Californians already pay some of the highest electricity rates in the country, and thanks to another year of inaction by state lawmakers, there is still no end in sight to steep increases in monthly electric bills.
The average Pacific Gas & Electric residential electric bill has increased 77% since 2020, while the average Southern California Edison bill has increased 58%. Those rising bills are putting pressure on household budgets and undermining the state’s climate goals by making it more expensive to switch from fossil fuels to emissions-free electric cars and appliances.
The solution is to reduce the costs passed on to ratepayers, which have risen at an alarming rate as utilities spend heavily on burying and insulating power lines so they don’t cause fires and on upgrading grid infrastructure while funneling profits to shareholders. But so far, state lawmakers have squandered the opportunity to address what has become an affordability crisis. Months of discussion over a comprehensive package to lower the monthly bills of PG&E, Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric customers dwindled to virtually nothing at the end of the legislative session last week.
The most significant proposal would have provided Californians with consistent monthly savings on their bills by changing the way capital investments related to the power grid and wildfires are funded. But it was watered down in the face of opposition from investor-owned utilities because it would have reduced shareholder profits. What was left was a small-scale strategy. legislation Returning unspent money that had been set aside for public programs, such as HVAC upgrades in schools and solar installations on affordable housing, to customers in the form of a one-time $30 bill credit. And even that didn't pass.
A few modest bills have made it to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk, including legislation to help customers restore service disconnectedto allow the Public Service Commission to require utility companies to provide More justification for rate increases and to track total household energy expenditure and study ways to reduce costs to taxpayers.
But the big ones did not survive, including A bill to control spending on public services on forest fire mitigation.
Lawmakers can do better, but when that will happen remains a big question.
He Newsom has called a special sessionThe House, already mired in uncertainty because Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire has refused to meet, is not expected to take up the issue. It is focused on legislation to protect consumers from the surges in gasoline prices that have fueled record profits for the oil industry, which also failed to cross the finish line. By excluding action on exploding electricity costs, the governor and the Legislature are ignoring a huge and important part of what is driving the growing energy burden.
Californians shouldn't have to wait another year for relief.
Newsom should now use his executive authority to enact policies that can help reduce residential electric bills. It probably wouldn’t hurt to give the California Public Utilities Commission a kick in the butt to start working on short- and long-term solutions.
But it’s not enough. Newsom and other lawmakers must adopt systemic changes to limit rate increases and increase oversight of utilities and their spending. They must confront utilities and force them to take some responsibility for controlling rates, so that Californians struggling with inflation don’t have to bear the burden alone.
Lawmakers should feel very pressured to offer solutions to such important economic and environmental problems, and they should understand that the political dysfunction in Sacramento is no excuse for not acting on something as essential as allowing people to afford to use their air conditioners and making the transition to zero-emissions technology that is necessary for California to meet its climate goals.
Newsom, McGuire and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas must overcome their differences and deliver what is in the best interest of California families: meaningful, lasting relief from rising electric bills as quickly as possible.
