Michelle Carrillo urged her neighbors to gear up for a fight against a Pacific Power proposal to increase electricity rates for its California customers by 57%.
One of six residents to speak before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Carrillo pointed to the Portland-based utility’s settled-upon 0.3% rate increase for Oregon customers and noted that Del Norte “is not that different.”
“I’ve lived and run our farm for the last six years on our property in Smith River. Our worst power bill was around $400 a month,” Carrillo said, mentioning a 17.5% rate increase that came about in 2023. “After the fires and the increase, our power bill went up to $1,000. And we have done everything, I went around with a meter and found every way to be efficient ‘cause we can’t afford that, and we’ve got our bill right now to around $550.”
According to its application filed with the California Public Utilities Commission on Friday, Pacific Power is seeking to increase electricity rates for roughly 46,000 customers in California by about $103.4 million, or 57%. The utility is asking that the rate increases take effect on Jan. 1.
On its website, the utility states that the 57% increase in customer rates would be offset by a 14% decrease in rates that will also take effect on Jan. 1. The increase is necessary to meet higher costs associated with wildfire risk, Pacific Power states.
On its website, Pacific Power points to installing more than 300 miles of reinforced covered power lines and replacing 7,000-plus wooden power poles with steel or fiberglass structures.
“Pacific Power has not had a general rate increase in California since 2023, so this covers three years of investments made during a period of heightened wildfire risk and system strengthening to help California communities,” the utility stated.
Two days after the utility filed its general rate case, District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey aired her concerns about the proposed rate increase on her Facebook page. On Tuesday, she urged her colleagues to invite Pacific Power representatives to Del Norte County to tell their customers why a 57% rate increase is necessary.
She said she also wanted the county to formally participate in CPUC’s review process and to explore options to collaborate with officials in Siskiyou, Modoc and parts of Shasta counties whose electricity rates would also increase.
“I want to request that the CPUC hold a participation hearing here in Del Norte County,” Starkey told her colleagues. “That would allow all of you an opportunity to come and have your voices heard before they make the decision on that rate increase.”
Starkey said the county’s formal participation in the regulatory process may include submitting comments or becoming formal parties to the CPUC proceeding. She asked County Counsel Jacqueline Roberts to help guide the Board as it makes a decision about how it wants to participate.
Starkey’s comments during her Board report echoed an opinion piece Klamath resident and newly-elected Del Norte County Unified School District Trustee Brie Fraley wrote for Redwood Voice Community News on Monday.
In her piece, Fraley, who was a CPUC official briefly under the Newsom administration, said that obtaining party status would allow Del Norte County to receive ongoing notices and filings. The county could present evidence of how the economic impacts that come with the proposed rate increase, she wrote, and could directly challenge Pacific Power.
On Tuesday, Fraley referred to Pacific Power as an outlier among the other utilities that supply California residents with electricity. According to her, the CPUC considers Pacific Power irrelevant despite how huge a corporation they are elsewhere.
“I would also recommend reaching across into the State of Oregon to have discussions with understanding how they settled on that 0.3% rate increase,” Fraley said. “And question why they put the burden on the most rural communities in Northern California, including Modoc, Shasta, us and Siskiyou. Also, I would like to see a caucus of those counties come together and have the same position.”
Eva Lopez, SEIU 1021 vice president, pointed out that for many residents a 57% increase may mean choosing between buying groceries or filling their prescriptions or paying for electricity. For those who depend on well water, electricity is essential to keeping their taps flowing, she said.
Lopez also mentioned the efforts the county has taken to address employee salaries.
“An (electricity bill) increase of this size effectively negates those gains,” she said. “Electricity is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.”
To view information about Pacific Power’s proposed 2027 electricity rate increase click here. To communicate with the CPUC Public Advisor’s Office, email public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov.
