To the editor: Sammy Roth’s column is spot-on detailing the issues of rate increases for necessary upgrades to the electric grid (“Wildfires are driving up California electric bills. Lawmakers need to act,” March 20). However, the question of who should pay conspicuously leaves out the one party that should be at the very top of that list: the shareholders of these investor-owned companies. He does mention that some of the past rate increases include a 10% profit for their investors, but never includes them in the discussion of who should pay.
These investors have been profiting on these companies’ negligence for decades and continue to profit from new rate increases that have new profits baked in, according to Roth. He talks about how the pain should be felt by all of the taxpayers that benefit from reduced fire risk but neglects the people who are profiting from rate increases. Seems to me that the pain should be shared with them first.
Robert Rosenblum, Woodland Hills
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To the editor: One needn’t read any further in Roth’s column to find the answer to controlling the costs of electricity. Per his column, burying lines is “a surefire but expensive way to avoid ignitions during dry, windy weather.” Once that investment is made, the issue of fires started by faulty equipment would be a moot point. Utilities like Southern California Edison should suspend shareholder payouts until their lines are buried so that their customers are finally saved from the significant collateral damage caused by their public safety power shutoffs, damage that SCE refuses to acknowledge, much less reimburse customers for their losses.
Bill Waxman, Simi Valley
