The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) is out with details regarding something we all know from paying PG&E every month. Costs are up, up, up. Specifically:
California’s electricity rates are among the highest in the country,” the Legislative Analyst’s Office reported. On average, residential electricity rates in California are close to double those in the rest of the nation. Average residential electricity rates in California have grown faster than inflation in recent years, rising by about 47% over the four-year period from 2019 through 2023 compared to overall growth in prices of about 18%,” according to the report. Only Hawaii has higher electricity rates than California, the report determined.
The LAO pins this on:
- Increasing stringency of greenhouse gas emission reduction laws for the electricity grid.
- Accommodating more electricity demand from electrification.
- Growing demand for funding to support state climate policies.
- Wildfire-related costs.
One of the preeminent energy economists in the world, Bjorn Lomborg, who we profiled here is also back with an update in the WSJ titled "Green energy costs a bundle" that notes a study of 70 countries' costs shows:
In a country with little or no solar and wind, the average electricity cost is about 12 cents a kilowatt-hour (in today’s money). For every 10% increase in solar and wind share, the electricity cost increases by more than 5 cents a kilowatt-hour. This isn’t an outlier; these results are substantially similar to 2019, before the effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Germany has installed so much solar and wind that, on sunny and windy days, renewable energy satisfies close to 70% of Germany’s needs—a fact the press eagerly reports. But the press hardly mentions dark and still days, when these renewables deliver almost nothing. Twice in the past two months, when it was cloudy and nearly windless, solar and wind delivered less than 4% of the daily power Germany needed. Current battery technology is insufficient. Germany’s entire battery storage runs out in about 20 minutes.
The SF Chronicle looked at the other side of the story last week as new buy-back rates from PG&E et al take a bite out of green ambitions in California:
In late 2022, state regulators voted to slash the level of that payment by around 75% to bring it closer to market prices. With the electricity they produce worth far less, rooftop panels suddenly didn’t make as much financial sense.
Beyond the impact on customers’ pocketbooks, the change devastated California’s solar industry when it went into effect in April 2023, prompting a huge drop in home and business panel installations, wiping out thousands of jobs, and forcing local installers to shrink or close up shop altogether.
That would be 17,000 vaporized jobs to be more specific. Competing studies assert that non-solar customers are subsidizing solar customers--or vice versa. What is undeniable is that a bunch of people who would have plunked down tens of thousands of dollars of their own money to contribute to green energy generation have changed their minds. I would attribute it to the Law of Unintended Consequences, but it was so obvious that it has to be intentional. Does anyone in Sacramento care to listen to the LAO?
Get rid of Broadway station. I bet the cost is cut in half immediately.
The station serves no real purpose with Millbrae being one of the best station in the Bay Area and Burlingame Ave less than a mile away.
Posted by: JB | February 09, 2025 at 11:33 AM
JB's comment must be meant for an adjacent post. Closing the station is a hot topic since if it is open that may trigger even more high-density nonsense.
Back on topic, this news bit came out today. Another Green Boondoggle with PG&E wriggling out of its contract:
A major solar power plant project that was granted over a billion dollars in federal loans is on the road to closure, with energy experts blasting the project as a “boondoggle” that harmed the environment.
In 2011, the US Department of Energy (DOE) under former President Barack Obama issued $1.6 billion in loan guarantees to finance the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, a green energy project that consists of three solar concentrating thermal power plants in California.
The facility was touted by then-Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz as an “example of how America is becoming a world leader in solar energy.”
But after 10 years, the federally funded plant is now on track to close.
“Ivanpah is yet another failed green energy boondoggle, much like Solyndra,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, an American energy advocacy group, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Despite receiving $1.6 billion in federal loan guarantees, it never lived up to its promises, producing less electricity than expected while still relying on natural gas to stay operational.”
Ivanpah consists of three individual units, two of which were contracted by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) in 2009 and scheduled to run until 2039.
In January, PG&E announced plans to cancel its agreement with Ivanpah 14 years early, determining that “ending the agreements at this time will save customers money compared to the cost of keeping them through 2039” – ultimately putting Ivanpah on notice for closure.
“The Ivanpah plant was a financial boondoggle and environmental disaster,” Julia Dowell of the Sierra Club, an environmental activism group, said of the power plant.
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Even the Sierra Club doesn't like it!
https://nypost.com/2025/02/09/business/california-ivanpah-solar-power-facility-created-by-obama-blasted-as-disaster/
Posted by: Joe | February 10, 2025 at 12:59 PM
The Merc and affiliate Bay Area News Group are noting that PG&E just delivered another year of higher profits. Then they turn (no pun intended) to the usual cast of consumer advocate characters for reactions like these:
“This is the second year in a row of record-breaking profits for PG&E,” said Mark Toney, executive director of consumer group The Utility Reform Network. “The shareholders are getting a lot of love. But while PG&E investors are feeling the love, the customers are only feeling the pain.”
and
“If the PUC doesn’t address the outrageous profits for PG&E coming from outrageously high utility bills, then the state legislature must do it,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Action. “Ratepayers at California’s investor-owned utilities deserve more affordable electricity.”
But here's the problem. Pull up your favorite stock quote app. I just use the one that comes on the iPhone. You can see the stock price change over 1, 2, 5 and 10 years. The changes are -$1.24, -$0.54, -$0.91 and $-39.69 per share respectively. Sometimes there are modest dividends paid out, but this ain't no stock pickers dream by any stretch. I'll bet neither Toney nore Court own a share.
Posted by: Joe | February 14, 2025 at 02:53 PM