Five members of the California Public Utilities Commission make hundreds of decisions each year, affecting Southern Californians. This involves the most expensive payments for electricity and natural gas, and whether the telephone company needs to provide a landline.
Over the next few months, the committee will consider raising electricity bills in the wake of the devastating Eaton fire. The video was filmed on January 7th at one of Edison’s transmission towers in Southern California, located in Eton Canyon. Edison sought an increase of more than 2%. He said this is necessary to strengthen Wall Street’s view on financial health after a wildfire in Los Angeles.
However, none of the five commissioners live in Southern California. Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric alone serve almost 19 million people. It is almost half the state’s population.
All five are appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and live in Sacramento or San Francisco, where the committee is based.
President of California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)
Alice Bush Reynolds
Sacramento, California
commissioner
Matthew Baker
San Carlos, California
commissioner
Darcie L. Houck.
Davis, CA
commissioner
John Reynolds
Oakland, California
commissioner
Karen Douglas
Davis, CA
None of the five commissioners responded to Times emails asking if they saw Southern California representatives as a shortage as an issue.
Before their appointment, the two commissioners were senior advisers of the newspaper on energy issues. The third person was the Chief Attorney for the state Energy Commission. The other two previously did the best job in the state government.
Newsom spokesman Daniel Villasenor defended the appointment, saying all five were well qualified, but refused to address questions about Southern California’s lack of representation.
Committee spokesman Terrie Prosper said the agency is “deeply committed to serving all California residents.”
Many have challenged the competition, citing repeated decisions from the committee over recent months to approve requests from Edison and other utilities despite protests from Southern Californians.
“We’re a sought-after sought-after,” said Mike Gut, a former Democratic Congressman from Los Angeles who chaired the Utility and Commercial Committee during his time in Sacramento.
The concept of geographical representation is well established in government. All members of the Council and California Legislature are elected by districts, while members of city councils in larger cities such as Los Angeles are usually elected by districts as well.
The California State Commission, which oversees the assessment of property taxes in the state, has four district-elected members.
Southern Californians aren’t the only ones complaining about the lack of representation on the Utilities Commission.
Lawmaker Rhodesia Random (D-Tracy) recently introduced Bill AB 13, requiring the governor to appoint committee members from each of the same four regions used by the Equalization Committee. The fifth commissioner can come from anywhere in the state, but must have a background in public advocacy.
Because the law is necessary, utility customers have “access to people who represent them and allow those who represent them to feel the pain of their decisions,” Ransom said at an AB 13 hearing last month.
“I’m talking about geographical diversity – where our commissioners are,” she said.
A vast regulatory power
The Utilities Commission is one of California’s most powerful agencies, regulating private companies selling electricity, water, natural gas, cell phones and internet services, as well as rail and passenger transport companies such as Uber.
Dozens of San Fernando Valley residents protested outside the committee’s San Francisco headquarters in December, asking the panel to vote to close the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility in Porter Ranch.
The Southern California Gas Co., owned by Southern California Gas, was the largest methane leak site in 2015 in US history, forcing more than 8,000 families from their homes. Many residents complain of medical issues, including headaches, nosebleeds and nausea.
Ignoring comments from more than 200 residents, the commissioner cast 4-0 votes to keep the gas storage site open indefinitely.
“It would be nice if they were listening to us,” said Patty Crosst Gruek, who lives two miles from the facility.
Committees rarely even hold meetings in Los Angeles, she said, “We let them see.”
The panel’s recent decision to increase electricity bills has also fueled anger.
Edison’s 15 million customers have seen an 85% rise in electricity bills over the past decade, with most of that increase approved by the committee.
Multiple additional requests for increased rates by the utility are pending, which could lead to another double-digit hike together.
The latest demand came last month when Edison asked the committee to allow the company to pay a higher return on shareholders to boost Wall Street’s confidence in the finances after La Fires. This change will increase monthly invoices by more than 2%.
“For God, don’t let SCE do another unfair rate hike,” wrote Randy Nakashima of Yoruba Linda in one of more than 100 comments against the request.
Edison says the equipment may have caused the Eton fire, but the cause is still under investigation.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department and the Forestry Fire Department will ultimately determine how the flames ignite.
Separately, committee staff are investigating whether Edison violated utility safety regulations that could lead to Eton Blaze.
If Edison is found negligently, the committee will likely be involved in determining how many customers to decide, not a utility shareholder, but rather not billions of dollars in damages.
Even before firefighters contained the Eton Fire, the committee voted on Jan. 30 to agree that Edison could raise electricity bills to transfer the $1.6 billion costs of the 2017 Thomas Wild Fire. Investigators said Edison’s equipment caused the fire.
The committee members chose to make Thomas’ fire decision on the panel’s consent agenda, as passed without discussion.
“We have failed to hold them accountable by allowing SCE to raise fees to cover these damages,” seven Southern California state lawmakers wrote to the committee after the vote.
The lawmaker said it was “condemnable” to request the same customers who lost their homes or lost their power from Thomas Fire to “take financial responsibility for corporate mismanagement and infrastructure flaws.”
It’s rooted in the railway
The Public Utilities Commission was established as a Railway Commission in the late 1870s after the completion of the Transcontinental Railway. According to committee history, officials have decided to find San Francisco headquarters because of the powers the railroad had over government officials in Sacramento.
At the time, the South Pacific Railroad was California’s largest landowner and railroad officials sold at the state Supreme Court, and the railway found a way to stack salary people and political committees. Some Californians jokingly mentioned the committee, History said as its public relations department, the railroad’s “literature bureau.”
Corruption enquiries led to reforms, and in 1912, all transportation, water, electricity, gas, telegraph and telephone services were under the authority’s jurisdiction.
Prospesson, a spokesman for the committee, said the agency remains based in San Francisco but has a statewide presence, including its Los Angeles office. The committee holds at least three meetings each year outside of San Francisco and Sacramento, she said.
“We provide multiple channels for the public to share feedback,” says Prosper. “These efforts are designed to allow all Californians to engage with the CPUC, regardless of where they live.”
The Ransom bill also aims to ensure that the committee has more independence from the governor’s office. A one-year cooling-up period will be required before employees in the administrative department of the state government are appointed to the committee.
According to a legislative analysis of her bill, between 2012 and 2025, 11 of the last 12 commissioners appointed by Newsom and his predecessor, Gov. Jerry Brown, came from the administrative positions of the state government.
This contrasts with previous appointments between 2000 and 2012, when four of the 12 commissioners came from the executive branch.
The Ransom bill is not the first to give Californians living outside of San Francisco or Sacramento representatives of the committee.
In 2022, AB 1960 had requested the governor to consider candidates from Southern California, Northern California and Central Valley for groups considering seats on the committee.
Newsom rejected the bill and called it “necessary.”
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