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Safety Through SPRING 2016 TURN’s 2014-2015 Annual Report QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF THE UTILITY REFORM NETWORK, TURN Mark Toney’s Letter PAGE 2 Donor Thank Appreciation You! PAGE 8 turnin POINTS g SAFETY THROUGH Accountability G&E mismanagement and regulatory laxity In related cases investigating the safety of by the California Public Utilities Commission Sempra’s management of its SoCal Gas and P(CPUC) were the main causes of the fatal SDG&E pipelines, TURN was also successful in PG&E explosion in a residential demanding shareholder neighborhood in San Bruno in “Regulators must hold funding for neglected main- 2010. After close to five years of utilities accountable tenance. Sempra tried to advocacy, TURN and the City of charge customers twice for San Bruno won unprecedented for the risk reductions testing the same pipelines, they promise, as cost- LEGAL DIRECTOR penalties of $1.6 billion to be since the company had THOMAS LONG paid by PG&E shareholders and effectively as possible” failed to properly record test applied toward fixing neglected results the first time. TURN — THOMAS LONG, TURN LEGAL DIRECTOR pipelines and replacing missing demanded that Sempra pay and inaccurate records. for the re-tests which were TURN’s victories in the San Bruno case, spear- only needed because of its own failures. But last headed by Legal Director Thomas Long, will hold minute lobbying pushed the Commission’s deci- PG&E accountable to higher standards in the future, sion in favor of Sempra, a decision TURN quickly and prevent PG&E from charging customers for the appealed. On rehearing, we finally won a just de- costs of its own mistakes. CONTINUES ON PAGE 3 TURNING Message from TURN’s Executive Director points Dear TURN Consumer 6. TURN staff attorney Hayley Goodson and TURN’S MEMBERSHIP NEWSLETTER Champion, organizing director Ana Montes worked to im- salute each and every prove low-income assistance programs includ- one of you for making ing CARE and LifeLine, assuring access to essen- TURN STAFF 2015 a banner year for tial lights, heat and phone service to millions of EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR I Mark Toney holding California utility eligible Californians. LEGAL DIRECTOR and telecom companies We will need your involvement in TURN more Tom Long accountable to their cus- than ever in 2016 to defeat the efforts of mega- GENERAL COUNSEL tomers! Your contribu- corporations to drain every last dollar out of your Bob Finkelstein tions, letters, and testimonials, in partnership pocketbooks. Major TURN campaigns to cham- STAFF ATTORNEYS with the small, but dedicated, TURN staff, have pion the rights of California consumers include: Marcel Hawiger won the following major victories in 2015: • Stopping AT&T from Cutting the Cord on Matt Freedman 1. Slammed the Brakes on the Electric Vehi- Home Phone Service: Christine Mailloux cle Gravy Train. Thanks to our new staff attorney TURN is leading a coalition of labor, small busi- Elise Torres Elise Torres, and energy analyst Eric Borden, ness, senior and consumer advocates to fight AB Nina Suetake we expect that California Public Utilities Com- 2395, a bill that endangers your ability to reach Hayley Goodson mission (CPUC) will have slashed the number 911 and your right to choose landline telephone TELCO RESEARCH DIRECTOR of electric vehicle charging stations proposed Regina Costa service (and DSL) if you want it. This bill allows CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER by Edison, SDG&E and PG&E from 60,000 to AT&T to abandon copper telephone networks Richard Perez around 10,000, slashing hundreds of millions of anywhere and any place after 2020. COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR dollars of cost to California utility customers. • Challenging Grid Expansion — What’s in it Mindy Spatt 2. Stopped CPUC Blank Checks for Public for Warren Buffet? ORGANIZING DIRECTOR Safety. Thanks to legal director Tom Long, and TURN is leading groups to protect state rate- Ana Montes staff attorney Marcel Hawiger, the CPUC is be- payers from rate increases that may come as a ENERGY POLICY ANALYST ginning to hold PG&E and Sempra accountable result of the PacifiCorp (owned by Buffet’s Berk- Eric Borden so that every dollar they receive for gas pipeline shire Hathaway) campaign to expand the Cali- ADMINISTRATIVE/LEGAL ASSISTANT safety actually gets spent on pipeline safety. fornia Independent System Operator into a grid Haley de Genova Thanks to years of work by telecom policy direc- manager for the Western U.S. tor Regina Costa, the CPUC will finally conduct • Fighting Unnecessary Increases in Your TURN BOARD OF DIRECTORS an investigation into the reliability of the 911 Monthly Bills: PRESIDENT Carl Wood emergency phone system. And General Counsel TURN is leading the fight to make sure that TREASURER Bob Finkelstein led the team that slashed SoCal SoCal Gas consumers aren’t hit with bills from Jeff Shields Edison’s rates by over $3 million! the Aliso Canyon gas leak disaster, and that SECRETARY 3. Protected Your Right to Affordable Home Northern and Central California customers are Constance Slider Pierre Phones. We know from your membership sur- not hit with a $2.4 billion PG&E rate increase. veys that the majority of TURN members rely Each year we fight off dozens of demands for Veronica Fields on home telephone service. Thanks to staff higher rates from all the major utilities, and each Dolores Sanchez attorney Christine Mailloux, the CPUC has year we save you millions of dollars. Kori Chen capped how much AT&T can jack up your rates We appreciate each and every one of you who Bill Nusbaum through 2020. has made a membership contribution or special Melanie Shelby 4. Unlocked Free Solar Energy in Your Own donation to TURN throughout the years. I also Backyard. Thanks to communications director want to thank our administrative staff, Richard EDITOR Mindy Spatt Mindy Spatt, TURN joined forces with Assembly- Perez and Haley de Genova, who process your member Patty López to win passage of AB 1448 donations and answer your calls. I invite you to EDITORIAL ASSISTANT that gives all California residents the right to use consider additional ways that a growing num- Haley de Genova clotheslines, even if they live in apartments or in ber of TURN members have chosen to support NEWSLETTER DESIGN communities with Home Owner Associations. our campaigns for corporate accountability and CAVECCHEGRAPHICS.COM 5. Turned on the Spotlight on CPUC Account- consumer rights, including our monthly donor ability. Thanks to staff attorney Matt Freedman, program and planned giving programs. TURN allied with Senators Mark Leno and Ben Hueso to win unanimous passage of SB 660 to end secret meetings between utility companies and the CPUC. We didn’t let the Governor’s veto stop us, and we have introduced the bill (now SB 215) again. Mark Toney, Executive Director of TURN PAGE 2 CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 2014-2015 ANNUAL REPORT cision that requires Sempra sharehold- ers to pay for the re-tests. TURN protested utility lobbying in the PG&E Gas Transmission and Storage rate case as well, where PG&E took a corrupt approach to its outrageous demands for higher gas rates, secretly (and success- fully) demanding that it be allowed to hand-pick the CPUC judge that would hear the case. After the improper com- munications between the CPUC and PG&E were revealed, TURN won a 1-year ban on PG&E “ex parte” communications – one we hope to make permanent with SB 215 (last session’s SB 660) – as well as a $1 million penalty at the outset, with hundreds of millions more possible in ANNUAL LEGISLATIVE AWARDS DINNER the future. “Safety and cost issues are inextricably TURN celebrated our 2015 legislative successes at Mayahuel intertwined,” said Long. “Utility compa- restaurant in Sacramento on January 13, 2016. Pictured are Exec- nies have a strong financial incentive utive Director Mark Toney and staff attorney Matt Freedman with to forecast excessive revenue needs in awardees Senator Ben Hueso and Senator Mark Leno, who suc- rate cases. But, despite utility claims to ceeded in winning widespread, bipartisan support and legislative the contrary, giving them more ratepay- approval of TURN’s CPUC reform bill, SB 660. Assemblymember er money doesn’t necessarily get con- Patty López received the Backyard Solar Award for expanding sumers the safety they want. Regulators solar rights in California by finally banning the ban on clotheslines must hold utilities accountable for the that HOAs and apartment buildings have enforced against con- risk reductions they promise, as cost-ef- servation-minded residents for years. fectively as possible.” EDUCATING AND EMPOWERING CUSTOMERS ith rate increases, ever-growing phone bills, and utility customers to demand safe, and afforda- companies constantly trying to get ratepayers to foot ble service. We provide platforms for Cal- W the bill for their mistakes, the prospect of maintaining ifornians to voice their concerns through access to safe, affordable, and reliable utility and telecom service public hearings, community meetings, and is becoming out of reach for many Californians. That’s why now individual complaints. TURN has organized more then ever, law-makers and utility regulators need to hear consumers to speak out at CPUC Forums, from consumers. In 2015, TURN Organizing Director Ana Montes and public hearings, participated in pan- was part of a delegation of 13 consumer advocates that traveled els with like-minded consumer advocacy ORGANIZING DIRECTOR to Washington, D.C. to advocate before members of Congress and groups, and held community presentations ANA MONTES the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for affordable across California, educating consumers and reliable access to phone and Internet services. The delegation about their rights, listening to their concerns, and giving them a brought powerful testimonies of TURN members, LifeLine sub- voice before law-makers.
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