Silicon Valley Senator Proposes Crackdown On Investor-Owned Utilities

CUPERTINO, CA — A Silicon Valley senator has unveiled a new California bill that would crack down on utility companies by capping rates, prohibiting shutoffs in vulnerable communities and auditing equipment in wildfire-prone areas.

Sen. Aisha Wahab's SB 332 takes aim at "investor-owned" utilities and would address issues of affordability and safety.

An investor-owned utility or IOU is defined as a business organization that provides a product or service regarded as a utility but it is managed as private enterprise rather than a function of government or a utility cooperative, according to the U.S. Solar Institute. In California, PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric are examples of IOUs.

Advocates of the bill, including the Center for Biological Diversity, argue that utility companies pull in billions of dollars for their shareholders while many Californians struggle to pay their bills.

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"California can lead the nation with Sen. Wahab’s bill and stop utilities from forcing families to choose between keeping the lights on and having enough to eat," said Selah Goodson Bell, energy justice campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity." The state’s top corporate utilities can avoid shutting off their customers’ power with just a tiny fraction of the nearly $2.4 billion they sent to shareholders last year."

The bill's first order of business would be to cap rate increases for residential customers to no more than the Consumer Price Index, according to Wahab's office.

“People care about affordability and safety. What we do matters to protect and support 40 million Californians. This bill gives power back to the people on rates, safety, and holds investor-owned utilities accountable,” Wahab said.

Here's what else Wahab is proposing under her new bill:

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The bill must pass the senate policy committees and then go to the Senate Floor by June 6 before moving to the Assembly for a decision.

“We can build a better energy system,” said Emi Yoko-Young of Reclaim Our Power, another sponsor of the proposed law. "This bill addresses the immediate needs of our communities and utility workers who are most impacted by the harms of the investor-owned utilities, and is an important step in creating a more equitable and sustainable energy system that would put people and the planet over profits."