Utility Rates

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has approved two major initiatives that will require utilities to pay consumers for generating extra power and will boost the payoff for certain solar facilities. Homes, businesses and schools that have solar panels or wind turbines previously had no financial incentive to use less electricity than they generated. But AB 920, written by Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), will encourage efficiency, supporters say. SB 32, by state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino)

California's energy crisis ended seven years ago, but electricity customers are still paying for it, lawyers are arguing over it and regulators are reigniting debate over the policies that led up to it. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today about whether the high-priced energy contracts signed amid the crisis can be reopened to make sure the rates are fair.

Some Southern California households would pay up to 14% more per month for water in 2009 under a plan unanimously approved Monday by a key regional water panel. The water rate increase, driven by shortages in supplies, would vary widely depending on how much water cities and local water agencies buy from the MWD, which serves 18 million consumers in six counties.

Southern California Edison deserves a 3.6% rate increase in 2009 instead of the 20% hike that the utility has requested, according to the consumer advocacy arm of the state Public Utilities Commission. In the rate recommendation it filed Tuesday, the commission's Division of Ratepayer Advocates slashed Edison's requested rate increase to $156 million above 2008 levels -- an increase of less then 50 cents a month for the average residential customer. The electric utility proposed collecting $5.

The U.S. Supreme Court ordered federal regulators Thursday to revisit a decision upholding high-priced electricity contracts that California utilities and others signed amid the chaos and soaring prices of the state's 2000-01 energy crisis.

The more than 16% rate hike requested by Southern California Edison for next year has triggered plenty of opposition from, among others, sign-toting Los Angeles customers who crowded into a room to tell the utility that they can't afford it. With gasoline and food costing more, few want to spend extra for electricity even if the money would help prevent blackouts.

The Los Angeles City Council gave preliminary approval Wednesday to restructuring electricity rates for city utility customers during the summer months, reducing rates in high-temperature neighborhoods and adopting a tiered rate system that would punish big energy users and reward conservation. The plan would give price breaks from June through September to customers living in "hot zones" in the San Fernando Valley, on the Eastside and in portions of South Los Angeles.

Just as federal regulators again hammer cable companies over fast-rising prices in pay television, Verizon Communications Inc. plans to reduce its bundled charges for Internet, phone and TV services. The nation's second-largest phone company, which controls home phone lines throughout Southern California's affluent beach communities, said it was cutting prices to keep customers from fleeing to cable firms such as Time Warner Cable Inc., the largest provider in the Los Angeles region.

AT&T Inc. customers who obsessively play World of Warcraft while downloading dozens of movies: Your days of online impunity may be numbered. AT&T has joined the ranks of telecommunications companies that are exploring the idea of limiting the amount of bandwidth that subscribers can use each month. The company began this month to apply such limits, testing the policy first in Reno. Subscribers to AT&T's slowest Internet service there will be limited to downloading 20 gigabytes of data per month.

A plan for adding 400 megawatts of solar power throughout Los Angeles could lead to electricity rate hikes for Department of Water and Power customers ranging from 2% to 8% over the next four years, according to figures provided by the utility. The L.A. City Council plans to vote today to put a measure on the March 3 ballot ordering the DWP to place solar panels on the roofs and parking lots of government, commercial and industrial buildings by 2014.