California utilities use devious political marketing techniques to raise bills

Perhaps you have seen a Nestle corporation PR campaign touting their supposed stellar record on sustainability. The company calls its water–eco-shaped and claims it has 15% less plastic, and even asks consumers to recycle. The problem is that 98% of Nestle’s products are sold using single-use plastic, and the company produces 1.7 million tons of plastic annually. It’s hardly the eco-friendly company its ads purport it to be. This practice of deceptive climate marketing is called greenwashing, and we’re seeing a similar tactic being deployed by California utilities right now.

California has three monopoly utilities, PG&E, SoCal Edison, and SDG&E. We’re all familiar with their electric bills, which keep getting higher and harder to pay every month. Just as Nestle boasts its environmental efforts while simultaneously producing plastic, these utilities use similar gaslighting techniques. They hire high-priced PR and marketing firms to pull the wool over all of our eyes with a popular but insidious strategy we call “equity-washing.”

Simply put, PG&E and the other monopoly utilities tout policies they say are fiscally equitable for their low-income customers.  However, when you look at the details, they’re nothing more than a scheme to maintain profits for their Wall Street shareholder on the backs of working and middle-class families.

The best example of this is “income-based-fixed-charges,” which tack fees onto energy bills based on income rather than energy usage. When we first heard about the policy, we, like many advocates, thought, ‘Wow, a progressive tax on utility bills. Finally, wealthy energy hogs will be paying their fair share.” Boy, were we wrong!

When we looked closer at the so-called “income-based-fixed-charge,” we were flabbergasted. The policy was rotten from its inception. First off, the language was shoved into a climate bill at the last minute by monopoly utility lobbyists, and the Public Utilities Commission (which regulates the utilities) refused any public hearings on the policy. So, public transparency be damned.

Then, we read a letter sent to the CPUC from twenty-four progressive energy economists making the point that not only is the policy not progressive, but it actually hurts millions of families living in small homes, condos, and apartments. Families that rely on conserving energy to lower their monthly utility bills. In other words, California’s working poor.

In truth, the so-called “income-based-fixed-charge” is nothing more than a utility tax on the working poor and middle class.

To fight back against the monopoly utilities “equity-washing,” we have helped organize a coalition of more than two hundred and twenty grassroots community organizations, including the California Environmental Justice Coalition, the California Alliance for Retired Americans, The Western Center on Law & Poverty, The Center for Biological Diversity, Tenants Together, the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Foundation, Catholic Charities, and California Interfaith Light and Power­–all advocating for actual equity in our society and NOT the interests of some Wall Street-traded businesses like the monopoly utilities.

Fortunately, we’re not alone. California legislators are also exposing the monopoly utilities equity-washing scheme. Last month, Democratic Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin introduced AB 1999. The bill would repeal the utility tax. She was joined by a diverse group of thirty-five Assembly members and state senators. A complete repeal would be an appropriate outcome for such a regressive and deceptive policy.

We look forward to the utility tax’s repeal. We look forward to discussing the most progressive ways to lower California’s carbon footprint and, at the same time, lowering energy bills for California’s working families.

Here’s a hint. The answer doesn’t favor the interests of monopoly utilities that make tens of billions of dollars of profit every year and pay CEOs $50 million dollar bonuses. But the answer to solving out-of-control energy costs is one rooted in cleaner and cheaper Green energy. There’s no washing away that truth.

Ambrose Carroll, Ezperanza Vielma, and Francisco Moreno are leaders of the Coalition for Environmental Equity and Economics.