I take electricity for granted, don’t you? We plug in our phones and access the electrical world of the internet without considering the cost or where it comes from. Videos, lighting, laundry – the modern world runs 24/7 due to our mastery of this most mysterious natural phenomena named electricity.

It’s really quite amazing – this ability humans have developed to channel this force.

This blog is a place to laugh or cry, be amused or angered – but definitely be motivated to understand how electricity arrives to our homes and businesses and how we can get control of the currently out-of-control rate increases from our regional for-profit monopoly: SDGE.

I didn’t know anything about public power until a got an email – and then a phone call – from a friend asking if I would volunteer to help put a measure on the ballot to address the terribly high rates on our monthly power bills.

I learned how SDGE is an odd corporate-political animal called a for-profit monopoly and that we are being taken advantage of due to a lack of public understanding and raw political power.

Monopolies are granted an exclusive territory – protected from competition – and in the case of SDGE – instead of being a non-profit public-benefit operation – they get a guaranteed profit for building infrastructure that is allowed to be incorporated into the rates calculated in our monthly bills. Yes some “infrastructure” is needed but some choices are just being made to stiff us ratepayers and maximize SDGE shareholder returns.

What can be done? It’s a heavy lift, but with enough people, learning and telling others, we can prevail at the ballot. So please volunteer – donate if you can – and we’ll get it done.

And watch this space for updates and inspiration. We don’t have the support to implement comments at the moment so please send any to info@publicpowersd.org and put Blog Comment in the Subject, please.

—cdc