Keep up with UCAN.org by following us on Twitter!
Thanks for visiting UCAN.org! Please remember our services are available because of grassroots donations from people like you. Please help us continue our work with a donation of any amount. Click here to visit our secure donation page.
Telecom and utility companies use the National Consumers Telecom & Utilities Exchange (NCTUE), a members-only, unique Equifax database to review consumer credit history. The question remains whether the Fair Credit Reporting Act applies to the NCTUE and what information consumers should be able to obtain about themselves.
The CPUC determined that regulatory violations involving SDGE's power lines caused the most destructive of last year's devastating San Diego County fires. The Witch Creek fire combined with the Guejito fire and killed two people, burned almost 200,000 acres and destroyed 1,141 homes. The Rice Canyon fire burned almost 9,500 acres and destroyed more than 200 houses.
Rather than address the real problems that caused the 2007 wildfires, SDG&E has asked the CPUC to approve, through an informal process, blanket authority to cut off power to backcountry ratepayers when SDG&E determines dangerous dry and windy conditions exist.
Affected schools, water districts and other ratepayers sternly objected at the CPUC's October 14 hearing inviting public comment on the 2007 San Diego fires.
Michael Shames, UCAN's Executive Director, opposes immediate implementation of SDGE's controversial plan because the "proposal raises some very complex and important policy issues" better suited to formal review by the CPUC.
Read more, including UCAN's protest letter to the CPUC
As part of the bailout, Congress extended solar tax credits, set to expire this year, through 2016.
It was beyond outrageous when Southern California Edison's managment and employees provided rigged customer satisfaction survey data to the PUC in a scheme designed to swindle millions of dollars in Performance Based Ratemaking (PBR) customer satisfaction rewards from 1997-2003.
Edison admitted the scam after being turned in to the PUC by a whistleblower.
On September 18, 2008, the PUC penalized Edison $146 million for its outrageous conduct.
Today, the Union Tribune posted an anonymous opinion piece, (note that it on the Web site it is sponsored by Verizon Wireless) that has accused UCAN of being a "Lucrative rip-off" that makes SDG&E bills higher. There is a good reason that the author of this piece of work has chosen to hide in cowering anonymity: the article is blatently disingenuous. Read all about it.
GUEST COMMENTARY BY JEANNE GAHAGAN - A Mission Hills resident compares the reckless removal of magnificent trees from her neighborhood to pornography. Ms. Gahagan offers a freudian analysis of SDG&E's "tree-envy" complex which is rooted in a desire to maintain power and control at
any cost. More.
Today the Bureau of Land Management announced the lifting of its moratorium on solar energy applications. More.
The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has released a nationwide study finding that "amid record gas prices, public support for greater energy exploration is spiking." More.
The Bureau of Land Management has struck a blow to the alternative energy industry. More.
The U.S. Energy Department has released its Annual Energy Outlook 2008 report. The AEO report, prepared by the Energy Information Administration, presents long-term projections of energy supply, demand, and prices through 2030. More.
Utility Consumers' Action Network
Terms & Conditions
UCAN.org is made available by the Utility Consumers' Action Network to assist you in becoming what you always knew you could be, a consumer ROCK STAR! We take no corporate money, and are beholden only to you, the consumer. As such, the site is here for educational, advocacy, and empowerment purposes, as well to to give you general information and a general understanding of the law. Just remember this site is NOT here to provide specific legal advice. By using this web site you of course understand that there is no attorney client relationship between you and the Web Site publisher, UCAN. The Web Site should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state.
That said, get to digging on the site, inform yourself, speak your mind, and earn Watchdog Bones! This is YOUR site, and we mean it. So comment on any of the content, discuss the latest issues in the forums, file a complaint on a company with the fraud squad, and generally cut loose.
See our Terms of Use, Privacy, and Copyright complaint policies as well as our Content Reuse Policy, Some Rights Reserved.
UCAN's affiliate New Media Rights has created a series of investigative reporting videos based on your consumer stories. Check out the new and easily searchable Guides page!
How to protect your own blog or website from liability for user generated content
Is Youtube putting advertisements on user videos without permission?
Essential free and open software toolkit for consumers
How to find free music, images, and video you can use or remix in your own creative works
How to Listen to Music on the Internet for Free...Legally
How to make a Podcast... for free
Visit NewMediaRights.org
We are currently looking for blog posts from both attorneys and consumers. If you would like your work published on a site with thousands of daily visits, send a submission to tips@ucan.org.
Get personal assistance with your consumer complaint about a company by using our Online Complaint Forms. Or, call the Fraud Squad Hotline at (619) 696-6966!
Don't buy a cell phone without our Mobile Phone Plan Checker!
Register to get it FREE right now!
What are you packin? Is it anything like UCAN's new and improved Consumer Complaint Directory? If not, you should really pick up a copy. This thing is chock-full of hard-hitting consumer punch.
