State PUC to Vote on Power Rate Authority

The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to decide Thursday whether to give up some of its authority over electricity rates to help the state buy power for the customers of Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric.

The five-member commission will vote on a proposal that would guarantee the utilities’ customers would pay enough so that the state Department of Water Resources can buy electricity, even if that means rubber-stamping future rate increases demanded by DWR.

The PUC also is set to vote on a proposal that would eliminate the ability of businesses and individuals to shop for a better deal for electricity than the prices offered by the local utility. State officials want to kill “direct access”--a cornerstone of the state’s deregulation efforts--because they fear a future loss of utility customers when market rates eventually jeopardize the repayment of bonds the state will sell to fund its electricity purchases.