Gavin Newsom’s latest utility bailout is bad for – Latest News
Gavin Newsom is secretly pursuing an Eleventh-hour push to protect California’s three for-profit utility monopolies from the financial penalties of the wildfires they trigger, shifting these prices onto customers as a substitute.
If he succeeds, it received’t simply be one other utility bailout. It will probably be one other end-run across the democratic course of.
It wouldn’t be for the primary time.
Last September, with simply two days left within the legislative session, Gov. Newsom changed a shopper safety invoice with a 231-page bailout for California’s three for-profit utility monopolies. Lawmakers later admitted they didn’t have enough time to know what they have been voting on.
Gavin Newsom is secretly pursuing an Eleventh-hour push to protect California’s three for-profit utility monopolies from the financial penalties of the wildfires they trigger Anadolu by way of Getty Images
That ought to by no means occur in a democracy.
Newsom’s administration warned that if the invoice didn’t move, Edison, the company behind the Eaton Fire, may go bankrupt.
The subsequent month, Newsom’s 5 appointees on the California Public Utilities Commission accepted a huge Edison charge increase value more than $1 billion a 12 months, plus almost $1 billion in retroactive back pay.
Two months later, removed from bankrupt, Edison elevated shareholder dividends, paying out $1.3 billion in 2025 alone. Its three largest shareholders are Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street.
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Let’s be trustworthy about what occurred.
Instead of defending Californians from chapter, these selections transferred billions from hardworking households to Wall Street shareholders, money that ought to have remained accessible to compensate wildfire survivors.
The shareholder rewards didn’t stop there.
In 2025, the 12 months the Eaton Fire killed at the least 19 of my neighbors and destroyed the lives of tens of 1000’s more, the company’s income more than tripled, from $1.3 billion to $4.5 billion.
In 2025, the 12 months the Eaton Fire killed at the least 19 of my neighbors and destroyed the lives of tens of 1000’s more, the company’s income more than tripled, from $1.3 billion to $4.5 billion. Christopher Sadowski
From innovation? No.
Operational excellence? Not even close.
CEO Pedro Pizarro instructed buyers these stellar financial outcomes got here from state regulatory selections.
From these very selections, Gov. Newsom’s administration handed Edison a clean examine.
Pizarro’s own pay soared 20%, to $16.5 million.
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Meanwhile, Californians now pay the second-highest electric charges within the nation, more than 50% increased than clients served by California’s publicly owned utilities.
Now Newsom is at it again, reportedly working in near-total secrecy on yet one more utility bailout within the closing days of the legislative session.
America deserves to know who’s asking for it.
California’s three for-profit utility monopolies created a group referred to as Wildfire Victims First. They’re spending tens of millions on tv adverts, mailers, Facebook adverts, lobbyists and political campaigns to persuade Californians that wildfire survivors assist one other bailout.
Now Newsom is at it again, reportedly working in near-total secrecy on yet one more utility bailout within the closing days of the legislative session. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post
Meanwhile, a Consumer Watchdog evaluation discovered that two-thirds of the coalition’s member organizations had acquired more than $7.3 million in utility funding.
The corporations that induced catastrophic wildfires are pretending to be the victims of their own fires.
We are the true wildfire survivors.
They allowed our properties to burn.
Instead of paying what they owe us, they’re spending tens of millions pretending to be us.
Not one greenback of that marketing campaign helps the wildfire survivors they declare to signify.
Eighteen months after the Eaton Fire, two out of three of us are nonetheless displaced.
Parents who spent our entire lives working to construct a future for our children are actually watching that future slip away. Retirement financial savings are gone. Credit playing cards are maxed.
Instead of paying what they owe us, they’re spending tens of millions pretending to be us. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
Our neighborhood is experiencing rising suicidal ideation as households wrestle beneath relentless housing and financial insecurity.
Meanwhile, the company that destroyed our lives is celebrating document income, document shareholder dividends, and document govt pay.
Every dad or mum teaches their youngster one easy rule: You break it, you repair it.
It’s the muse of our nation’s civil justice system.
When somebody causes hurt, that individual is accountable for repairing it.
When companies trigger hurt, they’re accountable for repairing it.
Why ought to California’s three for-profit utility monopolies be exempt?
If Gov. Newsom pushes by way of this latest utility bailout, he received’t simply change the longer term for Eaton Fire survivors.
He’ll change the foundations for each wildfire survivor who comes after us.
If Gov. Newsom pushes by way of this latest utility bailout, he received’t simply change the longer term for Eaton Fire survivors. AP
Families whose lives have been shattered could by no means obtain the compensation they need to rebuild their properties and lives.
Communities devastated by catastrophic fires will stay shattered for years as a result of the businesses accountable received’t be held accountable.
And when catastrophic failure is rewarded with billions in new riches for shareholders and executives, we create precisely the improper incentives for the longer term.
We can’t let that turn out to be the new commonplace.
If Newsom believes one other utility bailout is good for California, he ought to make that case publicly by way of the traditional legislative course of, not behind closed doorways.
The utility monopolies have tons of of lobbyists pushing their pursuits.
Survivors have solely our voices and our allies. That’s why we launched ExpensiveNewsom.org.
Already, 1000’s of Americans and organizations representing tens of millions more have joined us in saying: No more utility bailouts. Get households home.
There’s nonetheless time to form Newsom’s choice. It might come as early as this week.
But for fire survivors, time is working out.
Joy Chen is an Eaton Fire survivor and govt director of the Every Fire Survivor’s Network.
