PG&E;'s Monopolistic Efforts to Block Choice, Local Control, Climate Protection

PG&E; sold its monopoly to ratepayers in 1996 when it received over $10 Billion in ratepayer "stranded costs" bailouts for the privilege of customer choice. It received a second $11 Billion ratepayer bailout to take it out of bankruptcy in 2003. Given that PG&E;'s book value at the time was $23 Billion, ratepayers have literally paid the corporation its value in bailouts - not even including all the rate increases that continue to this day. With Prop 16, PG&E; would have taken that monopoly back, free of charge. Faced by efforts of San Francisco, Marin County, and dozens of municipalities in Northern California to offer their residents and businesses energy choices to which they are entitled by state law, PG&E; spent $46.5M to block them as the sole funder of Proposition 16. With billions of dollars of ratepayer bailout funds to play with, the nation's ratepayer bailout king used it to try and fool California voters by painting their Monopoly Protection Act in the rhetoric of taxpayer protection.

As the newspaper articles below discuss in detail, Prop 16 tested the raw power of money to buy the vote in California, and will also tested the political power of one of America's largest energy corporations to block all competitors and