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This is pure regulatory capture. Plain and simple. Look at the proposals of the past few years to see it. These proposals say things like helping under served
by hightrix 3y ago
This is pure regulatory capture. Plain and simple.
Look at the proposals of the past few years to see it. These proposals say things like helping under served communities or combating wealth inequality, but similar to “Save the children” bills, the titles rarely have any relevance to the content. Every proposal has been about nothing other than protecting and increasing utility company profits.
From my view as a consumer and constituent, the government has failed. The simple fact that we allow for profit companies to manage and profit from essential utilities is ridiculous. That we are allowing these companies to write laws that increase their profits at the expensive of society and the environment is a tragedy.
Simply put, sdge, pge, and friends, need to be non profits run by the government. CA state should nationalize these companies and reduce profits to zero while actually promoting roof top solar.
- mh- 3y agoBut CPUC is already appointed by the Governor. And they control the prices. I remember when Gray Davis got recalled. The prevailing opinion was that (dramatically) increasing vehicle registration costs pushed that over the finish line. The fact that they've managed to keep virtually all of the outrage directed at the utility companies is an amazing PR success for the Governor.
- hightrix 3y agoJust so that I'm very clear in my points, my anger and outrage is directly entirely at CPUC. I don't expect companies to have my best interests in mind, but I do expect the government to serve me and not PG&E, SDG&E, etc.. shareholders. Naive as that may be.
- briffle 3y agoThe equipment cost is getting closer and closer to just being able to remove your meter and go on your own. I keep watching them drop, and wonder at what point i'll just pull the trigger. Especially the last year, inverters and 48V batteries are really starting to come down. https://signaturesolar.com/complete-all-in-one-off-grid-solar-kit-kit-e0000 https://signaturesolar.com/complete-all-in-one-off-grid-sola...
- bhewes 3y agoInstall costs I have seen for friends stuff is $.50-$.75 per watt self installed as labor costs are about equal.
- anonuser123456 3y agoGoodluck getting approval to disconnect. Your local municipality can simply force you to be connected.
- bombcar 3y agoLike HOAs this is something to keep an eye on when moving; what required utilities exist (for example, around here you don't even need to connect to sewer and water if you're on the outskirts and have at least an acre).
- toast0 3y agoIf you don't pay your bill, the electric utility will disconnect you. Problem solved ;)
- anonuser123456 3y agoThey are two steps ahead; they can put a lien on the property and charge you interest. Worse… they have no incentive to disconnect you since the connection costs zero and they are guaranteed revenue.
- miguelazo 3y agoThis is actually something that will end up being a ballot proposition in a place like California, and I suspect it will be very popular. Much easier to sell than reforming the CPUC appointments or sunsetting investor owned utilities.
- secabeen 3y agoThere are isolated instances of this, but it is not all that common. Nearly all Californians can go off-grid, if they want to and can afford the costs.
- 7e 3y agoWhy promote roof top solar when grid solar is substantially cheaper? Is it for emergency preparedness?
- mattnewton 3y agoIs grid solar always cheaper? I could see that, I could also see that not being the case in the short term if the power lines need to be replaced (or buried in California because of wildfires). It seems harder to do coordinated actions politically rather than let consumers buy products.
- baggy_trough 3y agoBy "let" you mean "force", correct?
- bombcar 3y agoI don't see how rooftop solar can ever really be "cheaper" than grid, if you allow grid to be "small grid" - e.g., in a local area.
- sbierwagen 3y agoHow many people are connected to "small grids" today in California?
- bombcar 3y agoEveryone is, because the grid is built out of smaller grids. You and some number of your neighbors are connected to a transformer, some number of those transformers are connected to a larger transformer, and so on up the chain until you have an actual large grid.
- sbierwagen 3y agoOkay, but this thread is talking about billing, right? That's the point of talking about costs. How many people in California are paying their electricity bills to a utility that covers just their neighborhood, and nobody else?
- KennyBlanken 3y agoThe 'save the children' crap started decades ago when utilities demanded a lot of extraneous, huge ugly bright scary warning labels, extra disconnect boxes, and so on. The goal was to make it as ugly and expensive as possible to discourage residential installs. Further, an inspection by the local government inspector wasn't sufficient. See, you've also got to get the electric company to inspect the system as well, and they'll demand things not spec'd in the state/national code...or they won't allow the system to be connected. This shit is even going on at the grid level. Our regional electrical grid organization admits that their approval process for grid-scale solar or wind connects can take a decade. They insist that much planning is needed for "reliability."
- dragonwriter 3y ago> actually promoting roof top solar. You mean more than it does by mandating it on all new single- and multi-family dwellings?
- miguelazo 3y agoWow, you really get it-- do you work in the industry?
- hightrix 3y agoThankfully, I do not. I just read too much :)