SAN CLEMENTE - Consumer watchdog groups plan to fight a proposed settlement over the closure of the San Onofre nuclear plant that could cost utility users in South Orange County and San Diego more than $3.3 billion.

“Under California law, ratepayers don’t have many rights. But one cardinal right they do have is this: They only have to pay reasonable rates,” said Mike Aguirre, a San Diego attorney who has filed an objection to the proposed deal with the California Public Utilities Commission.

The proposed settlement, which would have consumers pay $3.3 billion of a potential $4.7 billion bill for the already closed San Onofre nuclear plant, was announced March 27 by San Onofre’s owners, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, and a consumer group, The Utility Reform Network, among others.

But in recent days other consumer groups, such as Citizens Oversight in San Diego and San Clemente Green, have come out describing the deal as unfair to rate payers. Their formal objections could be heard in PUC hearings as soon as June.

Under terms announced in March, consumers would pay in the form of higher utility bills, possibly over the next decade. Starting in February 2012, rate payers in parts of San Diego and much of south Orange County started paying for the long-term shutdown of San Onofre, and the settlement proposed in March would extend that through the early 2020s.

The money would cover expenses related to the installation of steam generators later found to be defective. The defective generators, made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, helped force the then 45-year-old plant to be retired last year. (Source: Orange County Register)

Story Date: April 29, 2014