CALmatters Commenary: Utility ratepayers need an advocate, too
By Timothy Alan Simon, Special to CALmatters
Despite the demonstrated environmental and cost benefits or natural gas, the California Public Utility Commission’s independent Public Advocates Office has allied itself with the Sierra Club to eliminate the use of natural gas.
The Sierra Club and other environmental organizations have focused their advocacy activities on local governments throughout the state to end the use of natural gas in commercial and residential properties.
As I stated in my Dec. 3 letter to CPUC President Marybel Batjer, I understood the role of the independent ratepayer advocate to be a narrow and defined function of advocating on behalf of just and reasonable rates.