Rein in PG&E's predatory rate hikes, empower CPUC oversight

The California Public Utilities Commission has utterly failed in its core responsibility to shield utility customers from PG&E's predatory rate gouging. It's unconscionable that the commission rubber-stamped PG&E's outrageous demands for over $2.5 billion in rate hikes from 2023-2026 without properly vetting the supposed justification or legal basis. Shockingly, the commission allowed PG&E to extract over $1.8 billion from customers immediately before even determining if those costs were "just and reasonable" under the law. Then in March, it approved another $516 million rate increase without so much as a hearing where PG&E testified under oath about its figures. This blatant dereliction imposes crippling financial burdens on Californians struggling under the weight of skyrocketing bills while PG&E luxuriates in record profits. It's a shameful travesty that the public is being fleeced on such a massive scale while the watchdog feigns impotence. The legislature must urgently intervene to curb this unchecked avarice through real reform like AB1999 to cap fixed charges, AB2054 to bring transparency to utilities, and SB938 to stop ratepayers subsidizing PG&E's lobbying and self-promotion. Without forceful action to dismantle this collusion and exact accountability, Californians will remain mercilessly fleeced by PG&E's unbridled corporate greed enabled by a feckless, rubber-stamp commission.