Don’t know about you, but our painful January electric bill left us cursing those cheerful December holiday lights.
It’s no secret that California electric bills are among the highest in the nation. Changes are coming that may make the monthly ritual less painful for some — and more painful for others (say, folks who aren’t in low-income programs and solar panel owners).
The California Public Utilities Commission is in the throes of establishing a “fairer” fixed monthly service charge, and it has become a bloody political battle (surprise surprise). Presently, the cost of delivering power is largely baked into the rates we pay for electricity itself. One of the ideas behind the coming changes is to divorce infrastructure costs from actual power costs, on the theory that it’s as expensive to get energy to homes that are highly efficient as it is to get it to homes that consume gob-loads of power.
While critics denounce this as a “utility tax” — including Irvine’s Vice Mayor Larry Agran, who’s organized a public information session on it from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, at Irvine City Hall — officials bristle at that language and stress that the proposals do not change the amount of money that utilities collect.
Utility profits are set by the CPUC at roughly 10%. Think about the proposed changes like this: Under the old method, the utility collected $100. Under the new method, the utility will still collect $100 — but who pays that $100, and how, will shift.
How much?
Many plans are being bandied about.
The utility companies’ latest proposal is for a flat $51 a month for all residential customers who are not in lower-income programs. Folks in low-income programs would pay a lower fixed charge of $10 or $15 a month.
The Public Advocates Office — the CPUC’s in-house Solomon-the-Wise, charged with protecting the little guy — favors more evenly spreading infrastructure and maintenance costs among grid users, but…
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