Posted on 04/26/2023 9:57:38 PM PDT by grundle
If you earn more, you pay more.
That’s the basic idea behind sweeping changes proposed by California’s three largest power companies that will impact your electricity bill.
Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric submitted a joint proposal to the state’s Public Utilities Commission last week that outlines the new rate structure. It follows last year’s passage of Assembly Bill 205 which requires a fixed rate and generally simpler power bills.
Under the proposal, households will see a fixed rate covering basic electricity services and the utility company’s operating costs on a scale based on their household income.
Households with annual income from $28,000 – $69,000 would pay $20 a month in Edison territory, $34 a month in SDG&E territory and $30 a month in PG&E territory.
Households earning from $69,000 – $180,000 would pay $51 a month in Edison and PG&E territories and $73 a month in SDG&E territory.
Those with incomes above $180,000 would pay $85 a month in Edison territory, $128 a month in SDG&E territory and $92 a month in PG&E territory.
The utilities say customers should expect to also see lower costs for their kilowatt-hour usage.
“That law was intended to lower the amount that residential customers pay … while increasing transparency with bills,” Southern California Edison spokesperson Kathleen Dunleavy told KTLA on Friday. “This will provide relief to millions of customers.”
SCE says approximately 1.2 million of its lower-income customers will see their bills drop by 16%-21%. Overall, rates will decrease by about 33% per kilowatt hour for all residential customers, the utility says.
“We have listened to and heard from our customers that fundamental change is needed to provide bill relief,” SDG&E CEO Caroline Winn said in a statement. “When we were putting together the reform proposal, front and center in our mind were customers who live paycheck to paycheck, who struggle to pay for essentials such as energy, housing and food.”
State law requires the CPUC to adopt a new rate structure by July 1, 2024. Southern California Edison says the earliest customers would see the updated bills is 2025.
That’s called communism.
Nope, flat base fee based on income, PLUS the charge for the amount of electricity used.
Every family should just incorporate and show no personal income for any member of the family.
Every day, California gives me at least one more data point demonstrating that I did the right thing by leaving.
How the heck does this work for businesses, industry, rentals, apartments, agriculture, etc? I live in a building that includes power. The meter is not in my name. Will they charge according to the owner’s income? How the heck does the power company know anyone’s income?
There was concern with Smart meters that people would know your habits. With this, they know your wealth and habits.
I wonder if they’ll do the same at the grocery.
When will renewable electricity be meter free?
Businesses in CA pay way less for electricity and water than residential customers. Large businesses for sure. Don’t know how it is for apartments.
How exactly do utility companies know the household income of their customers?
And don’t forget to add the bill for natural gas usage on top of that.
No, this is an extra fee. Any Californian would jump at the opportunity to pay this amount as a "flat fee". We will still be charged per KWH for electricity.
This move to impose graduated billing seems a retaliatory strike against prognosticated electric rate relief promoted by the solar energy industry. The sales pitch was always about the net rate reduction attainable by using the power generated on one’s own rooftop, and selling excess power back to the utilities, potentially resulting — during some months — in bills as low as just the monthly gas usage plus the basic fees.
With this new onslaught, however, the minimum possible bill will be greatly elevated, crippling ROI on the solar systems in which customers have invested tens of thousands of dollars by substantively negating solar customers’ actual realized rate relief, which hoped-for relief was — transparently — the principal reason 99.9% of ratepayers ever even considered “going solar” in the first place.
Now, having seen that the future of residential solar in California benefits consumers so much, the CA Legislature and The Governor step in with a colossal sop to the utilities, ensuring by legislative fiat that they will enjoy an enduring revenue floor by, essentially, erasing a consequential amount of the economic reward that prompted so many Californian ratepayers to invest in solar.
If I’m tracking at all, here, with my analysis this seems an inexcusably mammoth slap in the face to ratepayers who’ve invested into solar power, especially since it is being perpetrated against them after they’ve already committed the funding and are locked into contractual repayment obligations.
Succinctly, prospective solar customers were sold a golden egg, invested basis the promise, and now the Legislature has killed the goose before it could get down to laying.
And all of that mess stands entirely apart from everything else that’s problematic about this Marxist, income-based rate structure.
Yeah, this past Winter was a killer for nat gas in CA.
Can’t really blame CA utilities too much for nat gas prices tho....(most production out of state)....but I am sure their “delivery charge” is higher than other states.
https://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/weekly/#tabs-prices-1
How does a utility company know your income?
This is PURE COMMUNISM.
How the h*** does the electric company come to think they are entitled to know your income?
“We have listened to the customer, and they want a totalitarian surveillance state.”
Currently in San Diego, you pay $10/mo for the privileged of being connected to the grid. For solar owners, this is a very good deal, since we get to use the grid as our battery, over producing during the day and drawing during the night. With the proposed $73/month fee for those earning <$180K, disconnecting from the grid and buying a solar battery system starts becoming feasible. At $128/mo for those earning >$180K, more so.
Those who already purchased solar battery systems are really getting screwed, as they will be paying for a grid they barely use. For all who purchased solar under existing rules, this is essentially a breach of the agreement/contract.
So you were making 100k and you lost your job...still paying that 100k rate?
Ridiculous idea.
Not to mention that this essentially delegates the authority to tax individuals based on income, to investor owned utilities. It most definitely needs to be challenged or it will spread. Next the price of gas and bread will depend on your income. There are already several state programs that provide reduced electricity prices to low income people. We don't need more.
I pay income over $180K prices in summer. Methinks this deal ain’t gonna last long.
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