Former California Sen. Melissa Melendez recently put the blame on politicians for the state's high energy costs, saying residents should hold them accountable.
“There has been much talk from politicians in Sacramento of late bemoaning the ‘greedy utility companies’ and their high prices,” the Elsinore Republican said in an e-mail update. “It is hard to imagine a more disingenuous statement considering politicians are the ones who set the utility rates. The state legislature approves the governor’s appointments to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the very body that approves increases in customer rates."
Melendez also had strong words about alternative energy sources.
“Californians need reliable and affordable energy sources," she said. "Alternative energy should be part of the portfolio, but not the sole source given its high cost to implement and the fact that we don’t have an economical way to store alternative energy."
In view of alternative energy's current shortcomings, she said, the California Legislature must temper its crusade against other means of power.
"The legislature must reconsider some of its mandates like shutting down natural gas power plants and requiring utilities to supply 60% of retail electricity from renewables by 2030 and 100% by 2045, as well as the ban on the sale of gas-powered cars,” Melendez said.
On average, Californians spend approximately $213 per month on electricity, which comes out to $2,556 per year, according to EnergySage. This is 8% higher than the national average, of $2,369. The electricity cost for Californians is 30 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to the national average of 23 cents.
The upward spiral can be seen by looking back to 2016 when California households paid 17.97 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity, and the national average stood at 12.75 cents, a CNBC article said, reporting on stats from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
According to Golden State Policy Council, California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently wrote a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, in which he demanded that it investigate “whether market manipulation, anticompetitive behavior or other anomalous activities are driving these ongoing elevated prices in western gas markets.”
Critics, however, say this is disingenuous considering the direct impact the government has when dealing with energy costs.
Adding to the controversy, according to the council, is that 90% of California’s natural gas comes from out of state. California's largest natural gas storage facility, Aliso Canyon, hasn’t returned to full capacity since its methane leak incident in 2015, despite receiving the designation of safe to operate in 2017.
The only state that pays more in electricity per household in the United States is Hawaii, the Golden State Policy Council said.