My hat's off to anyone who, like our John here, manages to remain IN California and retains their sanity.

I have to admit, we were teary-eyed leaving after twelve years in SoCal in the early 90s. Being stationed there had been terrific for our little family - affordable being the very first word that comes to mind for living in a place with the best of everything within a couple of hours driving, be it beaches, mountains, fine dining, major sports, recreation opportunities, museums, tar pits, what have you. 

Watching from the East Coast, good grief - the changes seem to come like lightning. We feel doubly blessed now that we knew CA then.

I've probably mentioned this in other posts before, but our Southern California Edison cost per kilowatt hour was 6.5¢ and never really increased, that I can remember. Granted, we had no air conditioning but it was still dirt cheap with ceiling fans, etc. Even more so when the first "compact" fluorescents came out, monster bulbs that they were. Natural gas bills from Pacific Gas and Electric (stove, water heater, and only turned the gas furnace on once in the twelve years) were negligible, and water was billed every other month - ran about $12.

It was a good place to live.

The anti-nuclear protests that would help change things were starting to heat up during our last year or so there, like 92-93. 

One truly fond memory to this day was on a local news report. Police were vainly trying to stuff a Diablo Canyon protester dressed as Shamu (Seaworld's killer whale) into the back of a CHiP patrol car. Damned 7-foot sumo-sized orca wouldn't fit, but cops gamely kept jamming as "Shamu" kept squawking for help. 

It was awesome.

But the environuts won eventually, and the 11¢ kwh that I had at first choked on when we hit North Carolina? After a couple years, the extra nickel started looking like a bargain even when that ghastly heat pump was running. 

I couldn't believe what I would hear from friends still in Orange County. Dang. Someone lit a fire in paradise.

Our electricity rates dropped significantly when we got to Pensacola, as did many other living expenses (for example, NC taxed food at the time - I believe they've evolved). 

CA, on the other hand, seems determined to dive off the deep end. They haven't stopped this dogged slog toward their own destruction.

Other than a storm-induced burp, we never once worried about losing power. CA residents now live with constant uncertainty about their electrical power and are stuck paying ever more for ever less. Compared to the rest of the country, thanks to their climate lunacy, they were already paying through the nose.

Insult to injury, in another truly incomprehensible decision yesterday, the people who use less electricity from an already fragile grid get to fork over additional money for the privilege of conserving.

Makes perfect California sense, no?

California regulators on Thursday voted to make it cheaper for people to charge electric cars and cool their homes in the summer, a decision heralded as part of the state's transition to clean energy but derided by others who warn it will raise prices for people who don't use as much energy.

The California Public Utilities Commission voted to let the state's big investor-owned utilities - including Pacific Gas & Electric - add a fixed charge to people's power bills each month to pay for installing and maintaining the equipment necessary to transmit electricity to homes.

"Well, hang on a second, yo!" you say. A line surcharge, as badly as they need that maintenance, does kind of make sense, right?

And I'd agree...normally. But this is CA, so...it's all jacked up. 

State utility regulators decided today to let California’s largest power providers stick their customers with a new monthly flat fee in exchange for a reduction in the overall price of electricity, a controversial change to the way that millions of households pay their utility bills with weighty implications for state climate change policy.

Under the new policy, utilities will be required to reduce the price households pay for the electricity they use every time they charge a phone or run an air conditioner. That rate cut will vary from between 8% and 18%, depending on the utility, season and time of day, according to the commission’s analysis.

...Starting in late 2025 for SCE and SDG&E customers and in early 2026 for those with PG&E, the state’s investor-owned utilities will be able to charge customers a monthly fee regardless of how much power the customer draws from the grid. So-called fixed charges are a mainstay of electric billing across most of the country, with an average fee of roughly $11.

The new California charge will be $24 for most customers, but lower income households, who already qualify for discounted electric rates, will see fees of either $6 or $12.

...The reduced price of electricity will likely save money for people who use a lot of electricity, such as a large household in an AC-dependent part of the state or the owner of an electric SUV, a heat pump and an induction stove. That reduction will be more than enough to offset the cost of the new fee. Many, if not most, low-income households who qualify for the discounted fixed charge will also emerge as financial winners.

But there are sure to be plenty of losers, too. Smaller households, Californians living along the temperate coast, energy conscious customers and people with solar panels on their rooftops are all more likely to see their total utility bills rise. 

CA is so Green they don't care how much juice you burn through anymore.

GO AHEAD, KIDS - LEAVE EVERY LIGHT IN THE HOUSE ON

CA: We're the leader in stopping climate change.
Also CA: Go ahead and spend all the electricity you want. No incentive for conservation anymore.

— Gig Patta (@GigPatta) May 10, 2024

Instead of simply adding the fee to their traditional pay-as-you-go usage rates? CA regulators saw fit to penalize the people who help keep the lights on when faulty and failing power generation capacity has the utilities scrambling and screaming for "conservation" or the lights go out.

It's not as if CA regulators haven't already made CA electricity an unaffordable dream for some in the state, as shoddy as their delivery may be. Prior to this move yesterday, they'd already approved a PG&E rate hike. None of this helps things. Over a million PG&E customers were already delinquent on their utility bills.

...Unaffordable housing, high transportation and health care costs – it’s hard enough to get by in California without also worrying about cranking up the air, turning on the stove or simply keeping the lights on. 

But that’s what concerns many Pacific Gas & Electric Co. customers who cannot afford to pay their soaring utility bills. As of February, more than 1 million of them were behind on payments.

The California Public Utilities Commission, tasked with regulating private utilities, just approved another rate hike last month, on top of a previous increase that took effect in January, amounting to a roughly $400 annual bump for the average household. The staggering energy costs have rocked residents and business owners, who are exasperated by the inability of state leaders and commissioners to ease their financial pain.

With rates becoming increasingly unsustainable, the long-term repercussions for those already living paycheck to paycheck seem dire. More broadly, could these elevated costs serve as an impediment to wider adoption of all-electric vehicles and appliances? Will PG&E or the CPUC commissioners who approve these outrageous increases face any consequences? 

The utility’s negligence and aging infrastructure has led to loss of life, property and – in the case of Paradise – an entire California town. Nevertheless, consumers are paying the price for the consequences of their mistakes and the cost of preventing future ones.

And there you go. Those who don’t use as much electricity, don’t even have A/C, etc, will now be partially subsidizing those who use more.
Literally encourages people to NOT conserve electricity in a state that begs people to conserve in the summer.
Classic California. https://t.co/jzHQovc7AF

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 10, 2024

CA ratepayers were feeling physically abused and exploded on regulators months ago. 

...“I’m a ratepayer for PG&E, but I feel more like a hostage,” said one speaker during the commission’s meeting. “How high are you going to allow our rates to get?”

Another speaker, a Bay Area resident who said she was a nurse and mother of three, noted that commissioners could still approve additional rate increases for PG&E because of other pending proposals, and urged them to consider capping further rate hikes. 

“When is enough enough?” she said. 

BWAHAHAHAHA

Commissioners and regulators sure fooled her! They approved all those rate increases, including yesterday's brilliant tactical maneuver.

Oh, yes - and don't forget you're mandated to buy an EV sometime in the next couple of years, remember?

What a hellhole.