SDG&E! Are you trying to make my sh*t list??

Ah it's a beautiful Sunday this fine labor day weekend isn't it? As I sit on my patio with the crisp sunday paper and a hot mug of instant coffee, feet perched, birds chirping... you get the idea right? So as I peruse through paper undoubtedly preparing for almost certain bad news (as all newspapers seem to bring,) I find myself at the "B" section or "Our Region" morsel of the Union Tribune, a somewhat disturbing headline catches my eye: "SDG&E wants higher rates to cover costs." Now unless you have been living under a rock, in a coma (medically induced or otherwise,) or on a mission in some obscure part of the world, you know that SDGE has been on the hotseat for the California wildfires. The instant I read this headline, the synical skeptic Josh awoke from his glorious slumber prepared to fight yet another battle. My first thought "well of course you are SDGE, of course you are." Are you kidding me? Just the fact that they publicly announce the fact they want to raise rates is concerning. The idea that they explain they want to raise rates to cover the cost of the $740 million lawsuit they settled on...unF'N believable! Here is how I imagine some big wig at SDGE explaining to the board how to recover from this situation:

" Well team, remember that when speaking to the public or even our families, we can in no way come off as if we accept blame for the wildfires. While tragic, we just can't put ourselves at risk. What we will do however is settle in court. The alternative is a lengthy uphill battle which can potentially end in disaster. How can we afford to settle you ask? Don't worry, Big Daddy has a solution. After we settle, we will make a case to raise our rates by $29 million to help cover the costs. Now keep in mind, this only mean about 70 cents per month for coastal customers and 23 per month for inland customers based on a 500 kilowatt hours. How much is 500 kilowatt hours you ask? Well for example, a random single person named Josh Davila uses about 300 kilowatt hours per month- he is a full time student, is rarely at home, never runs the A/C and is good about not wasting energy. You can use that as a benchmark. Now I know what some of you are thinking- won't people get mad at a rate increase? I mean after all, the water rate is going up as well, the economy is in the perverbial crapper and the unenmployment rate is at an all time high? Good point, I have a reasonable explanation for that as well, please do not broadcast the following information outside of this boardroom. Luckily for us, SDGE is part of the larger Sempra energy corporation and realistically customers do not have any other options when choosing their electric providers. Sure there is Southern California Edison, but they do not service all areas and furthermore, have you ever heard of anyone actually switching electric providers?"

I have some questions for SdG&E: If you "weren't at fault" for the wildfires, why did you settle? Also, you actually expect me to accept the fact that you are now proposing to charge more to the people who lost their homes in the wildfire, to cover the cost of the wildfires? Something doesn't seem right to me here.