Public Utilities

TracFone is sponsoring a bill that would give public utility companies, individuals, and private corporations the ability to not be responsible for their actions, if they claim that CPUC staff advised them.

Senator Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, was joined by Richard Holober, Consumer Federation of California, and representatives from The Utility Reform Network (TURN), at a press conference today to unveil legislation that would prohibit the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) from giving away millions of dollars in ratepayer money to third parties without oversight and transparency.

Phone companies like AT&T and Verizon are supporting SB 1161 (Padilla) to undermine a government watchdog agency’s ability to investigate unfair advertising practices, inflated fees on phone bills, phone service outages, privacy violations and other consumer complaints.

Assembly Bill 1830 (V.M. Pérez) enables the California Public Utilities Commission to provide mobile home park residents with safeguards against unreasonable water service rates.

In light of the 2010 gas transmission pipeline explosion in San Bruno, the need for additional safety regulations is clear. Part of this effort to increase safety must include providing sufficient protections to whistleblowers who report safety concerns to the CPUC.

AB 1124 would state the intent of the legislature to allow the use of ratepayer energy efficiency funds for improvements to heating and water systems in multifamily rental apartment buildings.

Gov. Jerry Brown may make as many as three appointments this month to the state's top regulatory agency. Critics say the PUC has been overly friendly to the state's three big electric utilities in recent years.

The Consumer Federation of California (CFC) applauded the just issued proposed decision by the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) denying a request by PG&E, Southern California Gas and San Diego Gas and Electric to shift $90 million onto the gas bills of California homeowners and residential users, in order to give big industrial gas customers a price break.

SB 780 allows for the continued funding of a program paid for by all customers of home and cellular telephone services to protect rural and underserved areas of the state from outrageous phone bills.

What happens to people who aren’t poor enough to get subsidized phone service, aren’t rich enough to pay whatever the telephone companies decide to charge and don‘t live in an area where they can get another carrier with 911 service?

CFC urges Governor to sign AB 1333 (Hancock) - a bill that will protect tenants in foreclosed properties and help keep families in their homes.

AB 3011 would have closed a glaring loophole in California privacy law. Winning consumer protection is a multi-year effort, and we’ll keep moving this concept forward until the responsibility to protect cell phone records is placed where it belongs – with the telecommunications companies.

EBMUD has an opportunity to set an example for the State Legislature to follow by continuing what you so rightly started: protecting tenants who, at no fault of their own, are being threatened with illegal evictions and loss of water service.

The California Public Utilities Commission is holding hearings on a proposal by PG&E, SCG, and SDGE to shift $100 million onto the gas bills of California homeowners and residential users, in order to give big industrial gas customers a price break.

CFC opposes SB 1389 because it would create a broad exemption for California telephone corporations - eliminating a critical statutory protection for consumer choice.

Remember the energy crisis in 2000. Get ready for a repeat. CFC has joined other consumer groups in opposing another experiment in making electric markets "competitive."

We have seen the toll that foreclosures take on families and individuals, and we shudder to think of the added humiliation that people who pay rent on time and are respectful of the properties where they live, must feel when their water is suddenly shut off.

Regulations adopted last week by the California Public Utilities Commission fall short of protecting limited English speaking consumers from misleading advertising by telephone companies.

On June 7th, Senate Bill 831 (Lowenthal), our legislation to establish a sorely needed minimum standard of cell phone consumer protections - including cancellation rights and pro-rated early termination fees - was defeated in a close Senate floor vote.

On April 24th, cell phone users came one step closer to winning critical consumer protections after the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee approved Senate Bill 831 (D- Lowenthal).

SB 831 would establish a sorely needed minimum standard of consumer protections that every cell phone customer deserves - and every phone company must comply with.

Cell phone users were dealt a bitter defeat today as the Assembly voted down AB 1010, Ira Ruskin's (D - Redwood City) landmark consumer rights legislation.

The Consumer Federation of California recently advised the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on how to implement the California Solar Initiative in a way that is fair to all consumers as well as economically and environmentally beneficial to the state.

The Consumer Federation of California is sponsoring legislation that would restore your right to cancel a new cell phone contract for up to 30 days, without paying penalties or early termination fees.

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine has "killed" Assembly Bill 2622 (Ruskin). This bill would have restored the right of cell phone customers to have 30 days to cancel a new plan without early termination fees.

The calling details of our personal telephone records are for sale, and they are available to anyone willing to pay to know who weýve been talking to, when, and for how long. There are no effective laws to prevent the sale of personal telephone records.

The California Public Utilities Commission voted today to bury consumer protection rules, and leave cell phone consumers at the mercy of billion dollar cell phone companies.

The Consumer Federation of California urges all wireless users to contact the California Public Utilities Commission, the governor and their state legislators and tell government officials they want consumers rights protected. The CPUC needs to protect consumers privacy rights, contract obligations, and billing and advertising honesty and accuracy.

Cell phones have become so commonplace that they are replacing land lines as a primary means of voice communication. As their popularity grows, consumer complaints have soared. So far, the California Public Utilities Commission, the agency charged with protecting the rights of phone customers, has abandoned its duty to protect consumers.

Lawmakers grilled the executive director of the CPUC, saying they see no progress on safety issues since the deadly San Bruno blast, and called for a change in leadership at the agency.

State lawmakers are poised to blast the CPUC after a scathing report that questions the agency's commitment to safety.

T-Mobile USA, the struggling No. 4 cellphone company, is ditching plans centered on familiar two-year contracts in favor of selling phones on installment plans.

For a decade consumers have been able to keep their cellphone numbers even if they switched their wireless carriers. The Obama administration and FCC said consumers should be able to switch carriers and keep their actual phones.

The state legislative analyst recommended that auditors probe whether regulators are properly overseeing accounts for utility projects totaling trillions of dollars.

California electricity consumers could get refunds totaling $1.6 billion because of excessive rates charged during the initial phase of the energy crisis, the Public Utilities Commission said today.

The measure would abolish investor-owned power companies and replace them with the publicly owned California Electrical Utility District.

In 2006, the CPUC voted to allow AT&T and other companies that provide local telephone service to raise prices at will...its prices are now the highest among the four competitors.

In a scathing new review of the CPUC, the Department of Finance found widespread budget errors and inaccurate fiscal predictions of fees that consumers pay each month.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said that residential customers will see a significant decline in natural gas rates and a modest increase in electric rates to kick off 2013.

In its latest and perhaps greatest outrage, the PUC ruled that PG&E can profit from the deadly 2010 San Bruno blast that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes.

Nearly 3,000 drivers were caught breaking cellphone rules during a crackdown in Sacramento County and dozens of other police jurisdictions throughout Northern California.

PG&E customers will pay nearly two-thirds of the $1.8 billion to upgrade natural-gas pipelines, which were exposed as potentially unsafe by the 2010 explosion in San Bruno.

"It is important that we empower the CPUC to hold public hearings and engage in rigorous reviews of mergers that may impact consumer rates and access to reliable services," said Richard Holober, Consumer Federation of California.

Gov. Brown has until Sunday to veto a bill that would eliminate regulatory oversight of Internet phone service in California - and could eliminate nearly all telephone regulation in the state. The sooner he says no, the better.

A bill the state Legislature approved this week that is headed to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk would allow mobile home park residents who have been charged excessive water rates by their landlords to seek restitution.

The Assembly needs to shoot this bill down in order to send a strong message to the telecommunications industry that they cannot use a backdoor status quo bill to deregulate the basic services of the future.

Phone companies and cable providers won a victory over consumer groups and labor unions when the Assembly Appropriations Committee sent a bill to the floor that would restrict the ability of the CPUC to regulate Internet phone service.

Nearly two years after the pipeline explosion that killed eight people and devastated a neighborhood in San Bruno, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. considers 239 of its natural-gas transmission lines to be at risk of a similar failure, according to a company assessment obtained by The Chronicle.

Prepayment programs allow companies to sidestep critical consumer protections that have evolved over decades, according to the report by the National Consumer Law Center.

The armada of earthmovers and steamrollers is clearing out, and the little town that was turned upside down is finally catching a break. Alpine is looking more like its rural-flavored self again now that San Diego Gas & Electric has completed the construction of its Sunrise Powerlink transmission line through the heart of the East County community.

Peninsula Assemblyman Jerry Hill...has advanced AB 1861, which would prohibit the utility from charging bonuses to ratepayers and allow bonuses to be taken back from bosses of utilities later fined by regulators.

The flaws in PG&E's high-pressure gas lines that led to the catastrophic explosion in San Bruno in 2010 may lurk elsewhere, and regulators should therefore launch a comprehensive review of the company's pipeline maintenance, consumer advocates argued in regulatory filings Tuesday.

The state Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved a pair of fines Thursday totaling nearly $20 million against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for failing to check for gas-line leaks in seven East Bay communities and for missing a deadline to turn over pipeline safety records.

Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of California, AARP California and the California Broadband Policy Network are among the bill's foes.

A state Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge has rejected Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s appeal of a $16.8 million fine for failing to check gas pipes for leaks in seven Contra Costa County communities, saying the danger the company created justified the penalty.

More than a year after the San Bruno tragedy, PG&E still doesn't have its house in order, the consultants said: "PG&E's current integrity management program itself presents a safety risk to PG&E's field and station employees and the public."

State regulators and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. have revived a $3 million settlement over the utility's failure to produce gas-pipeline safety records after the San Bruno disaster - a fine that critics of the company denounced as too lenient.

Natural-gas users shouldn't be stuck with higher rates to fund Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s $2.2 billion plan to upgrade pipelines in the aftermath of the deadly explosion in San Bruno, the state agency that advocates for utility customers said Wednesday.

Peevey's lax leadership and his cozy relationship with PG&E are thoroughly documented. He should have resigned as president this past summer after the National Transportation Safety Board exposed the extent of his incompetence.

...Senate Bill 981 would prevent commissioners and high-ranking commission employees from taking a job with a regulated utility for two years after leaving the agency.

A state lawmaker who represents the San Bruno neighborhood devastated by a natural-gas explosion in 2010 introduced a package of bills Monday designed to prevent a repeat of the disaster, including one that would tie Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s rates to its safety performance.

...the California Public Utilities Commission, must hold PG&E accountable for its failures. An obvious and minimum step would be making the utility pay its fair share to make the gas pipelines under our homes and streets safe.

Pacific Gas & Electric said Tuesday that it is legally responsible for the explosion of a gas pipe in San Bruno last year that killed eight people and has been the source of more than 100 lawsuits from victims.

State Sen. Leland Yee...said...that his first action when the Legislature reconvenes...will be to introduce a bill to repeal a law barring the public release of most records at the commission without a vote of its five appointed members.

Californians concerned about dangerous pipelines running underneath their neighborhoods are barred from obtaining government records about them by a 60-year-old state law backed by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and other utilities, a Chronicle investigation shows.

Documents made public Monday show that PG&E moved salvaged pipe in and around the South Bay and Peninsula over the years, but the company insisted that it didn't reuse "scrap" or "junk," as claimed by state regulators.

A major Pacific Gas and Electric Co. gas transmission line serving the Bay Area ruptured during a pressure test Monday south of Bakersfield, just as the company was planning to boost gas levels on the pipeline to meet winter demand.

Much of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s natural-gas transmission system could be at risk of catastrophic failure, but the company's record-keeping system is so flawed that the true danger is impossible to determine, federal investigators said Monday in their final report on last year's San Bruno disaster.

The type of plastic pipe that caused a natural gas explosion and fire in a Cupertino condominium last month has long been considered a potential threat to the public, but federal pipeline regulators have allowed companies to keep it in the ground and secretly gather limited information about its failings, a Chronicle investigation shows.

Federal investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the horrific gas pipeline explosion that killed 8 people in the Bay Area city of San Bruno was the result of a "litany of failures" by Pacific Gas and Electric.

We'll never know whether the deadly explosion in San Bruno could have been prevented. But if anyone had been looking, there were indications of gas-line problems in the years leading up to the blast that killed eight and leveled 38 homes.

State regulators said Monday that they are investigating allegations that PG&E ignored warnings it had failed to fix serious gas leaks, schemed to bill its customers nearly $2 million in unwarranted costs, let its CEO fly alone on a 25-seat private jet at a cost of $60,000 and engaged in other misconduct -- all charges the agency first heard about from this newspaper.

Pacific Gas and Electric said Monday that it was concerned about meeting its own year-end timetable of completing hydro testing on 152 miles of pipelines similar to one that exploded in San Bruno last year.

A former Pacific Gas and Electric Co. record-keeping manager told federal investigators that a top PG&E official recently acknowledged to him that the utility had likely tossed some of its missing pipeline records, according to a transcript of his interview released Thursday.

An internal PG&E investigation has determined that as many as 14 people it relied on to inspect underground electrical facilities may have falsified the checks they were supposed to do in Santa Clara County, San Francisco and the East Bay...

A $26 million fine can get the attention of even a large corporation, sending a clear message that cutting corners on safety won't be tolerated.

Raising new questions about PG&E's oversight of its natural gas lines, internal company memos released Monday show the utility was alerted nearly 20 years ago that its pipeline record-keeping system was disorganized and out of date.

A joint federal and state investigation of the San Bruno natural gas explosion increases PG&E's chances of being heavily fined for the accident, and the utility could get stuck with nearly $2.4 billion in costs it won't be able to pass on to its customers, a research firm concluded this week.

The vote Thursday by the PUC, now made up mostly of appointees of Gov. Jerry Brown, is the first major test of the panel's willingness to take a more active role on behalf of consumers in the industries it regulates.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. admitted only recently to federal investigators that the San Bruno gas pipeline that ruptured disastrously last year at a flawed seam weld suffered a leak at a similar weld 22 years earlier, the head of the agency leading the probe said Wednesday.

Scientists themselves aren't sure of the risk. So they're doing what the best of them do under the circumstances: calling attention to what they do know, and telling cellphone users to use their own judgment from the available science...

The phone company had been notified a few days after Betty Howard's death, but the bills kept coming. The one in March — three months after she passed away — said she owed more than $110.

PG&E in the past 23 years failed to spend $93.5 million it was allocated for gas line improvements, instead using the money for other purposes, according to data released Monday by U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier.

SB932, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco...would require in-store displays and manufacturers' websites to advise customers that the units emit radiation, and to consult their user manuals for tips on how to reduce exposure.

Pacific Gas & Electric said Monday it will replace 1,600 SmartMeters due to a "rare defect" that causes the wireless meters to run fast and inflate customers' electric bills.

As controversy rages over a proposed $3 million fine for failing to give state regulators pipeline-safety documents on time, PG&E on Monday will face its first key deadline in a potentially far more punitive state inquiry -- examining whether its record-keeping practices contributed to the San Bruno natural gas disaster and other pipeline hazards.

A proposed deal to fine PG&E $3 million for failing to meet a state deadline for turning over pipeline safety records went for the first time to the full California Public Utilities Commission on Monday, triggering probing questions about the adequacy of the fine and the company's plan to make sure its natural-gas lines are at safe pressure levels.

The head of the U.S. pipeline safety agency on Monday questioned why Pacific Gas and Electric Co. had been intentionally raising pressure on its natural gas lines - twice on the San Bruno line that later exploded - and said her agency is reviewing a call for stronger controls on the practice.

All eyes might be on AT&T's pending acquisition of T-Mobile, but AT&T Internet customers shouldn't overlook some significant changes the company has just made to their service contract. Perhaps the most noteworthy addition is a new provision that allows AT&T to limit the online activities of heavy users.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris' office urged state regulators Monday to toughen a $3 million settlement they reached with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. over its failure to vouch for the strength of gas transmission pipelines that run through populated areas.

PG&E can't hope to regain anyone's trust -- not the public's, not regulators' and not shareholders' (if they're even paying attention) -- without a clean sweep of leadership. It has to start at the top, with CEO Peter A. Darbee.

Eight people are dead. All of PG&E's customers are still living in fear of their own transmission pipes. And there's still no paperwork? We urge the commission to move forward with this recommendation. Perhaps it will encourage PG&E to get organized.

In short, we can understand why AT&T and Deutsche Telekom are celebrating. The companies are anticipating an easy regulatory filing and a clear path to high prices ahead.

PG&E says the safety of its customers and communities is its highest priority. But public trust is earned through actions, not words.

...now AT&T is planning to merge with T-Mobile, the latest in a string of acquisitions that effectively restores Ma Bell to her former girth yet allows the company to operate in a looser regulatory environment.

Bowing to public pressure and common sense, California's top utility regulator finally told Pacific Gas & Electric Co. that it must offer customers an opportunity to opt out of receiving the company's wireless SmartMeters.

California regulators are threatening to levy fines against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and impose other sanctions if the utility misses next week's deadline to produce records proving its gas-transmission lines are safe, officials said Tuesday.

In the midst of a major safety upgrade in San Bruno in 1993 and 1994, PG&E decided not to dig up the section of natural gas transmission line that ruptured last September because the company insisted its welds did not pose a risk to the public.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has struggled for nearly two decades with a computer system intended to keep track of the characteristics of its natural gas transmission lines, a battle that resulted in the company lacking information crucial to understanding its pipes' potential weaknesses, a Chronicle investigation has found.

Five months after a pipeline explosion in San Bruno killed eight people and leveled dozens of homes, California legislators have turned their attention to PG&E's response to the disaster.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s president told a Bay Area congresswoman that the utility cannot find records that support pressure levels on nearly a third of its natural-gas transmission system in populated areas, the congresswoman said Thursday.

In a move that signals a more pro-consumer approach to the state's energy issues, Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday announced key appointments to both the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission.

California's gas and electric systems need an overhaul, fair prices and vigilant safety checks. But the state's utility commission isn't delivering the level of oversight that the public deserves.

The other big question that Northern Californians want to know is: Where are those other 10 pipes? Incredibly, PG&E now says it is "still researching" which lines were spiked and when.

Such findings are bad enough. But add to it the way PG&E handled the issue. It first said the spikes were required by federal rules, but then backtracked when there was no evidence for such a claim.

On Monday, the National Transportation Safety Board called on PG&E to do an "intensive record search," including pipeline testing if necessary, to make sure that the utility knows what kinds of pipes it has buried in the ground.

PG&E records showed the section of pipeline that ruptured was constructed of seamless steel. But the National Transportation Safety Board found something alarmingly different: Several sections of welded pipe had seams.

The truth factor has dropped to a new low for both the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and its overseer, the California Public Utilities Commission, with the latest disclosures in the devastating San Bruno pipeline blast.

Federal investigators searching for the cause of last fall's deadly natural gas explosion in San Bruno have found discrepancies in some of the records that describe how the transmission line was built.

The reputation of the California Public Utilities Commission badly needs repair. Many residents worry it's too lax when it comes to safety, energy company policies and consumer issues.

Northern borders of the plume have crept about 1,800 feet beyond a containment boundary set by PG&E in 2008, and tests have shown elevated levels of hexavalent chromium in domestic and agricultural water supplies.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted on November 19th to do what advocates for the poor had successfully blocked them from doing for over a year - mess with Universal Lifeline Telephone Service.

Most at risk: fees collected and spent in a way that does not directly benefit only those who pay. In the case of public power utilities...discounts granted to low-income customers at the expense of other payers could be at risk...

A plume of chromium-tainted groundwater is once again bearing down on residents of Hinkley, Calif., where more than a decade ago an underdog battle with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. spawned a multimillion-dollar settlement and the Oscar-winning film "Erin Brockovich."

It's too easy for people to get stuck with unauthorized charges, so the state PUC has ordered companies like AT&T and Verizon to ensure that third-party billings are legit. That's fine, but other safeguards are necessary.

If such a program is adopted, proponents say, the benefits could be enormous for California as well as for individual producers, who could profit from the sale of the energy and pay off the cost of the installations sooner.

...critics contend the agency has a history of cozy dealings with utilities that raises serious questions about how well it was paying attention to the potential hazards lurking within PG&E gas lines. And recent reports have faulted the PUC for its handling of thousands of consumer complaints against the companies it monitors.

Public interest and consumer groups didn't feel like they had much of a say in the commission's discussions, and they surely won't feel like they had much of a say in whatever proposal Google and Verizon bring to the table. This is a huge problem - the future of the Internet belongs to the public, not just a few companies.

A state Senate panel says the agency has largely turned its back on the telecom market since 2006. AT&T and Verizon control about 85% of the market, with prices for some services up as much as 600%.

...consumers should know...that those emissions from various cell-phone models can range from 0.2 watts to the limit of 1.6 watts per kilogram. Consumers also should know that the FCC recommends that cell-phone users limit their exposure to these emissions by using hands-free devices.

...California voters rejected Proposition 16, a statewide ballot initiative that PG&E spent $46 million to promote. Outraged at that use of ratepayer revenues, state Sen. Mark Leno...announced legislation that would prohibit PG&E from using ratepayer funds for future political campaigns.

So what exactly makes a smart meter smart? Why are utilities across the country and around the world racing to install them? And what benefits are there for consumers?

California utility regulators Monday warned Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to stop using telephone and direct-mail tactics that could derail competition from the state's first nonprofit group to offer electric service.

SB1212, which is awaiting a full Senate vote, would require the listing of radiation levels at stores and on Web sites where phones are sold. Senators should help assure that consumers have this information when they compare phones.

"...PG&E's basic message has been 'We are 100 percent right, and our customers are 100 percent wrong,'" said Mark Toney...of...TURN. "Today they acknowledged some widespread technology problems, which is what they should have done in the first place."

News last week that some of PG&E's SmartMeters do have a flaw - some of the wireless units fail to transmit use data, so the utility uses estimates to prepare the electric bill - continues to cast doubts on how PG&E is handling the rollout of the new Smart Grid technology.

Net neutrality...is the principle that any Internet service provider, such as your cable or phone company, should be largely blind to whatever data flow to your computer from the websites you access -- your service provider shouldn't interfere with your Web searches, say, by giving Google preferential routing (and thus faster speed to you) over Yahoo.

California energy regulators delivered a rare rebuke to Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Thursday, banning some of the hardball tactics the utility has used in its efforts to derail Marin County's new public power agency.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has proposed a major change in the way its electricity rates work, potentially helping homeowners in California's sweltering Central Valley while raising bills in the Bay Area.