Source: Bay Area News Group | By George Avalos

PG&E’s electricity and data center plans have been met with skepticism by The Utility Reform Network, a consumer group also known as TURN.  “TURN is very concerned about data centers driving up electric rates for Californians,” said Mark Toney, TURN’s executive director. “It’s essential that those costs are recovered fairly and don’t cause electric rates to increase for households who are already struggling to pay their utility bills.”

PG&E is focusing expansion and upgrade plans in the San Jose area as officials predict the South Bay’s need for electricity will far outstrip a projected jump in demand within its service territory, the investor-owned utility’s chief executive said in a wide-ranging interview.  For PG&E, San Jose offers a confluence of land and demand. The city has plenty of available open space for a tech industry whose thirst for energy has soared.

Source: Fox26 News | By Dania Romero

Mark Toney with TURN, a utility reform network, says that policy makers waited until the 11th hour to release bill language. "No one got a chance to weigh in because it came out at the last minute. And that's the responsibility of all the policy leadership in California. This is not just a governor thing. This is a collective that policy leaders in California have a habit of releasing big bills at the last second," said Toney.  Toney says it was so last-minute, lawmakers had to extend their session to Saturday to get it passed.  

If you get your power from Southern California Edison, your bill could go up to pay for the Eaton fire damages.  The Eaton fire could end up costing more than what's in the wildfire fund, which could make ratepayers cover part of the difference.  

Source: Lifeline with Craig Roberts | By Craig Roberts, iHeart Radio Network

"PG&E is not even feigning embarrassment and coming straight for a 24.5% rate increase over the next five years.  Add that to what we went through over the last 21 months and it becomes a big ouch for every ratepayer’s pocketbook.  Joining me today in the studio is our friend, Executive Director of The Utility Reform Network or TURN, Mark Toney.” “What PG&E is asking for over the next four years is for your annual gas and electric bill to go up by $500 a year, $42 a month is what they’re requesting.   After all these rate increases we have had over the past few years, that is going to hurt a LOT of people” Mark Toney said. “Mark, when we include the price we pay at the pump, the price we pay at the grocery store, if you’re a homeowner did you just receive your tax bill, funny how Prop 13 limits property tax increases but at the end of the day, these customers for these rate increases might have to say ‘I don’t have it.'  Now what you’re asking me to do is to decide if I stop eating meat altogether, or choose which medications I need to have.” “I have more unwelcome news—only 50% of PG&E’s increases are within this general rate case request.  PG&# has another 10 rate increase proposals right now pending with the  Public Utilities Commission,  so each one of those is going to get stacked on top of this.  So we’re not just looking at $500 a year, we could be looking at closer to $1000 a year by the time we get to 2030.  Everybody, Craig, is looking at huge rate increases."

Source: Legal Planet | By Denise Gra

One of our three main areas of focus at the Emmett Clean Energy Law & Leadership (E-CELL) initiative is Ownership of Energy Resources: exploring how utility ownership structures affect cost, climate, and other outcomes. In June, we released a Pritzker Brief on this topic co-authored by our recent legal fellow, Ruthie Lazenby, as well as Mohit Chhabra of NRDC and Sylvie Ashford of TURN. That paper explored the theoretical underpinnings differentiating between publicly-owned utilities (POUs) and investor-owned utilities (IOUs) on the issues of affordability, clean energy, and reliability. 

Today, we’re releasing another report on this topic, delving more deeply into a case study comparing cost and climate metrics between one POU—the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)—with one IOU—Southern California Edison (SCE)—who both operate in the same geographic region—Los Angeles County. Los Angeles County offers a unique opportunity to compare a POU and an IOU that operate in the same region with similar building types, similar state policy goals, and generally similar climates. With the geographic overlap between these two utilities, distinctions between them may be more likely attributable to the different governance models. 

Source: Live Insurance News | By H. Cutner

Ratepayer advocates have also voiced support for reining in the practice. Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, said hedge funds “will not bid on a claim unless they think they can turn it around for a larger profit.”  “We support strategies that keep the hedge fund profiteering structurally out of the system,” Toney said.

A new California law gives electric utilities the right of first refusal to settle subrogation claims tied to wildfires, a move poised to disrupt a lucrative market for hedge funds and other alternative investors. The legislation, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom is part of a larger package designed to strengthen the state’s wildfire prevention and funding strategies.  The change targets the practice of insurers selling the right to sue utilities for wildfire damages to third parties.

Source: Action News Now | By Will Anderson

The program now includes all current and former foster youth aged 13 to 20 who were in foster care on or after their 13th birthday.  Non-minor foster youth can enroll independently, and authorized representatives can assist both minor and non-minor youth. Youth exiting foster care can continue receiving services for six months after turning 21. The updates are a response to a petition from the Youth Law Center with support from stakeholders including The Utility Reform Network (TURN), Verizon/TracFone, and county agencies.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has introduced significant enhancements to the California LifeLine Foster Youth Program.  Officials say the changes aim to broaden access to communication services for foster youth in California. The modifications were approved during the CPUC's meeting on October 9. They focus on ensuring that foster youth have reliable and affordable phone services to aid in education, employment, and building independent lives.

Source: Stateline | By Alex Brown

“When you have a mixed market with a lot of coal plants, it creates opportunities for the Trump administration to rejigger the rules to favor coal,” said Matthew Freedman, renewables attorney with The Utility Reform Network, a California-based consumer advocacy group. “In another reality, this would have sounded like a hysterical concern, but it’s pretty obvious where [Trump’s appointees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] want to go.” Freedman’s group pushed California lawmakers for protections that would have given states more flexibility to withdraw from the market, while also prohibiting “resource adequacy” mandates that could be used by the feds to prop up coal. While those elements were included in a Senate version of the bill, they were stripped from the Assembly bill that ultimately was passed.

For years, Western leaders have debated the creation of a regional energy market: a coordinated grid to pool solar power in Arizona, wind in Wyoming, hydro in Washington and battery storage in California.  The shared resources would meet the demands of 11 different states, bolstering utilities’ local power plants with surplus energy from across the region.

Source: GV Wire | By Bill McEwen

A nonprofit watchdog, The Utility Reform Network, said the new law is a win for consumers.  “California residents are facing an unprecedented affordability crisis, and AB 1167 goes a long way to holding for-profit utility companies accountable to spending ratepayer money to benefit customers, not to fill shareholder pockets. We thank Governor Newsom for his leadership and look forward to continuing to work with him to achieve utility affordability and accountability,” said Mark Toney, executive director of TURN.

After decades of taking it on the chin from public utility companies like PG&E and Southern California Edison, ratepayers scored a victory this legislative season.  On Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1167, which ends using ratepayer funds for political lobbying, promotion, and other shareholder expenses. The new law also beefs up enforcement against investor-owned utilities that illegally spend ratepayer monies. The California Ratepayer Protection Act goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.  Media investigations into California’s monopoly utilities have revealed use of ratepayer funds to cover millions of dollars in inappropriate expenses.

Source: Bay Area News Group | By George Avalos

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that customers of PG&E and other utilities would see a climate credit on their October bills as part of a decade-old state program. At least one consumer group stressed it’s still not enough to lessen the impact of high electricity costs. The October refunds are part of a California Climate Credit effort that began in 2015. The credits appear twice a year on state utility bills – once in April and once in October.

While the twice-a-year credits offer a welcome relief to elevated costs in California, the reductions don’t address the fundamental challenges of expensive utility rates, said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, also known as TURN.  “These are refunds,” Toney said. “They don’t address electricity rates. “Any relief is great, but the rebates don’t address the fundamental problem of affordable electricity bills."

Source: Politico | By Noah Baustin

“So much more still needs to be done,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, a customer advocacy group. “There are contributions that are on [the governor’s] desk now and there is more to be done next year.”

NOBODY’S SINGING YET: You’d be excused for thinking that the energy affordability lawmaking was done for the year after Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leadership celebrated the signing of their landmark energy affordability package in high style last week. You’d also be wrong.

Source: The South Pasadenan | By News

“There is no way the commission has the resources to verify throughout the entire state where there are verified alternative services,” said Regina Costa of The Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco-based advocacy group.

California lawmakers are advancing a controversial proposal that could mark the beginning of the end for most traditional landline phone service in the state.  Assembly Bill 470, backed by AT&T, cleared the Assembly in June and is now under review by the state Senate Appropriations Committee. The legislation seeks to eliminate the company’s “carrier of last resort” obligation, which currently requires it to provide copper-wire landline service to anyone who requests it.

Source: Canary Media | By Jeff St. John

“We’re strongly opposed,” said Matthew Freedman, staff attorney at The Utility Reform Network (TURN). Previous versions of the bill ​“had a bunch of provisions we thought would have protected California’s sovereignty and prevented the federal government from weaponizing its authority. Most of those protections were stripped from the bill, inexplicably.”  In particular, in May, TURN and its allies pushed to add an amendment that would have created an oversight council including California lawmakers that would have had the authority to pull the state out of the market if they determined it would raise energy costs or work against the state’s carbon-emissions goals.

After years of failed attempts, California lawmakers have cleared the way to create an electricity-trading market that would stretch across the U.S. West. Advocates say that could cut the region’s power costs by billions of dollars and support the growth of renewable energy. But opponents say it may make the state’s climate and clean-energy policies vulnerable to the Trump administration.

Source: The Press Democrat | By Marisa Endicott

But at least one stakeholder, Mark Toney, the executive director of The Utility Reform Network, or TURN, a ratepayer advocacy group involved in shaping some of the language in the new legislation, made a small commitment. Toney said during the hearing that he would push for the Northern California fire victims to be considered in the report assessing the wildfire fund’s durability.

A sprawling bill passed at the eleventh hour by California lawmakers a week ago to address energy affordability included a massive infusion to the state’s wildfire restitution fund, established in 2019 to help pay damages to victims of fires sparked by investor-owned utilities.  Northern California fire survivors, whose plight inspired the fund and who have yet to be made whole for their losses in the 2017 North Bay firestorm and 2018 Camp Fire, among others, had recently been pushing lawmakers to be included in the fund, but no such provision was part of the last-minute deal, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Friday.

Source: The Los Angeles Times | By Sammy Roth

But under SB 254, shareholders of Edison, PG&E and SDG&E won’t earn a dime on the next $6 billion the utilities spend to reduce the risk of wildfire ignitions from their infrastructure, starting in 2026. That could save customers $3 billion over 10 years, according to the Utility Reform Network, a ratepayer watchdog group.  SB 254 also lays the groundwork for government loans to fund construction of some new power lines. That would be less expensive than utility funding, because ratepayers wouldn’t need to cover shareholder profits.

Last month, I wrote that California is backsliding on climate, and that it’s mostly Gov. Gavin Newsom’s fault. I took him and his appointees to task for undermining rooftop solar, propping up the Aliso Canyon gas field and slowing implementation of a single-use plastics recycling law, among other offenses.  So, it’s only fair that I give him credit for his actions last week, at the close of the legislative session. Legislators passed several bills meant to help reduce the cost of electricity — a top priority for lawmakers looking to tackle the state’s high cost of living, and also a smart move for climate progress. People are more likely to drive electric cars, and install electric heat pumps to warm and cool their homes, if electricity is less expensive.  

Source: Boiling Point | By LA Times

Sammy Roth talks with Matt Freedman, staff attorney at the Utility Reform Network, about what California lawmakers are doing to rein in soaring electricity costs, and why it’s crucial for the state’s climate goals.

Source: Canary Media | By Jeff St. John

“Energy affordability was understood to be one of the top issues the Legislature needed to act on, due to massive rate increases and widespread customer outrage,” said Matthew Freedman, staff attorney at The Utility Reform Network, a consumer advocacy group that supported SB 254.  The amount to be financed through bonds was initially set to be $15 billion for all three utilities. But Freedman suggested that the utilities might have used their political clout last week to negotiate the final securitization requirement down to $6 billion, which is ​“a pretty big reduction,” he said.

California’s Legislature has approved a slate of policies aimed at curbing high and rising electricity costs, involving everything from short-term relief for high summertime utility bills to public financing of transmission grids — a big accomplishment in the waning days of the session.  The affordability measures emerged as part of a sprawling energy and climate package negotiated by legislative leaders and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office last week and passed by lawmakers Saturday. Newsom, a Democrat, now has until Oct. 12 to sign the bills into law.

Source: Lake County News | By Lake County News Reporters

“Given the utility affordability crisis that residents, agriculture, industrial businesses, small businesses and older customers face, we need to work harder than ever in 2026,” Toney said. “Voters have been crystal clear in demanding that legislators put customer affordability ahead of utility company lobbying, and TURN is expecting lawmakers to roll up their sleeves to make utility affordability a top priority in the next legislative session.”

The California Legislature passed landmark legislation on Saturday that supporters said will save utility customers billions on their electricity bills annually, while ensuring the state’s wildfire fund, an insurance policy for utilities, remains solvent in the wake of claims from the 2025 Eaton Fire.  SB 254 (Becker, D-13) will help stem the tide on electricity rate increases while replenishing the state’s wildfire fund. The legislation was backed by strong support from voters: Recent polling shows 85% of voters say it's important for their representatives to do everything possible to lower electricity bills this year.

Source: Energy and Policy Institute | By Stephanie Chase

AB 1167’s mandatory penalty should deter utilities from trying to include those expenses in the first place, the bill’s sponsors, including Earthjustice and The Utility Reform Network (TURN), have said. 

State lawmakers last week made California the seventh state to pass a bill limiting investor-owned utilities from using customer money to pay for political and lobbying costs. Assembly Bill 1167, the California Ratepayer Protection Act, authored by Assembly Member Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), passed both chambers of the legislature and now awaits action by Governor Gavin Newsom. AB 1167 includes provisions prohibiting investor-owned utilities from using customer money to support utility political activities, promotional advertising, and dues for trade associations that conduct political activities.

Source: Politico | By Camille Von Kaenel and Alex Nieves

As a result, even champions of the package acknowledged the electricity legislation could do more to stabilize prices than drive them down long term. Mark Toney, the executive director of the Utility Reform Network, a ratepayer advocacy group, called the electricity legislation “a first step in the right direction.”  “Given the utility affordability crisis that residents, agriculture, industrial businesses, small businesses and older customers face, we need lawmakers to work harder than ever in 2026,” he said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom used California’s legislative session to take a big step toward neutralizing a growing problem across the state and one of his biggest political liabilities: high energy costs.  The package of bills lawmakers sent to his desk Saturday includes measures to expand oil drilling and shore up utilities against wildfire costs — all in the hopes of stabilizing spiraling electricity bills and gas prices, which, despite repeated attempts to rein them in, remain among the highest in the nation.

Source: KDR12 ABC | By Jordan Gale

The bill's passage has been met with strong support, with 85% of voters emphasizing the importance of lowering electricity bills. Mark Toney of The Utility Reform Network highlighted the need for continued efforts to prioritize affordability for ratepayers.

 The California Legislature has passed SB 254, a significant piece of legislation aimed at reducing electricity costs and maintaining the state's wildfire fund after the 2025 Eaton Fire. According to the California Legislature, this bill will save utility customers billions of dollars annually. SB 254 introduces public financing for transmission infrastructure, potentially reducing project costs by up to 50%. It also includes securitization of $6 billion in wildfire safety investments, which could save ratepayers $3 billion over the next decade.