Soaring electricity bills could hobble California’s green energy push: report
Soaring monthly electricity bills charged by California utility companies siblings could hobble the state’s quest for a green energy Holy Grail, a new report shows.
Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and PG&E levy charges for monthly bills that are far higher than the national average, making California electricity rates the second highest in the United States, the state Legislative Analyst’s Office reported on Tuesday.
“California’s electricity rates are among the highest in the country,” the Legislative Analyst’s Office reported. “On average, residential electricity rates in California are close to double those in the rest of the nation.”
The increase in electricity bills even tops the overall inflation rate.
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“Average residential electricity rates in California have grown faster than inflation in recent years, rising by about 47% over the four-year period from 2019 through 2023 compared to overall growth in prices of about 18%,” according to the report from the Legislative Analyst, a nonpartisan group that provides the state Legislature with advice and information.
From 2019 through 2023, monthly electricity rates for residential customers increased an average 67% for Southern California Edison, 48% for PG&E, and 57% for San Diego Gas & Electric, according to the report prepared by Helen Kerstein, an analyst in the office’s environment and transportation unit.
The report determined that multiple factors appear to have fueled the jaw-dropping surge in electricity costs in California.
Among the key influences:
— significant and increasing wildfire-related costs.
— the state’s ambitious greenhouse gas reduction programs and policies.
— differences in utility operational structures and services territories.
“High and increasing electricity rates add cost burdens to ratepayers across the state,” the Legislative Analyst’s Office reported. “Many residents who earn lower incomes or live in hotter regions of the state are feeling these growing costs even more acutely.”
Only Hawaii has higher electricity rates than California, the report determined.
California is also in danger of creating an energy catch-22 whereby the push to go green could hobble the state’s clean power efforts.
“High electricity rates impede the state’s efforts to meet its ambitious climate goals by discouraging households from pursuing electrification through switching out their fossil fuel-powered cars and appliances,” the report stated.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office warned that the significant increases in electricity rates may continue to burden customers.
“These trends currently are on track to continue,” the nonpartisan office stated in its report.