To the editor: Imagine if a group of citizens banded together to reduce consumption of a high-demand product, such as food, water, or gasoline. Would we blame them for raising the prices of those products? (“Electricity Bills in Southern California Are Rising. Here’s How to Save Money,” August 21)
Citizens investing their own money to install solar panels on their roofs are not the cause of rising electricity prices, as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which regulates utilities that sell electricity for profit, would have us believe.
At a time when energy demand is growing due to electric vehicles, heat pumps and data centers, investing in rooftop solar is an important tool to provide energy security and resilience to local communities.
Shayne Smith, Pasadena
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To the editorUnlike other states, California requires its private utilities to automatically enroll most customers in hourly usage plans, in which rates are based on the time of day when electricity is used. In most places, kilowatt-hours are simply added up, resulting in lower bills.
If my bill was $185 (what your article says is the July average for Southern California Edison customers), I would be jumping for joy, especially with this hot weather. As an octogenarian with a physical disability, I need to have the air conditioning on, which results in bills of over $500.
Many others are in the same boat and this impacts our limited budgets.
Why does California do this and other states don't? Everything costs more here.
Linda Roberts, Altadena
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To the editor: Just as drought-tolerant gardens like ours don't cause water rates to rise, homes with environmentally friendly rooftop solar systems like ours aren't responsible for skyrocketing electricity rates.
Who are they? Private utility companies and their uncontrolled spending.
For example, expensive long-distance transmission lines are very profitable for utility investors, but at the same time they increase the cost of electricity for all ratepayers, whether those customers have solar panels on their roofs or not.
These big utilities have monopoly control of solar power on our California rooftops, and their pressure on the CPUC to cut incentives for solar customers has contributed to the loss of 17,000 good-paying local solar jobs in the past year.
Susan Dembowski, Pasadena
