Source: Courthouse News Service | By Alan Riquelmy

Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, in a statement called the executive order an important first step in addressing the state’s affordability crisis that families, small businesses and others face. “TURN looks forward to working with the governor’s staff on affordability strategies not in the [executive order] that will save ratepayers billions in spending, including setting limits on utility overspending, requiring least cost solutions to wildfire safety, and public financing options to reduce the cost of wildfire safety capital investments,” Toney said. 

California regulatory agencies have taken the brunt of public outcry over high utility prices for months. The state’s Public Utilities Commission regularly hears angry, even threatening, comments related to electricity prices. Newsom’s executive order seeks to assuage those concerns. The governor also ordered the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, and asked the utilities commission, to examine wildfire safety practices, ensuring that investments are cost effective.

Source: San Diego Union Tribune | By Rob Nikolewski

Mark Toney, executive director at The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a consumer advocacy group that testified during the proceeding, says SDG&E ratepayers are already getting socked financially. “The bottom line is that this is the worst time for San Diego and Southern California customers to be hit with major increases to both utilities.” TURN criticized the commission for issuing the proposed decision so late. “What that means is the increase is going to be magnified because they have to catch up,” Toney said. “The delay magnifies the rate shock.”

San Diego Gas & Electric customers would pay 2.7% more on their electric bills starting next year while customers with natural gas hookups may pay almost 9% more, according to a proposed decision released Friday afternoon by the California Public Utilities Commission. According to the proposed decision, typical SDG&E residential customers using 400 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month would pay $170.87, which represents a $4.46, or 2.7%, increase compared to what they currently pay. The percentage increase would be the same for customers enrolled in the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) financial assistance program.

Source: Politico| By Alex Nieves

But the change was supported by consumer advocates including the California Public Advocates Office, and Mark Toney, TURN’s executive director, was willing to give credit where he said it’s due. “This is an important first step in providing rate relief, but so much more needs to be done,” he said.

The details are quite gory, but basically, the commission made a change to one of the ways it adjusts the return it allows utilities to book when they invest in big transmission lines and smaller-scale power poles, wires and substations. The utilities need to make a lot more of those investments to deliver enough power around the state to support California’s transition from a fossil-fuel based economy to one that runs on electricity. The change is expected to save ratepayers a total of about $360 million next year, according to an estimate from The Utility Reform Network.

Source: Columbia Spectator | By Miranda Lu

The event concluded with a panel discussion between consumer advocate and director of the Office of Consumer Services Richard Berkley and executive director of the Utility Reform Network Mark Toney. The panel was moderated by Hernández and Law School professor and Sabin Center director Michael Gerrard, CC ’72, the lead organizers of Power Uptown. Toney, whose organization is based in California, discussed his state’s efforts to improve energy affordability and suggested looking at the federal income tax system—where the amount taxpayers pay is dependent on their income—as a more equitable payment model for utility payments.

Community leaders, policymakers, energy industry professionals, and local residents convened at The Forum last Friday for “Power Uptown: Tackling Energy Insecurity Together,” a community-based event focused on addressing energy insecurity and educating residents on pathways to efficient and renewable energy consumption.

Source: CBS47 and KSEE24 Fresno | By Ben Morris

“There are no limits to how much the public utilities can grant in an increase,” said Mark Toney, executive director for The Utility Reform Network. “Utility debt has quintupled over the past four years. It’s five times more than it used to be,” he said.

“There are a lot of things on your bill that I don’t think should be on your bill,” said Governor Newsom. “There are a lot of programs in this state that frankly stack up. And then, everybody pays for what only a few people are taking advantage of,” he said. However, in addition to dollars going to programs and policies, rate increases continue to hit families hard. In September, the California Public Utilities Commission unanimously passed its fourth PG&E rate hike of the year.

Source: Politico| By Blanca Begert, Tyler Katzenberger, Alex Nieves, Will McCarthy and Wes Wenteicher

“We need to fix a broken system where there are no limits to how much PG&E can request in rate increases, and no limits to how much the CPUC can grant in rate increases,” Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, said in a statement.

Utility and energy professionals in California and beyond are acknowledging a paradox. On the one hand, they’re looking eagerly at how advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence can help them manage the grid, predict fires and outages and respond more flexibly as energy demand grows.

Source: CBS 13 Sacramento | By Shelby Reilly

"More and more people falling behind on their bills. More people than ever are now behind on their bills," said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, or TURN. Toney said an increase approved in January added about $35 per month. Then, there was another increase in March of $4-5 per month followed by a temporary decrease of 9% in July.  "There's $6 we're talking about now, but guess what? Earlier this month, there was a $6 increase a month in natural gas. Now, PG&E customers pay one bill, natural gas and electricity together," he said.

As Pacific Gas and Electric customers already struggle to keep up with their bills, the California Public Utilities Commission approved the company's fourth rate increase in 2024. The increase was approved Thursday and will add about $6 per month on average to customers' bills.

Source: Canary Media | By Jeff St. John

We’re concerned that time is running out for the policymakers to do something,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a ratepayer advocacy group. In a Sunday statement, Toney accused the utilities of using their lobbying might to prevent securitization from making its way into law. There is overwhelming public support for reducing customer bills, holding utilities accountable for getting the most wildfire safety at the least cost to ratepayers, and making utility investors pay for overspending,” Toney told Canary Media, citing polling conducted by TURN

The state’s utilities have to expand their power grids to support the shift to carbon-free electricity, and they must harden those grids to reduce the risk that they’ll cause deadly wildfires. But these costly projects are the main driver of California’s sky-high and still-rising electricity rates, which have sparked an affordability crisis that threatens to derail the state’s energy transition.

Source: NBC Bay Area | By Velena Jones

The Utility Reform Network (TURN) opposes PG&E's rate hike request, arguing that it places an increased burden on ratepayers. The watchdog group noted this is the fourth rate hike this year. "PG&E customers were hit with a $34 increase at the beginning of the year," TURN Executive Director Mark Toney said. "Customers were hit with another $4 increase in March. Customers were hit with another increase of at least $6, and there is going to be more before the end of the year.” "As soon as it goes down, they come in with another request so that the bill goes back up," Toney said. "The fact is even with the decrease they are talking about, temporary decrease, customers are still paying far more today and later in the year than before the beginning of the year."

PG&E officials also noted that a temporary 9% rate decrease that began in July means that ultimately more customers should still be paying less even if the new hike is approved. Utility critics said all those reductions and credits are only temporary relief to what feels like an ongoing problem of repeated rate hikes.

Source: ABC7 News | By Cornell Barnard

"There are no limits to how much the Public Utilities Commission can grant in hikes, that's why TURN has been fighting for a cap on increases no more than the cost of living adjustment, provided by social security," said Mark Toney, Executive Director for TURN. TURN, The Utility Reform Network says, PG&E has been granted too many hikes this year alone. "We're looking at the fourth rate hike in 2024 alone, and every rate hike is like the tip of the iceberg, every hike stacks on top, that's why people are so angry," said Toney.

Your PG&E bill could jump another $6 per month before the end of the year. The price of natural gas rose in September, about $5.78 more on an average PG&E bill. The utility says a decrease in demand for gas is the reason. For months, utility watchdogs have been calling for fair utility rates but next week, the California Public Utilities Commission could grant PG&E yet another electricity rate increase of 2.7% about $6 more on an average bill.

Source: The Mercury News | By Tero Sforza

“The final budget deal with the Governor represents a total capitulation to PG&E and its shareholders,” Utility Reform Network attorney Matthew Freedman told the Sacramento Bee. “This $400 million will never be paid back to the general fund, forcing taxpayers to absorb the costs.”

In something of an all-for-one, one-for-all move, customers of Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric are slated to kick in another $1.25 or so a month (Edison) and 87 cents a month (SDG&E) to extend the life of the aging Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, run by Pacific Gas & Electric (whose customers are slated to pay $2.07 a month). Worse is that, if PG&E collects more money than it needs for Diablo, it could keep it for projects in its area, while Southern Californians would get squat.

Source: San Luis Obispo Editorial Board | By McClatchy News Group

“PG&E is doing things to try to bring down bills,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network (TURN), ”but they aren’t working out right.” Not so fast, says TURN. It argues that PG&E is attempting to lease something it doesn’t have — the transmission projects have “yet to be identified or approved,” it says in a document submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission. It characterizes the $1 billion deal as more of a loan than a lease since PG&E customers would be on the hook if something were to go awry. In the long run, that could cost ratepayers more money, TURN says.

As detailed by the website Utility Dive, PG&E is proposing to enter into a lease agreement that would allow Citizens to use portions of up to five future transmission projects in exchange for up-front payments of up to $1 billion. That would allow PG&E to plan and develop the projects without having to borrow, translating into substantial savings for ratepayers. Citizens also would finance charitable programs in low-income communities within PG&E’s service area.

Source: Orange County Register/ SoCal News Group | By Teri Sfora

Edison, to its credit, decided to go the insulated overhead route as much as possible, costing some $800,000 a mile. PG&E, however, decided to bury many lines — slower and not measurably safer — costing some $4 million a mile, The Utility Reform Network’s Mark Toney recently told us. The fault lies squarely with the CPUC, Toney said — the “overly generous” regulator responsible for reviewing and approving increases. TURN’s Toney would agree. He’d love to see utilities face a cap in how much they can seek in increases, and new rules that would require utilities to use the least expensive solution when possible. He’d also like to see shareholders pay half of the cost of overruns when utilities overspend. That way it wouldn’t all fall on ratepayers. “That would reduce costs immediately!” Toney told us. “The sad truth is, companies are more accountable to their shareholders than they are to their ratepayers.”

It’s important to point out here that electric companies don’t make money by selling electricity. Instead, they make money from the CPUC-set rate of the return on their capital investments; that’s their profit. So there’s a built-in incentive for utilities to spend more money on capital investments than they might need to. The quicker and less expensive way for an electric company to harden its system is to use above-ground, insulated poles and wires rather than digging down in the dirt and burying lines. The safety profile is essentially the same, experts say.

Source: NBC Bay Area | By Scott Budman

Before seeing a price hike, Mark Toney, the executive director of Turn, said his bill went up to by $400. “My bill went to $500 from around $100," he said. PG&E said the price hikes were necessary to pay for wildfire safety improvements and to offset the rise in business costs. However, quarterly figures from the company show its profits rose 28%, or $520 million.

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company saw over $500 million in profits in the last three months. But the increase in profits has also left customers paying a higher bill. "Bills will be higher than what they've ever seen,” said Patricia Poppe, the utility company’s CEO. “It's really important, number one, that we let our customers know that we know." Poppe added that the company eventually foresees costs dropping, but there are challenges ahead.

Source: Times Standard | By George Avalos

“California residents need to brace themselves for the biggest bill shocks of their lives starting in late August when skyrocketing rates are multiplied by heavy air conditioning usage needed just to survive the record-breaking extreme heat in July,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, or TURN, a consumer group.

The utility titan’s electricity rates could rise by an average of nearly 11% a year through 2027, the state Public Utilities Commission reported, which would continue a brutal pattern of skyrocketing monthly bills for PG&E’s customers. “The forecast in the CPUC report is speculative and should not be viewed as fact,” PG&E spokesperson Mike Gazda said. “PG&E has committed to limit average annual increases to no more than 3% through 2026.” The report forecasts the annual percentage increase in electric rates by comparing the actual year-end rates in 2023 to what the PUC expects will occur through 2027:— PG&E: 43% total increase through 2027, for an average annual increase of 10.8%. — Southern California Edison: 26% increase through 2027, for an average annual increase of 6.5%. — San Diego Gas & Electric: 22% overall increase through 2027, for an average annual increase of 5.6%.

Source: Mercury News | By George Avalos

The utility titan is unlikely to keep bill increases within the inflation rate, according to Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, or TURN, a consumer group. Toney believes this is the case because PG&E is expected to pursue multiple proceedings that could shove monthly bills even higher if the state Public Utilities Commission approves the requests. “PG&E has so many proposals that are pending or will be filed for rate increases,” Toney said. “I don’t believe PG&E is going to keep rate increases within inflation. PG&E has too many rate requests coming up.” Toney remained skeptical that PG&E can keep increases in monthly charges close to or below the pace of inflation. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” Toney said. “Customers are going to have to pay more.”

During the April through June second quarter, PG&E posted a profit of $520 million — up 28.1% from the utility titan’s profits from the same three-month period the year before, the company reported Thursday. Oakland-based PG&E generated $5.99 billion in operating revenue in the 2024 second quarter — up 13.2% from the same quarter in 2023.

Source: PR Newswire | By Pacific Gas & Electric Company

To provide additional financial assistance to more households with past-due energy bills, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is modifying guidelines mid-year for the Relief for Energy Assistance through Community Help (REACH) program. REACH and REACH Triple Match help qualifying low- to moderate-income customers pay their past-due energy bill and help prevent service disconnections. "We want to ensure more customers have the support they need to get their energy bills back on track," said Vincent Davis, PG&E Senior Vice President, Customer Experience. "With a more robust bill credit and broader income eligibility, we can provide greater financial relief to the households that need it most."

Source: The Sacramento Bee | By Stephen Hobbs

“The fact that the insurance corporations are going after Consumer Watchdog, means Consumer Watchdog is doing their job extremely well,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, and one of the letter signers. “In fact, I would call it a badge of honor.”

In the state’s tumultuous market, where prices are spiking and coverage is harder to find, the Department of Insurance is now considering a question that goes to the heart of the group’s work: Does Consumer Watchdog actually represent the interest of Californians? State lawmakers, companies and residents are all pressuring Lara to do more. In response, he is supporting rule changes meant to speed up reviews of proposed rate increases. Lara blames delays on companies – but he also claims Consumer Watchdog has slowed the process down by copying department work when it protests price hikes. He has accused the group of holding the reviews hostage at times. Representatives for 14 environmental, legal and other groups co-signed a letter to Lara that said it was “outrageous” for companies to suggest Consumer Watchdog wasn’t working on behalf of residents. It called on the department to grant the organization’s request immediately.

Source: ABC 10 | By Devin Trubey

Mark Toney, with the Utility Reform Network, said this increase in funding is on top of existing rate increases from earlier this year. So, while it might not seem like a lot, it all adds up. “The fault in this rate increase lies squarely with the legislatures who passed a bill that allowed PG&E to collect extra money for work they were already supposed to do and already receive money for,” Toney said.

As Californians face higher electric bills with the extreme heat, PG&E customers can expect to pay more. Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) allowed PG&E to increase their funding on expansion projects.

Source: CBS News | By Steve Large

Mark Toney is the executive director of The Utility Reform Network, or TURN. Toney said that PG&E should be covering more power lines above ground. He said that PG&E's effort to put 10,000 miles of power lines underground is too slow and costly. The state has authorized the utility company to bury only 1,300 miles by 2026. "It's delaying safety and costing a fortune," Toney said. "If you are in a place that's waiting to be buried, maybe you're not in this four-year round. Maybe you'll be in the next four years or maybe after.”

With triple-digit fire weather top of mind, some people who live in wildfire-prone areas like Foresthill in Placer County are getting their power lines put underground by Pacific Gas and Electric—and some are not. Mike Howard owns a home on one acre of property in Foresthill. He's had several close calls and mandatory evacuations in the ten years since moving there.