Summary
[Peter Darbee] conferred with PG&E Vice President Nancy McFadden and Prop. 16 was born. The June election "seemed more favorable" than a November ballot, Darbee told investors. "As the time approached, it also occurred to us that people aren't very pleased with the job that government is doing these days in general, you know, across the board," an outlook PG&E capitalizes on repeatedly in television and print ads.
Mindy Spatt, communications director at TURN, The Utility Reform Network, echoes [Paul Fenn]'s outrage. Her language is less salty but just as charged. She says it's absurd for PG&E to talk about protecting the democratic process for ratepayers and residents."! am a PG&E customer. I got no chance to vote on Darbee's $10 million pay package. I didn't vote on their $9 billion bailout, and I don't vote on rate hikes. For PG&E to present itself as somehow being a bastion of democracy is absurd. Customers have far more input into public power than they do with PG&E."After the Enron-era energy debacle and deregulation chaos, PG&E went bust and sought that $9 billion in public money. "For PG&E to keep talking about risks [of public-power plans] is absurd," says Spatt. "No public-power entity has received a dime in bailout money, yet PG&E received $9 billion."See the full content of this document
Extract
Shock and Awful
When Marin Clean energy flipped the switch May 7 to send electricity flowing to the first community choice aggregation customers in the state, PG&E was ratcheting up its attack on local-power initiatives with a June 8 ballot measure that's a cynical dagger aimed at the heart of community choice.
PG&E is running wall-to-wall television ads in which an attractive, mild-looking woman looks earnestly into the camera and says The Taxpayers Right to Vote Act will protect California residents from dangerous politicians eager to usurp their democratic rig...See the full content of this document
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