Source: The Mercury News | By George Avalos

“2024 is shaping up to be a painful year for PG&E customers, who may be looking at bill increases of $40 to $60 a month more than in 2023, once all the increases are added up,” Toney said. PG&E is seeking approval of the interim rates to cover recent expenditures in 2022 and 2023 that were linked to wildfire mitigation, vegetation management and catastrophic events such as winter storms that required extraordinary responses by the utility.

PG&E customers face a fresh round of increases in monthly bills — yet again — because the utility seeks to win regulatory approval of early collections even before a key rate case is decided. The most recent request from PG&E sketches out a proposal for an eyebrow-raising $1.46 billion to cover the utility’s recent spending on wildfire mitigation, as well as to help the company stabilize its financial situation.

Source: GV Wire | By Nancy Price

PG&E has racked up uncompensated costs that the company says are creating a financial burden and putting its creditworthiness at risk. Toney said PG&E’s decision to significantly overspend on wildfire mitigation and in other accounts shouldn’t be borne by customers whose rates are already among the highest in the nation. “Yes, they may be in debt. But guess who put them in debt? It was themselves,” he said.

Not even a month after Pacific Gas and Electric’s rate case adding billions of dollars of revenue annually was approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E is seeking another $2 billion from customers. On Dec. 1, the utility company filed a motion with PUC for higher revenues to cover its unreimbursed costs for wildfire mitigation, catastrophic events, and other items.

Source: Capital and Main | By Mark Kreidler

“It’s the tip of the iceberg,” said Mark Toney, executive director of TURN, the utility reform network that lobbies for affordable and accessible power for Californians. “I think that people will see a $50 per month increase in one year,” or an extra $600 during that time. Households will struggle more. Over the past four years, PG&E’s bill increases have dramatically outstripped inflation, according to data compiled by TURN. While the Consumer Price Index showed an 18% jump from January 2020 to September 2023, PG&E’s electric rates went up 51% for most households — and, remarkably, 67% for those enrolled in the company’s CARE program for rate relief, according to the advocacy group’s analysis. There’s a far less expensive option, TURN’s Toney said. Called “hardening,” it involves insulating existing power lines with fire-protective coating. It can be completed more quickly, and for about $800,000 per mile — and Southern California Edison has already done it successfully. As always, the burden of bearing this cost will fall hardest on lower-income households, even if they qualify for PG&E discounts. Using data collected from the company’s own disconnection reports, TURN found that the percentage of PG&E customers who were four months behind on their bills rose from 3.8% in 2019 to 7.0% last July. “That’s a stunning increase,” Toney said.

Beginning Jan. 1, power giant Pacific Gas & Electric, which serves 16 million Californians, will impose a 13% increase on the average household bill. That comes to $32.50 a month, or nearly $400 extra per year.

Source: NBC San Diego | By Kelvin Henry

Critics like Mark Toney, Executive Director of The Utility Reform Network, say their earning model is unsustainable. “SDG&E is recording record profits. Nearly a billion dollars in the past year and this is something that’s of a lot of concern,” Executive Director of The Utility Reform Network Mark Toney told NBC 7's Kelvin Henry. Utility companies like SDG&E often cite climate change, the rise of electric vehicles and the battery storage necessary to sustain them as factors driving costs up. Toney says costs are about priorities. "Every utility company, including SDG&E, has choices to make as to where to make their investment and how to make things as safe as possible at the most cost-effective manner," Toney said. "There needs to be a cap on annual rate increases and the cap should be no more than the cost of living adjustment that social security recipients receive," Toney said.

SDG&E's profits have soared in recent years and ratepayers are taking notice after seeing higher monthly bills. The utility company that serves more than 3 million people in San Diego County says a large reason why their profits are up is because of record investments that improve their products for ratepayers. The utility company reportedly made over $900 million in profits in 2022.

Source: The San Diego Union Tribune | By Rob Nikolewski

“If we’re going to stop that trajectory, we will need to look ahead and think about the ultimate price tag of some of these initiatives,” said Jennifer Dowdell, senior policy expert at The Utility Reform Network, or TURN, a consumer group based in San Francisco. “At this point, we are operating in a rate environment that has no margin of safety.” “The utilities will invest in anything the regulator indicates they’d like them to invest in,” said Dowdell of TURN, “because every dime they spend on rate base, they make money.” For Dowdell, the policy expert for the consumer group TURN, the auditor’s report shows the CPUC must keep a sharp eye on approving projects that go into the rate base because that “is a huge driver” in higher monthly bills that customers pay. “When you look at that rate base trajectory, that to me is the story,” Dowdell said, adding, “The commission and policymakers have to recognize that there may not be sufficient room in rates to fund every policy initiative.”

A review by the Union-Tribune of federal financial submissions shows SDG&E profits have been steadily increasing for about a generation, with the pace accelerating since 2008. Last year’s earnings came to $915 million, the highest in company history. At its current pace, the utility may crack the $1 billion mark by the end of 2023.

Source: The Tribune | By McClatchy California Editorials Boards

TURN, The Utility Reform Network, suggests putting a cap on rate increases; tie them to the rise in the consumer price index, for example. “It is not sustainable to have the sky be the limit,” TURN Executive Director Mark Toney said.

Another big rate increase will hit PG&E customers next year, making California — already the most expensive state in the Union — even less affordable. As recently as Nov. 16, the commission unanimously approved a 13% rate increase for PG&E gas and electric customers, which will add $32.50 to the average bill. Lower-income households that quality for the utility’s CARE program will pay around $21 more per month.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle | By Julie Johnson

“This is the biggest rate case TURN has ever seen,” said Katy Morsony, an assistant managing attorney for The Utility Reform Network, or TURN, an advocacy group for ratepayers. Ratepayer advocacy groups such as TURN pushed for the commission to promote a far less expensive and faster method by insulating bare wires instead of the laborious process of burying them. The CPUC opted to allow for more buried lines. “We’re disappointed,” Morsony said. “We need to be choosing only the most affordable and fastest wildfire safety measures to protect customers and their pocketbooks.”

Millions of California households served by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will pay about $384 more in 2024 for utilities to help the company prevent wildfires and meet rising demands for electricity. That amounts to about $32.50 more per month for average residential customers, according to PG&E. The California Public Utilities Commission approved the increase Thursday, ending a yearslong debate over how much more PG&E customers must pay to help the embattled utility — which caused a catastrophic explosion in 2010 and major wildfires in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021 — modernize its infrastructure, primarily to be more safe.

Source: NBC Bay Area | By Pete Suratos

There are also other changes to look forward to after next year, according to the Utility Reform Network’s Executive Director Mark Toney. The consumer advocacy group is pushing for a cap on PG&E rate increases. The typical monthly bill will increase by nearly $33 starting next year, according to PG&E. In 2025, the increase will be around $4. And we’ll see a decrease of $8 in 2026. The exact monthly increase will depend on usage. Still, Toney feels the costs of PG&E addressing wildlife safety shouldn’t be passed along to consumers. “The shareholders want the ratepayers to pay everything,” said Toney. “We think it’s absolutely important that the shareholders put money in.”

The California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved Thursday a monthly rate increase of nearly 13% starting next year. The money is set to help pay for wildfire risk investments, including undergrounding more than 1,200 miles of power lines.

Source: ABC 7 | By Muna Sadek

"Rather than pursuing the lower cost option, we’re out of the gate going with the highest cost option which will be impacting customer rates for a really long time," said Katy Morsony, with Oakland-based group The Utility Reform Network (TURN). "[Insulated powerlines] are the powerlines that stay in the air but they have layers of protection on them so in cases where vegetation blows in, it doesn't necessarily create a fault or a spark." Morsony says she believes price hikes should be dictated based on factors like inflation rates. "What is really astounding here is the degree of the rate increase, especially at a time when customers are already hurting," she said. "We should be limiting how much we see our energy bills go up so that they stay more in lockstep with people's take-home pay otherwise we see what's happening now which is a bigger and bigger piece of people's paycheck going to their energy bills."

PG&E customers will see higher energy bills in the new year, following a decision by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The regulatory board approved a new spending plan for the utility company on Thursday, which will result in a 12.8 percent increase to monthly bills for electricity and gas customers.

Source: KTVU | By Tom Vacar

"Which we think is more than necessary to provide safe and reliable service," said the Utility Reform Network Attorney Katy Morsony." In the last couple of years, we have reduced wildfire risk in our system by about 94 percent," said PG&E’s Paulo. "We just see rate increase after rate increase after rate increase really when customers can't bear to take on more," said the network's Morsony.

The California Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday to increase PG&E gas and electric bills. The average residential bill will be an additional $32.62 a month. Low-income CARE bills will rise by $21.66 additional dollars for next year. CPUC voted on PG&E's "massive" rate hike. It also approved a proposal to take away many benefits given to solar power system owners to increase utility company incomes even further.

Source: CBS News | By Tori Apodaca

"This is at a time where customers are already struggling to pay their utility bills," said Katy Morsony with The Utility Reform Network (TURN) that advocates for ratepayers. TURN had supported the cheaper option that would have done less undergrounding and more insulating of lines. Morsony said this is not the only rate increase PG&E customers will see over the next three years. Paulo agreed and said that rates could continue to increase on top of this hike.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) made a 5-0 vote to approve the Alternate Proposed Decision that will increase PG&E customer rates by about 12.8%. The CPUC said the vote, which was delayed earlier this month, was not an easy decision and its biggest rate case ever.

Source: ABC 10 | By Gurajpal Sangha

Mark Toney says PG&E needs to achieve safety in the most cost-effective manner. “Electricity is a necessity, not a luxury,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network. “We are captive customers of PG&E.” Toney says PG&E needs to achieve safety in the most cost-effective manner. He said the price hikes should be capped and limited by the cost-of-living adjustment that social security recipients get. “The California Public Utilities Commission needs to do more,” said Toney. “They need to prioritize the affordability for everyday customers and not let PG&E empty their customer pockets.” Toney says as more people get their power shut off because they cannot afford the price hike, that is a leading contributor to people being evicted.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CUPC) could decide Thursday whether PG&E customers have to pay higher prices. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) is requesting a double-digit rate increase that could start as soon as Jan. 1, 2024, if approved.

Source: Spectrum News 1 | By Jamie Kennedy

The commission has returned with two counter options to bury much fewer miles of lines and insulate them instead for wildfire protection because the cost is so high. An issue the utility consumer advocacy group, Turn, believes is critical given rates for customers have in the last few years increased by over 30%, outpacing inflation, executive director of Turn Mark Toney said. “It is faster and cheaper and as safe to insulate the overhead lines as it is to bury them underground,” Toney said.

PG&E aims to bury 10,000 miles of power lines. The company said it costs $3 million per mile and is asking the California Public Utilities Commission to let the company raise rates by 25% over four years to bury 2,000 lines.

Source: The Mercury News | By George Avalos

“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.”

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.

Source: Palo Alto Online | By Sherry Listgarden

The last proposal I will reference is a joint proposal from NRDC and The Utility Reform Network (TURN), an advocate for ratepayers. They split the difference, coming in between most of the other proposals, making some compromises but achieving the essence of what AB 205 calls for. They advocate for modest fixed charges based on three income levels. Rates go down in their scheme, but not to the degree that they go down for the IOUs. Affordability improves, but not as much as it does with the Sierra Club or CEJA proposals. Bills go up for higher-income customers, but electrification can save them money. “Coastal high tier customers for each IOU generally more than double their savings under our new electrification rate proposal relative to the existing rate.” NRDC and TURN seem to be aiming for something that will make things better, be politically palatable, and not be too hard to implement.

Effective energy pricing is key to transitioning away from fossil fuels. Americans are not always great at following rules but we are excellent at following prices. If we align our pricing with the transition we need to see, then we will see it. If we don’t, we won’t. That is why we must fix California’s electricity pricing.

Source: GV Wire | By Nancy Price

The Utility Reform Network, a Bay Area-based nonprofit that advocates for consumers, says PG&E officials took advantage of delays to lobby for an extra $1.8 billion in revenues over the next four years. And that would be on top of revenue jumps in two rate case proposals totaling billions of dollars in those years. “TURN opposes PG&E proposals to line the furs of Wall Street investors by squeezing an additional $1.8 billion from ratepayers,” executive director Mark Toney said in a news release. “It is time for the CPUC to stand up for customers and choose safety and affordability and vote to adopt the original Proposed Decision at their Nov. 16 meeting.”

Last-minute revisions to two major electricity-cost issues pending before the California Public Utilities Commission could impact how much consumers pay for electricity provided by Pacific Gas & Electric and whether apartment dwellers statewide will continue to get direct use of solar power generated at their sites. A consumer advocacy organization and a solar power association, both battling to halt the rise of electricity costs in California, are raising concerns about revisions in the PG&E general rate case and solar metering for apartments, schools, and farms that the PUC is scheduled to consider at Thursday’s meeting in Southern California.

Source: CBS News | By Tori Apodaca

“TURN is very concerned this gives PG&E more time to lobby the commissioners," said executive director of The Utility Reform Network (TURN) that advocates for ratepayers Mark Toney. Toney said PG&E's plan to use the dollars to underground power lines is more expensive and will take longer than insulating them. TURN thinks there should be a cap on rate increases. "The cap on rate increases should be no more than the cost-of-living adjustments that social security recipients get every year," Toney told CBS 13.

About 16 million people across Northern California will have to wait to see how much more they will be paying for power. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) postponed its vote on the PG&E rate increase that was supposed to happen on Nov. 2 and said it needs more time to decide.

Source: ABC 7 News | By Cornell Barnard

For decades, The Utility Reform Network, or TURN, has waged a fight nearly single-handedly to oppose rising utility bills delivered by California’s three major utilities, PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric. “We need to stop the sky being the limit for PG&E requests for rate increases, and the sky being the limit to how much the CPUC can approve,” said Mark Toney, TURN’s executive director. “What we need is legislation that caps annual rate increases to no more than the cost of living allowance received each year by people on Social Security,” Toney said. “Make PG&E live within a budget like its customers have to.”

The utility is asking the California Public Utilities Commission to approve a rate hike that could increase bills by up to $31 per month. Advocates were demanding 'fair rates' on the steps of California Public Utilities headquarters Wednesday where regulators will soon decide if PG&E will be granted a steep rate hike, which could raise the average monthly gas and electric bill between $25 to $31 dollars, depending how they vote

Source: Fresno Bee | By McClatchy California Opinion Editors

Mark Toney, TURN’s executive director, told McClatchy California opinion editors that Edison has been able to harden power lines for about $800,000 a mile. PG&E’s undergrounding plan would cost $3 million to $4 million per mile, he said. Similar estimates are included in the PUC’s proposed decision. There are other significant advantages with line hardening:

▪ PG&E would be able to conduct the work without having to secure rights-of-way and other approvals.

▪ Since PG&E would follow existing power-line routes, it would not need environmental reviews. With burying, should PG&E encounter an unexpected obstacle and need to burrow around it, added environmental review would be needed, and that would cause delays.

Putting high-voltage electrical lines underground, rather than running them overhead atop power poles, is one way to prevent devastating wildfires. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. would know. The utility’s equipment sparked a series of deadly wildfires in Northern California that scorched hundreds of thousands of acres, cost hundreds of millions in firefighting expenses and caused billions of dollars in damage.

Source: NBC Bay Area | By Ian Cull

“We’re talking [$750 million] people are behind on their bills now and we see profits going higher and higher at PG&E,” said Mark Toney with the Utility Reform Network. The Utility Reform Network advocates for ratepayers. Toney says if the price of electricity keeps rising it won't just affect your monthly budget. It will also mean people won’t be incentivized to trade gas cars for electric ones. “The California Public Utilities Commission needs to make a decision. Is the point of PG&E to provide reliable, clean, safe, and affordable energy? Or is to provide a gravy train for Wall Street investors,” Toney said.

A study by the Public Advocate's Office at the California Public Utilities Commission found monthly electric bills over the past three years have gone up about 38% for PG&E customers. The new report comes ahead of a major decision for PG&E next week.