Sen. Peace Plans Legislation to Pull the Plug on the PUC

Enough of the Public Utilities Commission, already.

As far as state Sen. Steve Peace (D-Bonita) is concerned, the PUC has outlived its usefulness and is “way beyond reclamation.”

Peace’s solution? He said Thursday that he plans in January to propose an amendment to the state constitution that would abolish the 83-year-old agency, responsible for regulating the state’s utilities.

The idea, he said, is to initiate discussion about what sort of oversight should replace the current system, given the vast shifts in telecommunications and energy. “The best way . . . is to build the mousetrap from scratch,” he said. Any ideas for what a new system might be? “Yes,” Peace added, “but I try to suppress them. I don’t want to bias the discussion.”