A Public Utilityʹs Obligation to Serve: Saber or Double-Edged Sword?

For the past decade, Californiaʹs investor-owned utilities have frequently relied upon the “duty or obligation to serve” as the means for obtaining valuable concessions from the California legislature and Public Utilities Commission. The utilities have exploited this regulatory principle as one of their primary weapons to justify billions of dollars of rate recovery and concessions. It is clear, however, that the duty to serve is not a saber which is only available to the utilities. Rather, the duty to serve is a double-edged sword that might equally be brandished by ratepayers.