"The California Public Utilities Commission is expected to allow Southern California Edison to hike customer bills by nearly 10% next month, and there may be more increases to come. Edison's plan would boost the average residential bill by $17 a month or about $200 a year, the commission said. The monthly bill for a customer using 500 kilowatts would jump from $171 to $188 on Oct. 1. The five commissioners are scheduled to vote Thursday on the PUC administrative law judge's proposal. It's just one of multiple rate hikes Edison has asked the commission to approve in the coming year."
"Scores of angry customers have written to the commission since Edison proposed the hike, asking the panel to deny it. Some customers have pointed out that even as Edison has charged more for tree trimming and equipment upgrades meant to make its system safer and more reliable, its electric lines continue to spark fires. The company now faces dozens of lawsuits from victims of the Jan. 7 Eaton fire, which killed at least 19 people and destroyed thousands of homes in Altadena. Video captured the fire igniting under an Edison transmission tower. The investigation into the fire's cause is continuing."
""Please, do not let SCE pass their damages on to their customers," Sara Green, a Crestline resident, wrote to the commission. "Let them cut executive salaries and forgo dividends, rather than pass this on unilaterally to every customer." Other customers have complained about increasing outages, including the preventative blackouts the company uses to try to stop its equipment from sparking fires in hot, windy weather. William Pilling, a resident of Rovana, a small unincorporated community near Bishop, told the commission last month that he and his neighbors were experiencing "highly frequent service interruptions." "This is the very definition of unreliable service," Pilling wrote. "We are now being asked to pay more per unit for a lower quality good"
California regulators are expected to approve a nearly 10% rate increase for Southern California Edison customers next month, raising average residential bills by about $17 per month or $200 per year. A typical 500-kilowatt customer's monthly bill would rise from $171 to $188 on Oct. 1. The five commissioners will vote on the administrative law judge's proposal while Edison seeks multiple rate hikes over the coming year. Many customers have protested, citing continued equipment sparks, wildfire-related lawsuits from the Jan. 7 Eaton fire, frequent outages, and preventative blackouts.
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