California Public Utilities Commission

One of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s final political fights in California is a revival of an old one. As wildfire costs threaten utilities’ financial models, the governor wants to help them pay less for fires.

A program that promised schools upgraded AC systems was cut short in 2024, leaving hundreds of districts with broken systems and no money to fix them.

California bars utilities from cutting off power to customers who fall behind on their bills when it’s dangerously hot outside – a basic safety protection. Losing power in some rural areas can also mean losing water, and in cities, having no way to cool down can be dangerous, even deadly, when hot weather spans several […]

Wildfire spending is the largest driver of rate increases, adding hundreds of dollars to power bills. The state has let utilities work around cost limits.

Rooftop solar gets wrongly scapegoated for driving up utility bills. The dominant drivers are wildfire capital and guaranteed profits for the state's private utility companies.

State public purpose programs add hundreds of dollars to each electric bill annually. Rooftop solar subsidies account for about half that.

California schools faced repeated planned power outages in 2024-2025 as Edison cut electricity to prevent wildfires, forcing closures and costly backup power solutions.

Utilities customers help pay for biomass because electric utilities buy its products to produce electricity, paying four times more. Is it worth it?

PG&E and Southern California Edison routinely blow their deadlines to hook up new solar panels, an advocacy group says. But after years of complaints they have not been punished.

Californians' power costs are among the nation's highest and could keep climbing. There’s precious little Newsom and legislators can do about it since they face chronic budget deficits.