Jan. 23, 2026 8 AM PT
To the editor: In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom handed AB 1054 to bail out Pacific Gasoline & Electrical from paying damages for the Camp fireplace (“Wildfire victims decry state law protecting utilities from cost of disasters they cause,” Jan. 16). In 2025, Newsom snuck language into SB 254 to bail out Southern California Edison for the Eaton fireplace. Now, working Californians are paying billions of {dollars} to cowl the price of fires that these non-public “public” utilities prompted or may need prompted.
The executives of SoCal Edison and PG&E care solely about maximizing earnings at each flip. We won’t survive local weather disasters if this technique continues. That utilities are commodities bought on the non-public market and never a human proper is precisely why we’re on this scenario within the first place.
Politicians like Newsom advocate for personal markets that depend on “competitors” to maintain prices low. However when these billion-dollar industries fail by means of their very own dangerous, exploitative practices, they obtain a bailout.
If Newsom truly believes in free market competitors as a gold commonplace for decreasing prices, then why is he bailing out PG&E and SoCal Edison? An organization that wants fixed stabilization and mandated influxes of money from customers just isn’t actually competing freely in any respect.
As local weather change progresses, disasters turn into extra possible for all of us. We want utilities; we don’t want utility corporations. If Californians need to survive a warming local weather, we should set up public utilities so that everybody can have their wants met, and we will defend ourselves and our planet from future disasters.
Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas, Alhambra
