Source: Redheaded Blackbelt | By Lisa Music

But utilities can also use special accounts to bill customers for certain costs later, without the same level of review. The report found that spending through these accounts jumped from $86.6 million a year in 2018 to nearly $2.4 billion in 2024.  “Memorandum and balancing accounts function like a credit card for utilities, with no spending limit and no real accountability,” said Mark Toney, Executive Director of The Utility Reform Network (TURN). “Utilities have exploited this loophole in the ratemaking process to dramatically increase their spending outside the budget constraints of the General Rate Case. California ratepayers operate within a budget. Utilities should too.”

One in five California electricity customers fell behind on their bills last year. A new report from UC Berkeley says the system that sets electric rates is part of the problem.  The Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) at UC Berkeley Law released the report Thursday. It’s called Powering Down Prices: Policy Solutions to Lower California’s Electricity Rates. The report looks at why electric bills keep going up and what state lawmakers could do about it.

Source: Communications Daily | By Philip Athey

But multiple consumer advocacy groups said this week that the argument was flawed and that discontinuing copper networks in California without CPUC approval poses a severe safety risk.  The Utility Reform Network (TURN) said the CPUC should bear in mind that the FCC order is the subject of two federal lawsuits. “The Commission cannot ‘harmonize’ current or proposed COLR rules with an FCC Order that is not settled, but TURN does not object to provisions that contemplate revisiting the rules in the future, if necessary,” the group said. “The nature of these cases and their asks to determine whether the Commission has gone far enough leaves the finality of the FCC’s interpretation of the Network Modernization Order uncertain.”

Advocacy groups are calling on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to reject industry arguments and instead fight against FCC's preemption of the state’s carrier of last resort rules, according to comment filings Thursday.  

Source: The Orange County Register | By Teri Sforza

“What we have to do is to fix the broken system where there are no limits to rate hikes, no limit to how much they can ask for or how many times a year they can ask, and no limit to how much the CPUC can grant,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, at a cyber town hall last week.

Jaw Drop Detail No. 1: California’s big electric companies spent more than one thousand dollars for every state resident on wildfire-related costs between 2019 and 2024.  Which is to say, a cool $40 billion, divvied up between post-catastrophe liabilities ($13.6 billion) and pre-catastrophe infrastructure hardening ($26.6 billion).

Source: The Climate Center (Webinar) | By Pooja Arawal

Matt Freedman (at 15:28): “Now I want to talk a little about SB 905, authored by Senator Becker.  Residential electricity rates have skyrocketed in the past few years, creating a crisis of affordability for many Californians.  SB 905 addresses this crisis through a series of long-term accountability and cost reduction measures, designed to improve the performance of investor-owned electric utilities, better align utility investor and customer interests, and lower customer rates. 

Electricity prices are skyrocketing in California and families are struggling to pay their bills. In response, the California legislature is taking steps to make electricity more affordable using clean energy. This webinar highlighted current legislation, including bills that promote plug-in and community solar. These technologies make it easier to utilize locally generated clean energy to save money and make the grid more resilient. Bills discussed included SB 868 (Wiener), AB 1813 (Ward), and SB 905 (Becker). Participants had an opportunity to ask questions and take action to support these bills.

Source: USA Today | By Daniella Segura

“California already ranks third in the nation for data center capacity, and that capacity is only growing,” TURN Executive Director Mark Toney said in a statement announcing the survey’s release. “This poll makes it clear that voters expect lawmakers to set clear, enforceable standards that stop data centers from passing their infrastructure costs to families who receive little, if any, benefit.” 

At the same time, the poll — conducted with a sample of 850 likely November 2026 voters between May 17 and May 24 with a sampling error of +/-3.5 percentage points — found that three in five voters support legislation that puts certain safeguards on data centers. Twenty-six percent, however, said they would totally oppose such a law. 

Source: The Mercury News | By Ethan Baron

 It backed a failed 2016 bill in the California Legislature that would have allowed the withdrawal. When the utility applied to the California Public Utilities Commission in 2023 to end landline service, thousands of people flooded the commission’s website with comments in opposition.  At the time, consumer group The Utility Reform Network estimated hundreds of thousands of households in the Bay Area and millions around California would lose landline service if the commission approved AT&T’s proposal.

The utility’s lengthy battle to end its landline business has raised alarms that during earthquakes, fires, floods and storms, landline customers could be cut off from help, because cell phone infrastructure and internet service can be damaged or disrupted.  The company has pledged to state regulators that it would only shut down a customer’s landline service when other options exist. But consumer advocates say landlines are key in disasters or in areas with poor cellular reception, and many people who would lose that service would lack reliable alternatives even if AT&T determined they had them.

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune | By Rob Nikolewski

“There is an affordability issue with any type of rate increases year over year, and we want to see rates decrease significantly instead of going up constantly,” the group’s communications director, Lee Trotman, said in an email to the Union-Tribune. “The way to do that is to call your legislators and demand action and accountability from the CPUC to stop rubber stamping approvals.”

San Diego Gas & Electric officials late Monday afternoon filed a rate request with the California Public Utilities Commission that seeks to increase average monthly bills in 2028 for residential customers using electricity and natural gas by 8.6%.  In its filing, SDG&E officials seek an estimated revenue requirement of about $3.8 billion for 2028 — $2.9 billion for electric operations and $900 million for natural gas operations. That’s an increase of $280 million, or 8.1%, compared to estimated levels for 2027.

Source: The Press Democrat | By Marisa Endicott

“AT&T has taken that and run with it,” said Regina Costa, telecommunications policy director for the Utility Reform Network, a consumer advocacy group.  “It’s a lot of places,” Costa said, listing off Calistoga in Napa County and Middletown, Lakeport and Kelseyville in Lake County as examples. “All of these places have had wildfires, and the argument is from AT&T, ‘Well, they have alternative services,’ but the flip side of this is, are they reliable?”

AT&T has redoubled efforts to end its obligation to provide basic phone service, and especially landlines, across large swaths of California. After failed regulatory bids and a legislative workaround last year, the telecom giant has now taken its yearslong fight to the federal level and the courts.  AT&T has insisted the state’s regulatory system, which requires the utility to provide reliable voice connection to anyone in its service areas, is outdated. And, the increasing resources needed to maintain landline infrastructure used by a shrinking number of Californians, the utility contends, divert from investments in better, modern alternatives.

Source: San Diego Tribune | By Rob Nikolewski

“By taking away telecommunications, you disrupt the foundation of all of that regulatory structure,” said Adria Tinnin, director of race equity and legislative policy, at The Utility Reform Network, commonly known as TURN, a consumer group based in Oakland.

A proposal by Assemblymember Tasha Boerner that would make major changes to the California Public Utilities Commission by amending the state’s constitution has been put on hold by the Encinitas Democrat.  Her legislation, called Assembly Constitutional Amendment 9, drew attention for its provision that would expand the number of voting members on the commission from five to nine. The proposal also calls for the CPUC to expressly consider affordability when making decisions on utility rates.

Source: Daily Journal | By Craig Anderson

“What we have been working on is to try to ensure that data centers accelerate our progress on clean energy and decrease electricity rates,” said Matthew E. Freedman, senior attorney with the Utility Reform Network, a supporter of the Padilla bills. 

The AI gold rush is set to pay off this week, with Space Exploration Technologies Corp. set to go public on Friday and two other major companies, Anthropic PBC and OpenAI Inc., making confidential IPO filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.   But as the AI investment frenzy hits new heights, bringing the overall stock market along with it, grassroots organizers are rebelling against the data centers needed to power the technology.  

Source: Communications Daily | By Philip Athey

Adria Tinnin, director of race equity and legislative policy at The Utility Reform Network (TURN), said the lack of formal opposition was just a logistics issue.  “We didn't expect it to survive, and so we need to prioritize our limited resources on other pieces of legislation, but we're definitely very concerned about deleting the reference to telecom from the state constitution,” she said. “It’s an important Jenga piece.” While the amendment would remove telecom as a constitutionally defined public utility, it wouldn't change the state’s Public Utilities Code. It also wouldn't on its own remove telecom and broadband from the California Public Utilities Commission's (CPUC) portfolio. It would instead direct the California legislature to create a new broadband agency that could take over telecom regulation if a future legislature chose.

Experts and advocacy groups are warning that California’s ACA-9, a proposed amendment that would remove telecom as a constitutionally defined public utility, could weaken regulation of the industry in the state.  The constitutional amendment easily passed in the California Assembly last month on a 67-1 vote (see 2605200033). It had previously advanced out of two committees with unanimous votes and without any formal opposition from outside groups, according to an analysis filed with the amendment.

Source: Communications Daily | By Philip Athey

However, an opening brief from The Utility Reform Network (TURN) -- the only one filed against the deal -- said Charter and Cox still haven't proven that the merger would benefit Californians. The group called for the CPUC to either deny the deal or create requirements that go beyond the settlements with Cal Advocates and CETF. “TURN contends that even if the Commission approves both settlements, they are not sufficient to meet the legal standard, and additional mitigation measures or conditions are necessary,” the filing said.

Two consumer advocacy groups urged the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last week to approve the $34.5 billion Charter/Cox merger after the companies agreed to settlements to ensure that the deal improves broadband connectivity and affordability in the state. The transaction, which would make Charter the largest ISP and cable provider in the nation, has already gotten sign-off from the FCC, New York and Connecticut, leaving CPUC approval as the last step before it can be completed.

Source: News from the Office of Senator Steve Padilla

The legislative package is co-sponsored by ratepayer advocacy group TURN and environmental advocacy group Net-Zero California.  “The massive increase in forecasted data center deployments across the state requires the Legislature to take swift action to protect ratepayers and ensure that the addition of these new facilities is beneficial, and not harmful, to the achievement of the state’s electric affordability and greenhouse gas reduction targets.” said Matthew Freedman, Staff Attorney at The Utility Reform Network (TURN). “SB 886 and SB 887 include critical conditions to protect electricity customers from bearing additional costs attributable to the data center boom.”

This week, the California State Senate passed Senate Bills 886 and 887, two measures authored by Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego) designed to protect California ratepayers from the potential increased costs and environmental damage caused by data centers.  SB 886 would require the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to establish a special tariff to protect ratepayers from the transmission costs that supply large data centers while meeting the state’s climate goals. The tariff will ensure electrical grid investments for data centers are fully recovered to ensure other ratepayers do not end up footing the bill. A tariff would protect ratepayers from skyrocketing costs without increasing the state’s reliance on fossil fuels.

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle | By Katherine Ellison

Ultimately, there are limits to what even the most motivated individual ratepayer can do about the immensely complicated and vexing problem of high utility charges.  I’ll leave it to Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, to state the obvious: “If people really want to save money, they simply have to tell their legislators to start making energy more affordable.”

For all too many Californians, energy bills have become a slow-motion household emergency. Golden Staters already pay the highest electricity prices outside Hawaii, while an undeclared war in the Middle East, rising data-center electricity demand and a new round of rate hikes could raise costs even more.

Source: The Press Democrat | By Ethan Baron

At the time, the Utility Reform Network estimated hundreds of thousands of households in the Bay Area and millions around California would lose landline service if the commission approved AT&T’s proposal.

Seeking to override state authorities and cut landline service across California, utility giant AT&T filed a federal court complaint Wednesday against California regulators and submitted two petitions to the Federal Communications Commission, the latest volley in its years-long battle to withdraw the service.

Source: Morning AGClips | By AgPR

Panels will also explore the Make America Healthy Again movement, regenerative agriculture, the debate over new data centers, and more.  This widely attended Agri-Pulse event provides a great opportunity to discuss key issues affecting the state’s most important industry and network with a wide variety of stakeholders. Some of the confirmed and invited speakers include:

• Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum (invited)

• California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross

• Shannon Douglass, President, California Farm Bureau 

And Adria Tinnin, Director of Race Equity and Legislative Policy for the Utility Reform Network.

With water cutbacks, labor shortages, regulatory burdens and global disruptions, it’s not easy for growers to stay both economically and environmentally sustainable in California.  

Source: VitalLaw | By Shashi Kant

Groups say public backs rate caps. The coalition said strong bipartisan majorities support interest-rate limits and described them as the simplest and most effective way to stop unaffordable lending. In the press release, the National Consumer Law Center said Congress should address affordability pressures by stopping banks from making high-cost loans, restoring and defending states’ ability to protect residents, and capping rates nationally.  The Utility Reform Network is one of the groups urging congressional leaders to oppose these loans.  

A coalition of 103 consumer, civil rights, and community organizations urged congressional leaders to oppose what they described as “unaffordable 100%+ APR bank loans,” pressing lawmakers to block efforts that they say would expand high-cost lending through bank charters and federal rate-export rules. 

Source: Lifeline with Craig Roberts | By Craig Roberts, Guest speaker Mark Toney

“Mark: here’s what’s going on and the fundamental problems that we are facing.  There are no limits to how much PG&E can ask for rate increases, no limits to how many times a year they can ask for increases and no limits to how much the California Public Utilities Commission can grant in rate increases.  Right now, PG&E has multiple rate increases sitting on the table of the CPUC.  It’s more than two, more than three, it’s nine rate increases, count them, for a total of $4 billion.  I don’t believe this nonsense about your rates going down, that is just a blip and your rates are going right back up.”

Craig: it was only a bare year ago when our friends at PG&E took out ads, television, radio, streaming ads all to tell us how much cheaper our bills have become.  Paid for by               ratepayers, I must add, and all of the savings really amounted to a dollar a month.  So I opened my latest bill and noticed that they are asking for, you guessed it, rate increases.  Remember the old adage what goes up must come down?  PG&E’s got a new twist on that and it’s what goes down must come up, so I said to myself we need to talk to our old buddy Mark Toney at The Utility Reform Network.

Source: CEB News | By Mary Katherine O’Connor

Mark Toney, the executive director of The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a clean and affordable energy advocacy nonprofit, remembers how the Eaton Fire changed the narrative around the Wildfire Fund. “It is not sustainable to be coming back to ratepayers every few years,” he recalls saying at the time. “Every time it's a big fire.” 

As utilities, insurers and residents struggle to find ways to mitigate and pay for wildfire damages, California policymakers are seeking new models and strategies that the state could pursue to mitigate damage, facilitate faster post-fire recovery plans and redistribute the cost burdens from fires, across stakeholders. 

Source: Communications Daily | By Philip Athey

The Utility Reform Network (TURN) called the joint proposal “a giant step backward for consumers” that would “widen the digital divide,” even with the “small number” of fiber deployments that it includes. In comments filed Friday, TURN also pointed out a number of disagreements that Cal Advocates and AT&T seem to have even within their proposal, including whether the “relief areas” should be geographically contiguous, whether there should be extra enforcement mechanisms beyond what's in the proposal, and whether California Lifeline participation should be perpetual or limited to just five years.

Independent consumer advocacy organizations called on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to reject a proposal that would allow telecom providers in the state to relinquish their carrier of last resort (COLR) status in exchange for fiber expansion in areas where broadband is already largely available.