PUC scores one for consumers
The state Public Utilities Commission deserves a round of applause for coming to the aid of consumers who've been having a tough time paying their utility bills.
Last week the PUC bestowed an extra layer of protection on those people, many of whom are among our most vulnerable.
The PUC, which regulates the state's public utilities, prohibited investor-owned companies such as Pacific Gas & Electric Co. from requiring credit deposits of customers who are disconnected for nonpayment or fall behind. Nearly 70,000 California households have their power shut off each month, the consumer advocacy group TURN says.
Utilities typically charge deposits amounting to twice the average monthly bill for customers whose power is shut off, according to the PUC's consumer advocacy division, which adds that disconnections are becoming more common.
Consumers must strive to be responsible for such bills, of course, but losing one's power isn't the same as losing one's cable TV hookup -- especially in the depths of winter or the peak of summer, and especially in the midst of a persistent recession.
The PUC also ruled that power companies must inform residential customers whose accounts fall into arrears that they can arrange to pay off their debt over a period of at least three months.
The PUC has not always acted with consumers' best interests at heart -- the restructured energy-use tier system is a prime example -- but these most recent decisions show the commission is paying attention to the essential mission of public utilities, and of the commission itself.
