Source: Mercury News | By George Avalos

Mark Toney is on a mission to keep electric and gas bills down. That decades-long goal has made the consumer advocate one of PG&E’s toughest critics and that of its utility siblings.  Since 2008, Toney has served as executive director of TURN,The Utility Reform Network. The post has put Toney in a unique position to challenge California’s biggest electric, gas and telephone companies.

 Overall, customers are worse off since the bankruptcy. There are upsides and downsides. One upside was AB 1054, which ensured that ratepayers could not be charged for damage from the 2017 and 2018 wildfires. (PG&E caused fatal wildfires in 2017 that destroyed large sections of the California Wine Country and also caused a deadly fire in 2018 known as the Camp Fire in Butte County that destroyed the town of Paradise.)

Source: Spectrum News | By Jamie Kennedy

The power needed for the center, sizeable to say the least, said assistant attorney at The Utility Reform Network, a utility watchdog organization, Elise Torres. “At 250 megawatts, it’s approximately the entire load of Marin County,” Torres said. “So that gives you a sense of the scale of just this one facility.”

The potential impact on electricity rates and who should pay for major grid upgrades are at the center of a California Public Utilities Commission review of an agreement between utility company PG&E and Google to connect a massive 250-megawatt data center in San Jose. 

Source: The Cool Down | By Leslie Satler

To consumer advocates, the change appears tied to mounting frustration over utility prices. Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, said, "I'd say we saw today a lot of evidence that Gov. Newsom has really prioritized affordability and accountability to an increased extent.”  

California's soaring electricity bills have made affordability a driving force in energy policy.  Gov. Gavin Newsom's latest move is a package of electricity-affordability bills built around home batteries and other smart devices that could help lower and reduce the need for gas-fired backup plants.

Source: Capitol Weekly | By Opinion by Mark Toney, Executive Director of TURN

SB 905 would help ensure utilities don’t get overpaid for work that already benefits the company by requiring the California Public Utilities Commission to examine whether the profit margins utilities earn on wildfire-related spending — like undergrounding power lines — are justified. This work already protects utilities from costly wildfire lawsuits, and that protection shouldn’t come with an extra reward: outsized profit margins billed to customers who are struggling to keep the lights on.

Electricity bills have skyrocketed over the past few years for residential and business customers of Pacific Gas & Electric, SoCal Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric — in large part because of the $40 billion customers have paid to cover California’s wildfire costs.  

Source: Canary Media | By Jeff St. John

Google and PG&E have been tussling with the Sierra Club, The Utility Reform Network, and others over how to allocate the cost of connecting that 250-MW ​“large load” to the utility transmission grid. The big issue? How much of that cost should be borne by PG&E customers at large versus by Google itself.

California has yet to take full advantage of rooftop solar, backup batteries, and other home devices to create virtual power plants (VPPs) that can help its stressed-out grid — even though it has more of those distributed energy resources than any other state.  Earlier this month, utility Pacific Gas & Electric launched its latest effort to improve on that poor record via an ambitious partnership with friendly neighborhood tech giant Google and pro-electrification nonprofit Rewiring America.

Source: Canary Media California Wire | By Jeff St. John

In addition, SB 905 would encourage utilities to measure how efficiently they’re using their existing grids — a precursor to setting up regulations that could steer them toward prioritizing lower-cost solutions over expensive grid upgrades. These aren’t the only affordability proposals on the table. The Utility Reform Network has a list of bills awaiting Newsom’s signature that offer even wonkier ways to ride herd on utility costs.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom — who everyone knows is eyeing a run for the White House — has one last chance to show his true colors on energy and climate change. Rising electricity costs are a major issue in California, and Newsom must decide by the end of this month whether to sign a host of bills that could help cut utility rates while also advancing the state’s clean energy transition. 

Source: Bakerfield.com | By John Cox

Executive Director Mark Toney of Oakland-based The Utility Reform Network said by email he was encouraged the CPUC’s new chairman, John Reynolds, is looking at potential improvements such as requiring utilities to include more information in their rate-case applications. “TURN is urging the commission to protect ratepayers and hold utilities accountable to spending within their budgets to provide safe, clean, affordable energy by requiring utilities to: Aspire to limit (general rate case) spending to as close to inflation as possible, rein in overspending in accounts outside of the GRC, and auditing actual shareholder returns versus authorized returns,” Toney wrote.

Work began this month on a regulatory process intended to boost affordability, accountability and transparency in the way California’s investor-owned gas and electric utilities apply for permission to raise their rates.  

Source: Lifeline with Craig Roberts (podcast) KFAX | By Craig Roberts

This podcast featuring Executive Director of TURN Mark Toney aired September 15^th 2026

Craig: I want to get your response  to the failure of the California Legislature to pass SB 492 and PG&E’s answer that their financial risk to harden their infrastructure results is way too much for lenders and investors, so they will hold off on that.

Mark: Just because PG&E can’t get what it wants, they can’t just pick up their toys and go home.  I told their executives that they need to spend less money burying lines underground (which is extremely expensive and takes an extremely amount of time) and do what Edison has done by insulating overhead power lines.  It is just as safe and costs one-fifth, and can be done five times faster than burying the lines.

Craig: why isn’t PG&E insulating the lines and reducing the immediate risk of fires?  There is no sense of urgency.

Mark: Shareholder returns. The more money they invest in capital investments, the more they can get in returns.  Returns is not the only thing; we need safety.  If you don’t have safety, lenders charge a higher interest rate because of the risk, and you and I pay the higher interest rate.  What we are saying is reduce the risk as quickly and inexpensively as possible, so we have less of these shutoffs and wildfire disasters.

Mark: Please ask your listeners to call (916) 445 2841; this is the phone number that the Governor’s office has to make public comments on bills.  Ask your listeners to call this number and urge him to sign SB 905 and the other six TURN affordability bills.  They know what these bills are and we’ve been working with them since January.  The Governor’s office needs to know that your listeners come from all over California.  

Craig: this is a comment line set up with the Governor’s office  and believe it or not, these calls matter.  We have learned that each call represents hundreds of people who want to make a difference.

Source: KTVU Fox 2 | By Tom Vacar and Allie Rasmus

Mark Toney, CEO of The Utility Reform Network, known as TURN, a longtime critic of PG&E, was upset.  "The legislature adopted nothing," he said. Toney said things TURN wanted were also ignored to keep the California Wildfire Fund able to cover liabilities caused by electric utility equipment. "We need a plan that makes the $40 billon last and doesn't get depleted," he said. "That didn't happen.”  TURN's position is that PG&E should live within the money it has and quit the slow, expensive process burying power lines.  "At a cost of $4 million a mile and we're gonna replace those with insulating overhead powerlines, insulated poles, at one-fifth of the cost and it can be done much faster," he said. 

Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced plans on Wednesday to postpone roughly $2 billion in capital investments next year to bolster its finances, aiming to "reinvent" itself and improve its financial outlook.  The reduction in capital spending could impact project timelines for connecting new homes, establishing data centers, and implementing clean energy initiatives.

Source: California Senate Democratic Caucus | By EIN Presswire

“TURN is very pleased to see SB 327 make it to the governor’s desk. Preventing utilities from using ratepayer money to stop municipalization and protecting the Public Advocates Office’s right to investigate utilities for compliance with the law is more important now than ever before. At a time of skyrocketing utility bills, people deserve to choose a lower cost option like a municipal utility,” said Adria Tinnin, director of Race Equity and Legislative Policy for TURN. “We thank Sen. McNerney for this important legislation and urge Governor Newsom to stand with California families and businesses and sign SB 327 into law.” 

The California Legislature today approved Sen. Jerry McNerney’s SB 327, which would protect ratepayers by strengthening oversight of investor-owned utilities (IOUs) and barring IOUs from using ratepayer funds to fight local efforts to create municipal utilities. 

Source: FOX 2 KTVU | By Tom Vacar

"The decision that the CPUC is about to make, PG&E could raise your monthly bill $50 or more a month," said Mark Toney, the executive director of The Utility Reform Network (TURN).  Over the lifetime of the decision —  up to 20 years — TURN calculates that each customer's portion could be around $18,000.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) plans to unveil a proposed decision concerning PG&E's requested rate hikes.  The utility company says the increases are crucial as it aims to bury 10,000 miles of power lines as a preventative measure against wildfires in high-risk regions. This increase is substantial.

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: 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.

Source: KCBX | By Kendra Hanna

Matt Freedman, an attorney with The Utility Reform Network, agreed with the decision to source the funding from “volumetric performance fees” — money that PG&E already collects from ratepayers.  “Any additional payments to the local governments should be taken out of the existing incentives and slush funds that PG&E collects in rates already, rather than raising rates further to cover this cost,” Freedman told KCBX.

A state bill that would renew payments made by PG&E to San Luis Obispo County schools and other agencies has been altered to draw from a new funding source.  Senate Bill 931 was amended last month while in the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee.

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle | By Katherine Ellison

Ultimately, there are limits to what even the most motivated individual ratepayer can do about the immensely complicated and vexing problem of high utility charges.  I’ll leave it to Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, to state the obvious: “If people really want to save money, they simply have to tell their legislators to start making energy more affordable.”

For all too many Californians, energy bills have become a slow-motion household emergency. Golden Staters already pay the highest electricity prices outside Hawaii, while an undeclared war in the Middle East, rising data-center electricity demand and a new round of rate hikes could raise costs even more.

Source: Lifeline with Craig Roberts | By Craig Roberts, Guest speaker Mark Toney

“Mark: here’s what’s going on and the fundamental problems that we are facing.  There are no limits to how much PG&E can ask for rate increases, no limits to how many times a year they can ask for increases and no limits to how much the California Public Utilities Commission can grant in rate increases.  Right now, PG&E has multiple rate increases sitting on the table of the CPUC.  It’s more than two, more than three, it’s nine rate increases, count them, for a total of $4 billion.  I don’t believe this nonsense about your rates going down, that is just a blip and your rates are going right back up.”

Craig: it was only a bare year ago when our friends at PG&E took out ads, television, radio, streaming ads all to tell us how much cheaper our bills have become.  Paid for by               ratepayers, I must add, and all of the savings really amounted to a dollar a month.  So I opened my latest bill and noticed that they are asking for, you guessed it, rate increases.  Remember the old adage what goes up must come down?  PG&E’s got a new twist on that and it’s what goes down must come up, so I said to myself we need to talk to our old buddy Mark Toney at The Utility Reform Network.

Source: The Energy Show | By Barry Cinnamon

Mark: one of the things we are looking at is 'what’s the energy affordability crisis look like?'  About 20% of all customers, five million customers in California are behind on their bills.  Another indication is how many families get shut off; in the past year, over 150,000 households had their electricity shut off because they fell behind on their bills.  Almost 40,000 were never reconnected.  A crisis also looks at what’s happening to small businesses that are shutting their doors because of electricity prices.  One of the things that TURN does is we have an alliance with large industries, agriculture, small businesses and other industrial sectors.  These businesses get hit double every month so the price of electricity is baked into grocery store prices so everyone feels it over and over again in everything we buy.

Barry: so if you’re wondering why your energy bills are so high, then I suggest you turn to TURN; my guest on this week’s show is Mark Toney, he’s the Executive Director of TURN.  I would characterize him as a thinking bulldog when it comes to solving the structural problems of high energy costs.  Welcome to the show, Mark!

Source: The Los Angeles Times | By Blanca Begert

“They picked a really high number for their incentives that was out of whack with what they could have earned,” said Matt Freedman, an attorney with the Utility Reform Network consumer advocacy group, who reviewed and provided the authors feedback on the report.

A new report alleges Pacific Gas & Electric inflated costs when it requested a loan for Diablo Canyon, potentially creating a $658.6-million cost to taxpayers if lawmakers don’t intervene.  If ratepayer fees for Diablo Canyon were eliminated from 2027-30, experts say, California utility customers could save an estimated $1.84 billion in controversial subsidies.