By David R. Baker, The San Francisco Chronicle
Californians’ electricity rates are about to undergo their most sweeping changes since the state’s energy crisis 15 years ago, cutting costs for people who use large amounts of power while raising bills for more efficient homeowners. The question is, how many people will pay more?
The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to vote Friday on two competing proposals to radically revamp the way electricity rates work at the state’s big, investor-owned utilities: Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. Both proposals would narrow the gap between prices paid by people who use large amounts of electricity and those who use less. But one proposal, backed by the utilities, would go further than the other, raising utility bills at least $10 per month for an estimated 80 percent of residential customers next year as a result. It would also eventually allow the utilities to impose a fixed monthly charge on all customers, an idea the companies like but consumer advocates hate. The second proposal, from Commissioner Mike Florio, would boost monthly bills at least $10 for 35 percent of residential customers, and explicitly rejects fixed monthly charges.
The issue has been the subject of a fierce lobbying fight ever since 2013, when California legislators authorized the commission to reform electricity rates from top to bottom. Utilities, consumer groups, business associations and solar companies all entered the fray, each trying to tweak the details to their advantage. While arguing over how to fix it, most agreed the current system wouldn’t last.
No element of rate reform provoked a bigger fight than fixed charges. Utilities consider them a way to make sure everyone pays the cost of maintaining the electrical grid, at a time when an increasing number of homeowners are installing solar panels to generate their own electricity.