by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
What happens to the electricity grid and tiered pricing when Gov. Newsom’s mandate of all-electric cars becomes reality by 2035?
Last week the Globe met with energy expert Jesus Arredondo and discussed the recent California Public Utilities Commission meeting that centered around themes and concepts raised in the CPUC White Paper, Utility Costs and Affordability of the Grid of the Future – California electric and gas cost and rate trends over the next decade.
“The white paper warns that the burden of continually rising utility bills will likely derail California’s decarbonization work if left unaddressed,” Arredondo said. “Worse, the rising costs are hitting customers who’ve been hit hard by pandemic-driven job losses and sheltering at home the hardest.”
California’s “decarbonization work” is the state’s and CPUC’s flawed scheme to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through moving to an all-electric grid, away from oil and gas, coal, hydroelectric and nuclear power.
We discussed the tiered energy pricing now prevalent in California, which penalizes residential ratepayers for household electricity used after 4:00pm, when Californians get home from work and cook dinner, do laundry, wash dishes, bathe children, do homework on computers, and watch television.
Even summer “peak” rates appear to be about 40% – 200% higher, judging from the billing statements.
But Arredondo asked rhetorically, what happens to the electricity grid and tiered pricing when Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate of all-electric cars becomes reality by 2035?
