SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - SDG&E may seek to recover nearly half a billion dollars in the cost of the 2007 wildfires with a rate hike, but the Utility Consumers' Action Network, a consumer watchdog group known as UCAN, is fighting to prevent the increase.
UCAN attorney David Peffer told News 8, "This is an unprecedented rate hike. It's something that will harm San Diego families," adding, "One of the ironic things about this, is SDG&E caused these fires that burned down over a thousand homes, and it's now asking ratepayers, including some of the people who lost their homes, to pay for some of the damage they caused. This is completely unfair."
SDG&E is looking to recover an estimated 460-million dollars, and UCAN predicts the average customer will end up paying more than 350 dollars. Peffer said, "San Diegans already pay some of the highest rates in the country for electricity. At the same time, Sempra Energy, SDG&E's parent company, is one of the most profitable utilities out there."
SDG&E spokesperson Stephanie Donovan says the company would try to spread out the costs over time. Donovan told News 8, "What we would hope to do is keep it down to a couple dollars a month, so it wouldn't be a huge hit to any of our customers." She adds, it's the cost of doing business-- The company is required to provide service to everyone, even in the higher risk backcountry areas, and is always the liable party.
Donovan said, "It doesn't matter if it's an earthquake, if it's a car into a pole, if it's an act of God. If it is our pipes and power lines that caused the problem, caused the damage, then we are responsible for paying the people who suffered that damage, and that is because the courts have ruled we can recover those costs through rates."
On Thursday, SDG&E will meet with regulators to talk about establishing an administrative process to keep track of the costs from the wildfires, but SDG&E says it has not officially made a request for a rate hike just yet. When the official request is made, SDG&E says there will be a number of public participation hearings so customers can have their say.
