Public advocates call secretly  negotiated utility settlement “A knife in the public’s back  …” 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2-29-18 : Today, Public Watchdogs announced that it has filed a Motion for Party Status in the proposed ratepayer-funded bailout of Southern California Edison’s failed nuclear reactors

at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).

The motion argues that the California Public Utilities Commission’s pending approval of the bailout, which has cost ratepayers billions of dollars, is unlawful and violates Public Utility  Commission standards that prevent the  Commission from allowing a utility to charge ratepayers for useless equipment.

Under the deal points of the proposed settlement, ratepayers will never recover more than $2 billion in unlawful charges for failed replacement steam generators at SONGS.

According to Public Watchdogs Executive Director, Charles Langley, “The attorneys in this  case have stabbed the public in the back in exchange for a $5.4 million dollar payday. The other participants are also lining up at the  trough for easy money at the public’s expense.”

According to Langley, the latest settlement deal was once again secretly negotiated behind closed doors to prevent evidence of potential criminal activity and life-threatening malfeasance from being disclosed openly in public hearings.