On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission approved a rate increase that will affect more than 5 million PG&E customers across the state.
Starting Jan. 1, 2024, electric and natural gas customers will see an increase of $32.62 in their monthly bills. Electric-only PG&E customers will see a $22.20 increase, while natural gas-only customers will see a $10.43 increase.
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PG&E rates have increased by 92% in the last decade, according to a report from the public advocate office of the California Public Utilities Commission— helping make California residential electricity prices more than twice the national average.
PG&E says the rate increase will help the utility operate more reliably and safely, as well as keep up with inflation. It also needs to invest in more underground electric lines to reduce wildfire risk, company officials say.
That explanation doesn’t make things easier for customers like San Leandro resident Angelica Vásquez. A work injury has made it difficult for her family to pay their PG&E bills, resulting in electricity cuts, spoiled food and cold grandchildren. She’s not even sure they can afford to hang holiday lights this year.
“Am I going to tell them this is a Christmas without lights?” she asked Robles. “It’s getting harder and harder to live here.”
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New law, new union. California changed the way farmworkers can unionize this year, allowing card-check elections that advocates said would help them organize without fear of retaliation. The United Farm Workers told me last week the new law is already working — the state’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board just certified a new union of tomato workers in the northern San Joaquin Valley.
10 Freeway collapse: A massive fire that damaged and closed a portion of the 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles last weekend also destroyed a dozen small, immigrant-run businesses, the Los Angeles Times reports. Lawsuits allege their landlord owed Caltrans $620,000 in unpaid rent, but was still illegally subletting to the business owners at high rates.
A rally in support of keeping the maternity ward at Petaluma Valley Hospital open on Feb. 15, 2023. Photo by Crissy Pascual, courtesy of Chad Surmick, The Press Democrat
Maternity ward closures. Labor and delivery wards in California are closing at an alarming rate, leaving vast stretches of the state without maternity care. CalMatters reporters Kristen Hwang, Ana B. Ibarra and Erica Yee found that Latino and low-income communities have been hit hardest by the losses.
Arsenic in the water. A Bakersfield elementary school with unsafe levels of arsenic in its water system has been using a state grant to pay for bottled water for years — but that money is about to run out. The Bakersfield California reports the school district is among 300 public water systems across California that
lack access to clean water.
Suspending vulnerable youth. Experts warn that when schools use suspensions as discipline, students lose valuable instructional time they need to succeed academically and even later in life. In California, foster youth and students experiencing homelessness are more likely to be suspended than other students – which EdSource reports can lead to diminished chances of graduating and attending college, plus an increased probability of being arrested.
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Music therapy for farmworkers. Some of the Half Moon Bay farmworkers who survived a January mass shooting — not to mention appalling housing conditions before that — are using music to heal. KQED reports classes organized by a local advocacy group are teaching farmworkers to play the accordion as a form of music therapy.
Home care bankrupting families. The escalating cost of home
care for the elderly and sick is slowly bankrupting American families, according to a new report from KFF Health News and the New York Times. Those with longer-term care needs are more likely to drain their funds and die broke.
Trump’s mass deportation plans. First on former President Donald Trump’s agenda if reelected? Mass deportation of unauthorized immigrants, an unprecedented remaking of the country’s immigration and asylum system and an attempt to end birthright citizenship. The New York Times reports Trump advisors are crafting a “blitz” immigration agenda for 2025 meant to overwhelm immigrant-rights lawyers and carry out the former president’s promises to supporters.
Inheritance data explains inequality. The typical white family in the U.S has more than six times the net worth of the
typical Black family, and an analysis by the Washington Post says this is largely linked to the amount of money Americans inherit from their parents or grandparents. White people are more than three times more likely to inherit than their Black, Hispanic or Asian peers. And more than 60% of U.S. wealth inequality can be linked to how much those lucky inheritors receive, one study found.
Carrot boycott: Two of the world’s largest carrot farms are also the biggest water-users in the small, agricultural Cuyama Valley located halfway between Santa Barbara and Bakersfield. The Los Angeles Times reports companies and farmers who lease them the land drew the fury of local residents when they sued property owners and asked the court to draw up a new water allocation system. Residents are calling for a baby carrot boycott to fight back.
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Our California Divide team covers inequality in communities across California. What stories should we be telling? Drop us a line at inequalityinsights@calmatters.org.
California Divide is a statewide media collaboration to raise awareness and engagement about poverty and income inequality through in-depth, local storytelling and community outreach. The project is based at CalMatters in Sacramento with a team of reporters deployed at news organizations throughout California.
