PG&E's new lies

PG&E's new lies | October 3, 2001 | SFBG News
 		 		 		 		
THE PACIFIC GAS and Electric counterattack has started, and it's 
mind-boggling in its insincerity. The signs appeared on telephone 
poles this weekend: "No on F and I – too costly, too risky." The 
suggestion – that public power will be expensive and unreliable – 
is the same sort of nonsense that PG has come up with in the 
past, but this year it's particularly ironic:
 						
A utility that is in bankruptcy court, with billions of dollars 
in debts it can't pay and a plan to stick consumers with huge 
bills to cover the mistakes of deregulation, is claiming public 
power is "too costly." A company that hasn't been able to keep 
the lights on, meet basic service demands, or keep its plants 
maintained properly is calling public power "too risky."
 						
The truth is that the only costly and risky alternative is 
maintaining our reliance on PG. The record is about as clear as 
it could be: While PG's rates went up after deregulation, public 
power agencies such as the Sacramento Municipal Utility District 
and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power kept rates 
down. While PG customers suffered through power outages (and more 
outages are expected this fall), public power agencies kept the 
lights on.
 						
There'll be a lot more lies from in the weeks ahead. The company 
may be unable to pay its creditors, but it seems to have plenty 
of money to distort the truth about public power. And PG 
officials will hope that, without a presidential or mayoral 
election on the top of the ballot, voters who are angry over high 
electricity rates and bad service won't see much reason to go to 
the polls.
 						
But there's a tremendous upsurge in political activity in the Bay 
Area these days. The threat that the United States might soon be 
at war in Afghanistan brought more than 10,000 people to a rally 
in Dolores Park Sept. 29, and thousands more have shown up at 
other rallies, marches, and political events.
 						
There is, of course, a fear that the danger of war and the 
growing peace movement will take energy, money, and time away 
from the local public power campaign. That's understandable: 
people worried about World War III can easily forget that there's 
a municipal election in five weeks. But as Medea Benjamin, a 
founder of Global Exchange, points out in an op-ed on this page, 
there's a very real connection between the crisis in the Middle 
East and the fact that California relies on fossil fuels for much 
of its electricity generation.
 						
So when the slick fliers attacking public power start showing up 
in your mailbox, remember who's paying for them. And remember 
that San Francisco is poised to lead the country into energy 
independence – so join the campaign for Proposition F and Measure 
I (see "Countdown to public power"), talk up the issue at every 
rally and event, and on Nov. 6, get out and vote.
 						
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