Sen. Becker’s folly

The solutions that Becker proposes are cheap shots and would not have a discernible, lasting effect on our bills. History is not his friend. Utilities were forced by the prevailing legislation, and then by the California Public Utilities Commission, to abdicate maximizing the sales of electricity and natural gas. Instead, they were forced to embrace energy use measures instructing their utility customers on how to use their energy sources more efficiently.

While initially going against the grain of a utility business model, the CPUC arrived at an incentive structure that would compensate the utilities for lost sales and would reward them instead for pushing energy efficiency programs.

For each energy unit saved or not used, the utilities would be incentivized. Leave it to American ingenuity to come up with a new business model that has made PG&E, SCE and SDG&E the envy of the utility industry. Pushing myriad energy efficiency programs, questionable rate reductions for self-declared low-income residents, and adding over-the-top overhead charges, made these utilities very rich at our expense. PG&E executives’ pay is a drop in the bucket compared with the utility’s lavish internal spending, DEI directed procurement procedures, and letting the labor unions, including the IBEW, run the show. We need a reset button.

Dirk van Ulden

Belmont