Group Says New California Utility Fee Unfair

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published April 16, 2008 at 6:13 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

A utility watchdog group says California regulators are unfairly tacking on new fees to utility bills. The latest fee will pay for a $600-million think tank on climate change. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce

A utility watchdog group says California regulators are unfairly tacking on new fees to utility bills. The latest fee will pay for a $600-million think tank on climate change. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

Figure on paying another 25-cents or so on your monthly utility bill for the next ten years.

The California Public Utilities Commission voted to add the charge to pay for a $600 million institute to study climate change.

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Mindy Spatt is with The Utility Reform Network. She says consumers are already paying their fair share for renewable energy and conservation programs -- fees already part of the monthly charges.

Spatt says the PUC needs to stop funding new programs on the backs of consumers.

Spatt: We can't forget that electricity is a necessity in this day and age and we need to keep electricity bills affordable. These other environmental programs should be funded by taxes or some other way.

The PUC says the $600 million institute is an investment in California's future and will directly benefit ratepayers.

Spatt says the institute is unlikely to translate into any real benefits for the consumers who will pay for them.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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