California’s plan: Make the poor sweat in the dark? Or pay electric rates 4X higher than the rest of the US . . . ?

Photo above - if you live here, you can afford to pay the highest electric rates in America (73 cents per kwh). If you actually work for a living, the electric bill for your 3-bedroom apartment could bankrupt you.


How much does electricity cost where you live? The national average is 17 cents per kilowatt hour. Okay, everybody who’s paying more is going WOW right now. (The rate is on your monthly bill, or provider website. If it’s not on their website, they are possibly charlatans).

In Florida, I pay a little less (15 cents). Which is weird because everybody runs their AC all day long, even when no one is home. If I did that, I’d exceed my base 15 cent rate, and the cost WOULD go up. To an astonishing . . . 17 cents?

So lots of places are paying more than Tampa Florida. My mom pays 20 cents (33% more than me). Her rate is rising to 22 cents this year. The state of Pennsylvania wants people to ditch their gas ovens and hot water heaters and furnaces, and go all electric. At some point a draconian law requiring appliance and HVAC replacement will be passed. Then electric rates will go even higher, because of increased demand . . .

Where’s the most expensive electricity? You're wrong, but I would have guessed Hawaii or Alaska too. But the correct answer is . . . California, between 5pm and 8pm. Then it’s a mind blowing 73 cents per kwh. In places like San Diego, they can increase your rate to $1.18 per kwh, without advance notice, if too many people want to come home at once. And remember, AC isn’t that big a factor in seaside locations.

I suppose if you were running an AI system, server farm, or cloud-based storage, you could “turn it down” (or off) after 5pm. But they don’t. Skyrocketing AI and cloud use is why the planet doesn’t have enough electricity. California Teslas and frozen burritos are getting kicked to the curb as a byproduct. If you don’t like the price per kwh, install rooftop solar, and a $15,000 backup battery to see if that helps any. This is California’s plan to avoid granting construction permits for new power plants. Homeowners will spend tens of thousands out of pocket to be self-sufficient-ish. And still pay 73 cents per kwh on cloudy days.

If you live in LA, you probably drive an electric car. IIf you refuse, your neighbors will shun you. Everyone comes home after a long day at their air conditioned office, plugs in their Tesla, pops in a burrito, turns on the 65 inch QLED TV. Maybe even takes a shower, if they stopped at Planet Fitness on the way home.

73 cents per kwh.

Of course, you could hunt for an open, non-vandalized public charger during your commute. But they all have time of use surcharges for electricity too. The rates are too difficult to decipher. Suffice it to say, when you pull up, you either say “Oh snap” and plug in anyway, or shout something worse and keep driving. If you want DC fast charging your rate could be double what a level 2 public charger takes from your wallet.

So why is the link titled “The poor will sweat in the dark?” Because time-of-use pricing hurts ordinary workers the hardest. Electricity is already a major budget item for them. Their electric bills are soaring to more than $1,000 a month, in some cases. The working poor aren’t plugging in Teslas, but they ARE paying the highest rate (73 cents after 5pm) like those celebrities whose mansions just burned down.

About those mansions . . . LA mayor Karen Bass just signed an emergency order. Rescinding the law which requires rebuilt inferno homes to be all-electric. Those celebrities can, indeed, rebuild with gas hot water, gas ovens, gas stovetops, gas fireplaces, gas backup generators, and gas tiki torches for their patios. I’m not sure how swimming pools and hot tubs are kept comfortable in California, but it has to be either gas, or electric, right?

If you’re Joe (or Flo) Schmo living the valley, west of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and Venice Beach, go pound sand. Those gas appliance exceptions are ONLY for the people that matter. Not you, peasant!

Don’t you wish politicians had the welfare of the average person in mind? They don't even respond to 911 calls anymore. Gasoline prices are too expensive.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

California’s Plan: Make the Poor Sweat in the Dark