Utility Companies Wants to Force Customers to Pay Up to a $92 Month Minimum Fixed Charge

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PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, the three major California utilities whose services include electricity, have filed a joint proposal so that customers will be force to pay up to $92 every month fixed charge even if no energy is used.

Here’s how the fixed charges would work in the PG&E service territory. The numbers are based on a four-person household:

Households earning less than $28,000 a year would pay a fixed charge of $15 a month on their electric bills.
Households with annual income from $28,000 to $69,000 would pay $30 a month.
Households earning from $69,000 to $180,000 would pay $51 a month.
Those with incomes above $180,000 would pay $92 a month.

The usage-based rates would be initially 33% less than existing rates. A roughly $300 monthly bill would come out about even.

$92/month with zero gas and electricity usage and then additional usage charges. Initially proposed at 33% cheaper than current rates.

Old price say 1000 kWh in a month for 24 cents per kWh. $240.
New Price 1000 kWH for 16 cents per kWh + $92/month. $160+92. $252.

In February, 2023 PG&E raised rates by 8%. In 2022, PG&E increased prices by roughly 21% for Tier 1 customers and 17% for Tier 2 customers compared to 2021. The 33% proposed cheaper rates would reset PG&E back to 2021 pricing for incremental usage, but add in $92/month. PG&E and the other utilities will continue to increase both usage rates and the flat rates.

“These are not new charges, but a restructuring of the components of providing and delivering power,” PG&E stated in a post in the Currents section of the utility’s website.

The Utilities are trying to force payments from people who have solar power and have greatly reduced their monhly bill.

PG&E utility costs have soared more than twice as fast as the overall inflation rate in the Bay Area.

During the 12 months that ended in February, electric utility bills — essentially arising from what PG&E charges its customers — rocketed higher by 13.6% in the Bay Area, according to a report released in March by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Bay Area consumer prices overall rose by 5.3% during the same one-year period, the federal agency reported.

“The problem is the sky’s the limit for how much PG&E can request for electricity and gas rates, and the sky’s the limit for what the PUC can approve,” Toney said. “We need to limit rate increases to the annual consumer price index.”

If this goes into effect in the middle of 2024, the PG&E and other utilities will keep raising the minimum monthly fees and rates.

109 thoughts on “Utility Companies Wants to Force Customers to Pay Up to a $92 Month Minimum Fixed Charge”

  1. OOOOH California how i loved you so when the beaches were clean and you could walk in your San Fernando Valley neighborhoods and did not have to step over drug addicts and homeless to get to your local BBQ spot or Pizza place . Californias rolling mountains and sunny Skys captured and molded me into a free spirit and brought the outdoors into my soul the beautiful oak trees, the drives to Zuma and Malibu beach through the winding canyons in my 72 convertible bug . As a kid Riding horse up to the old winery in Agoura ,walking home from school and not have to worry about Pedophiles and psychopaths living next door . No Kardasians nut jobs that turned our young girls into money hungry materialistic crazies . Thank you California for making me who iam today and what a wonderful experience in my youth . I said goodbye to you California in 2015, California you’ve changed and have gone down hill in every way . I do hope your current residents are aware of Your plans for expanding the national parks to take lands by eminent domaine and roll in your 15min cities . Good bye Sunny Cal !

    • Oh, there are lots of them. The local county court where I live is corrupt. I don’t know if they take bribes, but they ignore the laws.

  3. Newsom asked utilities to charge this fixed rate based on income, so that he can subsidize the people who vote for him. He calls this system “equitable”.

  4. California is an already expensive state to live in and this just makes it worse. These kind of policies make me hate me more liberal and will now vote Rebublican.

    • If you think this is anything but the same primo capitalism at work down in Texas you are no more than a fool dangling on a hook.

      Corporations are corporations no matter whose election campaigns they donate to for political favors.

      Profit is king in the US, always has been and always will be.

      What do you think gave rise to Hollywood and Silicon Valley in the first place to build California into what it is today?

      It’s all about business.

      The only difference between Democrats and the GOP in this regard is that the former at least tries to legislate regulations to prevent corporations reaming you – the GOP are all for giving them more than what they asked for.

      It’s not a coincidence that they waited until the GOP has a majority in the House of Reps to pull this – it’s basically price fixing 101, a practice GOP administrations have proven that they are very much unwilling to regulate in the past.

      • Someone has their head so far up their…. Well, you know the rest. Your confusing state regulations with federal regulations. Not surprising, since you’re defending the party of dementia joe. Everything the democrats touch turns turns into….

      • Indeed, it’s fine to complain what you want, but voting for the other guys is a bridge too far. It doesn’t matter how hard the Democrats screw you over, just buy some more KY and rest safe in the knowledge that the Republicans would do worse, somehow. After all, the regulations are all that stand between you and barbarism. Trust me!

      • California is run by Democrats who under the leadership of Gavin Newsome who burned through a huge budget surplus last year and ran up a $25 Billion dollar deficit. The Republican House of Representatives in Washington have nothing to do with this. It is a California issue.

      • Lol. What are you smoking?

        The House of Reps has nothing to do with California energy price regulation, the CPUC is the California Public Utilities Commission. Those are Gavin Newsom appointees and Dems have super majorities in both state legislatures. Republicans are an endangered species in California, we all fled. I prefer South Dakota, personally.

      • Lol.

        The House of Reps has nothing to do with California energy price regulation, the CPUC is the California Public Utilities Commission. Those are Gavin Newsom appointees and Dems have super majorities in both state legislatures. Republicans are an endangered species in California, we all fled. I prefer South Dakota, personally.

    • With California going to electric cars by 2035 and all the charging stations that are needed now and in the future how much will the charge be for their use. This state needs to cutback on the give, give, give to all the dead beats and give the everyday taxpayers a break.

  5. 1000 kWh is like summer usage in the Central Valley. Average usage is more like 1/2 that It’s just PG&E’s and CPUC way to play the numbers to get us to pay more through the flat rate charges. Those who use less will pay more than they do now.

  6. It is time to vote those in office that are in the pocket of Utility companies out of office and have change the Bill AB 205. Then regulate Utilities increases by a bill.

  7. THE MAJOR UTILITY COMPANIES CAN GO SCREW THEMSELVES. PUC HAS NO BACKBONE TO TELL THEM NO BECAUSE EVERYONE ON THE PUC BOARD ARE GETTING MONETARY KICKBACKS

  8. This is totally nuts..More reasons to leave California, I’ve never lived anywhere else but California but everyday it’s something new and stupid being proposed. I hope totally disconnecting from the grid is an option under this whacky plan. I’ve solar and 2 Tesla batteries. I would 2 more Tesla Powerwalls and never ever deal with PGE

    • Why would they let you disconnect from the grid? You still use all the benefits of society. Even when you are dead, you still have to pay for the upkeep of the burial plot.

  9. I live in CA. I was wanting to put solar on my house with enough battery to last a few days. I even had a idea to heat the panels to deal with the snow and then cut myself from the grid. Only partially because of costs. I lose power many times a winter never mind the power safety shut offs. Do to winter weather I have spent anywhere from a few minutes to over a week in the dark. I cook on my wood stove and have hot water from my propain water heater. But it is as far as I can tell illegal to unplug because of safety they say. But that same safety doesn’t keep my lights on. So how is a 100% disabled veteran that has no income according the the federal government supposed to deal with a can’t unplug fee and pay for usage when I’m already living in the dark half the day just to cut usage costs?

  10. The answer is obvious. Leave California, we still have room in North Carolina, and it rains regularly here. Things are only going to get worse in the golden state for the foreseeable future. Just leave your politics there if you voted for the politicians that are ruining the place!

    • It’s not just California. Rate increases are getting out of control everywhere. That paired with housing costs and inflation on groceries and gas are causing people to lose the ability to afford to live. It’s ridiculous.

      • No. It’s the result of bad federal pandemic response, bad federal energy policy, and the senseless proxy war in Ukraine, including the international terrorist attack on the Nord Stream pipelines.

        All of the above are destroying the petrodollar system. This is what will cause inflation that hasn’t been seen in the US since the the Continental Dollar. As far as the rising cost of what’s now considered a normal life, you’ve seen nothing yet.

  11. No, we need to limit increases by the increase in wages by the categories they have. For the lowest tier, it will be set by minimum wage, and all others by the rise in wages.

  14. we have to bail out the old nuclear power plants that have leaking pipes and the other nuclear power plants that are built over earthquake faults.
    Then we have to have a fee to bury the leftover irRadiated nuclear pipes and nuclear fuel.
    The loss of net metering is going to cause a huge power shortage in California when we all switch to electric cars and need solar to charge them.

    • There has never been an anti nuclear environmentalist, what you have is pro coal, pro natural gas stakeholders in California attacking our number one non Carbon power source.

    • You’re being forced to do that too. Hell you can even get weed there that’s not from a cartel run operations and you can’t get a non corrupt sherrif

  15. Also in the Bay Area they are ending being able to get and replace natgas appliances THREE YEARS earlier in the rest of the state! That means massive new costs when your furnace or water heater goes out. I have on-demand water heaters that are more efficient and I won’t be able to replace them.

    • It doesn’t get all that cold in the bay area. At least heat pumps work well there. No gas furnaces will really suck for those in the high mountains.

    • The flat rate is for delivery cost only (the transmission lines, substations, meters, etc.). The energy cost is additional. The flat rate fee structure was mandated by the California state legislature. The utilities are only proposing a way to meet the state’s requirements. This article could have done a much better job explaining that.

  17. What, exactly, is the fixed charge for? Why should it have anything to do with income level? Looks like just a blatant attempt to soak the rich, as opposed to something based on energy usage.

    Since California is more-or-less a communist state, just “nationalize” the grid.

    Wonder if the municipal power companies are proposing the same thing? Being accountable to their customers, I suspect not.

    • Ideally, fixed utility charges cover the cost of the extra hardware, and billing serving you cost the utility. The kWh charge should cover the cost of transmission, and generation.

  18. Imagine investing to make your home energy efficient… insulation, better windows, solar panels, etc… and then having the government tell you that your utility bill is going to go up anyways.

    If I lived in CA I would leave ASAP

    • Bills have gone up many multiples thanks to ‘green’ energy that’s ‘free’ and ‘renewable’.

      It’s green energy because it takes a lot of green to pay for it.

    • That is exactly what I did. Upgrades solar, LEDs, light tubes so I don’t even use the lights etc. I am a fool. I want to leave so bad!!!! I have the date planned already but I have to play the long waiting game due to my job. There have been a number of last straws but this is really it. I wasted the last two years of my life trying to beat this state. It will always figure out a way to make you pay, things you never anticipated.

  20. All of us Californians should realize that once this goes through for electricity that the other utilities will see that as a green light to do the same.

    Water
    Natural gas
    Sewer
    Trash
    Phone

    Pay up you evil rich people. You didn’t build any of that so you have no right to complain when you get taxed. What are you going to do? Move to Texas? Vote Republican?

    • In California and most of the U.S., low income households already get discounted natural gas, electric, water, phone, and sewage service. Same goes for Medicare and Medicaid, college tuition, negative income taxes, food stamps, free cell phones, rent assistance, and so on.

      The problem with electric utility service in California is that the price of electricity from “public” utilities is out of control, which creates a huge disincentive for buying electric appliances and a big obstacle to achieving the State’s (and the left wing’s) goal of an all-electric economy (i.e., no fossil fuels). To reduce the disincentive to buying/using electric appliances, California needs to move the price of electricity away from a variable rate (i.e., based on the consumption of electricity) and towards a fixed rate (i.e., a flat rate regardless of consumption).

      To be clear, California “public” utilities are proposing new fixed rates for electricity in addition to their existing variable rates. The new fixed rate paid by each customer will be based on the customer’s income. Existing variable rates will be reduced by the amount of revenue brought in by the new fixed rates, so the net effect of the new fixed rates is “revenue neutral” to the public utilities.

      The net effect will not be “revenue neutral” for electric customers, however. Lower income customers will pay less overall for electricity (fixed + variable rates) as required by AB 205, and higher income customers will pay more (all else equal).

      • Appreciate very much your explanation. But I feel the possibility of many unintended consequences is real, affecting nearly forty million people. Way too many decisions and laws are being made outside of our historical relationship with capitalism, and I have yet to see where any of those have been ultimately for “the greater good”. Classical teachings were classical because they represented the fundamentally best examples of humanity; this push for “progressivism” is not necessary and seems to always result in worse outcomes for everyone.

      • I dont get anything at a reduction, and Im retired so I have Medicare. What would that give me a reduction in? I pay the same rate for utilities as everyone else… I live in Michigan…

    • In CA bay area we already have a fixed plus usage rate for water. Water rates have been much higher ever since. It’s just another way to increase prices so the CEO can get more than her last pay package of $55 million as well as the other corporate officers with their million dollar salaries. Shareholders want to get rich off the backs of ratepayers too.

    • Although, in theory, separating grid maintenance from usage charges is not unreasonable, it would become unreasonable. Utility monopolies and politicians can’t help themselves. And it’s not just them. No one wants to sell anything nowadays, ideally, they want to get their hooks into your income and feed off of it every month, as much as they can get.

      There are politicians who believe a national sales tax would be a good thing, too.

      So if you agree that it would be wonderful to get rid of the income tax (which actually acts to discourage productivity, I know I turned down an evening job teaching at the local college because of it) they look at you blankly. Get rid of the income tax? No, no. We would keep that, of course. We just want to create a national sales tax.

      Take taxes, Federal and state income taxes are not all of it. We also get dunned for 12.4% Social Security tax on the first 118k, which for most of us is all of it. That our employer pays half of that is only another way of hiding the fact the entire thing is coming from income we would otherwise receive. We can potentially ignore Medicare as being insurance, and therefore not a tax.

      We also must pay over 10k in property tax on a small town house, and New York sales tax on everything, even things we buy in other states and bring home with us.

      There is also city income tax, payroll tax, corporate tax, gift tax, gambling tax, federal unemployment tax, gas tax, cable and telecom taxes, air passenger duty, FCC subscriber line charges, car registration and licensing fees, corporate income tax, driver’s license fees, TSA prescreening fees, pet licensing fees, marriage license fees, hunting license fees, park entry fees, gas taxes, liquor taxes, and various things on cable bills and cellphone bills including an ‘Enhanced 911 Fee.’

      In some cases, companies passing taxes on to the customer have been forbidden by law to tell the customer that this is the reason for that portion of their bill.

      Chicago doubled cellphone fees to pay for its failed Olympics bid, but kept the tax permanently. New York City has an eight-cent ‘bagel-cutting tax. California has a 33% tax on fruit bought through a vending machine. Maine taxes one-and-a-half-cents per pound on blueberries shipped out of state.

      Government hides endless taxes behind all kinds of euphemisms: documentation fee, service charge, equalization fee, licensing fee, pet license, hunting license, police and fire protection fee, etc.

      But the money just gets spent or given away by politicians. That means it’s all taxes.

      I estimated that my wife and I are actually paying around 56% of our gross wages in taxes each year. Others, using a more formal methodology, have arrived at precisely the same figure.

      For decades we laughed at the Europeans. Sure they get free medical and incredible vacation packages, and social safety nets, etc. but they give up 50% of their earnings for it? How silly.

  21. This being CA I am personally glad that they stop the monthly fee increases at $180k. Usually there is a “Doctor” tier ($500k) as well as a “Scum and Villainy” tier ($1M). Maybe a reflection of CA losing their dastardly millionaires to Florida.

    Texas is looking good.

    • “as well as a “Scum and Villainy” tier”

      I like it, we could also just call it the “Mos Eisley” Tier.

  22. Then I should get rid of my 8 year old solar panels and buy 2 electric vehicles, heck, how about the electric energy hog GM hummer, run my house at 68’ in the summer when it’s 110’ outside….for $96/month, cheaper than gas, should also quit my job after I buy the 2 electric vehicles and pay only $15/month……no one will work or conserve!

    • $92/month with zero gas and electricity usage and then additional usage charges. Initially proposed at 33% cheaper than current rates.

      Old price say 1000 kWh in a month for 24 cents per kWh. $240.
      New Price 1000 kWH for 16 cents per kWh + $92/month. $160+92. $252.

    • You will still pay for electricity used. The flat rate is for the transmission only. Us customers with solar are really getting soaked. SDGE higher income customers may end up at $128/month. Socialized energy mandated by Kalifornia government.

  23. On principle, how much I make is none of the utility company’s businesses! This got to be breaking something in the constitution.
    Will they demand I show tax returns? Then they need to hire an army of people to check and recheck that it’s true information.

    I am somewhat leftie, but this is just dumb.

    To help the poor, make the cost pr kWh progressive, like this:

    Cost = A * kWh^B

    Thailand does this, but in steps. First 15 kWh are 5c, then rising in steps till 12c for everything over 400

  24. Here in Sweden where all political parties can be found in the left communism part of the diagram, we have had this utility charge for many years. It started small and have now become a disaster. The electricity prices are on record levels due to closedown of nukes and buildout of wind. Yet, the fixed charges are way higher than the price of energy.

    They claim this is for the infrastructure but the infrastructure keeps getting worse and the electricity shortage is increasing due to transferring bottlenecks. There is also a market mechanism that gives the utility owners more money when there are capacity constraints. This takes away the incentive to fix the problems and so it gets worse instead.

    I would recommend everyone to protest and work against such constructions. It never ends well. Use the market economy evolutionary mechanisms to an advantage.

    • There is no protest that will change the mind of California’s regulators. At the state level this is a one party state where the policy that is imposed is whatever the Democrat party wants it to be.

      I’ve lived in CA my entire life and have seen it go from a state that was evenhanded in its approach to policy to a state that imposes a singular vision of policy. The closest we had to a protest movement was when former Governor Gray Davis raised vehicle registration fees on everybody and was recalled. The lesson learned from that is reflected in this proposal: do not raise fees on the masses, just the “rich” (FYI Household income of $180k in CA is middle class- you can almost afford a home!) If you don’t like what the state does then the only form of “protest” is for people to move to a different state where hopefully they do not vote for the same politicians.

      That’s why people are moving from CA. Our population shrank in the last census.

      • And I am perfectly aware that the Republicans in TX and FL impose their own policy vision on their residents.

        Primary difference being that when given the choice on net free people choose to relocate (“vote with their feet”) and live where Republican policies are in place, leaving the policies of CA, NY, IL.

  25. I live in CA. To add some context, my energy usage went down last year (because of a new AC, not solar), but my energy bills went up. They keep raising the rates faster than inflation. Supposedly it’s to pay down the costs of their poor equipment starting wildfires.

  26. In Belgium we get that too but only for Solar panels owners , this is to contribute to electricity infrastructures , indeed this not unusual to have panels shutdown because there is too much production in some street and the network needs bugs upgrade to handle it

  27. It’s not possible for anyone to comment without knowing how PG&E is structured. It’s obvious they pocketed monies for line maintenance the citizens that burnt alive due to share holder greed. The CEO and others get bonuses. We are stupid to believe anything PG&E tells us.

  28. The fixed charges proposed by PG&E and other “public” utilities are the explicit intended consequence of Assembly Bill 205 enacted by the State of California, which is controlled completely by the Democratic Party and their corporate sponsors. Also intended by AB 205: low income households will pay less than they do now for electric service (all else equal), and high income households will pay more. Henceforth in California, the price of electric utility service will vary based on the income of customers – it’s a new income tax on the better off and a new subsidy for the less well off.

    AB 205 will have significant negative consequences on residential solar industry. It will simply make no economic sense for residential customers to install solar with AB 205 and NEM 3.0. California and the Feds have spent big bucks (i.e., taxpayer dollars) building the “green” industry and training the associated work force. Now the Democrats and their corporate sponsors are going to throw it all away.

    • With all due respect this is Gibberish! The solar market will no longer be a bunch of under qualified 19 year’s pitching a $25 monthly savings until their blue in the face! The solar market will evolve to a whole home approach! With the right tools and systems in place Solar will be as viable ever!

  29. Yeah! But they take the extra power solar generates and pay next to nothing for it while charging more when you need extra during a billing cycle. Guess solar was just another scam pushed on the American public.

  30. These companies are loosing their minds! So because those that have solar are saving money on their bill by having solar, they basically have figured out a way to get the money their savings back by over charging everyone else, by charging others a fixed price whether power is used or not!!! This is “WRONG” and “TOTALLY NOT FAIR” and should “NOT BE ABLE TO BE DONE” “AS WELL AS AGAINST THE LAW”!!!

    • One set price whetyou use or not? Or is it gonna be steady going up as you use, it would only be fair if didn’t steady go up especially to those that use little to none!!!

  31. Everyone should get gas powered generators and get off the grid it will cost half as much and no rate increase ever.

  32. Absolute criminal activity. They are trying to get EVERYONE to pay back the money they had to pay for the homes that burned a few years back in the wildfires THEY caused with poor maintenance. Once again, the middle class is getting screwed! How much kick back is Gavin Screwsome getting out of this? I can’t wait to leave California. This is extortion of money from the people who always pay more the middle class! The illegals get FREE everything, the rich are in a different bracket and the middle class and Vets gets SCREWED! SHAME ON ANYONE THINKING THIS IS RIGHT! ABSOLUTE BS!

  33. I like this proposal. Lower flat rate is what I needed. I’ll ended up in using the extra money to other utility expenses like car maintenance, registration, smog check, oil transmission service, gasoline, car insurance, yard work etc.etc. I wanted solar installation but I’m just a tenant.

  34. So getting penalized for having Solar? Already paying more for gas then ever. Bills for gas alone higher than gas and electric were before Solar. Not right. Feel paying for all your legal issues over the years.

  35. You have to BUY your solar! Solar is thousands of dollars! We do pay for delivery of electricity from PG&E grid based on your usage. It is unfair to MAKE us pay for solar(new construction homes don’t have an option as solar is mandatory!), AND pay PG&E a flat fee which will only continue to increase because NO ONE is doing anything to regulate or stop the PG&E price gouging! There will be no incentive to go solar if we have to pay PG&E as well.

  36. It isn’t a bad price…but I want a mandate that some of that money GO to the grid—not shareholders

    And Gavin calls himself a Democrat

    • Not a government issue. This is three major private unity companies, frightened at the prospect of ever diminishing revenues in their core business function; making power. Why? People make their own at home with solar, no longer needing them.

      • LOL. People make power at home and haven’t yet disconnected from the grid.

        And never will. Hard to charge the EVs at night.

        • Honestly even if you go solar in mo you still have to be on the electric grid. They supposedly pay you for extra energy you make as a credit. Buts it’s like a penny per kWh then charge you .30 per kWh when you need to use their grid. It’s dumb. No electricity company will ever let you go off grid cause they’d lose money

      • Good info. As soon as the solar energy started with the independent co. My bill rose around 30-40 a month with same usage. We need regulations to help the people not greedy cos.

    • This is an attack on NEM. They pay for electricity based on the kWh rate, not the flat costs. So, anyone with NEM gets their credits reduced by 1/3, and the payback period for their panels increases.

      NEM3 already made it less profitable to sell to the grid (it’s a better ROI to get a battery and use it yourself).

      Does CA want people to get residential solar or not? They pretend to give incentives for panel installation, but simultaneously let the utilities screw everyone over with monthly rates.

      Only households well below the poverty line will see any benefit from this new fee schedule, everyone else will pay more. Solar owners getting doubly screwed.

  39. “The Utilities are trying to force payments from people who have solar power and have greatly reduced their monthly bill.”

    That’s actually reasonable if they’re going to remain connected to the grid. Utilities have both variable AND fixed costs, and both have to be paid if they’re not to lose money. (And they have to not lose money if they’re going to continue operating long term!)

    If somebody wants to have a complete solar power system and not use the grid at all, it’s fair that they not pay anything towards the fixed costs. But if they’re going to rely on the grid being there when they need it, why shouldn’t they pay towards it being there?

    It’s no different than if they wanted to have one of those big emergency generator units available. Those things aren’t free if you plant them in your front yard, why should it be free if it’s 50 miles away and connected to you through a lot of wiring?

    • But what about the people with solar that are putting into the grid and credit is owed for being a generator to others. They will have to pay for your electricity as well?

      • If that is the case if the rate will be fixed even in the winter then why get solar? I have solar and i enjoy having pg&E paying for the electricity i produce. It all averages itself out with the true up bill. I think it should be optional and not mandatory.

    • I agree with your general reasoning, but why are the fees then tied to income? If you buy a generator for your front lawn, the price of it does not depend on how much you earn, so why would the back up generator hundreds of miles away on how much you earn? Is something else going on here?

      • I agree the details are not reasonable, obviously politicians have had a hand in this. Just the general principle that the customer needs to pay towards the fixed cost of maintaining a grid, not just the variable cost of providing the electricity, if they want to have a grid available to them.

        This is California, even the most reasonable ideas will be implemented in an unreasonable manner.

      • Its an easy answer in six steps why the fees are reprehensibly tied to income:

        1. Utilities need to do this to pay for the grid (which most everyone uses)
        2. Utilities need the governmental regulators to give approval to do this
        3. Nobody wants monthly fees to go up
        4. Utilities structure fee increases to disproportionately impact the wealthy, help low income
        5. CA has many, many low income people who will benefit from this
        6. Regulators see that the many, many low income will benefit so there will be little backlash

        Up next for CA will be income based water, trash, natgas “fees”. My annual CA electricity bill will double.

    • ‘That’s actually reasonable…” LOL, the government has bent over backwards exhorting people to spend huge amounts of money putting in solar, and then the government tells them that they’re going to pay practically the same as those that didn’t spend all that? Never listen to someone that says “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” !

      • This doesn’t seem unreasonable in the abstract but it might in individual circumstances.

        Building codes and standards serve a social purpose of putting a floor under the freedom to make choices about these issues. Should somebody be able to choose not to connect to sewer, not to have electric in a building? Not to follow fire or earthquake codes? Where does a public right to not have to worry about these issues supersede?

        • I’m not connected to city sewer, or water, and don’t want them. I have a well, and a conventional septic system. My waste feeds anaerobic, and aerobic bacteria, not algae in some river.

          Much of building code is unnecessary, contributes to homelessness, and is generally strictly enforced only against whomever pisses of the local authorities. I’ve had two contractors tell me that building inspectors are not there to make sure things are done right, they are there to make sure everything is property taxed.

    • That would have been fair only if the electric company also pays back fairly for the solar power it receives from these customers. A price that is same or similar to what they charge to deliver such power. In San Diego one pays to SDGE the highest rates in the country (higher than Hawaii) at $0.67. How much SDGE values the energy it gets back from home solar and pays to the owners? Less than $0.02. So yeah, if it is to be fair, then the power companies should also pay back fairly for energy they receive from home solar. The power companies did not pay for the owners fixed costs installing solar panels either.

      It all ends in one way – that has already played a bit in in Hawaii – customers will install batteries and generators and cut the cord. And one may not need an exceptionally large battery pack or generators that can run for weeks nowadays (to survive an unexpectedly long stretch of gray days) – you can also now have a backup of the backup that is also convenient and useful: buy an electric vehicle that can power back your home (all one has to do is charge the car somewhere and bring it home). You will still need a battery and generator to cover for 3-4 dark days perhaps and may be a few more solar panels than normal, but you may not need more than that if you have vehicle to grid.

      The energy companies will loose both such customers (these do still pay some fees now) and the “free cost” energy these supply – causing cost increase to the “non-off-grid customers”.

      • They wouldn’t even be buying that electricity from the people with solar panels in the first place, if they weren’t being forced to buy it. Residential solar is a lousy buy for utilities, they can’t schedule it in advance, the sun comes out from behind a cloud and suddenly they have to dump perfectly good electricity they’d already contracted for to buy juice some neighborhood is dumping onto the grid. And the grid isn’t even set up in the first place to properly handle two way flows,

    • All those solar owners have driven down daytime peak usage, that’s why the dreaded duck curve exists. They also lowered the current cost of PV that the utilities are installing themselves. They should get to keep their savings.

      Rather than cry to government for more money, electrical utilities should engage in load management strategies. Everyone is going to get electrical water heaters in CA, that’s a huge potential dispatchable load. Every electrical car is a potential load, and source of energy. California is notorious for setting it’s own rules for emissions, how about requiring all BEVs in the state to be V2G compliant, and allow the owners to profit from V2G when their cars are plugged in?

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