The Consumer

Advisor

p a g e 3

L i f e L i n e i n J e o p a rd y

p a g e 4

Window Installation

Keeping Warm

p a g e s 8

q u a r t e r l y n e w s l e t t e r o f t h e

u t i l i t y r e f o r m n e t w o r k , t u r n

Thanks to TURN, small businesses will no

longer be subject to draconian back-billing

rules, instead enjoying similar protec-

tions to the ones TURN has defended for residen-

tial customers. Back-billing often

occurs due to utility error or me-

ter malfunction, and can result

in huge, unexpected utility bills.

TURN strongly supported AB

1879, an effort by Assemblyman

Jim Beal to legislate better back-

billing rules that is now unnecessary.

“Huge back-bills can literally bankrupt small

businesses without a lot of extra cash,” said TURN

staff attorney Nina Suetake. TURN advocated for

the same limits that apply to residential cus-

tomers: three months in cases of utility error.

The previous rules inexplicably allowed utility

companies to hold small businesses respon-

sible for up to three years of

back charges due to utility bill-

ing or meter error.

“Deposits on top of those

bills were creating an addi-

tional burden for business

customers who were hit with

huge back bills and fell behind on payments,”

Suetake said. “Now, no additional deposit will

be required for a small business to restore ser-

vice in back-billing cases, and all deposits for

Back-billing often

occurs due to utility

error or meter

malfunction.

c o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 7

turningW I N T E R 2 0 1 0

P O I N T S

p r o t e c t i o n f r o m d r a c o n i a n b a c k - b i l l i n g

Big Win for small Businesses

I just can’t help cry-

ing every time I see

Rene Morales on TV,

at the CPUC, or in Sac-

ramento, talking about

the way her daughter

Jessica died. Morales has

been honoring Jessica’s memory by speak-

ing out about the 20-year old’s death in the

gas pipeline explosion on September 9 that

killed seven others, injured many and de-

stroyed scores of homes. Her bravery and

commitment are awe-inspiring.

At TURN, we are com-

mitted to making sure that

the engineering, staffing,

managerial, and regulatory

factors that contributed to

the explosion are fully inves-

tigated so that such a trag-

edy never happens again. It

is simply not enough to find

out why the pipeline sprung

a leak that ignited into a

fireball. We want to know why inspections

of that pipeline never identified the risk

of a leak, and whether safety is the priority

at PG&E.

Did PG&E have enough gas line techni-

cians with proper training and experience,

with adequate supervision and support,

when the explosion took place? Why has

PG&E failed to complete pipeline repairs

that customers were charged for? And has

PG&E redirected money from repairs to

management bonuses, including $5 mil-

lion to replace a section of Line 132 only

2.8 miles from the explosion?

TURN especially wants to know why the

California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)

has been asleep at the wheel when it comes

to its oversight of PG&E. We have long wor-

ried that the CPUC has been unable to fulfill

its duty to vigorously defend the public in-

terest because it is not independent enough

from the companies it regulates.

Why has the CPUC failed to levy a single

fine against PG&E for violations of natural

gas safety laws during the past six years,

even though PG&E was the number one

violator of federal safety laws? Why has the

CPUC failed to fine PG&E, or even open a for-

mal investigation, into the Rancho Cordova

explosion that killed a customer in his home

and injured three others two years ago?

At that time, federal investigators blamed

PG&E for failing to act on previous safety

warnings, but it isn’t clear whether their rec-

ommendations for changes to PG&E’s gas

safety practices were ever enforced.

On October 22, I led a national delegation

of consumer advocates to the National

Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Wash-

ington D.C. to deliver several

thousand petitions signed

by TURN members demand-

ing a thorough investigation

of all of the factors leading

to the San Bruno explosion.

Joining me in the meeting

with NTSB Vice Chair Chris-

topher Hart and Chief Pipe-

line Inspector Robert Trainor

were Marti Thomas Doneghy

of AARP, Olivia Wein of National Consumer

Law Center, and Charlie Acquard of National

Association of State Utility Consumer Advo-

cates (NASUCA).

The meeting was reassuring because Vice

Chair Hart made it clear that the NTSB inves-

tigation would be broad, looking at staffing,

management, maintenance, and regulatory

oversight issues. As a federal agency, NTSB

has the ability to conduct an unbiased in-

vestigation free from the influence of utility

companies who exert undue influence at the

state level upon the CPUC and the legis-

lature. But it will fall largely to the CPUC to

enforce its recommendations and sanction

PG&E if the company is found to be at fault.

The deaths of Jessica Morales, former

CPUC staffer Jackie Greig and her daughter,

and five other people are surely a wake-up

call to PG&E and the CPUC that more must

be done to put safety first. TURN will redou-

ble our efforts as well.

M a r k To n e y, e x e c u t i v e D i r e c t o r o f T U R N

Dear Consumer advisor; I recently lost my job and need to cut back on expenses, including my cell phone. Rather than

signing up for another two years when my contract comes up for renewal I’m thinking about getting a prepaid plan. are the great prices I see advertised for real? Is this a good way to save money? What kind of plan should I look for?

S I n C e r e L y ,

Bud geting

Dear Bud,

Prepaid is increasing in popularity and is

becoming much more widely available.

Like any phone service, you need to think

realistically about your needs — and read

the fine print. Here are some things to look

out for:

B E f o R E y o u B u y :

overages. When you go over your minutes, does the

phone shut off or does the price go up? If

the phone goes off, it should obviously not

be your only phone. If the price goes up,

how high does it go? Does the company of-

fer any sort of overage insurance?

T U r n S T A f f

e x e C U T I v e D I R e C T o R

Mark Toney

l e g a l D I R e C T o R

Bob Finkelstein

s e N I o R a T T o R N e y

Michel Peter Florio

M a N a g I N g a T T o R N e y

Bill Nusbaum

s T a f f a T T o R N e y s

Marybelle Ang

Marcel Hawiger

Matt Freedman

Christine Mailloux

Bill Nusbaum

Hayley Goodson

Nina Suetake

T e l C o R e s e a R C h D I R e C T o R

Regina Costa

D I R e C T o R o f f I N a N C e + o p e R a T I o N s

Richard Perez

C o M M U N I C a T I o N s D I R e C T o R

Mindy Spatt

o R g a N I z I N g D I R e C T o R

Ana Montes

C o M M U N I T y o R g a N I z e R

Kori Chen

o N l I N e a D v o C a C y C o o R D I N a T o R

Brianna Chesser

a D M I N I s T R a T I v e / l e g a l a s s I s T a N T

Larry Wong

e x e C U T I v e / D e v e l o p M e N T a s s I s T a N T

Serrita Teer

o R g a N I z I N g C o N s U lT a N T

Dwight Cocke

T U r n B o A r D o f D I r e C To r S

p R e s I D e N T

Carl Wood

T R e a s U R e R

Nettie Hoge

s e C R e T a R y

Bill Gallegos

Rochelle Becker

Richard Chabran

Carla J. Peterman

Thalia Gonzalez

Ingrid Merriweather

pointst U r n i n g Message from TuRN’s Executive Director

TUrn’S memBerSHIP neWSLeTTer

It is simply not

enough to find out

why the pipeline

sprung a leak

that ignited into

a fireball.

prepaid phone plansh o W T o D e T e R M I N e W h I C h p R e p a I D p l a N W I l l W o R k f o R y o U

Coverage. Are the areas you frequently call

included in the coverage area?

What about areas you occasion-

ally call? If no, what kind of roam-

ing charges will you face? The pro-

vider should have coverage maps

available so you can see whether

your areas are included.

Phone. Try the phone out before you buy,

and make sure it appears to work

properly and has all the features

you want. Who pays for it if it is

lost or stolen? Is there an insur-

ance plan and if so, is it worth the

cost? How much is replacement

cost? Can you return the phone if

you are dissatisfied?

Number Portability. You should be able to transfer your

old cell phone number to your

new phone.

Data Charges. If you’re going to be accessing the internet

with your phone, make sure you compare

the costs with other plans; some prepaid

phones with low rates for texting and call-

ing may have high data charges.

Adding Minutes. How easy is it, and is there a penalty?

Does your prepaid provider automatical-

ly add more minutes when you run out? If

you are using a credit card is it automati-

cally charged every month for the new

minutes? If you are manually going to

add new minutes what is the procedure

to do so?

Return policy. Does the provider allow a 30-day period

for returning the phone and cancelling

the plan if it doesn’t work for you?

Customer Service. Make sure you find out how to contact

customer service if you have a problem.

A f T E R y o u B u y :

Don’t get Crammed. If you automatically renew by credit card

each month, double check your state-

ment to make sure additional, unauthor-

ized charges have not been “crammed”

onto your bill. See page five for more

information on cramming by phone com-

panies and tips on how to read your

phone bill.

Don’t be afraid to complain. If you’re not getting what you paid for,

don’t understand your bill or have other

questions, don’t hesitate to call the phone

company and ask, and keep asking until

you get answers. Make sure to document

any problems, and write down dates, times

and details of any conversations with

customer service.

TURN members can contact con-

sumer advisor ana Montes through

TURN’s consumer hotline, at 800-

355-8876, or you can email her at:

consumerhotline@turn.org

san Bruno Wake-Up Call to CpUC

A S K A N A M o N T E S

C a p t i o n h e re b l a b l a b l a b l a b l a b l a b l a b l a b l a b l a b l a b l a b l a b l a b l a

THe evenIng’S feSTIvITIeS

gathered hundreds of con-

sumers and consumer advo-

cates at the historic Hotel Whitcomb

to celebrate some of the most im-

pressive consumer victories of the

past year.

guests were enchanted with

delightful musical entertainment,

a mouth-watering dinner and in-

spiring stories of leadership and

accomplishment on behalf of Cali-

fornia’s utility consumers.

Lawmaker of the year awards

were presented to State Senator

Christine Kehoe and Assembly-

v I C To R y a Wa R D s pa R T y

P H oTo 1 - L a w m a ke r o f t h e ye a r, A s s e m b l y m e m b e r

fe l i p e fu e n t e s

P H oTo 2 - C o n s u m e r l e a d e r s C a t a l i n a D e a n a n d r e v.

P h i l L a w s o n w i t h m a r k To n e y

P H oTo 3 - T U r n B o a rd C h a i r C a r l Wo o d a n d L a w m a ke r

o f t h e ye a r, S t a t e S e n a t o r K r i s t i n e Ke h o e

P H oTo 4 - S t a t e S e n a t o r m a r k Le n o p re s e n t e d t h e

C e n t ra l C i t y S r o C o l l a b o ra t i v e’s A w a rd t o e l a i n e J o n e s

P H oTo 5 - C o m m i s s i o n e r D i a n e g r u e n e i c h p re s e n t e d

D w i g h t C o c ke w i t h h i s L i f e t i m e A c h i e v e m e n t A w a rd

P H oTo 6 - C o n s u m e r Le a d e r s m i n i s t e r L . B . Ta t u m , P h i l

L a w s o n , a n d C h e r y l B ra n c h w i t h C a r l Wo o d

P H oTo 7 - m a r k To n e y w i t h e m c e e n ’ Ta n y a Le e

Inspiring stories of leadership and accomplishment . . .

TURN’s35th anniversary

member felipe fuentes for their

leadership on passing the ratepay-

er Protection Act.

TUrn partners, the Los Angeles

metropolitan Churches and Tender-

loin Housing Clinic’s Central City

Sro Collaborative received Con-

sumer Leadership awards for their

work to preserve protections for

low-income consumers.

Consumer activist Dwight Cocke

was recognized with a Lifetime

Achievement award for his stead-

fast activism on behalf of consum-

ers, peace, the environment and

human services.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

N o v e M B e R 1 9 , 2 0 0 9

When pamela called TURN

in October she was angry

and frustrated. She had

been disputing a PG&E bill for several

months to no avail. PG&E claimed that

she had not paid her

March or April gas bills.

Pamela insisted that she

had paid, and had her

check numbers, amounts

paid and the proof that

PG&E had cashed her

checks to substantiate

her claim.

Pamela spoke to a customer ser-

vice representative, a supervisor and

three different people in the Execu-

tive office. Although they verbally

agreed that she had indeed paid

the amounts listed on the April and

March bills, she continued to receive

letters from PG&E demanding pay-

ment for those months. In addition,

she had received three 15 day dis-

connection notices and two requests

to set up a payment plan — this after

she filed a California Public Utilities

Complaint through TURNs website!

Because Pamela had kept all of her

PG&E bills, she was able to review

them carefully. She figured out that

she had been under-billed for her gas

usage in April and March. Instead of

informing Pamela that a billing error

had taken place, PG&E kept sending

her bills.

When Pamela realized what PG&E

was trying to do, she fought back,

Pg&e’s Climatesmart is a rate-payer funded marketing pro-

gram that endeavors to convince

customers to pay a premium on their

electric bill in order to purchase green-

house gas reductions. Enrollment has

been more than 80% below establish-

ed goals, with marketing

costs in 2009 of appro-

ximately $500 per new

customer subscription.

Since July of 2008, the

program has lost over

3,400 customers.

Despite the tepid consumer response

to the program, the California Public

Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently

authorized customer funding of anoth-

er $5.6 million over TURN’s objections.

TURN said that further spending on

ClimateSmart is not only a bad deal for

consumers, it’s a bad deal for the envi-

ronment as well.

TURN staff attorney Matt Freedman

said that due to protections won by

TURN, “shareholders are responsible

for meeting minimum ClimateSmart

greenhouse gas reduction goals of 1.36

million metric tons even if the program

fails to meet goals through customer

subscriptions. At this point,” Freedman

said, “the only benefits to giving PG&E

another $5.6 million are the marketing

benefits to PG&E. No one expects en-

challenging PG&E’s right to back bill

her beyond three months for what was

clearly a company error. PG&E would

not admit to a billing error and contin-

ued to demand payment.

With TURN’s help,

Pamela was able to re-

solve her billing complaint

with PG&E.

Armed with the facts,

which are that PG&E’s tar-

iffs only allow the com-

pany to back-bill for up to

three months in cases of

utility error, Pamela stood up to PG&E.

Eventually PG&E backed down, and

stopped trying to collect for their mis-

take. Receiving accurate bills issued at

regular intervals is a basic consumer

right and it is PG&E’s responsibility

to establish and maintain accurate

billing systems.

small businesses will have new limits.”

Although the Commission did not go as

far as TURN had hoped in forbidding de-

posits to re-establish service and late pay-

ment deposits, we did win better restric-

tions on the size of the deposit, which will

now be limited to two times the average

monthly bill. In addition, deposits cannot

be charged when service is being re-estab-

lished after failure to pay back charges.

Small business customers are

customers that either:

n use less than 40,000 kilowatt-hours per

year or use less than 20 kilowatts at a time

(known as the energy demand) or use few-

er than 10,000 therms of gas per year; or

n qualify as a microbusiness under Gov

C 14837.2. “Microbusiness” is defined as

a small business which, together with af-

filiates, has average annual gross receipts

of $2,500,000 or less over the previous

three years, or is a manufacturer ... with

25 or fewer employees.

Suetake said that “in these difficult

economic times, it is good to know small

business can no longer be subject to the

huge, unfair utility bills the previous rules

allowed. PG&E, SoCal Edison, SDG&E

and SoCal Gas have 60 days to implement

the new, improved rules.”

rollment levels to change dramatically.

Every dollar customers pay for green-

house gas reductions under this pro-

gram means another dollar in profits

for PG&E.”

TURN recommends that customers

seeking to make a difference through

choices that reduce their

climate footprint take

specific energy reduc-

tion actions or purchase

greenhouse gas reduc-

tion credits elsewhere.

“Because PG&E will have

to pay for the reductions that haven’t

been purchased by ClimateSmart cus-

tomers, ultimately there will be greater

benefits to the environment if customers

buy offsets elsewhere,” Freedman said.

Freedman noted that PG&E failed

to identify any significant changes to

their marketing strategies other than

the greater use of social networking

sites like Facebook. Previous postings

on the ClimateSmart Facebook page

defended PG&E’s response to the San

Bruno explosion rather than promot-

ing greenhouse gas reductions. After

TURN pointed out the improper use

of the ClimateSmart Facebook page in

comments to the CPUC, PG&E deleted

the postings and the CPUC ordered

PG&E not to use ClimateSmart market-

ing for image rehabilitation.

TURN Urges Customers Not to sign Up for pg&e’s Climatesmart

N O B E N E F I T S TO E N V I R O N M E N T O R C U S TO M E R S

c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1

Consumers fight Back- and Win!

p g & e ’ s B a C k W a R D s

B a C k B I l l I N g

eventually Pg&e

backed down,

and stopped

trying to collect

for their mistake.

n Kill energy vampires — use power strips to turn off

electronic devices when not in use.

n Wash clothes and dishes in cold water instead of warm or hot.

n Dry your clothes outside instead of in a clothes dryer.

n Insulate your water heater.

n Plant shade trees.

ClimateSmart is a bad deal for

consumers and the environment.

green matters

Member support allows TURN

to advocate for affordable

and dependable utility services,

and to stand up for consumers

across the state as an independent

and unbiased voice. TURN’s effec-

tiveness is largely due to the fact

that we are not beholden to any

corporate or government funding

sources. In fact, thanks to the con-

tinued support of members like

you, TURN is the only independent

statewide utility consumer advo-

cacy organization in California.

plug In!T o s U p p o R T T U R N

easy ways to

cut back on your carbon

emissions include:

Readers of turning

points may remem-

ber that this is not

the first time PG&E

has failed to follow proper back-

billing procedures. In 2005, TURN

won refunds for customers who

had been unfairly back-billed in

flagrant violation of PG&E’s tariffs.

Thanks to a recent TURN victory,

business customers will now en-

joy protections similar to residen-

tial customers — see page one.

Kori Chen joined TUrn

in March 2010 as a

Community Organizer.

He is responsible for coordi-

nating strategies to involve

consumers in TURN’s many

organizing campaigns, as well

as providing both assistance

and advice to consumers

who want to understand their

bills, challenge unjust util-

ity company practices and

get easy-to-understand infor-

mation about valuable, mon-

ey-saving programs.

Prior to joining TURN, Kori

worked as a Community Or-

ganizer for the Southern Cen-

ter for Human Rights in Atlan-

ta, Georgia. His work focused

on empowering community

members to take action to

transform the criminal jus-

tice system, and coordinated

a successful campaign that

forced Sumter County, Geor-

gia to stop using predatory,

for-profit probation compa-

nies. He is a graduate of the

Movement Activist Appren-

ticeship Program (MAAP) and

holds a B.A. in Sociology from

the University of California at

Santa Cruz.

koRI CheN

staff bio

2 6 8 B u s h S t r e e t # 3 9 3 3S a n f r a n c i s c o , C A 9 4 1 0 4t e l : 4 1 5 - 9 2 9 - 8 8 7 6 f a x : 4 1 5 - 9 2 9 - 1 1 3 2 w w w. t u r n . o r g

nonProfIT

orgAnIzATIon

U.S. PoSTAge

PAID

SAn frAnCISCo, CA

PermIT no. 1083

B y m a r c e l H a w i g e r

T U r n e n e r g y A t t o r n e y

For many consumers high winter

natural gas bills for heating are

worse than summer electric bills,

especially those who live on the coast or

in the mountains. Historically we in Cali-

fornia have not worried so much about

heating bills due to our relatively mild

climate and lower heating bills. But heat-

ing costs (due to natural gas prices) have

increased in the past ten years. There are a

few things we can learn from residents on

the other side of the country, since consum-

ers in the Northeast states have much colder

winters and higher heating bills.

One of the common things people on

the East Coast do to reduce heating costs

is to cover windows with ‘shrink wrap’

plastic. You can buy this product at many

hardware stores for about $5 per large

window. The plastic sticks to your window

frame, and when you heat it with a hair

dryer it shrinks so it is almost invisible and

doesn’t block your windows. The down-

side is that you cannot open the window

until you remove the plastic in the spring.

But if you have any old windows that you

never open, consider applying the plastic

to reduce your gas heating bill.

k e e p Wa R M W I T h

W I N D o W I N s U l aT I o N

With your sup-

port, TURN has

had enormous

success in the past year. We’ve

won new consumer protections

for phone and energy customers,

defeated PG&E’s outrageous Prop

16 and saved California consumers

billions of dollars. Please use the

attached envelope to send an ad-

ditional donation, so that we can

continue to protect customers and

lower utility bills in 2011. We can’t

do it without you! You can also

donate online at www.turn.org

successM a k e 2 0 1 1 a N o T h e R

g R e a T y e a R f o R T U R N

g I v I N gS T A f f T I P