The California Public Utilities Commission’s unanimous vote to charge residential customers of investor-owned utilities a flat fee of $24.15 a month beginning in late 2025 was depicted by some backers as no big deal for most households. They say that because it’s paired with an electricity rate cut from 8 percent to 18 percent, many customers’ bills won’t change much. And they say it will help deal with climate change by discouraging use of gas-powered indoor appliances.
But if that is true, why can’t it be subject to the full and vigorous public debate that many state lawmakers wanted? Why did Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders block public hearings on two bills that challenged this proposal? Why are advocates so eager to duck the larger questions about a decision that will affect 40 million people?
The most obvious question: How can anyone argue that reducing the link between the amount of electricity used and the size of bills will serve the historic state goal of lowering electricity use? “If you wanted to design a policy that would send the signal that conservation doesn’t count, this would be it,” says Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group. Millions of people with small homes or apartments will have to pay more, while those with large homes who use vastly more electricity will pay less. The need for conservation is even more profound when this key fact is considered: The state is already so challenged at keeping the lights on that it has delayed the closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant for five years.
This policy change only makes sense when seen as one more case of state leaders giving PG&E, Edison and SDG&E the fiscal protections they want, reflecting the alarmingly tight relationship between the utilities and state regulators. This relationship has endured even after by far the largest utility — PG&E — was convicted of six federal felonies, including obstructing a federal investigation, related to the corporate incompetence that led to a 2010 natural gas explosion in San Bruno that killed eight.
Now a utility-related investigation is once again being obstructed — by state leaders who don’t want their machinations scrutinized. This is not how democracy is supposed to work.
