Supervisor Robert Rickman wants San Joaquin County to back  legislation in Sacramento aimed at addressing runaway PG&E bills.

The supervisor also wants the county to pursue a community choice aggregation for retail electricity within its jurisdiction outside of cities.

It can ultimately provide lower rates by bypassing PG&E as the retail provider.

He noted the South San Joaquin Irrigation District was approved a decade ago by the Local Area Formation Commission to be the retail provider for Ripon, Manteca, and Escalon but PG&E sued.

The SSJID prevailed in getting its eminent domain lawsuit back on track with an assigned trial date of June 23, 2025 in San Joaquin County Superior Court.

The SSJID takeover would reduce electricity costs 15 percent across the board in its first year within its district boundaries that include Manteca Ripon, and Escalon..

Rickman, who represents Ripon and rural south Manteca along with Tracy and Mountain House on the Board of Supervisors, is pushing for county action at Tuesday’s meeting.

It comes on the heels of the California Public Utilities Commission granted PG&E its fourth rate increase in the past 365 days.

Rickman noted the latest rate increase comes as PG&E’s third quarter profits ballooned by 28.1 percent from the same period a year before to reach $520 million.

Meanwhile, data shows PG&E rates have increased 54 percent since 2020.

Rickman, in a letter to the board, listed numerous steps the county and its residents have taken to reduce energy consumption that has ended up not blunting the impact of PG&E bills on struggling households.

“PG&E has failed to meet its stated core mission of providing safe, reliable, affordable, and clean energy,” Rickman pointed out in the letter.

Rickman also contends the CPUC has failed to meet its mission that requires it  to assure “consumers have safe, reliable utility service at reasonable rates .  . . (and promote) the health of California’s economy.”

As such Rickman noted:

*The CPUC has failed to hold PG&E accountable.

*It is clear the system is broken.

“Legislative action is needed to address the problem.

Rickman points out Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature “promised to hash out an energy affordability package aimed at lowering electricity bills.”

The session, however has ended, and the bills are dead although they could be revived next year.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com