OAKLAND — PG&E received a record-setting $15 billion federal loan guarantee in one in all the ultimate acts of Joe Biden's presidency, an approval that would help the utility and its customers get monetary savings on various key projects.

The U.S. Department of Energy's loan guarantee could allow PG&E to tap unique sources of financing that may allow it to have lower payment costs than would otherwise be the case in business financial markets.

Oakland-based PG&E said it could save customers as much as $1 billion.

“The loan guarantee is intended to align with the state’s policy goals of reducing electricity costs for customers,” PG&E said. “The savings from cheaper financing would be used to reduce customers’ bills.”

PG&E said the loan might be used to finance already approved work that may must be done anyway whatever the loan guarantee.

The federal funding would fund planned projects aimed toward improving California's energy infrastructure similar to hydroelectric facilities, helping ensure reliability and supporting distributed energy resources similar to battery storage and electric vehicles, while reducing costs for purchasers, the utility said.

“These projects are not new work,” said Lynsey Paulo, a spokeswoman for PG&E. “Partially funding these projects with lower-cost financing from the DOE Loan Program Office would allow us to complete already approved grid work at a lower cost to our customers than traditional borrowing.”

The energy credit guarantee program is one in all the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which Biden signed earlier.

Among President Donald Trump's quite a few executive orders in recent days was a directive for federal agencies to suspend the distribution of funds – including the federal loan guarantee – made possible by two pieces of laws approved by Biden, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law .

On January 17, PG&E filed a regulatory document with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicating that the corporate has not yet received funds from this system, but has only received approval from the Department of Energy.

Any savings can be a welcome change from recent increases in PG&E electricity and gas costs, which have risen faster than the Bay Area's overall inflation rate.

Recent reports on consumer prices within the Bay Area and across the country released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed dramatic differences between the region's inflation rate and the associated fee of operating services like those offered by PG&E.

In December 2024, electric utility services increased by 11.2% annually. Gas supply services increased by 6.3%, the Federal Employment Agency reported. In contrast, the Bay Area's inflation rate rose just 2.4% annually in December.

However, there are some hopeful signs for PG&E customers.

Starting with this month's billing cycles, a typical PG&E residential customer who receives each electric and natural gas service from the investor-owned utility began paying a mean of $295 monthly.

This is $1 greater than the $294 monthly that typical PG&E residential customers paid for combined electric and gas services in January 2024.

The average that customers paid for combined services in January 2024 was 22% higher than the $241 that customers paid in January 2023.

Originally published: January 21, 2025 at 3:35 pm PST

Thanh Duy Nguyen previously pleaded guilty to 2 counts of wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release.

Nguyen ran and was the only manager of T&A Distribution, an unlicensed interstate marijuana trafficking scheme with grow houses within the Bay Area, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Nguyen used the deal to secure two economic injury and disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act authorized the SBA to supply EIDL loans to small businesses experiencing significant financial hardship as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nguyen submitted the primary loan application in April 2020 and the second in June 2020. In each cases, he testified that he was not involved in any criminal activity, despite the fact that he knew his marijuana distribution business was illegal under federal law, prosecutors said. He also allegedly lied about T&A Distribution's gross revenues, operating costs and variety of employees.

In the primary application, Nguyen claimed that T&A Distribution was an “antiques/collectibles” nonprofit, and within the second application, he misrepresented T&A Distribution as a “miscellaneous services” nonprofit, prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, Nguyen ultimately received roughly $300,000 in EIDL funds, most of which he used for his marijuana distribution business and gambling.

In addition to a 37-month prison sentence, Nguyen was sentenced to a few years of supervised release and $300,000 in restitution, prosecutors said. Nguyen will begin his sentence on February 28.

Originally published: December 21, 2024 at 7:30am PST

For the umpteenth time within the last 60 years, Californian electricity consumers are being pressured for more cash. As usual, the explanation given is that they should pay a whole lot of thousands and thousands of dollars to maintain the facility on.

But later, Governor Gavin Newsom panicked because renewable energy was coming online more slowly than expected, so he negotiated a deal that may extend the nuclear plant's life until 2022 and supply state loans that the federal government would underwrite.

Does anyone seriously consider the administration will do this if Donald Trump returns to the White House? The same goes for the newest “loan” that state legislatures reluctantly approved this summer as a part of their budget agreement with Newsom. PG&E mustn’t be expected to pay it back.

Currently, it isn’t federal taxpayers who’re funding PG&E to maintain the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant running beyond next yr. Instead, it’s electricity customers nearly in every single place in California. Yes, even in case your electricity comes through Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, or PacifiCorp, you’ll still be held accountable for Diablo.

A giant query is why this extension can be forced on thousands and thousands of people that don't deal directly with PG&E. Newsom's answer is that the facility from Diablo Canyon is required to stop blackouts during this yr's record heat, even when that power must travel a whole lot of miles through the state's power grid to be useful.

But what about all of the so-called “peaker plants” that operate in periods of high electricity demand across the state? When they were approved, their purpose was to maintain the grid running during times of utmost need. Are they redundant now that Diablo Canyon has been restarted? Utility officials and the ignorant state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) aren't answering that query.

Instead, thousands and thousands of electricity customers are forced to pay ever-increasing bills without argument. Most do it themselves, shelling out whatever amount is on their monthly bill. And who's to say Diablo Canyon shall be more reliable than ever? If it really works, this power plant can produce 8.5% of all of the energy needed to run all of California's electrical facilities.

However, Diablo Canyon was shut down for much of 2022 since it violated PG&E's own management procedures. Those outages occurred when a hydrogen cooling system in Unit 2 of the plant leaked and needed to be manually shut down. Hi, Peaker.

Diablo was equally unreliable in 2020 and 2021, when it experienced 149 days of unplanned outages over a 476-day period. Essentially, the plant produced next to nothing for a 3rd of the time. How smart is it to depend on a plant that has proven liable to prolonged outages for backup power? What happens when those outages occur during heat waves and other times of extremely high air con usage?

It's all a part of an extended line of California governors, Republican and Democrat, coddling large private utilities. All of them received large campaign contributions from the businesses. Newsom's own earnings totaled greater than $10 million over the course of his profession.

That $10 million is a no brainer for PG&E and the others after they can snap their fingers and get sycophantic political tools to get a whole lot of thousands and thousands, often billions, in consumer money. In fact, despite the fact that the utility's customers are paying to run Diablo Canyon, the PUC may soon approve even more cash to the businesses, starting once more with PG&E.

Instead of limiting these firms to applying for a base rate increase every 4 years, they’ll now be asked to pay as repeatedly as they’ll persuade the PUC that they need more cash to create latest power for the electrical vehicles that the state hopes will dominate latest automobile sales within the near future.

All of this implies higher costs for patrons, more inflation, and fewer money in most wallets. That makes now a great time for the PUC to make itself electable and accountable to the thousands and thousands it likes to beg for money.

Send Thomas Elias an email at tdelias@aol.com and browse more of his columns online at californiafocus.net.

Starting July 1, the Department of Education will limit participation in three income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, which cap monthly student loan repayments at a certain percentage of income and permit remaining debts to be eventually forgiven.

The most important change: The Pay as you earn (PAYE) The plan closes all recent enrolments from July 1. If you’re already on PAYE, you’ll remain on the plan.

“Any borrower who has significant debt and believes they will be eligible for debt forgiveness under an income-driven plan should explore whether Pay as You Earn can save them more money over time,” says Betsy Mayotte, president and founding father of the Institute of Student Loan Advisors.

If PAYE is the least you'll pay over time, apply for it as soon as possible. As long as you submit a PAYE application before July 1, you'll be included within the plan in case your application is approved, even when that approval comes after July 1, a Department for Education spokesperson told NerdWallet on June 6.

Two other IDR plans, the Income-related repayment (ICR) and that New income-related repayment (recent IBR)may also be closed to certain borrowers in July.

Here's who should act before the deadline, what these July 1 changes could mean for you, and the best way to prepare.

Borrowers with student loans or future high incomes should consider PAYE

PAYE is suitable for certain borrowers. Take an in depth have a look at the plan in the event you end up in any of those situations:

• You have debt out of your graduate studies. You can get forgiveness after 20 years of payments on PAYE if you will have student loans, in comparison with 25 years on other common plans, akin to Save on helpful training (SAVE).
• You assume that you’re going to earn a high income in the longer term. PAYE payments are capped at 10% of your disposable income, but even in case your income increases in the longer term, payments won’t ever be higher than under the Standard repayment plan over 10 yearsMost other IDR plans would not have this payment cap, which can lead to very high student loan bills for some high earners.
• You are entitled to PAYE. If you had no outstanding debt from Direct Loans or FFEL program loans on October 1, 2007, and also you took out a Direct Loan on or after October 1, 2011, you might qualify for PAYE. You must also partial financial hardship to be accepted into the plan: This generally applies in case your total federal student loan debt is larger than your annual disposable income.
• You are usually not entitled to the brand new IBR. The recent IBR plan is sort of similar to PAYE, but requires that you simply originally took out a student loan on or after 1 July 2014.

“PAYE is really beneficial for people who are married and have a good household income with their spouse, or for people who anticipate having well-paying jobs in the future or who already have one and don't qualify for the new IBR plan,” says Emma Crawford, an authorized financial planner specializing in student loans at Perk Planning, a financial planning firm based in Madison, Wisconsin.

For example, future doctors who earn less during residency but have high earning potential could also be well suited to PAYE, Crawford says.

Tracking borrowers Public Service Debt Relief (PSLF) who expect a rise in income in the longer term also needs to consider PAYE due to monthly payment cap, says Jantz Hoffman, executive director of the Certified Student Loan Board of Standards, a nonprofit organization that helps financial planners and their clients make student loan decisions.

Sign up for PAYE online or through your service provider.

The Ministry of Education Credit Simulator can show you how to estimate your repayment history under different repayment plans.

If you establish that PAYE is the best choice, start your application as soon as possible and submit it no later than June 30. Enroll within the plan online by completing the appliance on StudentAid.gov/IDRor contact your Federal Student Loan Servicers direct.

“The easiest and fastest way to apply is through studentaid.gov using the tools available there, as long as the borrower submits the linked tax return through studentaid.gov as proof of income,” says Hoffman. “If for some reason their income has changed and they are submitting a pay stub instead, it is better to fill out a paper form and upload it to their loan servicer.”

Individuals currently enrolled within the PAYE plan can remain within the plan

If you’re already enrolled in PAYE, or in the event you apply before 1 July and are approved, you’ll be able to make payments under the PAYE plan until your loans are paid off or your debts are cancelled.

However, in the event you select a distinct repayment plan in the longer term, you won’t have the option to re-enroll in PAYE.

“It’s becoming a one-way street,” says Mayotte.

If you think you will have been wrongfully denied PAYE tax, Hoffman recommends filing a Complaint about student loans with the Ombudsman of the Ministry of Education.

Income-dependent repayment is just accepted by borrowers with Parents PLUS advantages

As of July 1, the ICR plan is just available to borrowers who’ve a direct consolidation loan that features a parent's PLUS loan. The plan has a 25-year repayment term and caps payments at 20% of disposable income, relatively than 5% to fifteen% like other plans. As a result, ICR will not be the very best solution for the vast majority of borrowers, so this alteration won't have a huge impact, Hoffman says.

However, it is perhaps price ICR if it gives you the bottom monthly rate and also you're approaching the 25-year deadline for debt forgiveness (or the 10-year deadline for PSLF), Mayotte says. While it's rare, ICR could provide you with the bottom rate in case your income could be very high relative to your debt, Mayotte adds.

The recent IBR plan will likely be closed to borrowers enrolled in SAVE

The recent IBR plan could be very just like the PAYE plan: it could forgive student debt after 20 years with a maximum limit of 10% of your income, in comparison with 25 years for other plans like SAVE. The foremost difference is that you have to have taken out a student loan on or after July 1, 2014 to access the brand new IBR plan. You can access PAYE in case your loans are older.

Effective July 1, borrowers who’ve been on the SAVE repayment plan for not less than 60 months (five years) will likely be denied enrollment in the brand new IBR.

The change is meant to shut a legal loophole for borrowers with student loans, Mayotte says: “They want to make sure that people don't game the system by taking advantage of the additional benefits and lower rates of SAVE and then switching to New IBR at the last minute to get the 20-year debt relief.”

A Current federal study A study of graduation rates at American colleges and universities shows that 40% of scholars haven’t earned a level or diploma inside eight years of leaving highschool. Graduation rates are even lower for low-income students.

Among students from families with incomes of $115,000 or more, 66% of those that enrolled in college between 2009 and 2021 earned a bachelor's degree or higher. However, amongst students from families earning lower than $35,000, 26% earned a bachelor's degree or higher in the course of the same period. Of those whose families had incomes between $35,000 and $55,000, 36% earned this degree.

Many people start but don't finish

The problem goes beyond the incontrovertible fact that students from lower-income households are less prone to enter higher education than students from high-income households. The problem is that fewer low-income students are graduating.

The data also shows differences in graduation rates amongst different racial and ethnic groups. While 50% of white students earned a bachelor's degree or higher during this era, Only about 29% of Black students have earned this degree, and 30.4% of Hispanic students have earned this degree.

Additionally, 73% of scholars who attended private high schools earned a bachelor's degree or higher, while 42% of public school students earned this degree.

Educational segregation

As I explain in my book: “Educate inequality“There are many reasons for these disparities.” A key factor is that low-income students of color are likely to go there poorly funded higher education institutions with low graduation rates. Now most of them are white and Asian students Attend well-funded schools with high graduation rates.

Additionally, underrepresented minority students are likely to major in well-paying STEM fields at a much cheaper price. Accordingly Federal data20% of white college students have earned a STEM degree, while 15% of Hispanic students and 10% of Black students have earned degrees in these majors.

Because race is strongly correlated with income In the United States, one possible solution is to push universities and colleges with high graduation rates to confess and graduate more low-income students. However, in our current system of de facto educational segregation, economic inequalities are increasing fairly than decreasing.

What makes matters worse is the incontrovertible fact that students of color often leave college with a legacy high debt. In 2019, nearly a 3rd of Black adults had student debt, while only 20% of white adults bore this burden. Meanwhile, the typical outstanding student loan amount for black borrowers was $30,000, while for white borrowers it was $23,000.

The combination of low graduation rates and high debt can significantly impact one's ability to repay loans. These loans usually can’t be settled through bankruptcy.

Even though President Joe Biden has forgiven some student debt, reducing overall debt barely, there remains to be debt $1.727 trillion outstanding student loans.

A significant slice of student debt is generated by for-profit colleges with low graduation rates. In Comparison While students who attend public, four-year colleges and universities tackle $3,000 more in debt and default on their loans twice as quickly, students who attend for-profit colleges face $3,000 more in debt.

At a time when many public and nonprofit colleges and universities are searching for this Increase diversity on campustheir very own enrollment and retention practices could increase economic and racial inequality.