The five members of the California Public Utilities Commission make hundreds of decisions each year that affect Southern Californians, including determining how much most pay for electricity and natural gas and deciding whether phone companies need to offer landlines.
In the months ahead, the commission will consider raising electric rates in the wake of the devastating Eaton fire. Videos captured the inferno igniting Jan. 7 under one of Southern California Edison’s transmission towers in Eaton Canyon. Edison has asked for an increase of more than 2%, which it said was needed to bolster Wall Street’s view of its financial health after the Los Angeles wildfires.
Yet none of the five commissioners lives in Southern California, where Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric alone serve almost 19 million people — nearly half the state’s population…