Michael We get our electricity and gas here on the northern Pacific coast from the local energy provider "Pacific Gas and Electricity" (PG&E). Since we have an (admittedly: idiotic) electric heating system, our electricity bill fluctuates significantly between the summer and winter months, ranging from about 70 to 120 dollars per month. As you can see in Figure 3, we consumed exactly 692 kilowatts of electricity in the brutally cold December 2016, according to the meter reader, who doesn't come exactly every 30 days but rather at their discretion.
The first 432 kilowatts cost approximately 18 cents each, while the cost for the remaining 260 kilowatts increases by about 33% to 24 cents. Power producers charge proportionally more for above-average consumption because power surges are expensive, for example, on extremely hot summer days when everyone in Silicon Valley turns on their air conditioning.
Some time ago, a colorful brochure arrived at the house, announcing that starting in December 2016, electricity generation and delivery would be billed separately. PG&E would no longer be responsible for generation; instead, a new company called "CleanPowerSF" would take over. This company would not source its electricity molecules from nuclear and other power plants, and only 29.5% from renewable energies, but with the "Green" plan, it would generate 40% environmentally friendly electricity. Those who wanted to be proactive and were willing to pay more could order "Supergreen," which used 100% renewable energies. Those who were more conservative and disdained being green could opt out and continue to receive the good old PG&E electricity. Naturally, we did nothing and, like most lethargic people, were forcibly greened.
As soon as the December bill fluttered into households, the wailing and gnashing of teeth began on the neighborhood complaint site Nextdoor. Rundbrief 09/2014 A homeowner had to pay 450 dollars! It turned out that the increased bill amount was due to four different reasons. Firstly, we had an unusually cold winter, and when temperatures are near freezing, Californians shiver like aspen leaves and turn up the heating. Secondly, PG&E had significantly raised natural gas prices, charging households with gas heating more. Thirdly, the meter reader was extremely lazy in December, and the billing period extended over more than a month. And fourthly, due to the forced switch to "Green," the electricity price went up by about 10%. Our electricity bill in December amounted to $142.38 ($91.89 for the provider CleanPowerSF and $50.49 to PG&E for delivery), but in the following months, it normalized again.
However, the discussion was already in full swing, and most people were blaming the new green energy producer, even though it was only partially at fault. Additionally, everyone here deeply hates the company PG&E because about seven years ago in San Bruno, a suburb of San Francisco, a gas pipeline exploded due to maintenance negligence ... triggered a huge fire in which eight people died, and had to pay approximately 1.6 billion dollars in damages.
And now the criminal company has pulled off another coup: Many homeowners are now installing solar panels on their roofs and generating most of their electricity themselves. Only at night do they sometimes need to add a few drops of PG&E electricity, and what does PG&E do? Naturally, the gang of crooks wasn't thrilled about the new competition and raised the prices for low-consumption users up to 250kWh by 50% (Figure 7), thus punishing the green solar enthusiasts, who are now, of course, up in arms. Let's see how this continues; the last word has not yet been spoken.