Utility Consumers Action Network Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
330002313
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
6196966966
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Utilities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$326,497
Expenses
$573,102
Assets
$369,808
Liabilities
$46,534

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • EDWARD LOPEZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • EDWARD LOPEZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $140,734 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide information to consumers and utility ratepayers and represent ratepayer interests before regulatory bodies in administrative as well as judicial proceedings. Ucan intervenes in utility cases before the California public utilities commission, advocates policy initiatives, educates, and guards against corporate abuses.

What it reported doing in 2024

Litigation - (regulatory advocacy) - ucan advocates for utility ratepayers in the areas of energy, water and telecommunications. Ucan accomplishes this by participating in regulatory proceedings before the California public utilities commission (cpuc), the agency that regulates investor owned utility services, as well as other regulatory and administrative bodies. Ucan's employees and experts have subject matter experience on complicated regulatory and utility ratepayer issues. This experience allows us to participate in legal proceedings, conduct discovery, cross examine utility witnesses, file briefs and submit comments to proposed regulatory decisions advocating for strong utility ratepayer protections for residential and small business utility customers.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 96% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 15
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 88.2%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.9 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -75.5%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.65; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.6%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -8.4% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 88.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $506K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $141K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 5/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.