SF’s Data Center Debate Heats Up As One Site Looms Large on the County Line
Source: The Frisc |By Adam Brinklow
Last month Sup. Connie Chan, who’s running for Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat, released a campaign ad excoriating San Francisco’s AI boom. “AI data centers are driving up our utility costs, displacing our community, and jeopardizing our environment,” she said, standing in front of a public library. Chan’s not the only one raging against the machines. If elected, she’ll support a moratorium on new AI data centers penned by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
There is room for nuance, however, as the Oakland-based environmental group The Utility Reform Network acknowledges. TURN is backing several state bills to regulate data center expansion, including extra company taxes to help reinforce the public electric grid. TURN spokesperson Lee Trotman says sites already in SF aren’t on their radar: “We don’t have much to say about them other than they use less energy and water than AI data centers.
Source: The Frisc | By Adam Brinklow
There is room for nuance, however, as the Oakland-based environmental group The Utility Reform Network acknowledges. TURN is backing several state bills to regulate data center expansion, including extra company taxes to help reinforce the public electric grid. TURN spokesperson Lee Trotman says sites already in SF aren’t on their radar: “We don’t have much to say about them other than they use less energy and water than AI data centers.”
Last month Sup. Connie Chan, who’s running for Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat, released a campaign ad excoriating San Francisco’s AI boom. “AI data centers are driving up our utility costs, displacing our community, and jeopardizing our environment,” she said, standing in front of a public library. Chan’s not the only one raging against the machines. If elected, she’ll support a moratorium on new AI data centers penned by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Source: SF Gate | By Anabel Sosa
Mark Toney, the executive director of the Utility Reform Network, a nonprofit legal advocacy network, told SFGATE in an email that there are still questions about the specifics of Becerra’s plan but that it is “encouraging” to see the candidate’s commitment to bringing down the price of electricity. “While we are unsure how much ratepayers might benefit from two free hours of electricity, we are eager to learn more about the proposal,” Toney said.
During midday in California, the state’s solar grid produces so much energy that, sometimes, it can’t even use it all. It’s a good problem to have, and one that the leading Democratic candidate governor thinks could be a boon to low-income households. At a recent summit hosted by Politico, Xavier Becerra said he wants to offer free electricity from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. for those who qualify, possibly saving them upward of $1,000 annually.
Source: Communications Daily | By Philip Athey
Alexandra Green, a telecom and regulatory attorney for The Utility Reform Network, told us her organization also favored the Ormond proposal and was disappointed that the CPUC didn't require enough consumer protections in the merger agreement.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) unanimously approved the $34.5 billion Charter/Cox merger with some conditions in a Thursday vote, clearing the way for the resulting company to become the largest ISP and cable provider in the nation. The merger was previously approved by the FCC and DOJ, as well as regulators in New York and Connecticut. California was the final regulatory hurdle.
Source: The Plumas Sun |
If the FCC grants AT&T’s petition, the company could move forward with abandoning universal service obligations that millions of Californians rely on, particularly those living in rural communities. RCRC joined a coalition of organizations, such as The Utility Reform Network, California Alliance for Digital Equity, California State Association of Counties and the Communications Workers of America, in submitting comments to the FCC on July 7 and July 22.
The Rural County Representatives of California reports that, in coordination with a broad coalition of consumer, local government, labor, agricultural and public interest organizations, it has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission opposing a threat to universal telephone service protections.
Source: Canary Media | By Jeff St. John
SB 905 represents an important, if somewhat incremental, next step on those efforts, said Matthew Freedman, senior staff attorney at The Utility Reform Network (TURN), one of the state’s most vocal utility ratepayer advocacy groups and a sponsor of the bill. Among the bill’s provisions, a “lower return on equity is a pretty big one,” he said. Utilities earn guaranteed rates of profit on capital investments, which puts upward pressure on customer rates. Anything that can reduce that rate of “return on equity,” or ROE, could help limit those increases, he said. A number of states are targeting utilities’ ROE to combat rising rates — and utilities are, not surprisingly, fighting back against the idea.
California lawmakers are once again contending with how to curb the state’s high energy costs as they hurtle toward the end of this year’s legislative session on Aug. 31. So what’s on the table for utility rate reform in the final stretch? Enter Senate Bill 905, a complicated package of proposals that are likely to face intense opposition from utilities, which tend to reflexively resist rules that could crimp their profits.
Source: Yahoo!Finance | By Kim LaCapria
Mark Toney, executive director of nonprofit consumer advocacy group The Utility Reform Network, described electricity bills as having "high volatility," according to the newspaper.
Forecasters expected the Central Valley to get close to 110 degrees and parts of the Bay Area to climb into the low 100s. In a state that already has some of the highest electricity prices in the country, that kind of heat can make air conditioning a major financial burden for families trying to stay safe.
Source: Broadband Breakfast | By Jake Neenan
The Utility Reform Network, a California advocacy group that did not settle and has opposed the deal, wanted the CPUC to go even further. The group generally supported the agency adopting Ormond’s proposal over Baker’s, as did another set of in-state advocacy groups like Digital Equity Los Angeles. TURN attorney Alexandra Green wrote that the number appeared to come from a filing in which Charter said there were 6,000 un- or underserved locations in its footprint, but that the number should be increased to account for the addition of Cox locations.
Charter and Cox Communications want California regulators to approve their $34.5 billion merger with fewer strings attached than consumer advocates. The California Public Utilities Commission is set to vote on approving the deal at its Aug. 13 meeting. Unusually for recent telecom mergers, the agency will have two proposed decisions to choose from.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle | By Jessica Roy
California has the second-highest electricity costs of any state in the U.S. Mark Toney, the executive director of nonprofit consumer advocacy group The Utility Reform Network, said high rates and fluctuating weather patterns can make monthly bills unpredictable. Electricity bills “have high volatility,” he said. “They can go up very quickly, before you know it, based on the weather that you really have very little control over.”
If you or another full-time resident in your home relies on energy for a medical need — for instance, if you use a respirator, oxygen generator, powered wheelchair, dialysis machine or apnea monitor, or if you need a refrigerator to keep medicine such as insulin cold, or depend on heating or cooling for conditions like multiple sclerosis or scleroderma — you are eligible to receive an extra monthly allotment of energy at the lower baseline price. Eligibility is based on medical need, not income.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle | By Mark Toney, Executive Director of TURN (contributor)
PG&E is seeking to charge California ratepayers billions for outstanding costs, which will soon show up on our electricity bills. The utility has also requested and is expected to collect on several additional pending proposals to raise rates over the coming years and has $1.05 billion sitting in memorandum accounts that will be billed to ratepayers. This includes billions of dollars for wildfire mitigation, grid upgrades and other investments — as well as the hefty profit margins the utility is allowed to collect.
PG&E claims its rates are stabilizing. The numbers say otherwise. According to an independent assessment by the California Public Utilities Commission’s Public Advocates Office, the state’s advocate for ratepayers, the average PG&E customer could pay $840 more annually by 2030, on top of the 69% rate increase during the past decade.
Source: Benton Institute for Broadband and Society | By Kevin Taglang
During the 2026 proceeding, AARP and TURN argued that the telephone remains a preferred channel for older adults, lower-income households, and consumers with limited digital literacy—and, as TURN noted, for people who do not yet have broadband and are calling to find out what it costs. TURN cited 2023 American Community Survey data showing that "80 percent of adults with vision difficulty own a smartphone, against 62.7 percent with home broadband service."
If you shop for home internet service in the coming months, something on the screen may look different. For the past two years, providers have had to show you a standardized "broadband label"—a black-and-white box modeled on the nutrition panel on a cereal box, listing the monthly price, what happens when the introductory rate expires, the typical speeds, the latency, the data allowance, and each fee added on top. The label had to sit right next to the advertised plan.