Host: You for your patience.
-: Go ahead and make your announcement,
and Robert, go ahead and start the webcast.
Lorraine: Welcome to the Public Participation Hearing,
in Southern California Edison Company's
General Rate Case Application,
on this date, Wednesday, July 1st, 2020.
The assigned Judges would now make their announcements.
-: Thank you, Operator.
We will now be on the record.
The Commission will come to order.
Good evening.
This is the time and place set
for the Public Participation Hearings,
and the General Rate Case Application
of Southern California Edison Company.
Application 19-08-013.
My name is Sophia Park and I am one of
the assigned Administrative Law Judges to this proceeding.
I am Co-Assigned with Judge Aaron Seybert,
who is listening in to today's hearing.
We are also joined by Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma,
who is the assigned Commissioner for this case.
Commissioner, would you like to make your opening remark?
-: Yes, thank you, Judge Park,
and also Judge Seybert.
Good evening, everyone, my name is Genevieve Shiroma,
I'm the assigned Commissioner
on the Southern California Edison General Rate Case.
I first want to take a moment to thank our Court Reporters,
Becky DeRosa and Andrea Ross.
I would like to thank our Public Advisor's Office,
our Advisor Allison Brown,
and her staff person Jessie Revine,
our Operator, Lorraine,
and our Information Technology and Audio Visual Team,
headed up by Robert Stanford and Joe Haga,
for setting us up for our Public Participation Hearing.
A little bit of background about myself,
I was appointed by Governor Newsom
to the California Public Utilities Commission
in January of 2019.
Prior to my appointment, I worked for
the California Air Resources Board for 20 years,
from 1978 to 1999,
working on air quality regulations.
I then was appointed
to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board,
the Collective Bargaining Board for Farm Workers,
where I served for 20 years,
from 1999 to 2019.
And concurrently during that time for 20 years,
I served as an Elected Director
on the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, SMUD,
an electricity provider for Sacramento County,
from 1999 to 2018.
Now it is with all of this past experience,
but in particular, my time at SMUD
and my time as a Commission, that I will be scrutinizing
Southern California Edison's requested revenue requirements,
and making sure that what has been proposed will need
to adjust unreasonable rates, which we are required to do.
With the economic crisis and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,
it is even more important than ever that we are conscious
of increasing rates, making sure the right capital projects
are being approved to ensure reliability,
as well as our safety,
as people practice physical distancing, teleworking,
and distance learning at home, and making sure
that programs are in place to support you, the customers.
I look forward to continuing my work
with Judges Park and Seybert,
as you build the record in this proceeding
and hearing from Southern California Edison customers today.
Thank you to all who have called in and are participating.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Commissioner.
I want to start by acknowledging the pain, grief,
and hardships that COVID-19 has imposed throughout
our State, communities, and in our daily lives.
There are currently state and local shelter at home orders
in place to protect the health and wellbeing
of our community.
Therefore, we are holding these hearings online
and by phone.
While we look forward to the time when it will be safe
to resume public gathering, I want to emphasize,
that public engagement remains more important
to the Commission than ever,
and that we will be paying careful attention
to the feedback provided today.
The basic purpose of today's hearing is to hear directly
from Southern California Edison customers
and members of the public about this particular application.
I will start by providing some brief background
on the Commission and the General Rate Case,
and introduce Ms. Allison Brown
from the Commission's Public Advisor's Office.
We will then hear brief statements
from Southern California Edison
and some of the other parties in the proceeding.
Finally, and most importantly, we will hear from all of you.
For participants that wish to provide public comments today,
please press *1 on your phone now to alert the operator
who will start to cue public speakers, one at a time.
The Public Utilities Commission is a State agency
that decides how much money Southern California Edison
may earn, and the actual rates that will be included
on your bill for electric service.
The Public Utilities Commission has five Commissioners
who are appointed by the Governor
and confirmed by the State Senate.
While Judge Seybert and I manage the day-to-day activities
of the case, the five Commissioners are ultimately
the ones who will decide and vote on whether or not
to approve Southern California Edison's request,
or some other amount.
Our job as the Judges, will be to evaluate all
of the evidence in the proceeding,
and write a proposed decision
for the five Commissioners to consider.
The five Commissioners will decide whether to adopt
the proposed decision from the Judges
or adopt their own alternate decision based on the evidence
in the proceeding.
It is estimated that the Commission will vote
on the decision towards the beginning of next year.
I will now briefly summarize
Southern California Edison's application.
Last August, Southern California Edison submitted
it's General Rate Case,
asking the Commission for approval of their expected costs
for owning and operating the company
for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Earlier this year, the Commission adopted a decision,
which changed the General Rate Case cycle
from a three year to a four year cycle.
Therefore this proceeding will now also consider
Southern California Edison's expected costs
for the year 2024.
A Commission decision on these costs
is anticipated towards the end of 2023.
The expenses included in the Rate Case application,
generally cover the poles, wires, meters, the employees,
and all the activities needed to deliver electricity
to your home or business.
It also includes proposed expenses
and capital infrastructure to address wildfire risks related
to Edison's equipment.
It is important to note that the cost that we are talking
about in this application are just one part
of Southern California Edison's annual operating expenses
that impact customer rates.
Separate from this proceeding,
the Commission authorizes recovery of the cost
that Edison actually incurs to purchase electricity
on the open market.
These costs are directly passed on to consumers
and Edison is not allowed to earn a profit on them.
There's also another proceeding that will decide
how approved costs are distributed among
Southern California Edison's customers,
and the specific rates that will be included
on customer's bills.
This is generally referred to as the rate design proceeding,
and that application should be filed
in the fall of this year.
But right now, we are here to receive comments from
the public regarding Southern California Edison's requests
to increase rates and revenue by $1.2 billion
in January, 2021, and additional increases a $486 million
in 2022, and $503 million in 2023.
If approved, the total revenue requirement
will be approximately $7.55 billion in 2021
for an 18.1% increase over what is currently authorized.
The impact of this request on a typical residential customer
would be a monthly increase of approximately $12.71 in 2021,
a monthly increase of approximately $5 in 2022,
and a monthly increase of approximately $6 in 2023.
But the actual impact on a customer's bill would vary,
depending on the customer's usage.
We want to hear what you think
about Southern California Edison's requests.
Comments from the public can help
the Public Utilities Commission reach an informed decision.
The Commissioners, Judge Seybert, and I,
will pay close attention to the opinions expressed during
today's public hearing.
We have court reporters transcribing the hearing
who will be taking down everything that is said
on the telephone line.
If you do speak, we ask that you speak slowly and clearly
to ensure that the reporter is able to capture
everything that is said.
The written transcript of today's hearing
will be available to Judge Seybert and myself,
the Commissioners, and posted publicly
on the docket card for this proceeding.
In addition to submitting oral comments today,
written comments regarding Edison's application
may also be submitted on the docket card
for this proceeding,
by going to
www.cpuc.ca.gov/SCE2021GRCPublicComments.
As of today, we have received over
3,200 written public comments.
At this time, I would like to invite Ms. Brown
from the Commissions Public Advisor's Office
to provide some remarks.
Ms. Brown, you may proceed.
Allison: Thank you, Judge Park.
Welcome everyone.
My name is Allison Brown and I'm the Public Advisor
for the California Public Utilities Commission.
The Public Advisor's Office assists and advises
the public with participation in Commission proceedings.
First, I want to thank you all for participating today.
As the Judge and Commissioner stated,
public participation and input are essential
to the Commission's decision making process.
This is your opportunity to be heard,
to share your thoughts on the application
with the Administrative Law Judges and Commissioner.
If you have questions about the application or your service,
please reach out to the Public Advisor's Office
at public advisor, oh sorry, public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov,
or visit the Commission website
or the Edison website for more information.
Second, if you or anyone else is not able to make
a comment today, there are several other ways
to become involved.
If you wish to find more information on becoming a party,
subscribing to this proceeding
so you get email notifications of filings,
or submitting comments by email or the phone,
please go to the Commission's website, cpuc.ca.gov,
or email the Public Advisor.
Again, that email is public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov.
All of this information is also on the notice
that you received for this PPH today,
and on the Commission's website.
We look forward to your comments today.
Thank you again for joining us.
Judge Park.
-: Thank you, Ms. Brown.
We will now hear from some of the parties
in this proceeding, starting with a representative
from Southern California Edison,
followed by the Public Advocate's Office,
and the Utility Reform Network.
I ask that each party representative start by spelling
his or her name for the record.
We will be hearing from the public after
the party representatives speak.
If you would like make a public comment, a reminder again,
to please press *1 on your phone now
so that the operator can begin to form the speaking queue.
Okay with that, Mr. Snow.
Doug: Thank you.
Doug Snow, D-O-U-G S-N-O-W.
Thank you, Judge Park, Judge Seybert,
and Commissioner Shiroma.
I also want to thank everyone for taking time out
of your busy schedules and participating
in these very important Public Participation Hearings today.
Again, my name is Doug Snow,
and I'm the Director of the General Rate Case
for Southern California Edison.
It is a privilege to be here and learn from you,
and listen to your input and any potential concerns
you may have regarding our '21 General Rate Case.
Edison recognizes this proceeding
is taking place during unprecedented times.
We understand that many of our customers and communities
are facing hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic
and may need help with their electric bills.
But SCE has already put into place,
important customer protections to address those issues.
If you need more information on those customer protections,
please go to SCE.com/BillHelp for information
on money saving programs and tools.
Mr. Jerry Aguilar is also in attendance today
from our Customer Division.
Turning back to this proceeding, we are currently
in the middle of what we refer to as the discovery period,
where all parties to the proceeding are learning more
about our funding proposal.
Most recently, we have heard from the consumer advocates
and they have provided their counterproposals
for reductions to our request.
Beginning July 6th, there will be evidentiary hearings
so that the Commission can continue to build
it's official record of our request.
It is easy to get caught up in the process,
but at the end of the day, the General Rate Case
is about funding projects, programs, and people
to provide you service in a safe and reliable way,
and improve that service continuously.
Our request for funding in this case covers the work
the company needs to do in 2021
and continue through 2024, for SCE workers to inspect,
repair, and when appropriate, upgrade poles, transformers,
and distribution lines, as well as provide customer service
for Billing, Service Turn On/Turn Off, and other work.
The costs we're requesting pay for the salaries
of about 12,000 employees and over 8,000 contractors
who perform all this work, live in your communities,
and often are SCE customers themselves.
In this General Rate Case,
our request mostly include funding to improve three things.
Number one, safety.
The safety of our customers and the communities we serve,
as well as the safety of our workers,
is the most important thing.
We have undertaken and are proposing
to continue significant efforts to mitigate the risk
of wildfire associated with our equipment,
considering more extreme environmental conditions,
and accelerating customer expansion
into the Wildland Urban Interface.
We insist the grid to be safe for those who live
and work near it, and for our employees who work on it.
In addition, keeping the grid safe from physical
or cyber attacks, and keeping the public informed on how
to stay safe around our equipment
and electricity in general.
Number two, reliability.
The residents and businesses in our communities depend
on electricity.
We have to replace old equipment and update our system
to avoid outages and prepare for more clean
and distributed energy resources in the State.
When we cannot avoid outages, we want to be able
to bring the power back on quickly
and give you as much information along the way
to minimize the disruption to you.
Number three, customer interaction.
We want to make it easy for you to communicate with us
and vice versa, whether it is about bills,
service changes, new solar panels you want to install,
new programs to save electricity, or anything else.
We acknowledge that the increase we are requesting
is larger than what we have sought in the recent past,
but we believe we have struck
the proper balance seeking authorization
for time-sensitive public safety measures
and doing what we can to reprioritize
or scale back other initiatives that we'll have to leave
for future GRCs.
Our General Rate Case is planning for the future,
as I mentioned.
We have to have adequate funding
to make necessary investments, to continue to provide
15 million Californians with safe, reliable, clean,
and affordable electricity.
Those commitments, which are grounded in State Law,
are something that we take very seriously.
Ultimately, the Commission will decide
the appropriate level of funding after a thorough
and rigorous legal process that includes all stakeholders
with different viewpoints,
including prominent consumer advocacy groups.
Although our core mission of providing safe,
reliable, clean, and affordable electricity to our customers
has not changed, the company submits this request
at an extraordinarily important juncture for the State
and for our customers.
Due in part to the changing climate,
California's wildfire risk has dramatically increased,
resulting in year round threats
of potential catastrophic wildfires.
So that brings us to paying for the work, your bill.
We are very mindful of the impact of these costs
on your bills, and we are working every day
to find ways of reducing costs
so that some of the work can be done
without increasing your bill.
Our current forecast in this GRC will increase
an average residential bill by about $13.00 per month
for non-income qualified customers in '21.
The increase will be an additional $5.00 in 2022,
and about $6.00 in 2023.
For about a third of our customers who qualify
for the care rate available for lower income customers,
the increase would be about 30% lower.
I realize for many of you, this is impactful.
But we believe the work we are proposing strike
a prudent balance between the essential services we provide
to you and what it costs to provide those services.
We realize any increase in bills can be challenging,
and we have several program tips and tools
to help reduce bill impact that may come in handy.
So as I mentioned before, please visit SCE.com/BillHelp
for information on these resources.
Once again, thank you for attending
and I look forward to hearing your comments and feedback.
Thank you, Your Honors.
-: Thank you, Mr. Snow.
Next, we will here from Mr. Burns
from the Public Advocate's Office.
-: Thank you, Your Honor. -: Mr. Burns, you may proceed.
Truman: Truman Burns, T-R-U-M-A-N B-U-R-N-S.
Good evening, Your Honors, Commissioner Shiroma,
and members of the public.
I am Truman Burns, Project Coordinator
for the Public Advocates Office's response
to SCEs 2021 General Rate Case.
The Public Advocate's Office
is the independent consumer advocate
of California Public Utilities Commission.
The Public Advocate's Office represents the interests
of public utilities customers with the goal of obtaining
the lowest possible rates for service consistent with safe,
reliable service levels,
and the State's environmental goals.
Our office spent seven months reviewing
and evaluating SCE's GRC proposal before preparing
our recommendations, which we presented
in written testimony on April 10th, 2020.
Based on our review and our own forecast of how much revenue
SCE should be authorized, we found that some
of the SCEs forecast of its costs are excessive.
For 2021, we recommend that the Commission reduce
SCEs requested increase of about $1.1 billion,
by more than half, which would be a $618 million reduction.
For 2022, we recommended a reduction of $180 million
of SCEs requested increase of 423 million.
And for 2023, we recommend a reduction of $263 million
to SCEs requested increase of 514 million.
In addition, based on the severe impacts customers
are experiencing due to the recent economic downturn
associated with COVID-19 pandemic,
the Public Advocate's Office proposed a reduction
of 125 million to SCEs 2020 capital expenditure budget.
Thank you again, and we look forward to the public comments.
-: Thank you, Mr. Burns.
Next we will hear from Ms. Slider-Pierre
from the Utility Reform Network.
Constance: Good afternoon.
Constance Slider-Pierre,
C-O-N-S-T-A-N-C-E S-L-I-D-E-R P-I-E-R-R-E.
I'm the Organizing Director for TURN,
The Utility Reform Network.
TURN is a consumer advocacy organization
that has been challenging corporate greed
and winning consumer protection for over 40 years.
I'd like to first take a moment
to thank Administrative Law Judges Park and Seybert,
as well as Commissioner Shiroma for the opportunity
to say a few words to welcome members of the public.
And to all who joined the call today to provide comments,
and bear witness, I thank you.
I do not need to tell any of you that we are
in unprecedented time.
The extreme circumstances of a global pandemic
have skyrocketed unemployment numbers to over 16%
in California.
And according to a USC study published last month,
one in seven California workers have filed for unemployment.
And in L.A. County, specifically,
only 45% of residents report holding a job.
Global protests, after the murder of George Floyd,
usher in a new day, when all of us are called to examine
and act with deeper awareness of how our actions
and decisions will impact people.
The public outcry is clear and what we cry, are all of us
to live out loud and dig deeper to seek fair, equitable,
and just treatment for all Californians.
TURN stands strong in it's belief that electricity,
along with food, shelter, and water
are basic necessities and a human right.
We strongly believe that any approved rate increase
at this time is unacceptable,
and would further cripple the resilient
and aspiring families who are struggling now more than ever.
This request is neither balanced or prudent.
Today's hearing serve as an opportunity to ensure
that the lived experiences of community are heard
and accounted for when our public servants deliberate
and make decisions that affect our daily lives.
SCEs latest proposal will increase
residential customer bills annually through 2023.
If approved, this increase would be
the largest single rate increase any utility been granted
by the CPUC.
This rate increase would stick SCE customers
with a bill for $600 million in insurance premium
to protect shareholders from fires caused by SCE equipment,
as well as other SCE expenses.
SCEs claim that the rate increase is only going
to be $14.00 a month in 2021 is a half-truth,
that looks only at the first year
of a three year rate increase,
and only for the General Rate Case.
The full truth is that if you look at all three years
of the GRC request, plus all of
the other SCE rate increases currently pending,
what they're asking for adds up to about $43.00 a month,
or approximately a $500 a year increase
in residential bills by 2023.
Other rate payer increases currently being requested
by SCE would require customers to pay back 1.5 billion
in grid hardening costs spent from 2018 through 2020.
Would also require customers to pay back an additional
$500 million for wildfire catch up inspections
and repairs spent in 2019.
And it would stick SCE customers with the bill
for their proposed new computer system
to improve customer billing.
When all requests are taken into account,
this would result in SCE customers paying 40% more
for energy by 2023, while shareholders rake in
a whopping 1.5 billion in profits.
Translating these increases to working hours
in the gig economy, minimum wage earners would have
to work between six and eight additional hours each month
to pay for the same number of kilowatt hours.
Roughly one additional day of shift work.
During your testimony today,
I encourage you to use your time to reflect
on your experience as an SCE customer.
Tell the Commission how current energy costs affect you.
What trade offs you have been forced to make.
What measures you have taken to reduce costs
and conserve energy.
And what additional trade offs you may be forced to make
if you are required to pay an additional $43 per month
for energy.
Finally, if you haven't already signed up to speak,
please consider doing so.
I hope our statement has provided some context
and inspiration to you so that you can lift up
your voice and be heard today.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Ms. Slider-Pierre.
We will now hear from members of the public.
If you want to speak and have not already done so,
please press *1 on your phone now
to be added to the queue of speakers.
To make sure that everyone has an opportunity
to provide comments, each speaker will have a time limit
of three minutes.
A chime will sound when the three minutes is up.
A reminder to all speakers to please spell your first
and last name for the record.
We have two hardworking Court Reporters on the line
that are taking down everything you are saying
for the official transcript.
So please be sure to speak slowly
and clearly to ensure a clear record.
It would also be appreciated if you did not use
a speakerphone while providing your comments.
With that, Operator, please call on the first speaker
in the queue.
Lorraine: Our first comment comes from Nachet Brown.
Your line is open.
-: Nachet, Ms. Brown, please.
Lorraine: Nachet Brown?
Nachet: Oh yes, hi.
Greetings, Your Honor, and everyone,
thank you for your service.
My name is Nachet Brown.
That's N-A-C-H-E accent T.
My last name is Brown, B-R-O-W-N.
The issue that I'm having in regards to my electricity
is that the box on the side of the house,
there was a electrician from the Edison company
that came out after a letter was sent to my home saying
that I was the only home on the block
that had the highest electricity.
At that time, we had practiced not using
so much electricity.
Of course, that has all changed now, due to the pandemic.
A lot of us are here in the home and we're using
a lot more electricity.
He did say that the box was old
and needed to be changed out.
My question was, why is it that when input
the box on the side of the house, did they not record it?
And know when it was time to come and change it out
so that my bill is not, you know,
just higher and higher and higher?
In regards to raising the rates,
raising the price of me having to pay for electricity,
I think that is outrageous
because we have to use more electricity now.
We're trying to put our children through college.
I am an African American woman and I already,
as an African American woman, I already face challenges.
My children are meant to succeed.
We must succeed because our ancestors fought
for our children to succeed.
And so I have to save money for my children
to go to college.
$43.00 a month extra is not gonna put my last baby
through college, it's not gonna to help me save
that money to do that for her.
My husband is disabled and we get a letter,
we qualified for the 20% off,
but somehow it keeps getting canceled.
So then when we asked for it to be,
for the letter to be sent to us so that we can reapply,
we never get the letter, we forget about it
trying to take care of home, going to work, you know,
taking care of our daily business,
and we forget about it until we realize that the bill
is just extremely high and we never got that letter.
Wondering if that letter can be put in an electronic form
on the website so that we can just go on the website
and fill out that form,
the same form for if you have a nebulizer in the home
or equipment that needs to be used on a daily basis.
I think if you fill out the letter once,
in regards to the equipment being in the home,
that it should never be canceled,
and that when there is an outage
or maybe the Edison Company can provide a generator
when they know that they're going to cut the electricity off
so that we don't have an issue there.
I'm also a Cleaner Air, I'm all for a cleaner way
of doing things, but I think that we have a TLC
that we need to look at now, a total life change.
We're experiencing a total life change,
where we are pretty much quarantined to our home,
and therefore we have to do our homework on the internet.
The kids want to watch TV, we have to have electricity,
we have to keep everything with electricity.
Maybe my time is up.
Is that what that means?
-: Yes, Ms. Brown.
Nachet: Okay, thank you for letting me share.
-: Thank you for providing comments.
I also, in terms of your billing
and customer account issues, this isn't really a forum
for us to address the specific issues that you may have,
but I do have a contact for you
at Southern California Edison that you can call
to follow up if you would like more information
about your specific billing issues.
Nachet: Yes, I would.
-: Okay, and so the gentleman's name is Jerry Aguilar,
and his phone number is 626.
Nachet: Just one moment, I'm writin' it down.
Okay, 626.
-: 302.
Nachet: Uh-huh.
-: 0283.
Nachet: 0283, thank you for that information,
I appreciate it.
-: Thank you, Ms. Brown.
Okay, Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Our next comment comes from Ben Rockwell.
Your line is open.
Ben: Thank you.
Lorraine: Your line is open.
Ben: Hello?
-: Yes, Mr. Rockwell, could you please start by spelling
your first and last name?
Ben: My name is Ben, B-E-N, Rockwell, R-O-C-K-W-E-L-L.
I have been on very low income since I had to retire
at the age of 42.
I have had Polio and I have Parkinson's,
and 36 other confirmed disabilities.
My total income, including SSI and Social Security
is less than $850 a month.
This makes it very difficult.
I've had to fight for every bit of discount
that I've gotten from Southern California Edison.
And not only that,
they refuse to give me additional discounts
for taking care of charging my wheelchair
and taking care of my raising machines.
This has made it very difficult at times.
Sometimes my bills have gone as high as over $100,
especially during the summer months when it's very hot
and I do not have an air conditioner.
And in the winter time, the gas is not,
gas heater is what I have, are not working properly.
I need to get all the help that I can,
so do many other people with disabilities,
especially those of us that are seniors
and have very low incomes.
Therefore, I would like to see something done
to increase the amount of discounts that can be given
to the seniors and persons with disability.
Thank you very much for listening.
-: Thank you for providing those comments, Mr. Rockwell.
Ben: Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Our next comment comes from Will Cheng.
Your line is open.
Will: Hi, can hear me?
-: Yes, we can hear you.
Will: Will Cheng, W-I-L-L C-H-E-N-G.
Hello? -: Yes, you may proceed.
Hello. -: Okay.
Oh yeah, so, I mean, I don't have all the statistics
in terms of,
you know, how much.
I don't have this statistic in terms of the amount
of things that's being increased.
But I'm a local resident
and it seems like the pandemic
has affected everyone's life a lot.
Unemployment rates going on, and I can just give a couple
of very simple examples why we,
during the pandemic we use a lot more electricity
because of the quarantine.
And because of the quarantine we buy more food,
we try to storage to as much food as possible
by not getting contact with, you know,
less contact, the better it is.
So we got a second mini refrigerator,
that costs more electricity.
I still have to go to work on a daily basis,
but I wash my clothes on a daily basis
just because I have a newborn at home,
and my wife and I, we wash, because we go out,
we come back, we have to wash our clothes on a daily basis.
And so these are a couple examples why,
you know, especially during this time,
it's critical for us, that $42.00 of increase
on a monthly basis is a lot for a lot of families.
And, I mean, SCE is the only, you know,
if you compare it to other States,
they are actually charging a lot per wattage already,
comparing to other States.
So that's my general comment on it, and,
yeah, that's my general comment.
I do think, you know, basically increasing costs
to procure safety, I think that's valid reason,
but to maintenance the website and stuff like that,
you got, SCE has been already been doing that already,
and it's been doing a good job.
So I don't think that's part of a legit
or reasonable reason behind this increase.
We have no choice, you know, we have really have no choice,
but this increase, it's not just, you know,
one year and we reviewed the increase again,
it's for the next three or four years,
which has already,
even though our lives change, you know,
this will have a great impact on
the entire neighborhood in Southern California.
Hello?
-: Hi.
-: Yeah. -: Thank you for
your comments, Mr. Cheng.
What city are you calling from?
Will: I'm calling from Chino Hills
in Southern California.
-: Thank you. -: Yep.
-: Okay, Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Comment comes from Joanna Lang.
Your line is open.
-: And Ms. Lang,
if you could spell your first and last
and also provide the city that you are calling from,
that would be great, thank you.
Joanna: Certainly, my name is Joanna Lang.
That's J-O-A-N-N-A, my last name is Lang, L-A-N-G,
I'm calling from Glendora, California.
There's a couple, there's a few comments
that I'd like to make.
First of all, I appreciate being able to join this.
I've never done this before,
but I am concerned about the rate increases that I've seen.
One of the first things, when I looked at the first letter,
I never really looked at anything
because my husband always did the bills
and I've been retired for a couple of years,
so I started to look at these.
And the first notice that was sent out
for the residential increase with the proposed increase
was only gonna be three cents per kilowatt.
All of a sudden, we get this second letter after
this pandemic thing is going through,
and now the residential increase is,
it says it's going to be 20.7 cents.
So, whoa, that's huge.
Something is awry.
So that was one concern that I have,
and that just seems odd that in two months, all of a sudden
we have this drastic increase that's showing up.
You know, utilities are like there,
they're so many mandatory, that somebody brought up.
You guys are a monopoly, we can't shop.
There's no competition, we cannot shop this.
So that's unfortunate.
So, you know, we're stuck.
That is, that's my next comment.
You know, we are making every effort to try and decrease.
My husband and I are the only ones in the household.
We're making every effort to decrease our usage now,
especially during the pandemic,
we have our air conditioning now set at between 79 and 80,
which in the old days, we could at least be
a little bit cooler, and so now we resort to fans.
My question, when I used to be in the business world,
we had to submit to audits.
Do you guys get audited?
And if you do, where can we see those?
The other thing is the C-PAP usage, we both have those.
You know, even though we have to get a letter,
do you guys realize that most doctors now start charging
to fill out those letters?
And you know, that's an expense that has to be incurred.
What else do I have here?
Because of the pandemic, it seems like things are going
to change, and you're gonna have more people
that are being, that will be staying home.
They will be working from home.
Therefore the volume of electricity is going to increase.
With that, you are going to be getting more money
without the rate increase, or even if you have
a minimal one, you're still gonna get more
because there's going to be more usage.
So that in itself, I wonder if that was taken into account
when you guys did these rates.
Lastly, many people don't know that this is coming,
I've talked to a lot of friends and they have no idea.
So I don't know if this, you know, how this got out,
if there was a good way to advertise this,
but I think you'd have a lot more impact
and a lot more people that would provide input
if they knew of this.
And when that gentleman talked about cost per kilowatts
and other States being less, I do have friends
in other States and you know what, I'm kinda curious.
I think I'm gonna go and pursue that too
and see what they pay.
Other than that, you know, we're approaching retirement
and we need to save money, and this is just ludicrous,
in my opinion.
There's gotta be another way.
Thank you very, very much.
-: Thank you for calling in, Ms. Lang.
I do want to reiterate that the purpose of today's hearing
is to hear from the public, and it's not really intended
as a question and answer session.
In terms of your specific questions,
if you would like additional information,
you could go to the Commission's website or SCEs website,
or email the Commission's Public Advisor
at public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov.
Thank you. -: Thank you.
-: Okay, Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Our next comment comes from D. Mullen.
Your line is open.
Dee: Hello, thank you very much.
The initial, D, Mullen, M-U-L-L-E-N, Norwalk, California.
And first of all, I would like to say thank you
for the opportunity to be heard.
And I'm going to give you my point of view, which is
that my husband and I are retired, we're on social security
and we've been retired for quite a while.
So our social security is not very high.
And we have been absorbing increases
in electricity rates for some years here.
And, you know, there are programs that were offered
where you can have certain times that you use electricity
and not other times, which didn't work out for us.
We did make every possible change with light bulbs,
turning lights off, not using the air conditioning,
using fans instead, every possible thing we could do,
and yet the electricity bill continues to increase
all the time.
And I can't see how, if a previous speaker,
I'm not sure who it was, spoke about an increase
of $43.00 over a period of three years,
that is something that would be devastating to us.
Even 10 or $12.00 makes a difference to us.
And the other thing that I have an issue with,
as a previous speaker mentioned,
is that we have no choice of an electricity provider.
It is a monopoly.
And that makes it all for the company
and nothing for the residents.
And I'm wondering in all the time that these increases
have been
in effect for us, have the shareholders been getting
a lot of income from this?
And during the fires, it seems to me after the fires,
they said that there would be payment
by all rate payers towards the loss from that.
How about the shareholders?
Did they lose any income during that period
or were they continuing to receive their income?
I would think that shareholders,
if a company has problems, they would have to also
have their income decreased.
So, at any rate, those are some of the issues that I have.
I know there are many retired people in the area
where we live and they're all feeling like we do.
That they just don't have enough money to complete
the whole month.
And actually I have looked into the program,
the discount program, and we have just slightly more
than allows us to be eligible for that.
So that doesn't work for us either.
And I thank you for the opportunity to be heard.
-: Thank you for calling in, Ms. Mullen.
Dee: You're welcome.
-: Okay, Operator, next speaker.
Lorraine: Our next comment comes from Lorena Garcia.
Your line is open.
-: Yes, this is Lorena, L-O-R-E-N-A.
Can you hear me?
-: Yes, we can hear you.
Lorena: Okay, well, my comments mostly,
about right now, during the pandemic,
it's just going to be completely devastating
to increase at all.
But I mean, as far as our employment income,
it hasn't really kept up with the times.
So just having it this increase is going to already
be devastating.
But now, as we, now with the pandemic,
we're all trying to save as much as possible,
and having any kind of form of increase
is going to hurt everyone inside of Southern California.
And also, this is a monopoly,
we need any other kind of electricity company
to actually be able to,
to buy into that one, or just shop around and look
for some other kind of electricity company,
but right now we don't have that choice
just because we only have Edison
and we can't go anywhere else.
So without any other kind of means to be able to shop,
I see $40 over the next few years, just being way too much.
-: Thank you for your comments.
Oh. -: Thank you.
-: Would you mind also spelling your last name
and providing the city that you are calling from?
Lorena: Oh yes, my last name is Garcia, G-A-R-C-I-A,
and I'm calling from Fullerton, California.
-: Thank you, Ms. Garcia.
Okay, Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Our next comment comes from Dumitru Damian.
Your line is open.
Dumitru: Hi, how's everyone doing today?
My name is Dumitru Damian, D-U-M-I-T-R-U,
last name is Damian, D-A-M-I-A-N.
Now I come from Hemet, California,
I am here on the phone with everyone,
to just let us know, some of you have noticed,
haven't seen the numbers.
I wanna say one thing.
COVID-19 put everyone indoors,
the first place that SCE wants to hit is residential.
So everyone that is without a job, in their homes,
they're gonna get hit first.
Second place that took a big hit from this COVID-19,
is the small business.
Now SCE wants to make the second largest increase
to all small businesses.
And the third place that's gonna take the hit
is your agricultural, and so on.
That being said, as you can see, in these times,
it is not the time to move forward with this.
The numbers need to be reevaluated
and to look at again the following year.
And that concludes everything I have to say for today.
Thank you again for this time.
-: Thank you, Mr. Damian.
-: Thank you. -: Okay, Operator,
the next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Next question comes from Christina Montalvo.
Your line is open.
Christina: Hello, my name is Christina Montalvo,
C-H-R-I-S-T-I-N-A M-O-N-T-A-L-V-O,
from the city of South Gate in South East Los Angeles.
I'm calling on behalf of my community because as I speak
to the members of my community and other advocates,
we come to find out that not many feel
that they were notified of the rate increase
or these phone calls, or how to put their public comment
or input in.
I hear some other people graciously saying thank you
for the opportunity for the input, it's our right
to give input, it's our right to give our comments.
It is our right to say and stand our ground.
Right now, all the utility companies
are financially raping us.
They're charging rates we can't afford.
Right now we're going through a pandemic, racial inequality,
unemployment, poor health conditions during a quarantine,
no less, where people work from the home,
students study from the home.
We spend more time at home.
I received
a notice saying that I have a 70% increase in usage
of electricity from last year,
I received another document that said 30% increase,
which I don't know which one to believe
because they're two conflicting documents.
And then the email that I received, all the information on
is over 10 years old.
So I'm wondering how many people have
or have not been able to update their information.
And then I come from a low income community
where I know most people can't afford internet right now.
They can't afford that bill
because they're unemployed due to the pandemic of COVID.
Then you have to think about too, our other population,
the elderly, retired, they're on fixed income.
They don't get more income to pay into the higher bills.
It's like squeezing lemon out of a dried lemon,
there's no more juice to give.
And then essential workers only get paid a BS wage
of a dollar or $2 or $3 more an hour
to risk our lives and safety during this time.
We have to go through curfews, riots, the pandemic
to get to work and back and we're only getting paid
a dollar more, and as soon as that ends,
they take that pay away.
And now if you want to go test to see if you have COVID,
you can't find a testing site because they're crowded
and there's not enough of them.
So I strongly oppose this increase, that $43.00 a month,
which comes out to $500 a year,
for a span of three to four years.
And I'm sure a lot of my other neighbors, friends,
and colleagues would agree that that's
a increase that's way too much,
that no one can afford to pay.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Ms. Montalvo.
Operator, the next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Our next comment comes from Cheryl Clancy.
Your line is open.
Cheryl: Hi, my name is Cheryl Clancy, C-H-E-R-Y-L,
Clancy, C-L-A-N-C-Y, from the city of La Palma.
I'm talking for seniors that have to stay at home now,
instead of going to the senior centers, which are closed.
They're at home, they don't know what they can do,
so they watch, my mom watches TV, it gets hot, she needs AC.
She needs to have a lot of, when she's home,
will have to wash her clothes a lot
because she doesn't know what's going on when she does
do something, so a lot of mishaps.
So the rate of the electricity of course is gonna go up
because my mom is home, she can't go out,
and she's at home and there's hundreds of seniors
that are home, kept safe at home instead of being
in the senior centers right now,
which are closed, and even senior living,
because of the COVID.
In addition, my child is going to college.
It's all gonna be at home online.
She's gonna be using that computer in the morning,
at night doing her homework.
So that's gonna take a lot of power.
Furthermore, I'm worried, like when I'm not working,
so every little bit counts.
So I'm opposed of this raising the money of our bills.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Ms. Clancy.
Operator, the next speaker, please.
Lorraine: There are no questions in queue at this time.
If you would like to make a comment, please press one,
along with spelling your first and last name,
along with your city and location.
-: Let's go off the record.
Lorraine: Again, if you'd like to make a comment,
please press *1.
-: Wait, Operator, one moment please.
Okay, let's go back on the record.
Okay, Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: We have Paminder Gujral.
Your line is open for comment.
Paminder: Yes, I am a repairer and I live
in Villa Park, California.
And-- -: Can you please spell your.
Excuse me, sir, can you please spell--
-: Okay. -: Your first and last name.
Thank you.
Paminder: First name, Paminder,
P as in Peter, A-M-I-N-D-E-R,
last name Gujral, G-U-J-R-A-L,
and I'm from Villa Park, California.
-: Thank you.
You may provide your comments now, thank you.
Paminder: Yes, I would like to comment
that California, based on my research,
has the third highest electricity rate of any state
in the union.
And because it has 50% of its electricity coming
from renewables, it has some of the lowest costs
of obtaining electricity on average,
therefore their gross profit margins
are pretty healthy already.
And any rate increases, especially of the magnitude
that they're seeking,
there should be a moratorium on rate increases.
And 'till the rates are about average for other States,
meaning their peers, who are in the same business they are.
So it seems to me, how'd we get here,
is because of these constant rate increases.
And now, not only the percentage of the rate increase high,
it is being increased on top of a high base as well.
So they should be forced into being more efficient.
And if they're worried about the usage
of electricity going down, in fact, it's gonna go up
because there's going to be a lot more charging stations
and so on.
So I think that there are just putting an unnecessary burden
on people and should become more efficient.
I have a couple of suggestions.
One of them is that the cost of electricity
that they say they're obtaining is at 2.4 cents a kilowatt
because that's what they pay me for producing from solar
at the end of the year.
So that's the lowest rate of any place in the world,
actually, I don't even know if it's true,
but that's what they pay me.
So, one of the more efficient ways of producing electricity
is that we have 10,500 schools in California,
each of them has parking lots and they should be covered.
And Southern California Edison does not have to do
that work or spend a dime on it.
They can have wholesale operators put those into effect,
and we don't have to pay for long distance lines
to come from the desert, which loses electricity,
which is another waste of money,
and then you have to maintain those lines,
which is another waste of money.
Let's produce the electricity first close to where
it's being used.
So efficiency is the key here.
Secondly, a lot of people
had their electric cars parked at home before four o'clock
and nine o'clock in the evening,
and their batteries can be hooked up to the grid,
and act for peak power production.
Right now we have gas utilities providing peak power,
and then some of them are operating at 5% of capacity,
and we're paying all the costs
of maintaining 5% of capacity.
And here with using the car batteries, they wouldn't have
to spend a dime.
So let's just get creative.
But if they're not forced to being efficient,
they're not going to be,
they're just going to justify a rate increase,
after rate increase, after rate increase.
And we really have to look at their peers
to understand what's going on.
How is it that they're some of the highest
in America when they have some of the lowest costs
of producing electricity?
Thank you.
-: Thank you very much for your input, Mr. Gujral.
Okay, Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Our next comment comes from Jeronino Flores.
Your line is open.
Jeronino: Thank you.
Yes, I would like to comment on the,
on behalf of the new home owners.
My wife and I, we're in our late thirties,
I think we recently inquired a condominium for our family.
And so, when I used to rent, we used to rent here
in Tustin, California, and it's on the same area
where we got the condominium.
We used to pay $56.00 for electricity.
Now our bill, as a new homeowner,
has gone up from one 180 to 214 a month.
The building where we live, it's an old building,
so it might require an upgrade on the electrical box
and all that, so.
So, with all these upgrades that we're gonna have to look
into the future, it's gonna make it very difficult for us
to continue to pay.
So the $43.00 a month increase on average,
it's gonna be really hard.
So again, I will think that,
you know, being the new homeowner,
there could be better programs for the people
that are working really hard and trying to make
a change in life.
So at the same time, we have a daughter that we have
to look after and we're trying to save in order
to send her to college.
And so again, having these 20.7 cents per kilowatt,
it's gonna make it really, really difficult
at the long run for us.
So, that will be my comments on that end.
-: Thank you, Mr. Flores. -: Thank you.
-: Could you please spell your first and last name
and provide the city that you were calling from?
Yes, so it's Jeronino Flores,
so it's J-E-R-O-N-I-N-O.
My last name is F-L-O-R-E-S.
And I'm calling from Tustin, California.
-: Thank you very much.
Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Next comment comes from Dimitri,
Demitri Burgess.
Your line is open.
Ms. Burgess?
Next comment--
Demita: I'm sorry, I had it on mute the whole time.
Anyway, yes, I apologize.
My name is Demita Burgess.
I live here in San Bernardino, California.
My name is spelled D-E-M-I-T-A,
last name Burgess, B-U-R-G-E-S-S.
And I am also a member of the Cope Organization,
we're a CBO here in San Bernardino.
And also I am also an advocate for TURN,
The Utility Reform Network.
My years being with this organization
has really brought a lot of things to light.
You know, that I finally realize how everything
is actually connected and what it actually means.
Overall, the United States, has probably,
the largest economy globally.
We have, you know, there's a lot of money made here.
And of that money, I'm sure the bulk of it
is actually profits.
Well, one thing is certain,
since this pandemic people have been stretched
out on a limb.
I mean, they are, you know, robbing Peter to pay Paul,
and it's extremely difficulty.
As most of the other respondents had commented on,
we're at home all day, we're using more utilities,
we're cooking more, everything is increasing.
The only thing that does not increase is wages
our livable wages, those don't increase regularly,
but on the other hand, there's a rate increase
what, every two years or a request for one,
we cannot afford to live like this any longer.
I understand, well how depression and other health issues
are connected with just our everyday lives.
It's very unfortunate, but I would hope that somewhere down
the line, people would really reconsider
to put people first instead of their profits,
because that's the bottom line.
They prefer profits over people.
And I just think it's, you know, unhumanized,
it's like nobody matters anymore.
People should at least have enough compassion
and understand that we don't have the money that they do,
not nearly.
So we're living from day-to-day, pennies at a time,
and we're trying to live as comfortably as we can,
especially households with children.
Nobody wants their child to go around,
well, yeah, our lights got cut off, or our gas is cut off,
'cause children do talk.
It is unfortunate and we need to do something
to be better about it, better as human beings,
better for everybody.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Ms. Burgess.
Operator, next speaker, please.
-: Our next comment comes from Will Cheng.
Will, your line is open.
Our next comment comes from Kelly Vanderlan.
Kelly Vanderlan, your line is open.
Our next comment comes from Christian Flores.
Your line is open.
Christian: Hello, my name's Christian Flores,
C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N F-L-O-R-E-S,
I'm a Community Organizer in San Bernardino, California
with In Congregations United for Change, ICUC.
I wanted to echo what Demita said earlier.
In addition, adding to, with my experience,
I am a 28 year old college graduate who has had to move back
in with my parents to help them with bills
because they are
disabled or unable to get work again
because of work related injuries.
And they are an older couple,
basically falling into the senior category,
who, despite owning their homes,
still can't afford to make ends meet,
especially now during the pandemic
with none of my other siblings able to help.
So, in San Bernardino, specifically,
we grew up not using utilities
because we couldn't afford it for most of our life.
And then that is an experience that I'm sure
is echoed by many families in San Bernadino
and the Inland Empire in general,
San Bernardino being an impoverished region,
city, and also a food desert.
So with that comes the danger of summer heatwaves,
specifically for all the people
in the aforementioned groups, seniors, disabled children,
who when exposed to that, in addition to the unhealthy foods
that we're used to having,
because our options are limited,
much like how we have no other option
as it comes to electric companies,
it all coalesces in more health related issues.
So I also echo that we need to express more compassion,
especially in light of the current pandemic,
and really be compassionate and choose people over profits.
I also wanted to highlight that I've read through
the public comments, the written public comments
on the website and out of the 500 public comments
that are able to be viewed, only three of them were not
in opposition to the rate increase request
because they were humble brags about having invested
in solar panels or requesting more information.
So, I just wanted to highlight that on record.
Thank you so much for your time.
-: Thank you for calling in, Mr. Flores.
Okay, Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: There are currently no questions
in queue at this time.
If you would like to make a comment, please press *1,
along with spelling your first and last name,
as well as your city and location.
-: Let's go off the record.
Lorraine: There is one question in queue.
-: Okay, let's go back on the record.
Operator, next speaker, please.
Bob Evans.
Your line is open for comment.
Bob: Thank you, my name is Bob Evans,
B-O-B E-V-A-N-S from Hemet and Inland Empire.
I'm a little nervous, this is the first time for me.
And I agree with everything everyone's been saying,
but I want to look at it as a different view for you,
the Commissioners, that the money that's involved in this,
this billion dollar company is asking for,
and I probably wrote the numbers down wrong,
so I'm sorry if I did.
But we're looking at 2021, of $1.2 billion increase,
2022, $486 million increase, which also in 2022,
that 486 million is added to the 1.2 billion
from 2021 for $1.686 billion in 2022.
2023, the 515 million added to the previous 1.686 billion
that they were getting in 2022, addition,
is $2.3 billion increase over the next three years.
I don't know what they make now, five, $6 billion a year.
There's a problem when a company gets this much money
and cannot manage it correctly because the infrastructure
is already in, this is for maintaining,
maintain things that should already be working,
and just be kept up, that six, seven, $8 billion a year
is ridiculous.
We shouldn't have to be calling into you,
begging for you to stop them from doing this.
This increase that they're asking for should be denied,
and also let them know that they're,
they must impose a 10, 15, 20% decrease
for everybody's billing,
and also let other utility companies know
that you make this money, make it work.
Get people in your back offices that knows how
to take care of money.
And yesterday, a gentleman had said, 1.5 billion
will be going to shareholders.
Well, that's just crazy.
That's just not right, and of course, they don't care.
They're probably listening and laughing
because it's money to them and the million dollar top CEOs
that makes millions of dollars
and the people that two or three, four or $500,000 a year,
I'm sure has shares.
That's how corporations work.
So they're making even more money besides bonuses.
So why don't you, Commission, that's supposed to work
for the people, tell them that this is denied.
Get better people working to take care of the books
to invest the money that you're already working in,
keep some in the bank, quit givin' it to all
the shareholders, and do a job like a business
is supposed to.
Stop coming back every year and putting it on us
because I've lived in Southern California most of my life,
and I'm old, and we pay for a living here,
probably the best weather in our Country,
and it keeps going up on everything as everybody knows,
it's ridiculous, it's uncalled for,
and there needs to be a stop to it.
And you, the Commission, are the ones that can do that.
For once, go in front of these people and let them know
that there will be no increase, manage your money,
keep money in the bank, stop giving big bonuses,
paying your shareholders, and doing all this stuff
that you do because this isn't monopoly for us.
I even had to put in a water cooler in my window,
can't run an air conditioner at all.
So at night when the sun goes down and it's summertime
and it's 110, 115 degrees, turn the swamp cooler on
to cool the house down to be able to sleep.
I hope I haven't talked too fast.
Thank you for your time.
And please consider this because
this is what should be done,
this is a moral thing to do, and the business thing to do,
make them do their job and use the money that they are given
to do what they're supposed to.
Thank you very much.
-: Thank you, Mr. Evans.
Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Next comment comes from John Montalvo.
Your line is open.
John: Hi, good afternoon, this is John Montalvo.
I'm out of South Gate, California.
And I'm here to oppose this.
The main reason is, I don't think anyone
in California should pay for incompetence.
They want us to pay for all of their mistakes
and they get paid handsomely.
I'm not going to go over the numbers right now
because everybody's pretty much said the same thing.
CEOs are making literally millions of dollars,
they're shareholders.
So when there's shareholders involved, the CEOs have to make
the shareholders happy, otherwise they're not doing
their job.
Hence they make mistakes, they want us to cover them,
pay for those mistakes, so the shareholders can get money,
and all these CEOs can get their bonuses.
I don't think any one of us should pay for that.
Especially right now.
There's thousands and thousands of people
that do not know where their next meal's
coming from, literally.
In my city alone, I think I read it was,
our unemployment rate was over 20%.
This is not the time for this.
It's almost like every year they come up with,
insert excuse, we need money for this,
and basically all it is,
just like the last caller said, it's a monopoly.
We don't have a choice.
The only people that we have is you,
you can put a stop to this.
If at the minimum, this year,
I mean, we're suffering out here.
Even a dollar is a lot of money right now.
I work at, I mean, I volunteer at Food Banks,
stuff like that.
I see people, I see what they're going through,
I see their struggles.
And increasing a utility that's monopolized right now
for the benefit of shareholders is not the thing to do.
It's not morally right to do this at this time.
It's not morally right to do it at all
because it really comes down to incompetence
of this company, and we shouldn't have to pay for that.
I mean, just alone, gas was going up like 50 cents a gallon,
I believe, that kicked in today.
I mean, they're just nickel and diming us to death,
and right now we just can't afford it.
We can't afford to pay for all the mistakes
that they've made in the past.
It's not right.
And you know, we're getting sick of it.
I mean, the only thing that really stands in their way
right now is you.
And I beg you, I implore you, to please do the right thing.
At least this time, stand up to them.
Tell them this is wrong.
Tell them to take a pay cut.
Tell all those CEOs to take a 10% pay cut, start with that.
Tell them to downsize their company.
Let them know what everybody else has to go through
in California when dealing with this COVID
that's going on right now.
It's not fair to everybody.
I thank you for listening to my comment.
I yield my time.
-: Thank you, Mr. Montalvo.
Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Our next comment comes from Maricruz Beltran.
Your line is open.
Mary: Hi, I want to thank you guys for opening this forum
and allowing us to speak, or be heard.
One of the things that I do my best is to stay on top
of not overusing electricity,
making sure we're turning off TVs.
I've even gone to the point where I disconnect, you know,
appliances that we're not using
to try to help to lower my bill.
And no matter how much I try, and how much I work
on trying to do that, I just can't get my bill to go lower
than what I'm paying right now.
And I'm under, I know that there,
Southern California has, you know,
fundings and programs for people who are low income,
but unfortunately I don't fit the criteria
or the brackets that they provide.
And I don't get that extra, you know that,
I fall into the category where I don't qualify
for some of those benefits,
but it doesn't mean that we're not struggling
to pay our utility bill.
And as a matter of fact, I'm constantly checking
their website to see how much was my use today
because if I went a little bit higher
than what I normally do, the next day, I'm like,
making sure that, you know, even if we're in the dark,
and it's hard because now we're at home all day, every day.
It's not like we can go out and, oh, well let's go
and just be at mall, or let's go to the park,
or let's go do some outdoor activities
so we're not home consuming electricity.
We're stuck at home, just like everybody else,
including yourselves.
And it's challenging, you know, because it's not like
we can say, oh, you know what, today I'm just gonna let
this bill go because if my power goes out, my food,
my refrigerator is gonna go out and there goes
our food supply.
So it's like, if I pay this bill, and it's a high bill,
then what's gonna happen with my other bills?
So I just ask, and I,
from somebody who is very careful of using
and mindful of the electricity use that I use,
and I'm still struggling to keep my bill low.
And I ask that you guys take all of these comments
that we're coming in here to express
to you into consideration before considering increasing
our utility one more time.
Like, it's hard, even for people who don't fall under
the categories of low income, we're struggling.
We really are.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Ms. Cruz Beltran,
would you mind spelling your first and last name
and providing your city--
-: Sure. -: For the record?
Maricruz: First name M-A-R-I-C-R-U-Z.
Last name is Beltran, B-E-L-T-R-A-N.
City is Bellflower.
-: Thank you very much.
Maricruz: Thank you.
-: Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Our next comment comes from Debra Mondovian.
Your line is open.
Debra: Okay, thank you so much.
And that was a nice attempt.
First name Debra, last name Manoogian, M-A-N-O-O-G-I-A-N.
I agree with a lot of the comments that have been said.
But I want to point out why are we getting charged
if we use solar or alternative energies?
Why are we getting,
having to pay for the increases to keep this company going
that doesn't seem to operate effectively enough?
And thirdly,
what will we get every time our power goes out?
-: Let's go off the record for a second.
Ms. Manoogian, are you still on the line?
Debra: I am.
-: Okay, I'm hearing a lot of background noise, Operator?
Debra: Yeah I was watching you on the computer.
Lorraine: The feedback is her computer is playing.
She need to turn her computer down.
Debra: Turned it down, thank you, Operator.
-: Yeah, if you wouldn't just mind muting maybe,
while (chuckles) you're on.
Okay. -: You want me to speak or?
-: Let's check in with the Court Reporter.
Is the Court Reporter there?
Reporter: I'm here, Your Honor.
The background noise you heard was her prior testimony.
I don't believe she had any more testimony.
-: Okay, so do you need her to repeat
or are you okay with her just continuing?
Reporter: I'm okay with her continuing.
And the last thing that I had her saying was,
"And thirdly, what will we get
"every time our power goes out?"
-: Okay, so,
let's go back on the record.
Ms. Manoogian, you may continue your comments.
Debra: That was it,
short and sweet. -: Oh.
Debra: And I live in Villa Pine Mountain.
I mean, I live in Pine Mountain Club, California,
and I deal with,
and we deal with a lot of outages.
-: Thank you for calling in today.
Debra: Yes ma'am, thank you.
-: Okay, Operator, next caller, please.
Lorraine: Our next comment comes from Kelly Vanderlan.
Your line is open.
-: Hello, Kelly Vanderlan, K-E-L-L-Y V-A-N-D-E-R-L-A-N.
I live in Claremont, California.
I am one of your solar customers.
I invested $16,000 about 16 years ago,
the state put up 10 grand also.
Unfortunately, after a couple of years,
my system did not work properly.
And for about 10 years, I really didn't benefit
from it much at all.
The good news is a lawsuit put a change to that.
A couple of years ago, I got an inverter.
However, in all those years,
the tree trimming never occurred, you know?
Usually Edison.
Any case, in regards to the company,
bills are pretty incomprehensible.
Real lack of transparency in the system.
Very difficult to understand.
It seemed to me, I worked with this a lot over the years,
16 years in the system, that almost every year
there was an increase.
The good news is that I'm no longer a high energy user.
We get these letters that compare us
to our neighbors with very little information,
but it makes you feel guilty,
and I'm no longer a guilty party.
Now that my system is working,
my family is no longer high energy users.
We're not suffering the way some people are.
I can't imagine how people are able to pay their bills.
One thing I have always surprised me, spanned for decades,
has been requiring all new construction to have solar power,
and we just seem to think that
we can get by with the system we have.
And obviously that isn't true.
I've done everything I can afford without going into debt,
sometimes I take siestas in the daytime
and enjoy the coolness at night.
We're lucky that we get cool at night.
Appreciate your time.
TURN organization is a great organization.
It lets people know their rights,
because actually we do have some,
so look into that organization, T-U-R-N,
and find out what your rights are, good bye.
-: Thank you for your comments, Ms. Vanderlan.
Kelly: Thank you.
-: Okay, Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: There are no questions in queue at this time.
If you would like to make a comment, please press *1,
along with spelling your first and last name,
as well as your city and location.
-: Let's be off the record.
Host: The feed for this streaming event,
brought to you by AdminMonitor.com, will begin momentarily.
Thank you for your patience
-: On the record.
The next speaker, please.
-: Mikel Berdad.
Go ahead with your comment.
Mikel: Am I online, can you hear me?
-: We can hear you.
If you could please provide your first and last name,
and the spelling, and the location you are calling from.
Mikel: Of course, good afternoon, Your Honor.
My name is Mike Berdad, M-I-K-E-L,
and my last name is Berdad, B-E-R-D-A-D.
I'm from DHS, Desert Hot Spring, California.
I really appreciate all
the effort and the help from Commissioner,
and as well as you, Your Honor.
My comment is that I think that people are missing
the main key at this point, the increase of the electric
from Southern California Edison is not gonna be
a fact only on that prospect.
Of course, it would be an increase on every businesses.
It doesn't matter what kind of business you are in.
The business people, the business man, the business woman,
who do not lay back and pay the bills
and watch SCE and pay SCE bills only.
When they see increases,
they increase their product and they increase the prices
on the product as well.
So this is a big problem.
And I agree with all the, most of the comments that
the previous people were making.
It is a monopoly and we don't have that much option of,
to choose, regarding the electric power
and which company can be used.
These companies, they have huge pockets
and they have so much money invested on this,
we know that, but they also earn a lot of money too.
It doesn't matter if you use solar panels, or generator,
or SCE, or DWP.
When they increase, everyone would increase.
That's a big problem,
especially with the COVID-19 that everyone are harming
and they getting hurt instead of the company come
and do not increase, and come back and decrease
the prices at least to show the good faith
and good face to the public,
to the people, to the poor people,
rich people, doesn't matter
because it does affect rich people too,
at the end of the day.
They should have decreased, they should not to increase.
And I hope they would realize that everyone would get hurt
through the respect of what they want to do
to increase the prices with electricity.
I hope that they can hear, very clear.
Thank you so much for opportunity, Your Honor.
Thank you so much.
-: Thank you for calling in, Mr. Berdad.
Okay, Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: Our next comment from Maria Paul.
Your line is open.
Maria: Yes, my name is Maria Paul,
and I'm calling from Norwalk, California.
I've been listening to all of these comments
and I agree with everybody.
We do have,
me personally, I have solar panels.
I don't struggle with the bills and with
not being able to make ends meet.
Fortunately, every month the bill is not high for me,
but the problem is that when I purchased this home in 2015,
I was suckered into buying the solar panel
through a healer program.
I cannot refinance my house because there was a lien on my,
on the house because of the upgrades.
And I mean, if this company is talking about increasing,
I am in debt for 15, 20 years,
because I will end up paying double the amount
of what the upgrades cost.
And there isn't anybody that helps us.
This company just went out, installed solar panels,
installed windows, and then all these companies disappeared.
We have no one to,
to reach out to in an event that we need repairs.
Fortunately, I haven't had those, any problems,
but even though I don't struggle with my monthly bills,
because they're very, very small, I am struggling
because I cannot refinance my home because of the lien,
I don't have $60,000 to pay
and be able to lower my monthly mortgage.
And like everybody says, you know, we do,
we don't struggle, personally,
but the cost of living is outrageous in California,
and for this company just to focus solely on profits
rather than looking at what every single household
is struggling financially because some people are
out of a job, not by choice.
So I do beg that we do not approve the increase
because of the struggle that everybody's going through.
And for Avaya people like me that I could've lost my home
if I didn't come up with that amount,
and I am completely in debt in order to be able
to make those big payments
every month.
So I don't struggle with an extra set of bills,
but I do struggle with making
those monthly mortgage payments because they are connected
to the upgrades that I have.
And with, you know, a lot of us could see it as, you know,
we got suckered into this not knowing what was gonna happen.
So please, I beg you that, do not approve the increase.
And that's all I have to say.
Thank you for the time.
-: Thank you, Ms. Paul.
Could you please spell your first and last name
before you-- -: Sure.
-: Go off the line?
Maria: It's, sure, it's M-A-R-I-A, first name,
and my last name is P-A-U-L, Paul.
-: Thank you very much.
Okay, Operator, next speaker, please.
Lorraine: There are currently no questions in queue
at this time.
If you like to make a comment, please press *1,
along with spelling your first and last name,
as well as your city and location.
-: Let's go off the record.
Lorraine: Again, if you would like to make a comment,
please press *1, along with spelling your first
and last name, as well as your city and location.
-: Operator, are there any additional speakers at this point?
Lorraine: There is one in the queue.
-: Okay, let's go back on the record.
The next speaker, please.
Lorraine: It was currently music.
There's no questions in queue.
-: Okay.
So at that point, I think that concludes all the speakers
who have signed up to speak.
I want to thank everyone for your input and comments.
I want to thank everyone for their patience
and waiting in line to provide comments.
Thank you also to everyone who took the time to listen in
on the phone or watch online.
If anyone would like to provide additional input
or comments after this hearing,
you may submit written comments on the docket card
for this proceeding, which can be found
on the Commission's website
at
www.cpuc.ca.gov/SCE2021GRCPublicComments.
If you need assistance with providing additional comments,
please contact the Commission's Public Advisor's Office.
Thank you, everyone, that concludes
this evening's Public Participation Hearing.
We will be off the record.