by Rod Hughes

Homes in the San Jose metropolitan area will pay 4% more on their electric bill after ARESEP approval of a partial increase for those served by the National Power and Light Company that maintains electric lines in the Central Valley. The company had asked for a 5.75% raise.
While the Electrical Institute (ICE) takes care of power distribution and most of the generation of electricity, Power and Light actually maintains the lines in the city.
Small business and industry will suffer a 2.5% increase in their monthly bills.
Last month ARESEP (a rate regulating agency that, in the past, had a reputation of never meeting a rate hike request it did not like) surprised everyone (including ICE) by granting only part of ICE’s request for a sizeable hike. Even this was rescinded after a nationwide blackout April 18. A series of power outages began April 19 to hit sector by sector of the country for hours and these “rolling outages” continued until May 3.