Boiling Point – "Electric Bills Are Too High. Here’s What California Is Doing About It"

Podcast: Boiling Point – LA Times Studios
Host: Sammy Roth
Guest: Matt Friedman, Staff Attorney at TURN (The Utility Reform Network)
Date: September 18, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Sammy Roth focuses on the urgent and complicated question of California’s rising electric bills. With 2025 marked by catastrophic wildfires, mounting climate impacts, and significant political horse-trading over energy bills, Roth sits down with Matt Friedman from TURN to dissect how the Legislature, Governor Newsom, and the state’s powerful utilities are responding. The discussion dives into recent legislative efforts, their implications for affordability and climate progress, and what everyday Californians can expect to see on their utility bills.

Key Topics and Discussion Points

1. The Context: Why Electric Bills Are a Crisis

• Wildfires and Federal Rollbacks: The year has been marked by devastating wildfires and a retreat from federal renewable energy support (00:29–01:30).
• Political Urgency: Two oil refineries are closing, and with federal help fading, California legislators burn the midnight oil to reach a fragile compromise on how to address both fuel supply and electricity prices (01:30–03:20).

Notable Quote:

"Legislative leaders agreed with Newsom on a series of bills that they say will keep electric rates from getting too high and add renewable energy to the power grid..." (01:52, Sammy Roth)

2. Who’s Who: The Players

• The Utilities: Southern California Edison, PG&E, and San Diego Gas and Electric (02:20).
• TURN: Matt Friedman’s organization, fighting for affordable utility bills with a climate focus (03:20).

3. Breaking Down the New Legislation on Electric Rates

A. Alternative Financing for Grid Investments (05:59–10:40)

• Traditionally, utilities finance grid upgrades with a mix of debt and shareholder capital—the latter being costly for ratepayers because it comes with a ~10% guaranteed profit, taxed and passed on to customers (07:24, Friedman).

• Securitization (Bonds): Legislators proposed using bonds to fund $15 billion in wildfire risk reduction, estimated to save $7.5 billion over 10 years compared to shareholder financing. Utilities lobbied hard against the plan, successfully shrinking it to $6 billion in the final deal (08:00–09:28).

• Savings for ratepayers are about $2/month instead of the $5–$6/month hoped for, but it's still meaningful (10:28–11:29).

  "The utilities require that those investments compensate their shareholders at a rate of return that's currently around 10%, but ratepayers also have to pay the taxes on that rate of return...effectively, ratepayers...are paying about 14%." (07:24, Matt Friedman)

  "At $15 billion of securitization...ratepayers would have saved about $7.5 billion over ten years...the $15 billion dropped down to $6 billion." (08:00, Matt Friedman)

B. Public Financing and Ownership of Transmission Lines (11:29–14:41)

• Transmission upgrades are forecasted at $60 billion over 20 years just for renewables.

• Public ownership (like LA’s municipal utility) means easier, cheaper borrowing than private utilities, potentially saving $3 billion/year if applied widely.

• Legislature established a “public transmission financing fund,” a small but significant first step.

  "Public ownership could save about 50%...if you were to finance all $60 billion of new transmission that's needed publicly, we'd save about $3 billion a year for ratepayers." (13:22, Friedman)

C. Wildfire Fund Extension: The Grand Bargain (14:41–22:45)

• Utilities needed a bailout on wildfire liability due to California’s “inverse condemnation” law, where they pay for all fire damages even without negligence.

• The 2019 Wildfire Fund—expected to last decades—was nearly depleted after the latest mega-fires.

• New deal: $9B more from utilities, $9B from ratepayers (paid via bonds after 2035); ratepayers’ surcharge is extended for at least another 10 years.

  "It would provide $9 billion from utility shareholders and $9 billion from utility ratepayers. So it's a 50/50 split of costs going forward." (17:32, Friedman)

• The bigger question left open: Should all utility-caused fires always be the utility’s financial responsibility? The bill orders a review, possibly opening the door to reform “inverse condemnation.”

D. Net Outcome for Ratepayers

• Wildfire Fund extension: ~$3/month increase for average residential customers (22:08).

• Savings from alternative financing: ~$2/month (22:08).

• Savings from public ownership: TBD.

  "We estimate that the costs of extending the Wildfire Fund are going to be about $3 a month...benefits associated with the $6 billion...are about half that." (22:08, Friedman)

4. Climate Credits: Changes to Utility Bill Rebates (22:45–28:04)

• Previously: All investor-owned utility customers got “climate credits” twice yearly (April/October) for both electricity and gas.

• Now: The gas credit disappears. All credits consolidated onto electric bills—intended to incentivize electrification—and shifted to the four highest usage months.

• Some concern this change may hurt low-income renters who can’t electrify as easily.

  "The gas credit is being eliminated...the credit is going to be provided to customers...in no more than the four highest billed months of each year." (26:58, Friedman)

  "Taking away the gas climate credit could end up harming low income customers disproportionately if they're not able to electrify." (27:21, Friedman)

5. What Didn’t Get Passed and What’s Next? (30:11–37:08)

• No replacement for expiring federal electric vehicle incentives.

• Proposals for inflation-capped rate increases and more direct bill credits were dropped.

• More oversight of utility spending and removal of financial perks for operating the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant are on the TURN wish list.

• A bill to make polluters pay (Climate Superfund) stalled but may return; Matt sees “polluter taxes” and possible statewide bonds as future funding ideas.

  "A lot of legislators would like to see more. It's one of the top issues...this response is a modest step in the right direction, but it is by no means a solution." (32:41, Friedman)

6. Utilities’ Political Power and the Limits of Reform (35:35–44:49)

• California’s investor-owned utilities wield enormous influence—major reforms only pass when utilities need something badly.

• Major crises (such as the 2000–2001 blackout) sometimes open political windows for bigger changes—otherwise, utilities’ power is a structural barrier.

• The argument that reining in profits hurts credit ratings and ultimately increases costs for everyone is “inflated” by utilities, who want to protect their business model.

  "Anytime they tell their investors that they may be able to spend a certain amount of money...if state policy reduces that by even a single dollar, that somehow violates some sacred bond...that's garbage." (43:27, Friedman)

  "You have to balance the interests of the investors of the utility with the interests of their customers. And customers have just been getting hammered and they're not going to be able to take it that much longer." (44:34, Friedman)

Highlighted Moments & Quotes

• Why this is politically urgent:
  “This year they were having so much trouble figuring out how to deal with all the climate issues that they actually stayed up past midnight.” (01:43, Roth)
• On what’s changed for the average customer:
  “We think that looks like something on the order of a $2 per month customers. Okay, so this is not a game changer, but it is meaningful enough...it was one of our top priorities.” (10:48, Friedman)
• Big Picture on utility influence:
  “If they really don't want something to happen, it usually doesn't happen. And the only reason we got some progress this year was because they needed this wildfire fund to pass.” (37:24, Friedman)

Timestamps for Major Sections

• 00:29–03:20: Episode and legislative context
• 05:02–05:59: Introduction of guest Matt Friedman and TURN’s mission
• 05:59–11:29: Securitization (bonds) for wildfire grid upgrades
• 11:29–14:41: Public financing of transmission lines
• 14:41–22:45: Wildfire Fund and the “horse trade” with utilities
• 22:45–28:04: Changes to climate bill credits
• 30:11–33:27: Missed policies and next legislative targets
• 35:35–37:24: Political power of utilities and challenges of reform
• 39:16–44:49: Polluter-pays, Diablo Canyon perks, and summing up

Final Analysis & Recommendations

Friedman grades the Legislature with a “passing grade” but underscores unfinished business. TURN will push for:

• More alternative financing for grid upgrades
• Stricter inflation controls on rate hikes
• Roll-back of unnecessary utility subsidies (like the Diablo Canyon fund)
• Expanding public transmission ownership

Both Roth and Friedman agree: There’s real progress, but real reform will take more political will or another major crisis.

Useful for Listeners Who Haven’t Tuned In

This episode is an accessible, expert walkthrough of California’s complex, high-stakes energy bill politics, tying together climate impacts, utility profit models, and the slow grind of policy. If you want to understand your electric bill—and why the fight for affordability is so tough in California—this episode is essential.

(Advertisements, intros, and outros have been excluded from this summary.)