Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

SDG&E attempts brazen caper #2

Utility wants to make consumers to pay for fire

San Diego Gas & Electric late today (September 25) asked the California Public Utilities Commission to get consumers to pay the uninsured costs of the 2007 wildfires. After a thorough investigation, a unit of the commission had blamed the local utility for those fires.

In December of 2012, just before Christmas, the commission tried a caper that I identified at the time as one of the most brazen scams I had seen in 50 years of covering corporate fraud.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The commission was to vote on two matters, neither of which had to do with coverage of the 2007 fires. But Timothy Simon, the commissioner in charge of the matter, pulled a fast one. At the last minute, he changed the wording of the proposal so that the commissioners would vote on whether the ratepayers would pick up the part of the tab for uninsured costs of the 2007 fires. That was originally not in the proposal and was not supposed to be on the table.

Two intervenors, the Mussey Grade Alliance and San Diego attorney Mike Aguirre, caught Simon's attempted trickery and complained loudly. The Reader did an item on the scam attempt before the vote. The commission had no choice but to vote down the attempt to get ratepayers to pay uninsured costs of the 2007 fires.

About two years ago, I was talking with a former administrative law judge at the commission. The former judge told me: "They will try to sneak it back in. That's how they operate." After all, the commission cares about utility profits and not a whit about consumers.

So, today, SDG&E tried again. Late this afternoon, it filed with the commission for approval to shift to ratepayers the remaining costs related to the 2007 fires. Ratepayers would have to shovel out $379 million over six years and shareholders would only pick up 10 percent of the tab, or merely $42 million. Those fires were the fault of SDG&E management. Shareholders should pick up the entire tab for management blunders.

Aguirre says SDG&E is asking ratepayers to pick up the tab for something that has already been denied them. He likens it to the Southern California Edison scam in which that utility is trying to get ratepayers to pick up the tab for management blunders that led to the closure of the San Onofre nuclear power plant. Aguirre also notes that SDG&E made the filing late on a Friday. When companies want little or no news coverage, they put out an announcement late Friday.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Downtown thrift shop offers three bands in one show

Come nightfall, Humble Heart hosts The Beat

San Diego Gas & Electric late today (September 25) asked the California Public Utilities Commission to get consumers to pay the uninsured costs of the 2007 wildfires. After a thorough investigation, a unit of the commission had blamed the local utility for those fires.

In December of 2012, just before Christmas, the commission tried a caper that I identified at the time as one of the most brazen scams I had seen in 50 years of covering corporate fraud.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The commission was to vote on two matters, neither of which had to do with coverage of the 2007 fires. But Timothy Simon, the commissioner in charge of the matter, pulled a fast one. At the last minute, he changed the wording of the proposal so that the commissioners would vote on whether the ratepayers would pick up the part of the tab for uninsured costs of the 2007 fires. That was originally not in the proposal and was not supposed to be on the table.

Two intervenors, the Mussey Grade Alliance and San Diego attorney Mike Aguirre, caught Simon's attempted trickery and complained loudly. The Reader did an item on the scam attempt before the vote. The commission had no choice but to vote down the attempt to get ratepayers to pay uninsured costs of the 2007 fires.

About two years ago, I was talking with a former administrative law judge at the commission. The former judge told me: "They will try to sneak it back in. That's how they operate." After all, the commission cares about utility profits and not a whit about consumers.

So, today, SDG&E tried again. Late this afternoon, it filed with the commission for approval to shift to ratepayers the remaining costs related to the 2007 fires. Ratepayers would have to shovel out $379 million over six years and shareholders would only pick up 10 percent of the tab, or merely $42 million. Those fires were the fault of SDG&E management. Shareholders should pick up the entire tab for management blunders.

Aguirre says SDG&E is asking ratepayers to pick up the tab for something that has already been denied them. He likens it to the Southern California Edison scam in which that utility is trying to get ratepayers to pick up the tab for management blunders that led to the closure of the San Onofre nuclear power plant. Aguirre also notes that SDG&E made the filing late on a Friday. When companies want little or no news coverage, they put out an announcement late Friday.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Second largest yellowfin tuna caught by rod and reel

Excel does it again
Next Article

Raging Cider & Mead celebrates nine years

Company wants to bring America back to its apple-tree roots
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader