One of Karl Marx's dictums was "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". It's never worked in practice, of course, because in every culture individuals have proved to be motivated more by self-interest than by altruism. It seems people work better on a "What's in it for me?" basis than any other. (Witness the Pilgrim colony in Massachusetts for a very good example.)
Unfortunately, it seems that the barking moonbats in California have failed to learn from history.
Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric submitted a joint proposal to the state’s Public Utilities Commission last week that outlines the new rate structure. It follows last year’s passage of Assembly Bill 205 which requires a fixed rate and generally simpler power bills.
Under the proposal, households will see a fixed rate covering basic electricity services and the utility company’s operating costs on a scale based on their household income.
- Households with annual income from $28,000 – $69,000 would pay $20 a month in Edison territory, $34 a month in SDG&E territory and $30 a month in PG&E territory.
- Households earning from $69,000 – $180,000 would pay $51 a month in Edison and PG&E territories and $73 a month in SDG&E territory.
- Those with incomes above $180,000 would pay $85 a month in Edison territory, $128 a month in SDG&E territory and $92 a month in PG&E territory.
The utilities say customers should expect to also see lower costs for their kilowatt-hour usage.
. . .
“We have listened to and heard from our customers that fundamental change is needed to provide bill relief,” SDG&E CEO Caroline Winn said in a statement. “When we were putting together the reform proposal, front and center in our mind were customers who live paycheck to paycheck, who struggle to pay for essentials such as energy, housing and food.”
There's more at the link.
So the utilities' richer customers are going to be forced to subsidize its poorer ones, whether they like it or not, and regardless of whether the former are struggling to make ends meet as much as the latter. Marx would be very pleased, I'm sure - but I'm not sure about the customers . . .
I used to dismiss it as hyperbole when people spoke of California as "Commiefornia". Not any more.
Peter
The bigger question is HOW will the utilities know what the household's income is?
ReplyDeleteI'm SO glad I escaped California last year.
AKA Kalifornia.
ReplyDeleteI say that having been born and raised there. Except for service in uniform, lived my adult life and raised a family there too. I was also a sole proprietor FFL for almost 20 years. Wife and followed our grown kids to Texas in 2015. Not far from us are signs along Hwy 20 proclaiming it the "Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway". When I was a young lad, he was governor of California.
I think there is more to the story. I think it is the utilities acting in response to crap legislation issued from crappy legislators in a socialist regime.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how this isn't conspiracy, collusion, or price fixing at least is part?
Going to be interesting...
ReplyDeleteIt's not really Commiefornia. It is the Democratic People's Republic of Kalifornia (DPRK). There is a similar state with a similar name elsewhere in the world.
ReplyDeleteWith the upcoming EV mandate, it will be interesting to see all those charging stations that will be magically installed in all the apartment complexes.
This can be fixed, all of it, in less than 180 days: Other states need to stop supporting California. Stop selling Caifornia the electricity it does not have the capacity to produce; stop selling them the water they do not have the storage capacity to keep and use wisely.
ReplyDeleteNearly 50% of America's fruits and vegetables are grown in California, so cutting off water to irrigate, and electricity to pump water, means a severe shortfall, so Other States need to plan for that, but when California becomes dark and dry perhaps the "citizens" will listen to reason.
I expect this to be in court. If the State provides it to the Electric Company then this is an issue. The Electric Company has no right to know your "yearly finances" and under the 4th they should not.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the proposed charges, how do the utility companies even cover their fixed costs in equipment and distribution? Crazy.
ReplyDeleteThis is all tailpipe emanations.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way they can ever know any given customer's or household's income.
It will thus be self-reported.
What could possibly go wrong with that clever plan?
And this isn't Commifornia talking this kind of nonsense.
It's private companies.