Pacific Gas and Electric is seeking an increase in electricity and gas rates from the California Public Utilities Commission, a request that has produced a growing storm of critical voices from consumers whose budgets are pinched by other rising costs. But just how high does PG&E want to push up...
Race to Zero: Can California’s Power Grid Handle a 15-Fold Increase in Electric Cars?
As California rapidly boosts sales of electric cars and trucks over the next decade, the answer to a critical question remains uncertain: Will there be enough electricity to power them? State officials claim that the 12.5 million electric vehicles expected on California’s roads in 2035 will not strain the grid. But...
Opinion: Fixing California’s Unreliable Electricity Grid Should be the Priority, Not Pushing EV Usage
Californians are once again struggling with devastating wildfires and another hot summer that has wreaked havoc on the state. Both placed an enormous strain on our electrical grid, causing rolling black outs across the state, sometimes for days at a time. So, at a time when the electrical grid is...
Regulators Boost PG&E's Wildfire Fine to $2.1 Billion
SAN FRANCISCO — California power regulators on Thursday slapped Pacific Gas & Electric with a $2.1 billion fine for igniting a series of deadly wildfires that landed the beleaguered utility in bankruptcy. The record penalty imposed in an administrative law judge's decision boosts a previously agreed upon $1.7 billion settlement...
State Regulators Launch Investigation into Power Outages
SAN FRANCISCO — California regulators opened a formal investigation Wednesday into preemptive power outages that blacked out large parts of the state in October, drawing strong rebukes from public officials and residents who said the shut-offs were too broad and poorly executed. The unanimous vote by the California Public Utilities...
PG&E Says Power Lines May Have Started 2 More Fires
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. power lines may have started two wildfires over the weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area, the utility said, even though widespread blackouts were in place to prevent downed lines from starting fires during dangerously windy weather. The fires described in PG&E...
Opinion: Valley Should Not Be Held Captive to PG&E Failures
The residents of the Central Valley are faced with a utility service company that, in the past two decades, has become a tax collector forced to be under the protection of the federal bankruptcy court for the second time. In this situation, debtors and sophisticated investors seek to game the...
California Approves Power Outages to Prevent More Wildfires
SACRAMENTO — California regulators on Thursday approved allowing utilities to cut off electricity to possibly hundreds of thousands of customers to avoid catastrophic wildfires like the one sparked by power lines last year that killed 85 people and largely destroyed the city of Paradise. Utilities' liability can reach billions of...
California Regulators Approve $373M PG&E Rate Hike
SAN FRANCISCO — California regulators have approved a $373 million rate hike for Pacific Gas & Electric to pay costs related to a series of wildfires. KTVU-TV says the California Public Utilities Commission Thursday unanimously OK'd an increase that raises the average bill by $3.50 a month over 12 months. The station...
California Approves Free Phones, Internet for Foster Youth
LOS ANGELES — Young people in California's foster system will have access to free cellphones and internet access under a new program that supporters say will bridge a "digital divide." The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved the $22 million pilot program that will provide a smartphone to more...