California Utility Bills to Skyrocket 40% Plus

LOS ANGELES-Casting aside pleas from consumer groups and businesses, a defiant California Public Utilities Commission today approved a dramatic increase of up to 46% in the electricity bills paid by 26 million Californians. Under the plan, some manufacturers and commercial real estate owners could see their bills double or even triple.

Most consumer and business groups condemn the plan, saying it will create hardship on residents and force more businesses to leave the state. But officials from California’s two largest utilities–Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric–complain that even a 40% rate-hike isn’t enough to ensure that they won’t eventually have to file for bankruptcy.

Loretta Lynch, president of California’s rate-setting PUC, admits that the big increase will cost customers of SoCal Edison and PG&E about $4.8 billion a year. But the dramatic increase is needed, Lynch says, to help the utilities stave-off bankruptcy and force residential and commercial users alike to conserve more power.