California Lawmakers Reach Last-Minute Deals on Climate, Energy

Source: KQED  |  By Guy Marzorati, Julie Small, and Laura Klivans

Senate Bill 254, authored by state Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, and Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine, tackles several angles of climate and energy.  Among them is a proposal to have the state fund some power-grid investments with revenue bonds.  The state’s three large investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, typically pay for grid improvements with capital expenditures, which allow them to earn a guaranteed profit for shareholders. Proponents of the bills say financing these improvements publicly, through bonds, would bring down costs to ratepayers.

Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, said the bill could save Californians billions of dollars over the next decade and was “a small step in the right direction for ratepayer affordability.”