Corporate utilities including PG&E, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric are influencing rules to maximize their profits and cut off millions of Californians from accessing affordable, clean energy.
Case in point, last Friday, Governor Newsom vetoed SB 1374 (Becker). This common-sense bill would have allowed schools and apartments to use their own solar power to offset their utility bills, just as single-family homeowners do. Now, many apartment-dwellers and schools won’t be able to afford solar and corporate utilities can keep raking in the cash. Between 2000 and 2024, corporate utilities gave Governor Newsom and legislators $12.3 million!
Before being vetoed, SB 1374 passed with large majorities in the Senate and Assembly. It was supported by school districts, affordable-housing proponents, farming groups, clean energy advocates, and more than 135 local elected officials.
Relentless rate hikes are also part of the utilities’ profit-maximizing playbook. In early September, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted unanimously to approve PG&E’s fourth rate hike this year. According to former CPUC President Loretta Lynch, the agency is illegally rubber-stamping unwarranted rate increases.
There is some good news. Late last week, Governor Newsom signed our bill, SB 59 (Skinner), into law! We are so grateful to Senator Nancy Skinner for authoring this pioneering law and to our co-sponsoring organizations, the Union of Concerned Scientists and Nuvve. SB 59 authorizes the California Energy Commission (CEC) to require EVs sold in California to have bidirectional charging capability so their batteries can provide power back to homes, businesses, and the grid, especially valuable as we face more outages from increasing extremes. If the CEC follows through, SB 59 will help reduce electricity bills and ensure more affordable, clean back-up power for millions of people across the state.
Today, we celebrate SB 59. We’ll build on this momentum to scale up rooftop solar, bidirectional EVs, and more for a clean and affordable energy system for all.
This blog first appeared in The Climate Center’s bi-weekly newsletter. To keep up with the latest climate news and ways to take action for a climate-safe future, subscribe today!
