Kern County supervisors want your support as they try to find alternatives to PG&E for rate-weary residents in Kern.
At a meeting Tuesday supervisors decided to put an advisory measure on the November ballot asking for input.
A PG&E representative came to town Tuesday to address customers' and supervisors' concerns over what many claim is an unfair rate tier system.
The Kern Taxpayers Association made a presentation to county supervisors last week that triggered a bit of a firestorm. The presentation showed that PG&E customers who fall into usage tiers three, four and five pay higher rates to offset users in tiers one and two whose rates are frozen.
Supervisors discussed an election measure for the June ballot, but on Tuesday a different PG&E representative was in town, hoping to persuade supervisors to slow down.
"I think the best alternative will be to stay with PG&E," said PG&E representative Tom Bottorff. "I think we'll demonstrate that with the proposals we're filing with the PUC."
He confirmed that tier three, four and five customers subsidize lower tiers because of a rate freeze for tiers one and two almost a decade ago. Bottorff said the company agrees, the enormous subsidizing needs to stop. "The rate structure needs to change," said Bottorff.
Bottorff announced proposals he says will lower energy rates significantly for those in high usage tiers by next year, possibly setting the top rate at 30-cent per kilowatt hour, instead of the current 48-cents.
"That's a great first step. It doesn't get us to where we need to be two years from now and three years for now, but they can't commit down that far down the road," said Turnipseed with KernTax.
"They are taking our dollars to the tune of 36 million and funding an initiative to make it more difficult to take out future into our own hands," said Supervisor Michael Rubio said about Proposition 16.
The proposition will be on your June ballot. If passed it would mean a city would need a super majority, two-thirds vote, in order to establish their own utilities district, or break away from PG&E. Currently the action only requires a simple majority or 55-percent. PG&E is a huge supporter of Proposition 16.
Supervisors voted Tuesday to put an advisory on the November ballot asking for support as they look into other options besides PG&E. In the meantime, they asked staff to go ahead and start researching options.
