PG&E quietly lobbies regulators as state preps vote to raise bills

Source: The Mercury News  |  By George Avalos

The state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is scheduled to make a final decision on Nov. 16 regarding PG&E’s ability to make changes in customers’ bills. The grim reality: The two main proposals that the PUC is considering lead to big increases in monthly bills.

“PG&E executives scheduled a private meeting with the commission staff to lobby for an additional $1.8 billion in ratepayer increases,” The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a consumer advocacy group, said in a prepared release. Some of that money might go toward mitigating wildfire risk and some might go toward bolstering the utility’s credit rating. Burying power lines is typically considered far more costly and time-consuming than insulating and covering overhead lines, according to TURN. Mark Toney, executive director of TURN, said in an interview Monday that the PUC shouldn’t allow PG&E to force customers to endure higher bills as a way to bolster its credit rating on Wall Street. “PG&E has to focus on basics, to reduce its wildfire risks as quickly as possible by hardening the lines,” Toney said. “Credit ratings are all about managing risk. PG&E needs to harden the wires rather than use its customers to put more money in the pocket of Wall Street investors and the company’s shareholders.”