Is this an artifical shortage? From The San Francisco Chronicle - ‘It’s crazy’: How soaring PG&E rates are impacting California’s electric car owners
What happens when you restrict supply of electricity - power generating plants are BAD! - and increase demandby insisting that everyone drive electric cars, use electric ovens, and use electric heat? What happens is the price goes up.
But after a 20% rate hike this year by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., charging a car — one of the single biggest items on electric bills — just got more expensive. And the trend is unlikely to let up anytime soon: State regulators are considering further rate increases for PG&E this year.
“It’s crazy,” said Austin Ball, a Walnut Creek engineer and Tesla Model 3 driver whose PG&E bill more than doubled this year.
The only reason that electric vehicles make economic sense in California is that they have kept the price of gasoline artificially high. The article states that it currently averages $4.80 per gallon. That is about $1.40 or more than I paid the last time I bought gas.
Years ago it was reported that PGE always had 3 rate increases pending at CPUC. They would request rate increases to replace poles, not replace the poles and then ask for another rate increase to pay for the pole replacement. PGE works hard to keep competition out see:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ssjid.gov/district-services/electric-services/ They been trying to replace PGE for over 15 years.