GREENING YOUR POWER

The “Green” is Your Money

A frequent topic on NextDoor is the cost of our power bills, in our case, PG&E.  We used to joke about the initials standing for Pacific Graft and Extortion, but now…the joke isn’t all that funny anymore.  Most of us have seen a doubling in our bills; under protest, PG&E claims we are simply using more power (and should cut back).  I have a setback thermometer, so I know that isn’t true.  And now, there’s only one of us living here.  I expected to see a decrease.

The Truth is Revealed

Once again, we can blame Governor Gavin Noisome for our inflated bills.  Those on fixed incomes have seen their monthly cash evaporate, forcing hard choices between bill paying, food and medicine.  There are reportedly 20% (almost 2.5 MM) people who have fallen behind in paying their utility bills. Small businesses, faced with the $20/hour wage forced on them by the Gov have to absorb the increases in cost of their power.  Gas is cheaper, but Noisome wants to eliminate gas stoves, which are favored by chefs and cooks.

The Gov has doubled down on green energy, which has to be funded somehow.  We are seriously in debt in the state, despite record surpluses when he took office.  But our electricity bills fund all the investment in clean energy technology, which has proved costly, and in too many cases, simply doesn’t work. It certainly isn’t reliable.  The data comes from the President of the California Public Utilities Commission, who oversees our power companies.

Although inflation has been at a record high since Biden took office, rates for electricity have outpaced this.  Prices are up 127% for PG&E customers.  These costs are simply unsustainable for most people.  However, the regulators generally approve power companies’ requests for rate increases, no matter how insane they are. 

Another way we are gouged is that the subsidies for those installing rooftop solar ($6.5BB) are passed on to the rest of us.  California’s clean energy goals are ridiculous and unachievable as they are designed now. 

Republican Assemblyman, Jim Patterson, noted, “We’re trying to decarbonize the largest economy on the planet and while we’re doing that, we’re putting millions of Californias into poverty.  All of the goals the state has set up are going to be very expensive and someone has to pay.  These aspirations are misguided.”

Better Living Through “Green”?

As the state shifts more to solar and wind, the grid has become less reliable as well as more costly.  Brownouts and blackouts are more frequent, and are probably longer in duration.  At the same time, Gavin Know-it-All wants everyone to substitute electric appliances for gas AND move to electric cars.  We can’t sustain the demand we have now; how will we supply the much higher demands his plan requires?

Even some Democrats are beginning to agree.  Of course, politicians want to get re-elected, and who will vote for someone who isn’t trying to fix this problem?

Climate agendas need to be separated from rate-setting.  That would make it clear that Noisome’s goal of truly greenifying our state by 2035 is impossible.  Electric bills should only contain the cost of the power plus the cost of maintaining the lines.  Of course, PG&E, in fairness, has paid the price for a lot of the fires, despite constantly trying to get communities to let them clear brush, lop trees and do other protective work, which those communities refused.  So, some of the costs now are trying to find other ways to make communities safer, despite their seeming unwillingness to work to reduce fire risk. 

I Don’t Live in CA; Why Care?

Because they’re coming for you too.  Our Gov has national ambitions and is even trying to mount a Constitutional Convention to pass his ill-conceived gun laws.  It is only a matter of “when” you will see these policies come to your state and make your power unreliable and expensive.  Just remember when Houston went through a bad winter a few years ago.  Lots of their power is now coming from “green” sources who couldn’t manage to keep up with the demand. 

As I’ve noted in other blogs, CO2 is NOT a poison.  When you start with bad premises and assumptions, your policy will be bad or worse.  It’s time to take a step back and realize we cannot keep increasing our power demands (through increased population, electric cars and computing demands) while making our infrastructure less reliable and based on bad science.

Vote them out!  And keep Gavin Newsom from his national ambitions.