The people. They’ve taken a beating lately. The Supreme Court ruling. Stalled health care reform. Now, your lights. And your television and your vintage toaster, too, if California’s utility provider, Pacific Gas and Electric has its way. You see, PG&E has spent millions of dollars trying to make sure that they are the only game in town when it comes to electricity. Not only do they want to maintain control over their current holdings, but they want to make it nearly impossible for communities to take control of their electricity at any point in the future. The vehicle for their utility dominance is Proposition 16, a ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to prevent municipalities from forming their own public utilities without a 2/3 majority. The vote is a bit of a ways off (June 2010), but it’s important to get the word out now. Because if they win, and Proposition 16 passes, it will be bad for everyone.
Why is PG & E so interested in a statewide ballot initiative, you ask, if they already have a monopoly in California? Like any business, they are worried about losing customers. Rate hikes, poor customer service, and numerous black outs–these things tend to create an unfavorable impression in people. But rather than fix the problems and make people happy, they decided that it would be better to just prevent the people from having any say in the matter at all.
PG & E has spent millions in the past decades defeating local ballot initiatives, including Prop H in San Francisco, and the SMUD Yolo County annexation. Misinformation campaigns are costly, though, and fighting each community individually with mountains of lies can really drain the coffer after a while. So, the brains behind the shoddy electricity came up with a new plan: why not amend the constitution statewide, and make it nearly impossible for municipalities to make their own decisions regarding electricity?
Enter Proposition 16. Its key provision is a measure requiring communities to reach a two thirds majority before joining an existing public utility or extending public electricity to a newly annexed area. In essence, by setting the threshold at two thirds majority, the measure would effectively eliminate the possibility of community centered decision making.
Communities should have the right to make their own decisions about power, the PG & E ads will surely say, when the time for ads eventually comes. As we all know, corporations are known for nothing if not their concern for the plight of the masses. These ads will be motivated purely by the utility giant’s altruism, to be sure. The people behind this measure will tell you that it’s up to the people to decide who controls the decision making process. The people, the people! They must have a say.
But passage of Prop Sixteen would all but eliminate the possibility of real choice. Requiring a two thirds majority places an unreasonable burden on voters. It’s almost impossible to get a two thirds majority on anything. Nothing will change.
And that’s what PG & E really wants: a constitutionally guaranteed monopoly.
California is often the bellweather, and you can bet that corporations around the country will keep a close eye on this as it heats up. They sure would like to have a constitutionally protected monopoly, too. The measure, if passed, could set a precedent followed nationwide as corporations try to cement their stranglehold over every level of governance in this country.
Let’s hope it doesn’t pass.
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After living a quasi-nomadic life which began in South Carolina, Corey went to Europe and traveled across a good part of the East Coast, before settling into the Bay Area with his family. He is finding the location quite agreeable. It is likely that the nomadic lifestyle will end. A writer and an activist, Corey draws from years of private sector and nonprofit experience to write about the environment, foreign policy, fair trade, and anything else that should be talked about more but isn't.
