utility costs

CALIFORNIANS PAY BILLIONS FOR POWER COMPANIES' WILDFIRE PREVENTION EFFORTS. ARE THEY COST-EFFECTIVE?

By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters

Photo:  contractors with PG&E work in a trench to lay underground electric cables in Placer County on Oct. 17, 2024. Burying lines and other wildfire prevention projects have raised the price of electricity in California. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

December 16, 2024 (San Diego) - Diane Moss lost her home in the Santa Monica Mountains after power lines ignited the apocalyptic Woolsey Fire in 2018. Since then, she’s pressed for a safer electric grid in California.


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READER’S EDITORIAL: SDG&E’S LATEST ATTEMPT TO EXPLOIT ITS MONOPOLY STATUS & CORPORATE POWER

 

By Joel A. Harrison, PhD, MPH 
“If we had free market competition, SDG&E would have to absorb the costs of the fire. Quite simply, if
they raised their rates, consumers would switch to other providers.” 

February 17, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) -- Sempra-owned utility San Diego Gas & Electric wants “San Diego-area utility customers to pay for nearly all of an estimated $463 million in cost not covered by insurance from the catastrophic 2007 wildfires that were triggered in large part by its power lines,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. “At stake is who ultimately pays for the fire’s destruction — ratepayers or shareholders.” SDG&E wants the ratepayers to cover 95 to 100 percent of excess wildfire and related litigation costs.


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