PUC Says Group May Keep Inserts in SDG&E; Bills

The state Public Utilities Commission ruled Wednesday that a San Diego-based utility-watchdog group can continue to insert its literature in San Diego Gas & Electric’s billing envelopes.

The PUC decision affecting the Utility Consumer Action Network was stayed, however, pending a U.S. Supreme Court decision on a similar issue involving a consumer group and a utility in Northern California. That decision is expected later this year.

Delaying implementation of the ruling “isn’t ideal,” but the PUC’s 4-1 decision in favor of UCAN “is a good sign in the long term (because) the PUC is standing by its original decision to let consumer groups use this process,” said Gary DeLoss, UCAN executive director.

UCAN has been sharing SDG&E;’s billing envelopes on a quarterly basis since April, 1983, garnering more than 67,000 dues-paying members in the two years that it was allowed access.

The group’s request for a five-year extension was opposed by the utility, which protested that UCAN’s use infringed on the company’s First Amendment rights and that the group had misrepresented its own accomplishments and SDG&E;’s performance.

The decision to delay implementation proves that the PUC has “some concern that there may be some First Amendment violations,” maintained Walter Scott, SDG&E;’s consumer affairs administrator. “It’s still a wait-and-see game for us.”

UCAN won’t be able to insert its literature until the Supreme Court rules on a separate PUC decision allowing another consumer group, Toward Utility Rate Normalization, to insert information into the billing envelopes of Pacific Gas & Electric, which serves most of Northern and Central California.