California lawmakers pave path for higher electricity, gas bills
The bill would oblige
The proposal, SB 1088, has emerged months after infernos roared through Wine Country and nearby regions in October, killing 44, destroying 8,900 structures, and causing
However, critics of the legislation described the bill as a "get out of jail free card" for
"If the PUC determines that a utility has done everything it is supposed to, then they can't be held liable or responsible for a incident if they are found to be in substantial compliance, however that is supposed to be defined," state Sen.
SB 1088, written by state Sen.
The updates would include safety, reliability and resilience plans to mitigate risk from wildfires and other major events that can cause disasters and affect the safety and reliability of gas and electricity systems. The PUC would be obliged to review the safety plans, according to Dodd's bill, which on Tuesday gained the support of the
"As written, the bill gives utilities a get out of jail free card for all civil liability simply because a utility was in substantial compliance with some obscure and yet to be determined PUC utility plan," the Consumer Attorneys of
Other consumer groups also opposed the legislation, which would next be heard by a
One of the major problems, warned The Utility Reform Network: The bill paves a smoother path for jumps in utility bills, since a utility such as
"Rather than enhancing safety, SB 1088 would reduce current energy utility incentives to operate their systems safely and prudently and would effectively grant the utilities a blank check to burden ratepayers with unnecessary and excessive costs, without any meaningful review of utility requests for steep rate hikes," warned
Jolted by the criticism, Dodd pledged to amend the legislation.
Hill, however, voted against the legislation because he believes no tinkering will remove the flaws that could degrade safety, shelter utility monopolies and enable rate increases to occur more readily.
Hill noted that in the wake of a deadly explosion in
"It's wrong to put safety into rate cases at all," Hill said. "
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