High electric rates threaten California’s climate goals – Marin Independent Journal

An electric vehicle recharges in the Target parking lot in San Rafael, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

Anyone who lives in California knows we pay sky-high electric rates, as well as the highest gasoline prices in the country. High gas prices at least encourage drivers to check out cleaner electric cars for their next purchase. But high electric rates work against climate-friendly technologies. As the Natural Resources Defense Council warned, high rates “discourage customers from electrifying their homes and vehicles, threatening California’s climate progress.”

There’s another important reason that California’s climate progress could stall if electric rates remain too high: politics. Just as California voters revolted against high property taxes in 1977, passing Proposition 13, so they could revolt against climate policies that critics blame for the high price of energy in our state.

As ClimateWire reported in December, “Oil industry allies in California are filling television and computer screens statewide with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign that blames state climate policies for pushing up gasoline and electricity costs.”

The article named two shadowy groups, Californians for Energy Independence and Californians for Affordable and Reliable Energy, that spent at least $4.3 million in 2023 to “put the ads on television and Facebook in both English and Spanish.”

An ad from CARE declared that “since 2018, California’s energy policies raised residential electricity rates by 54%” and that “California government is adding $1.12 in taxes and fees to a gallon of gas,” forcing “working people to pay for state capital politics.”

On its website, CARE points an accusing finger at the centerpiece of California’s climate policy, the Global Warming Solutions Act, aka Assembly Bill 32.

One reason to take these groups seriously, besides the big money behind them, is their charges contain a large grain of truth. The California Energy Commission acknowledges that state gasoline prices are much higher than the national average in part because of mandates for “a special gasoline recipe that reduces air pollution, environmental program costs and taxes.”

Similarly, aggressive climate policies, including the state’s early leadership in acquiring expensive renewable energy, have added billions of dollars to the cost of electricity. The state Public Advocates Office estimated in February that ongoing subsidies for rooftop solar will cost nonsolar customers of the three big investor owned utilities (which includes Pacific Gas and Electric Co.) about $6.5 billion in 2024, amounting to “more than 15% of the average household’s electricity bill.”

All this points to the urgency of finding creative ways to lower electric rates and bills in California (preferably both at the same time). That’s why a bill introduced by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, AB 2329, is particularly worthy of support. It will tap new funding sources for a Climate Equity Trust Fund to make electricity more affordable for most Californians.

To that end, a recent policy paper by the state Legislature’s joint committee on climate change policies determined that growing revenue from the state’s cap-and-trade program could be used to cut average household energy bills by more than $300 per year.