG&E Wants to Go Bankrupt With $5 Billion in the Bank

PG&E Discloses Plan to Eviscerate Consumer Protections

PG&E Bankruptcy A Cover For Robbery

CPUC Caves In To Pressure, Raises Residential Rates

Billions for Edison and Little for Consumers: Consumer Groups Issue Scathing Critique of Edison Deal

$4.8 Billion Gift to Utilities

Criteria Establish a Baseline for Determining Whether Consumers Get a Fair Deal

PG&E and Edison Cook the Books to Justify Illegal Rate Hikes