Letters to the Editor: Public utilities are the way to protect consumers and our planet

To the editor: In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom passed AB 1054 to bail out Pacific Gas & Electric from paying damages for the Camp fire (“Wildfire victims decry state law protecting utilities from cost of disasters they cause,” Jan. 16). In 2025, Newsom snuck language into SB 254 to bail out Southern California Edison for the Eaton fire. Now, working Californians are paying billions of dollars to cover the cost of fires that these private “public” utilities caused or might have caused.

The executives of SoCal Edison and PG&E care only about maximizing profits at every turn. We will not survive climate disasters if this system continues. That utilities are commodities sold on the private market and not a human right is exactly why we are in this situation in the first place.

Politicians like Newsom advocate for private markets that rely on “competition” to keep costs low. But when these billion-dollar industries fail through their own risky, exploitative practices, they receive a bailout.

If Newsom actually believes in free market competition as a gold standard for lowering costs, then why is he bailing out PG&E and SoCal Edison? A company that needs constant stabilization and mandated influxes of cash from consumers is not really competing freely at all.

As climate change progresses, disasters become more likely for all of us. We need utilities; we don’t need utility companies. If Californians want to survive a warming climate, we must establish public utilities so that everyone can have their needs met, and we can protect ourselves and our planet from future disasters.

Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas, Alhambra