Source: Manteca Bulletin | By Dennis Wyatt

"Every increase that you hear about is just the tip of the iceberg,' The Utility Reform Network executive director Mark Toney said. "And every increase that gets approved by the California Public Utilities Commission stacks on top of each other. TURN noted PG&E is asking the CPUC to allow them to start collecting the additional $2 billion on an interim basis in March before the rate request completes the required regulatory review process.

PG&E’s record $13.5 million rate hike granted in mid-November was bad enough, as far as San Joaquin County Supervisor Robert Richman is concerned. But the utility’s request less than a month later for another $2 billion rate hike crossed over into being “outrageous” and is not reasonable or acceptable, according to Rickman. It is why Rickman who represents Ripon, rural south Manteca, Tracy. and Mountain House is asking his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors when they meet Tuesday to register official opposition to the proposed rate hike with the California Public Utilities Commission.

Source: ABC7 News | By Lyanne Melendez

"San Francisco is not as volatile as some of these areas that have burned recently," said Mark Toney from The Utility Reform Network, commonly known as TURN.

Undergrounding overhead utilities has a long history in California that dates back to 1967. In fact, the city of San Francisco has put roughly half of its utility lines underground. But today, PG&E says there is no money left to underground the rest of San Francisco, much to the disappointment of homeowners.

Source: Point Reyes Light | By Ben Stocking

“For over 100 years, the state, the C.P.U.C. and the federal government have promoted the idea that communities need reliable communication,” said Regina Costa of The Utility Reform Network, an Oakland-based consumer group. “AT&T is saying, ‘We don’t want to do that anymore, so goodbye, good luck and good riddance.’” Yet Ms. Costa said the upgraded broadband networks have yet to be installed in many rural regions—and they can’t be relied upon during power outages. “With your basic copper phone, it will work in a power outage, and you can guarantee it,” she said. The Utility Reform Network is one of several consumer groups that have urged the C.P.U.C. to reject AT&T’s application. Harriet Barlow, a Point Reyes Station resident who relies on a landline, hopes their challenge succeeds.

AT&T wants to stop providing traditional landline service in California, a move that could leave many customers in rural areas like West Marin with limited communications options—or perhaps none at all—during emergencies. AT&T’s request has outraged consumer advocates, who say that telephone companies should not be allowed to back out of their obligation to provide universal telecommunications service.

Source: KRCR | By Tyler Van Dyke

On Tuesday, we spoke with the Utility Reform Network (TURN) who is against the proposal to get their side of things and figure out more details on the proposal and the next steps. Telecommunications Policy Director Regina Costa explained to us the complicated process it will be.Costa explained that TURN believes that even if AT&T is denied they will then try to make it a law. "We think that their application they haven't been able to support it and we really think that their goal is to take this to the legislature to try and convince them to just put a bill through regardless of what the commission does, so you know this is kind of the preliminary round." Costa also said one of AT&T’s main arguments is that a lot of people don't use landlines these days, “One of their arguments is not as many people are using landlines but the other side of the coin is you’ve got over a million Californians using landlines,” Costa continued, “you have a situation where they have actively tried to drive people away from using landlines by not maintaining their network and then when people call in to complain it will take you a long time to fix it but if you want to switch over to this service you’ll get it right away, this is the game that they have been playing for a few years now, they’re obligated to maintain those lines and they haven’t done it.”

AT&T sent customers a letter informing them that they may no longer provide landline services in certain service areas throughout California. The letter states AT&T submitted an application to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that, if approved, would remove AT&T’s obligation under California law to provide traditional landline phone service in a large portion of our service territory in California. This leaves customers in rural areas, with spotty service as it is, concerned.

Source: SF Standard | By The Standard Staff

Mark Toney, a consumer advocate with The Utility Reform Network, predicts PG&E will try to increase rates by a total of $100 per customer per month this year based on shareholder documents outlining plans to recoup billions of dollars spent on wildfire-proofing its systems. Because CleanPowerSF customers rely on PG&E equipment, “every PG&E increase hits their pocketbook,” Toney said.

Pacific Gas & Electric officially became California’s most expensive power provider this January. The designation, calculated by the California Public Advocates Office, comes after the company won approval from state regulators to raise rates about $30 per month, or about $400 per year, for the average customer to cover the cost of burying power lines and other wildfire safety efforts.

Source: KRON 4 | By Rob Nesbitt

Executive Director of The Utility Reform Network (TURN) Mark Toney says many PG&E customers are having to choose between heating their homes or feeding their families. “More and more people are falling behind and are in danger of being disconnected,” Toney said. “Many of whom are going to end up on the street homeless because they are going to be evicted from their properties.” TURN is pushing for new legislation that will cap future rate increases. “At no more than the cost-of-living adjustment provided by social security on an annual basis,” Toney said.

Rate increases for PG&E customers have piled up in the last year and another could be coming in March. Even some customers doing the math say their bills just don’t add up. The start of the New Year hasn’t been easy on the wallets of PG&E customers. Despite warnings about rate increases, social media is full of posts like this.

Source: LA Times | By Sammy Roth

California lawmaker Dave Min has introduced a bill that would ban California utility companies from spending customer money to fight climate action. The state senator, a Democrat from Irvine, crafted his legislation in response to Sacramento Bee reporting showing how Southern California Gas Co. had attempted to spend ratepayer dollars to block climate and clean energy policies — a great reminder of the power of local journalism. You can check out the Bee’s earlier reporting, by Ari Plachta and Joe Rubin, here and here. Also see my own previous reporting on SoCalGas’ use of customer money.

The Biden administration has finalized approval of $1.1 billion to help Pacific Gas & Electric continue operating the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant past 2025, the Associated Press reports. No big surprises here; federal officials had been forecasting the move for months, as I’ve reported previously. The argument for keeping nuclear plants open longer is that unlike solar and wind farms, they can generate power around the clock. If it were up to many red-state lawmakers, though, we’d just keep burning coal. Just look at Utah, where the Salt Lake Tribune’s Tim Fitzpatrick reports legislators are making another effort to seize control of the coal-fired Intermountain power plant from the city of Los Angeles, which intends to stop burning coal there.

Source: Orange County Register | By Andre Mouchard

Shareholders, not consumers, should pay for any lobbying or other political speech undertaken by their local utility. That is the simple idea at the heart of SB938, a bill proposed this month by state Sen. Dave Min, D-Irvine. The pitch comes in the wake of a 2023 investigation by the Sacramento Bee and a state report, released last August, in which the Public Advocates Office said Southern California Gas Co. billed ratepayers tens of millions of dollars to pay for political efforts aimed at changing clean-air regulations in ways that would be profitable for the utility. Min’s bill, which was filed this week and is likely to change as lawmakers debate it in coming months, would apply to privately held utilities and establish specific definitions of the types of activities that can’t be billed to ratepayers. The bill also would require public reporting on the financing of a utility’s political speech, and establish a penalty system for any violations.

Source: Daily Kos | By Dan Bacher

“At a time when customers are burdened with record breaking monthly utility bills, corporations need strong limits and meaningful penalties preventing spending of any ratepayer dollars on PR television commercials and lobbying the Public Utilities Commission to raise rates even higher,” said Mark Toney, Executive Director of The Utility Reform Network (TURN).

Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine) today introduced a bill, Senate Bill (SB) 938, that will prohibit political lobbying by investor-owned utilities that can be charged to ratepayers. “While federal law technically prohibits utilities from passing lobbying costs onto their ratepayers, these laws are riddled with loopholes, which has allowed utility companies across the country to effectively engage in political lobbying using ratepayer money,” according to a statement from Min’s Office.

Source: Scot Scoop | By Emi Pajarillo

“We want the most green for the least green. The cost of greening the grid should not be cutting off low-income families,” said Mark Toney, the executive director at The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a consumer advocacy organization.“The poorer you are, the more burden is placed on you, which doesn’t make sense in a society where the wealth gap keeps expanding.” “It is not right to increase a consumption tax on necessities of life such as electricity, to fund climate change initiatives, solar subsidies, and wildfire. We need to develop better, more progressive, equitable ways to generate revenue for those important priorities,” Toney said.

Facing escalating financial pressures, customers across California struggle with Pacific Gas and Electricity’s (PG&E) increased utility rates in the new year. As of Jan. 1, PG&E is increasing customers’ monthly bills by 12.8%, resulting in an average increase of $32.50. These funds will go toward wildfire mitigation initiatives, electric capacity upgrades, and clean energy goals.

Source: Earth Justice | By Matt Vespa and Katy Morsony

Californians need more transparency around expensive advertising campaigns from their utilities. The bill codifies existing policy that utility shareholders pay for public messages that tend to enhance a utility’s public image, and adds a new requirement that every utility public message or advertisement will be required to clearly disclose whether shareholders or ratepayers funded the message.

New legislation can stop utilities like SoCalGas from abusing customer money to fight climate action. When you think about what you’re paying for in your electric and gas utility bill, you probably think of the energy powering your lights, furnace, and stove. But you may also be paying for your utility to lobby against popular clean air and climate standards.

Source: The Mercury News | By George Avalos

The soaring electric utility costs in the Bay Area alarmed Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, a consumer group. Toney has harshly criticized PG&E for fast-rising utility costs that have far outpaced the general cost of living in the Bay Area. Toney also believes the state Public Utilities Commission has enabled PG&E’s sharply higher power cost by readily approving the bulk of the company’s rate requests. “More and more families on fixed incomes are being pushed to the brink of homelessness because of the unlimited rate increases for PG&E,” Toney said. “This is a crisis.”

Consumer prices in the Bay Area rose at a moderate pace in December in a hopeful sign that inflation is easing — but the cost of electricity provided by utilities such as PG&E rocketed higher, an official report shows. The Bay Area inflation rate, as measured by the region’s consumer price index, rose 2.6% in 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday.

Source: Santa Rosa Press Democrat | By Marisa Endicott

Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, a utility customer advocacy group, said ratepayer representatives used to have greater insight and play a bigger role in such accountability processes, but public participation and oversight has become more limited. “It’s a new pattern, and one which we are pretty unhappy about,” Toney said. The organization also voiced concern about a 2021 settlement between the CPUC’s Safety and Enforcement Division and PG&E over the 2019 Kincade Fire, calling the deal “an abandonment of transparency and opportunities for public input.”

California Public Utilities Commission officials have again put off deciding whether to approve a controversial settlement with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. over its role in the 2021 Dixie Fire, the second largest wildfire in California history. Commissioners were set to vote on the deal Thursday after delaying a decision in late November in order to gather more information. On Monday, however, regulators again bumped a vote, this time to Jan. 25. A CPUC spokesperson said the new delay was based on a need for “further review.” The agreement reached between PG&E and the CPUC’s Safety and Enforcement Division would penalize the utility giant $45 million, with $2.5 million going to the California General Fund and $2.5 million going to Indigenous tribes affected by the Dixie Fire.

Source: Capital and Main | By Mark Kreidler

“Talk about audacity – not only do they want to charge for what they didn’t get authorization to spend ahead of time, but they also want to collect most of the money before the commission even authorizes the retroactive amount,” said Mark Toney, head of the utility reform network TURN, which provided Capital & Main with several documents related to PG&E’s multiple requests for rate increases. “It’s certainly significant.” Toney estimated that customers will see at least $12 per month and as much as $20 per month added to their bills if the CPUC approves this latest rate hike and early collection plan. Added to the new $33 monthly increase, average annual bills could jump between $540 and $640 this year alone. Toney said that PG&E’s ultimate goal is to recover all of that overspend on the backs of its ratepayers, one hike at a time — one reason TURN is pushing for a cap on the percent of increase a utility can ask in any given year. “There simply can’t be no limits to what they can ask for,” the advocate said, but that is exactly what is in play here in 2024.

Only a few weeks after receiving approval from the California Public Utilities Commission for that roughly $400 annual rate hike late last year, PG&E went right back to the well. In a Dec. 1 filing, the utility asked the CPUC for permission to pass along another $2 billion in cost overruns as part of its ongoing process of updating wildfire mitigation and repairing storm damage.

Source: Politico | By Wes Venteicher

Consumer advocacy groups including the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office and The Utility Reform Network also oppose the proposal. TURN says it would sour moderate-income customers on the energy transition by making them pay for others’ heat pumps, and would hurt low-income customers by switching them to more-expensive electricity instead of cheaper natural gas. “We’ve got to look at the big picture here and look at where we’re going,” said Mark Toney, TURN’s executive director. “Yes, we need to electrify and we’re in support of that, but there have got to be other ways to do it.”

A proposal by Southern California Edison up for approval at this Thursday’s Public Utilities Commission meeting would charge ratepayers for 250,000 heat pumps for low-income residents. But regulators are balking at the cost. Heat pumps, as you’ll recall, are a priority of both President Joe Biden, whose Inflation Reduction Act provides tax credits of up to $2,000 for them, and Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose California Energy Commission last year set a goal of 6 million pumps by 2030. Southern California Edison laid out stark numbers in its pitch to the California Public Utilities Commission: The state is on track to install only 4.7 million pumps by 2030, according to the utility’s analysis. Charging customers up to $734 million — or less than $1 per month on average, according to the utility — would help make up the difference in SCE’s territory, it says.

Source: CBS News | By John Ramos

"These rate increases are completely out of control," Toney said. "We have a system that is broken, where there are no limits to how much PG&E can ask for or how many times a year they can ask for it." TURN is advocating that utility rates be capped at the rate of inflation of Social Security. In a statement, PG&E said, "...we're aggressively focused on finding new ways to work so that we can keep future bill increases at or below a broader, long-term inflation rate of 2% to 4%." But Toney said he thinks utility bills should only deal with delivery of power, and that other costs like wildfire mitigation should be paid through the state budget.

Homeowners across the Bay Area have seen their power bills climbing, but the latest request for an increase will reach a historic milestone -- more than $300 for the average monthly PG&E bill. "Shocking, maddening and frustrating!" That's how Janet Kimball described the utility bill for her Pleasant Hill home.

Source: Silicon Valley | By George Avalos

The state PUC should act to rein in soaring PG&E bills, in the view of Mark Toney, executive director of the consumer group, The Utility Reform Network (TURN). “The current system that sets no limits on rate increases needs to be replaced by a cap on annual bills, set at the cost-of-living adjustment provided by Social Security,” according to a web post by TURN.

PG&E’s request to raise rates this spring — in part due to wildfire prevention work — are poised to propel utility bills past a grim milestone: Charges are slated to average more than $300 a month for the first time. This month, bills for the typical residential customer climbed to $294.50. That’s already the highest average monthly bill ever for PG&E customers.

Source: Telemundo Bay Area | By Bob Redell, NBC Bay Area, & Libertad Pedraza

Ratepayer advocacy group TURN said PG&E could ask customers to refund them. The rate increase already approved will increase the average PG&E bill by $34. PG&E is also separately requesting another increase in March. If that passes, the average bill could rise again by $24. PG&E could also request another increase of about $43 a month. That brings the total to $100 more for the average monthly bill. "The California Public Utilities Commission is in charge of reviewing every rate increase request and, unfortunately, has repeatedly sided with Wall Street investors instead of regular customers," said the CEO of TURN, Mark Toney. "That's why bills have skyrocketed so much in recent years."

PG&E has raised its rates and now the state's largest home insurer is about to do the same. State Farm, which insures about one in 10 to 11 homes in the Bay Area and the rest of California, has received approval from the state Department of Insurance to increase rates by an average of 20% per homeowner.

Source: NBC Bay Area | By Jaxon Van Derbeken

“We have an extremely bad problem on our hands,’’ said Mark Toney, head of The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a ratepayer advocacy group. He says the utility is playing catchup on rates, having spent far more than authorized for tree cutting and other efforts to reduce wildfires between 2020 and 2022. According to an accounting PG&E submitted to state regulators for that three year period, the utility spent $9.3 billion more than the $4.7 billion allotted in rates by the California Public Utilities Commission for vegetation management.

PG&E has filed paperwork with regulators to raise rates another $24 a month, for the average customer, in March, to pay for storm repairs and more wildfire mitigation costs. On top of that, according to a chart PG&E recently showed shareholders, the utility indicates it intends to seek even more, to recoup billions it already spent.

Source: KRON 4 | By Dan Kerman

“There’s no limit to this,” said Mark Toney with the Utility Reform Network. “This is part of the problem. Every single increase you hear about is a tip of the iceberg and every increase that on top of the previous one.” Toney opposes this additional hike and says annual increases must be capped at the same level as the cost-of-living adjustment provided by social security.

Californians are turning up the heat as cooler rainy weather arrives, which causes utility bills to rise. But come this month customers will also see increases due to a rate hike, as combined gas and electric bills go up an average of 13 percent, or $34.50 a month.