Board Chair Bruno Sabatier asked for the board to send the letter challenging the rate increase — which PG&E filed a request with the CPUC for on Sept. 16 — citing the negative impact on the community, as well as PG&E’s failure to follow rules imposed by the state and the company not providing a reliable power supply.
PG&E is asking for an increase totaling 4.9% for electricity and 0.2% for gas, and a nonbundled category for those not getting electricity with a rate increase of 2.3%. There is no nonbundled category for those not getting gas, which is the case for Lake County residents.
“It makes no sense to me that we only get partial service from PG&E,” said Sabatier, noting Lake County residents must use either electricity or propane, and propane isn’t cheap either.
Sabatier presented a letter for the board to consider that Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein helped him write. In addition, Sabatier included a letter he wrote personally and he asked board members to consider sending their own individual letters.
He said PG&E is requesting the increase to follow General Order 95 Section III for line maintenance and tree clearance and line construction.
Those are things that PG&E has not been following and the CPUC has not been enforcing those rules, said Sabatier, noting there is now more of an effort by PG&E to work on management and maintenance.
The utility’s other reasons for the rate increase — which is outside of its usual cycle for rate increase requests — is for public safety power shut-off and execution, which Sabatier said is due to PG&E’s inability to upgrade infrastructure.
Other reasons given for the increase request are wildfire mitigation, temporary generation to support customers and COVID-19.
In his letter and in his comments on Tuesday, Sabatier quoted an Associated Press article from Feb. 18, 2020, that said by 2024, PG&E may reach a profit of nearly $2.4 billion, up from the $454 million it realized in 2020.
“My question is, why are we doing a rate increase on a company that has failed to meet expectations and continues to go against what [the] CPUC mission statement is, which is to have a safe and reliable energy source,” said Sabatier.
He said PG&E’s energy source is not safe — pointing to the wildfires the company has caused — or reliable, noting the power outages.
He also pointed out that a judge insisted PG&E be fined $200 million for the 2018 Camp fire, that destroyed the Butte County town of Paradise. However, the CPUC waived the fine.
A judge has to agree with the rate increase, yet a judge wasn’t heard and listened to by the CPUC when it came to the fine, Sabatier said.
He referenced a report that has shown the CPUC was not the independent commission it was created to be. There has been a lot of intermingling between commission and governor’s office, with the governor controlling it, which led to the waiving of the Camp fire fine.
“I just think that the rate increase is a slap in the face to our constituents,” Sabatier said. “It doesn’t solve our problems that we’re also having with PG&E and their infrastructure.”
Sabatier said the board needed to be very direct about why the rate increase isn’t going to work for the county.
He asked the board to approve the general letter and to send their own letters. “We can go much further than just a board letter.”
Supervisor Tina Scott said she appreciated Sabatier bringing the matter to the board.
“I think we need to look at the fact that they’ve been making profit for years and have not been doing the job and that’s why we’ve had the fires that we’ve had,” she said of PG&E.
Scott agreed with Sabatier that the proposed rate increase is a slap in the face to constituents, and that the county can’t afford it.
“We’ve been told that this is going to be the status quo for the next 10 years,” not just with the power shut-offs but with the outages that occur when a branch hits lines, said Supervisor Jessica Pyska.
There have been a couple hundred outages that her district has been through “and now we have to pay more.” She said she appreciated the letter and also would send her own.
Pyska was referencing a passage in the proposed board letter that pointed out that customers reliant on PG&E’s Middletown Substation experienced 205 outages from Jan. 1 to Sept. 13, with the average duration lasting 8.2 hours. Customers served by the Konocti substation experienced 155 outages in the same period, with those outages spanning an average of 11.9 hours.
Sabatier clarified during the meeting that the PG&E employees in the blue trucks do good work and that it’s the administrative staff he’s talking about when criticizing the company.
Supervisors EJ Crandell and Moke Simon also voiced their support, with Crandell planning to send a letter of his own as well.
Sabatier noted that it will be awhile before this increase request is finalized. In speaking with CPUC, he and Rothstein decided the earlier it’s in the judge’s hands the better.
“Being ahead was definitely the better way to go but it’s going to be awhile before that judgment is made,” he said.
Scott asked for the time frame, and Sabatier said the decision is expected in the spring or later.
Scott suggested sending a letter now and then sending another later to remind state officials “that we’re still here and we’re angry.”
Sabatier added, “We shouldn’t reward a company with more money when there’s absolute failures in the system.”
Crandell said he planned to take the matter to the Rural County Representatives of California in an upcoming meeting.
Simon moved to approve the letter, with Scott seconding and the board voting 5-0.
How to voice opposition
Community members wanting to register their opposition to the rate increase should address their comments to the CPUC in one of several ways.
For reference, the proceeding number is A.21-09-008.
To provide comments to the CPUC:
• Submit comments online for the proceeding here: https://apps.cpuc.ca.gov/apex/f?p=401:65:0:ADDPC:NO .
• Write to them, with the proceeding number, the utility company name and any other relevant details, at California Public Utilities Commission, Public Advisor's Office, 505 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, CA 94102.
• Attend a CPUC event; or
• Speak at a CPUC meeting.
For more information, call the CPUC Public Advisor’s Office at 866-849-8390, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or write to the office at 505 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, CA 94102.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
2021-11-16 CPUC Letter of Opposition a.21!09!008 Effective 4 by LakeCoNews on Scribd
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