Letters to the Editor

September 21
My family lives in El Cajon. We love our community but are punished for living here by crushing monthly
electric bills. Last month, I paid $1,000 to SDG&E. I am one of those people that pays 75 percent more than
what it costs them to serve me. Why? Because of a rate system put in place by Sacramento in 2001 that
was meant to protect low-income people. Well, there are thousands of East County low-income people
who are victimized, not helped, by this system. They and all renters dont have the luxury of going solar to
escape artificially high rates that wipe out their family incomes like a monthly tsunami. Its time for the
CPUC to protect the families of the East County with fair rates.
Renae Arabo
El Cajon

ELECTRICITY RATE SYSTEM MUST BE FIXED
September 17

My wife and I read the piece Hundreds of thousands of customers are paying more than they should for
electricity, (Sept. 14) with great interest.
Our bill for our 2,200-square-foot all-electric home last month was $503. The months before were similar.
Weve turned off everything that we can. Weve had SDG&E come out and help us with an energy
efficiency assessment. Still, month after month, our bills are ridiculous.
Like many others, air conditioning when its 100-plus degrees outside is not optional. But air conditioning is
not why our bills are huge. Its because, like all high-use customers, we are charged 75 percent more than
what it costs SDG&E to provide us with electricity under a very broken rate system.
We should pay for what we use no doubt about it. But this insane rate system forces SDG&E to unfairly
charge us and thousands of others 75 percent more than we should be charged. It needs to be fixed by the
California Public Utilities Commission immediately.
Michael Brunker
San Diego









Letters to the Editor


Dear Editor:

Im a low-use electricity customer who understands the current energy rate system is inequitable. Just look at
the facts. Higher-use customers pay substantially more than it costs to serve them, while lower-use
customers pay much less than the actual cost of service.

Conservation is important, but some customers are unable to reduce their electricity use. It would be virtually
impossible to spend a summer without air conditioning in East County, for example. The recent heatwave
shows higher energy use is unavoidable for many families. Something must be done to create fair energy
rates for everyone or the entire system is going to fall apart.

Sincerely,

Sharon Bernie-Cloward
San Diego



Letters to the Editor

Re: Hearings set for next week on SDG&Es plan for fixed fees

Residential energy rate reform is a critical issue with implications for all San Diegans. The current rates for higher-
use customers are more than double the rates for lower-use customers, and the disparity is only getting worse.

This imbalance is troubling to me as a resident and business owner. I am concerned that as the inequity continues to
grow, cost increases will become too burdensome for residential customers and will spill over into commercial and
industrial rates. Thats bad for our economy and will have ripple effects that impact residents as well as businesses.

I hope the California Public Utilities Commission will move quickly to adopt a long-term solution to this problem.

Ed Plant
San Diego