Electric prices go negative in California, while gas hits $7.29 a gallon.

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[i][b]Photo above[/b] - the California governor's mansion. Which doesn't have rooftop solar but gets free electricity courtesy of taxpayers.[/i]

Congrats if you already put solar panels on your roof. I'm not going to cast shade on you. Even if you got government subsides. And also signed up to have the state of California buy your “excess solar electricity” on sunny days. You're just playing the game according to the rules. The problem is, those rules were written by politicians who are REALLY bad at math. That's why 2024 is the year of energy Armageddon in California. See links below.

Electricity prices in California are now “negative”. At least on sunny spring days. There is soooo much rooftop solar, there's no place to send it. The grid is full. But only on sunny days. At night, when you might want to plug in your Tesla model Y (or F150 lightning) it's a different story. Electric demand zooms up just as the sun sinks below the horizon. Nobody saw this coming, we are told. Um . . . you mean nobody did a 5-year projection of solar production based on compounded annual installation rates? Sheesh!

I know that sounds stupid, but please remember that California is ALSO the state with mega-miles of century old high voltage transmission lines, most of which have never been maintained or replaced. Despite some of the highest residential energy rates in the world. Solar panels, meet your rich uncle - high conventional electric costs. And your offspring is – negative daytime electric rates. But a shortage of electricity at nights. And still no solution to the giant tangle of 40,000 volt wires overhead which are causing constant brushfires. The perfect (solar) storm?

I don't like to put problems on the table without potential solutions. So California, here I come. At least one of these should work for you.

1 – Build Giant Batteries – to store the daytime electrons and sell them back at night. At government cost, with more tax increases. Don't laugh and say this is ridiculous. They're already doing it - new reservoirs. Use cheap daytime electricity to pump water in, and at night, open the turnstiles and let it flow down through the electric turbines. If you don't see a problem here, then you haven't done the math on land cost and environmental impacts. Just like politicians never did the math on buying voters' rooftop electricity.

2 – Stop buying residential daytime solar. Or at least, only buy it if you absolutely need it. Cloudy days? Short winter days? And don't overpay. Don't promise sky high checks arriving at solar panel owners' mailboxes if it means rebates will be subsidized by taxes on $20 an hour burger flippers and school cafeteria workers. Market based pricing would work in the People's Republic of California, if they gave it a chance.

3 – Start firing electric company CEOs. The government granted them a controlled monopoly, so therefore the government should be able to tell them to hit the bricks. Like when their decrepit prohibition era wires start brushfires and burn millions of acres. Don't just penalize them with fines, and let the crazy-lazy execs keep their jobs. That only increases electric rates on the $20 an hour burger flipper. Tell CEOs what everybody else hears in the real world: “Either you fix this mess, or the person I replace you with will do it.”

If you're mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore, don't imagine that you can find relief by trading in your tax subsidized EV on a conventional car. California gas prices just hit $7.29 a gallon. About double what I'm paying here in Florida. Geeze louise . . . I hope people don't start migrating here for affordable 87 octane too. There already arriving in U-Haul caravans trying to escape high taxes and crime. There is a bright spot though – Florida has plenty of sunshine, except when there's a thunderstorm.

I'm just sayin' . . .

[b][u]California Now Has So Much Solar Power That Electricity Prices Are Going Negative During the Day (futurism.com)

California Residents Erupt After Gas Prices Hit $7.29 per Gallon (msn.com)[/u][/b]