6 ms·

But the vast majority of my $500+ a month PG&E bill is for transmission, not generation.

prasadjoglekar 1y ago
And according TFA, those poles and wires for transmission are a large part of the increase in costs that are forecasted. Ideally, the folks who request the new plants and transmission lines pay for them, but it appears tech cos are attempting to pass the transmission cost burden onto residential consumers.
- teeray 1y ago
  Privatize the gains, publicize the losses
- SR2Z 1y ago
  Poles and wires for a datacenter should be much cheaper than for a subdivision.
taeric 1y ago
500 a month sounds steep. I'm assuming you live somewhere that requires AC every day? The article referred to driving prices up from 2020 due to making the infrastructure stronger by as much as 30%. Which, yeah, about 150ish of your bill. It is less clear on how much it will need to go up because of increased demand? The prediction is 8%. Which, again, not nothing. But it is telling that there is more increase from infrastructure than there is generation? I don't know that that will change?
- hellisothers 1y ago
  My bill last month was $450 and I don’t own an AC, it was around $350 before I got a plug in hybrid but every year it goes up double digit percentages.
  - taeric 1y ago
    I'm curious what your major costs are, then? Without AC, pretty sure our costs were not even half that. Granted, my memory is largely from when we lived in a smaller house.
    - SR2Z 1y ago
      PG&E charges about 50c per kWh. It's not very hard to have an electric bill that high when electricity costs ~5x the national average.
      - taeric 1y ago
        Ish? I'm still not clear where you would be using that much electricity. I'm not claiming that you don't. Or that you shouldn't. I'm genuinely curious on where the main use of electricity is. To add numbers, an AC can use up to 5000 watts. That is literally 10x a refrigerator. Over 100x what a TV uses. The car, I'd guess is using a lot. But where are you using that much energy without AC? That is, even compared to your 5x energy costs, I should have been paying more to keep a decent sized house running with AC in GA since I almost certainly had more than that multiplier on my usage?
        SR2Z 1y ago
        You get a $500 bill for using 1000 kWh/mo - that's just leaving a 5000W AC on for 200 hours. My apartment AC is probably 2000W, but similar principles apply. Add in a fridge, cooking equipment, water heating, leaving a server on, etc., and it should be straightforward to get to that number.
        taeric 1y ago
        None of this contends with my question? I get how an AC can lead to an expensive bill. I'm assuming your numbers are to intend running the AC for daytime hours and that it will get you there. How do you get there without an AC? About the only other large power use thing I could think of would be a pool? Searching also shows average power bills in CA are 160? If focused on LA, it would be 200ish? What is putting some folks here so far above average? Was that the quarterly bill? I know we get bills every few months.
hammock 1y ago
You can thank all the wildfires for that
- Avicebron 1y ago
  Yeah...I hate when wildfires neglect their infrastructure to the point that they start themselves
0_____0 1y ago
That isn't unique to PG&E. Clear across the country, my utility bill is close to 60% transmission fees. Also what are you doing? Running a flux capacitor?
- nullc 1y ago
  PG&E peak residential rates hit over 50 cts/kwh. PG&E works with a capture PUC and cost plus accounting where the only way for the company to increase profits is to drive up expenses.

And according TFA, those poles and wires for transmission are a large part of the increase in costs that are forecasted. Ideally, the folks who request the new plants and transmission lines pay for them, but it appears tech cos are attempting to pass the transmission cost burden onto residential consumers.

teeray 1y ago
Privatize the gains, publicize the losses
SR2Z 1y ago
Poles and wires for a datacenter should be much cheaper than for a subdivision.

taeric 1y ago

500 a month sounds steep. I'm assuming you live somewhere that requires AC every day? The article referred to driving prices up from 2020 due to making the infrastructure stronger by as much as 30%. Which, yeah, about 150ish of your bill. It is less clear on how much it will need to go up because of increased demand? The prediction is 8%. Which, again, not nothing. But it is telling that there is more increase from infrastructure than there is generation? I don't know that that will change?

hellisothers 1y ago
My bill last month was $450 and I don’t own an AC, it was around $350 before I got a plug in hybrid but every year it goes up double digit percentages.
- taeric 1y ago
  I'm curious what your major costs are, then? Without AC, pretty sure our costs were not even half that. Granted, my memory is largely from when we lived in a smaller house.
  - SR2Z 1y ago
    PG&E charges about 50c per kWh. It's not very hard to have an electric bill that high when electricity costs ~5x the national average.
    - taeric 1y ago
      Ish? I'm still not clear where you would be using that much electricity. I'm not claiming that you don't. Or that you shouldn't. I'm genuinely curious on where the main use of electricity is. To add numbers, an AC can use up to 5000 watts. That is literally 10x a refrigerator. Over 100x what a TV uses. The car, I'd guess is using a lot. But where are you using that much energy without AC? That is, even compared to your 5x energy costs, I should have been paying more to keep a decent sized house running with AC in GA since I almost certainly had more than that multiplier on my usage?
      - SR2Z 1y ago
        You get a $500 bill for using 1000 kWh/mo - that's just leaving a 5000W AC on for 200 hours. My apartment AC is probably 2000W, but similar principles apply. Add in a fridge, cooking equipment, water heating, leaving a server on, etc., and it should be straightforward to get to that number.
        taeric 1y ago
        None of this contends with my question? I get how an AC can lead to an expensive bill. I'm assuming your numbers are to intend running the AC for daytime hours and that it will get you there. How do you get there without an AC? About the only other large power use thing I could think of would be a pool? Searching also shows average power bills in CA are 160? If focused on LA, it would be 200ish? What is putting some folks here so far above average? Was that the quarterly bill? I know we get bills every few months.

hammock 1y ago

You can thank all the wildfires for that

Avicebron 1y ago
Yeah...I hate when wildfires neglect their infrastructure to the point that they start themselves

0_____0 1y ago

That isn't unique to PG&E. Clear across the country, my utility bill is close to 60% transmission fees. Also what are you doing? Running a flux capacitor?

nullc 1y ago
PG&E peak residential rates hit over 50 cts/kwh. PG&E works with a capture PUC and cost plus accounting where the only way for the company to increase profits is to drive up expenses.