By an edhat reader
Curious if anyone else received their Gas Bill this month and experienced a massive increase over last year.
Cost per therm in December22 was $1.05329 and now for January cost per therm is $3.44892. Bill was $169.65 for 43therms.
So Cal Gas Bill Increase?
mp805
January 27, 2023, 9:35 am
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Written by mp805
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You can thank Joe Biden for that. Another of the many things he’s made worse for Americans.
Chip and Buford, just stop with the lies and misinformation. Enough already! It’s clearly the Republicans fault, they fight tooth and nail to prevent any additional fossil fuel extraction and hold up the development of any new processing / refinancing / liquification facilities with endless red tape. If only Democrats were in charge of this state and country we wouldn’t have any of these insane price spikes and the cost of nat gas and gasoline would be much more affordable.
If the higher prices are a result of a decrease in fossil fuel production and dependence, I’m happy to pay a little extra each month. It always costs something when you have to clean up a mess.
Your privilege is showing, many aren’t so fortunate.
No one is going bankrupt because of their gas bill, relax. Besides, if you really cared, you’d be OK with the government subsidizing renewable energy production to lower consumer costs.
Everybody knows that the president has a switchboard under the Resolute desk to control the gas pipelines and space lasers. It’s all detailed in the documents from Hunter biden’s laptop, if you wear tinfoil hats the government can’t keep you from the truth. Wake up sheeple!1!
5:06, you are soooo right about the effects of an extra $100 a month on some families.
Ironic that with all the rancor over our cures and former President and their respective scandals it could well be energy prices that decide the next election. Much as I hated Trump, in many ways I miss him.
He was and is a complete moron interested only in his own ego, and whoever he thinks can enrich him. The average American is not anything he cares about.
Many couldn’t get past him being an a-hole to see many of things he was pushing for were good for the average American families.
So he’s just like like every other high level politician then? But thank you for providing an example to my 12:30 comment.
Hey SacJon, I’ll be by tomorrow to pick up your gas furnace and gas stove/oven. Please heat and cook inside your home with charcoal or wood, it would help us all on from reading your posts in the future.
Hey COAST – grow up. Also, that doesn’t make any sense. Why would I stop posting comments if I was heating with charcoal or wood? Do you think the internet runs on gas? Maybe invest in a book on how to be funny? Hint – if you have to explain your “joke” or whatever that was, then it wasn’t very good.
Maybe not “go Bankrupt”, but might:
– Get behind on rent payment
– Miss an auto loan payment
– Have less money for groceries
– Cut back on eating out, hurting small business
This is a punch to gut from the politicians in Sacramento who want to restrict this form of energy.
SHASTA – all the more reason to stop pushing back against large scale renewable energy production. We can’t just keep using coal and oil because it’s cheaper.
Large scale renewable energy is a fantasy. Look at Germany, they are having to fire up as many coal plants as possible this winter because solar and wind is inadequate.
At present, yes, but that’s why we need to keep pushing. We can’t get there overnight. Mass viability is in the works. In the meantime, we should be using it as much as possible, not constantly pushing back on it because it’s not perfect yet.
Shasta, large scale green energy requires nuclear for the foreseeable future. Sac, no one is pushing back on expanding renewable energy, the push back is on limiting fossil fuels prematurely. Natural gas is one of the cleanest fossil fuels, it’s cheap, and the US has a ton of it, it should be expanded while dirtier forms like coal are eliminated.
“Sac, no one is pushing back on expanding renewable energy” – Nah, there’s no pushback or opposition at all…….. smh
“Using multi-level qualitative analysis, we have identified seven key sources of opposition. Of the projects we studied, 34% faced significant delays and difficulties securing permits, 49% were cancelled permanently, and 26% resumed after being stopped for several months or years. Project delays and cancellations account for potential lost generating capacity of almost 4600 MW. ” —https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421522001471
“As renewable energy production has surged in recent years, opponents of government policies that have helped spur its growth have pushed to roll back those incentives and mandates in state after state.” — https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/business/energy-environment/a-pushback-on-green-power.html
” During his conversation with the Huffington Post, Rabe says that he sees “a nationwide trend of legal challenges, rather than deeper commitments, to measures that increase renewable energy use.” Rabe also asserts that “nationwide Republican gains in state legislatures could stop or roll back states’ progress on renewable energy.” — https://fordschool.umich.edu/news/2014/rabe-discusses-national-pushback-renewable-energy-laws-huffpo
“More than 100 ordinances have been adopted in 31 states blocking or restricting new wind, solar, and other renewable energy facilities” — https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/opposition-renewable-energy-facilities-united-states
“Researchers say that in many groups, misinformation is raising doubts about renewable energy and slowing or derailing projects.” — https://www.npr.org/2022/03/28/1086790531/renewable-energy-projects-wind-energy-solar-energy-climate-change-misinformation
I could go on, but yeah, you’re not lying at all, right? There’s absolutely *no* pushback to renewable energy projects. Seriously dude…….
“I meant no one here on EdHat, but you knew that….” – LOL that’s STILL BS. Look at any comment by CHIP, SBLOCAL, COASTWATCH, etc…. Just stop lying. You were caught it another lie and now you’re backpedaling.. again.
I don’t think you know what the words “lying” and “lie” actually means.
VOICE – intentionally making a false statement. You know, like “no one is pushing back on expanding renewable energy.”
What would you call it? A fib?
At his very moment per:
https://www.caiso.com/TodaysOutlook/Pages/supply.html
Renewables are supplying just 19% of CA’s electrical needs while natural gas and imports are supplying 60%. That’s only electricity, and direct heating using natural gas or petroleum products for transportation are not included. CA has a long way to go before renewables can supplant energy usage is this state. We’ll run out of places for windmills and open space for solar before we can power all of this state energy needs.
Mine double from the month before, but I also went back and looked at my bill last year at the same time and it is 5X what it was last year.
There is only one word for SocaGas: fraud. Gas price nationally has come down almost 3 folds from high. The gigantic jump in the recent bill with very minimal use is puzzling and outrageous. Whatever reason they gave is BS at best, only points to bad planning on their part with the customers money already collected. Don’t they plan with our money and avoid this? Isn’t that what all the rate increase year after year for? What have they done with that?
Fortunately they are investing this as SCE’s parent company also supplies SCE with the natural gas they buy. I doubt anything will come of it but at least it is raising red flags.
Back in 2020, the cost per therm was in the neighborhood of $0.20-0.40 per therm. Upon taking office, Joe Biden shut down the keystone xl pipeline along with scores of other oil and gas projects. Now we’re paying the price on our bills and we have a diminished ability to provide critical energy supplies to our allies in Europe to help them cope with their dependence on Russian gas. We need to ramp up our energy production!
Of course, this triggered all the carbon shills, but it’s just one more hint that burning stuff provided by industries that you already heavily subsidize in many ways that are not so obvious doesn’t mean that they won’t gouge you at every opportunity. Carbon-free renewable, sustainable energy is cheaper, safer, and produces more jobs. Follow the facts, not the propaganda.
SoCalGas from time to time do what I consider fraud: they don’t bother to read your gas meter. They instead guess what it would be based on national usage.
This year there was a big cold snap across the county but not in SB. So what do they do? They guess that people in mild climates used as much gas as people in arctic climates and they charge you for gas you never used!
My gas home heater, where 90% of my bill always is, was broken in November and December 2022 and turned off (and not leaking). I used portable electric heater.s and a coat. Did the gas usage usage on my bill drop 90%? No, they said my usage increased 300% in November and 400% in December! This has nothing to do with the price of natural gas going up. It’s fraudulent meter guessing instead of reading it.
Later on they say “oops” and your bill plunges as they credit people the hundreds of millions of dollars in overcharges. They need a class action lawsuit to stop this forced borrowing of our money., especially during the holidays.
I certainly appreciate the research you have shared. I will say that I am very skeptical of one paragraph, though. The part about California being at the end of the pipeline just doesn’t ring true. Gas prices have shot up from Seattle to Sarasota and from Bangor to San buena Ventura. The prices have shot up in Texas which is supposedly at the beginning of the pipeline. California is also a gas producer by the way.
We are now living half way across the country from Santa Barbara and in our rural area propane works much better than natural gas. In the past year and a half we have watched liquid propane go from $1.27 per gallon to almost $3.50 though is is back below three bucks last I checked. I was smart/lucky enough to buy a couple thousand gallons for future delivery in summer of 2020 before the election but this winter is going to cost us more to be sure. Wish I had done the same with gasoline which went from $1.36 (remote area so always 10% higher) to $3.72 since 2020. It was down to $2.50 for a while but it’s now back over $3.00.
I feel for our friends in the frozen north who literally can’t survive the sub zero winter without their heat and for most, solar and heat pumps aren’t a viable option and if it were, spending a hundred grand on a system to heat a farmhouse and a small barn is out of the question.
And out US oil reserve is being sold to Other countries.
We pretty much all have been forced to get smart meters for gas which there should be no estimates they should know the exact amount used. Our electric is not a smart meter and the do estimate every other month.
We were out of town 3 months our gas bills stayed as if we were home.go figure they have to idea why
SACJON: at least using Natural gas does the job w/o reliance on the weather, and won’t destroy the remaining beauty this state has to solar and wind farms. Or do you find those more attractive? Seems to me the anti oil people could not tolerate the sight of the few rigs in the channel.
Wind farms won’t be “non environmentally devastating” until the “incidental” bird kill problem is solved.
BUFORD – I’d rather see a low pollution, non environmentally devastating wind farm than a bunch of dirty oil derricks in the desert.
Only a fact in the carbon shill world.
@5:51 how many metric tons of earth needs to be extracted and processed to create enough of the materials needed to make solar panels for a home, the electric car battery in the garage, vs. a years supply of natural gas for that same house?
Not as much as coal or tar sands. But, you knew that. Spread that FUD!
There is no FUD, coal is close but probably less because they can extract pure coal without having to heavily process it. I’ve said many times we need to cut coal before we reduce Nat gas. More than half of our C02 production has been realized by switching from coal to nag gas power production – nat gas has been instrumental in achieving the C02 reductions we’ve achieved, that is FACT not FUD.
The carbon shills and poseurs had been giving us the weekends off. Too bad they’re back and inflicting their nonsensical garbage on us.
People saying that we should phase out of fossil fuels gradually as renewable resources become more prevalent and reliable doesn’t make a carbon shill. But go on with your buzz words …
“Gradually” is the shill word there. We need to end our use of carbon fuels rapidly, as anyone with any knowledge of the subject not tainted by propaganda would be aware. Spread that FUD!
Anyone who thinks it’s possible to end the use of carbon fuels rapidly without drastic negative consequences for the lower and middle class is a “climate shill” tainted by propaganda. And that’s just in the United States. If you try and do that globally, which would be required if meaningful change to our planet was the goal, It would create mass famine and political instability, erase all the gains undeveloped countries have made over the past 50 years, and cause more death than a changing climate ever would. Gradual means as more green generation comes online, the dirtiest forms like coal are eliminated. Nat gas, being the cleanest and abundant, is a critically necessary bridge to get there while making significant C02 reeducations without impact the global quality of life. I’m sure this poster @ 10:53 must drive an electric car charged by solar panels on their home, with electric only cooking/heating, forgos the use of plastics and grows their own food (can’t have those diesel trucks and farm equipment getting the food to the grocery store) – otherwise just another climate shill spreading FUD.
Learn the facts, not the garbage spewed on social media:
https://climate.nasa.gov
Think your household energy bills are high now? Just wait until the three major energy taxes in the Inflation Reduction Act hit your wallet. The first is a regressive tax on American oil and gas development. The tax will drive up the cost of household energy bills. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the natural gas tax will increase taxes by $6.5 billion.
There are practical alternatives to the increasingly high costs of natural gas and electricity. A fireplace will heat your house, and a wood stove will do so even more efficiently. If you have a source of free or low cost wood to burn, it’s a no brainer. The first service is giving out permits to collect firewood at no cost. This is a great way to get some low cost heat and do some good for the forest at the same time. Another option is burning other low cost fuels. Unwanted papers, magazines, and books can be had at no cost and will provide lots of free heat. Another readily available and very practical source of heat is waste oil. Below is a link to a video explaining how to convert a wood stove to run on waste oil which can be obtained in large quantities at no cost from auto repair shops or other sources. Whatever you burn, make sure your setup is safe and do your best to keep it running hot and clean to minimize smoke. Hopefully we can get prices for clean burning natural gas down soon so there is no incentive to use alternative fuels. Until then, if you need to stay warm and can’t afford the crazy bills, burn what you can.
Firewood collection permits:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/lpnf/passes-permits/forestproducts
DIY waste oil heater:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BhrxwIYE5ag
CHIP OF SB: Burn wood, waste paper, waste oil. Yeah, why not? Who gives a rat’s ass about air quality? Please step into the 21st century. It is a known fact that wood stoves and wood-burning fireplaces are inefficient heat sources and spew toxic particulate matter into the air. This includes waste oil:
***********************************************************************
(source: thepublicsradio.org)
“When fossil fuels are burned, they release large amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the air. Greenhouse gases trap heat in our atmosphere, causing global warming. ”
4:50, I think natural gas is the best choice for home heating because it’s clean burning and abundant. We need to produce more natural gas and improve our infrastructure so it becomes cost effective again. Firewood is also an excellent source of energy. Dead wood in forest lands is destined to burn when the next wildfire occurs. Why not harvest it and utilize its energy by burning it in a wood stove? This seems like an obvious win-win for the forest and those who use the wood. One could make a compelling argument that electric heaters would be economical and environmentally friendly if they were run on nuclear power, and that could well be a long term solution. However, implementing energy policies that choke off the supply of natural gas and squeeze the poor with higher energy bills because people think it will make the air colder is hypocritical and just plain crazy. China produced a record amount of coal in the last year (and burned it) and has been rapidly increasing its coal production. This is how China generates the energy to make a substantial portion of the products we buy, including solar panels. Shafting the poor with higher bills while buying low cost imported products built with coal power is just plain wrong. If you buy Chinese (coal) products, you have no right to criticize someone for burning firewood, garbage, or waste oil to take some of sting out of their heating bills.
@6:54 PM
There is no such thing as a “clean burning” carbon based fuel. Maybe cleaner than coal, but that’s it. Stop falling for the carbon shills’ greenwashing attempts and propaganda.
Heating with wood is Carbon neutral (Green) as long as trees are planted to replace the firewood burned. We grow our own heat in a sustainable cycle. Proper stove and fuel management makes for a clean burn with little smoke. We do not burn trash, only dry Eucalyptus.
BS. Carbon in the wood that has been sequestered for years is released as CO2 that persists in the atmosphere for much longer, and you would have to plant many small trees to make up for the CO2 removal capabilities of the mature tree you kill.
BS on your BS! You know naught. We’ve planted 100’s of trees and are Carbon neutral with wood heat. I harvest Eucs at 4-5 years when about 8″ at the base. They re-sprout and the cycle continues. We also plant many non-firewood trees in our reforestation efforts. Whether Nat gas or electricity from nat gas, that is unsustainable fossil Carbon release. Global reforestation is the answer, not going without.
I realize you’re invested in what you’re doing, so you want to ignore anything contrary, but the sum total of the facts disagrees with your conclusion. Just like VOR, cherry pick away and dodge around.
Agricultural/brush burning can also be used as a way to sequester Carbon. Rather than turning brush into ash and CO2, as is common globally, by utilizing pyrolytic (oxygen deprived combustion) combustion techniques, we convert our waste brush to bio-char. Bio-char has been used for thousands of years for better soil/crops and lasts many centuries in the soil, locking up the Carbon. Permaculture Rules! The solutions to many of our problems are far more simple than our complex societal minds would allow us to entertain. K.I.S.S. and learn from the old ways 😉
@12:30, You are wrong. Deforestation continues.THAT is the problem!!!! I agree that reforestation may not be able to offset the Carbon released by millions of years fossil fuel burn (coal, oil, gas), but it completely offsets wood heat, 100%. Sustainable permaculture rocks! We have never lived better or more affordably.
@12:30 so in the meantime we should probably burn something to cook and warm our home that releases less C02 than burning wood, like nat gas, while also pushing reforestation efforts.
@8:29
That’s exactly what it means and exactly what you do – ignore facts that don’t fit your narrative. It’s your signature move, along with deflecting.
There seems to be a pervasive lack of understanding about how plants form wood and how wood decomposes. Plants use solar energy to absorb carbon from the CO2 in the air and turn it into wood. This stores the solar energy in the wood. Whether the wood decomposes, rots, gets eaten by termites, or burns in the next wildfire the energy stored in it is released and every molecule of CO2 that was absorbed in order to form the wood is returned to the air from which it came in the form of CO2. Therefore forests are carbon neutral. The living trees absorb CO2 and form wood, and the dead trees decompose or burn and release CO2 at the same rate it is absorbed by the living trees. Forests do not have some kind of magical power to pull CO2 out of the air and make it disappear from the earth. That’s not how chemistry works. Every molecule of CO2 must be accounted for in the formation and the decomposition of wood. This means that it makes no difference whether a dead tree falls over and gets eaten by termites in the forest or gets chopped up and burned in a fireplace. Either way, every molecule of CO2 that tree absorbed while it was alive will be returned to the air.
@2:30 tell that to the State of CA. Newsom signed legislation requiring utilities to buy power from biomass power plants and our state has more biomass power plants than any other. https://biomassmagazine.com/articles/19354/new-california-law-promotes-the-continued-use-of-biomass-power and https://e360.yale.edu/features/in-california-a-push-grows-to-turn-dead-trees-into-biomass-energy
Fun fact on that topic Chip, when we loose weight more than 80% is lost via our lungs in the form of C02.
Thank you Chip for a good explanation of the Carbon Cycle, that the ignorant might learn something. I would add that the use of biochar DOES sequester Carbon in the ground for centuries or millennia. It also makes the soil more healthy and productive as Humans have known for millennia. (we forget though)
The last 3 Gas bills, beginning with current:
$307.86
$140.38
$94.01
Insane. And Electric was equally “shocking”…..
$371.61
$397.73
$348.90
The same way Obama increased fed taxes to pay for ObamaCare you will see Newsom create some new CA tax to subsidize failed policies to regulate utilities. Follow the money – which party in CA do the large utility commissions donate too? Yep – Dems. So who ends up paying – the makers, the tax payers – who benefits? The takers and non-tax payers. I am not concerned with the wealthier people who can absorb this higher cost. The middle class who pay taxes get screwed.
https://thecoastnews.com/newsom-goes-all-in-on-utility-favoritism/
Our gas bill went up about 200% and our electricity bill just more than double the usual amount. We have a big pile of wood on the side of our house and are now forced to use it in our fireplace to keep us warm/toasty. Several of our neighbors are doing the same thing, and I suspect that more and more folks will be doing the same. It’s actually comforting to have the fireplace working again…make us feel like we are in control and not the utility companies! Next week we are having dried/split firewood delivered from Paso Robles, which should last us a couple of months and certainly through this cold snap.
Here is how I look at it: If Leonardo, George, Ellen, Oprah, Harry/Meghan, former VP Gore, and the thousands of “elite” eco-flyers who attended Davos can fly private all the time, I can burn a couple of logs….actually, more than a few logs.
Firewood is an excellent source of heat, and for those who are concerned about it firewood is completely carbon neutral. Firewood is really a form of solar power. Trees harness the sun’s energy to absorb CO2 and turn it into wood. The tree dies and gets burned and the CO2 is returned to the air where it came from and someone gets to enjoy the warmth and the light of its flame.
The hypocrisy of the elite eco-warriors demanding everyone else do with less to “save the planet” while they fly around in private jets between multiple mansions and their mega-yachts is absolutely astounding.
VOICE – that IS hypocritical, but it doesn’t make the fact that we need to cut back on greenhouse emissions wrong, nor is it as prevalent as the NY Post and Fox make it sound.
It is absolutely as prevalent as the NY Post and Fox make it sound. Just 1% of people cause 50% of the global aviation C02 emissions. The 1% produce as much emissions as the poorest half (3+ BILLION) poorest people. https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/carbon-emissions-richest-1-percent-more-
double-emissions-poorest-half-humanity https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/private
-jets-can-the-super-rich-supercharge-zero-emission-aviation/ https://www.greenpeace.org/international/ce-delft_co2-emissions-from-private-flights-to-the-world
-economic-forum/
email=6b484ad6df6da9cebe939ebe152b5ea929a47910&emaila=e03233d06ffb828a64c74c537e5
62e80&emailb=8c04c7b545b14175f8c83e5b4e78168a5bb2a8f45d3a89371fd318e539042463&u
m_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=
So just ignore that part about it not meaning we shouldn’t cut back on emissions….. typical.
Further, how many of that 1% are “eco warriors?” Simply being a liberal or publicly saying we should address climate change doesn’t make one a “warrior.” How many of that 1% are gas/oil/coal CEOs?
Again, just because some are hypocritical, doesn’t mean you get to throw up your arms and walk away from the problem.
PDX – thank you for the rational thought.
So everyone is just accepting this? Seriously? I live in a 600 sq ft rental and my bill was almost $300. I cannot afford this and I’m fairly well paid for this area! And, I have a shared meter and I get a credit and now I don’t think that credit is enough but I am not comfortable approaching it as I don’t want to rock the boat or create a situation where my LL increases my rent or something. This together with gas and food prices, I don’t know how much longer I can sustain this.
If throwing out a “nope” or “wrong” to factual statements makes you feel better go for it, it may help your feelings but it doesn’t make you right.
ANDREA (and everyone else) – I apologize for my earlier comment about the increase being nominal and not going to bankrupt anyone, that was tone-deaf.
That said, ANDREA, you’re absolutely right. We need to do something, but first we need to all understand this is what capitalism does. Instead of wasting tears on Biden (you know who I’m talking to here), take it up with the corporate thieves who are doing this to us. So much misplaced blame! No wonder we can’t ever get anything fixed in this country!
While this specific situation between SCE and Sempra certainly smells funny and there have been calls for investigation (see link below), Biden’s policies have certainly exacerbated the problem. To deny Biden’s energy polies have had a direct and significant negative impact on domestic energy costs (their intended effect) is to deny reality. It makes absolutely zero economic or environmental sense to restrict domestic production while encouraging foreign countries, many with horrible human rights records and environmental controls, to produce and export more to the US. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/consumer-watchdog-calls-for-investigation-into-so-cal-gas-natural-price-spikes-points-to-evidence-utility-colluded-with-parent-company-sempra-to-drive-up-price-on-customers-301726179.html
So you admit, complaining about Biden here is offtopic. Yeah, very self aware! Proud of your progress!
“Biden’s policies have certainly exacerbated the problem” – not off topic.
Which policies? Name one. Name one Biden initiated policy that made the gas company jack up our prices.
VOR keeps misspelling Putin.
SACJON yes capitalism can be a problem but we are talking about utilities here. They are supposed to be regulated. I saw comments on SoCalGas’ FB page where people are using blankets and hats and hanging their clothes to dry because they will go broke. How are SCE and the gas Company getting away with this? How are they pushing these rate hikes through with no backlash or government oversight? What is going on here? This isn’t some retail establishment that can set their prices, these are NECESSITIES and for those of us who rent and cannot go solar or install heat pumps or whatever, we suffer. Just like how SB Clean Energy got away with opting everyone in with a 2 week window to opt out or get charged more! I still am on their stupid expensive plan and it takes 6 months to get off of it unbeknownst to me, or face SCE “transitional” charges {that is partially my fault for waitin so long to opt out but we had just moved and I started a new job at the time and it slipped off my radar]. Everyone wants to spew their political garbage but yet no one is asking how UTILITIES are getting away with this while we have no recourse? We have to heat our homes and use water? Shall I sit in the dark and take cold showers now? I’ve already started washing clothes less and in cold water and we hardly keep lights on. It’s getting ridiculous now!
You mean like halting new oil and gas leases on Federal land? Or canceling the Keystone XL pipeline?
Nope. If those were the reason, other states would be experiencing this, not just CA. In fact, other state’ gas prices are plummeting. Also, had he not halted those, they still wouldn’t be producing today. It takes a while from the signing of a lease to the gas turning on in your home.
Ha, just going to throw out a “nope”… Prices are higher throughout the US, and the policies certainly, like I sad, exacerbated CA’s recent nat gas spike (feel free to look up the definition of exacerbate). You’re also wrong on the XL pipeline – projected to be complete in 2022 and operational in early 2023, and your inability to grasp economic/business matters is showing if you think cancelling leases that could produce in the future don’t impact current prices.
Wish I could upvote this Andrea, I’m in a very similar situation that you described and feeling the pinch as well.
VOICE – but you’re wrong. Knocking you down a peg is truly a joy for me. This is fun!
Biden sets the tone on the national position on fossil fuels. His position on natural gas use does effect pricing indirectly because the gas market is a futures market. Which means that Sempra and SC Gas had to buy gas back in 2022 for delivery today at the price at that point in time. Here is a chart: https://www.investing.com/commodities/natural-gas. Keep in mind that the futures market is so buyers like SC gas can plan ahead with their purchases. The can’t say OMG Santa Barbra is almost out of gas,, we need to buy more, the anticipate usage based on years of data and purchase gas for Future delivery months in advance
Biden can directly impact the futures market by denying infrastructure upgrades to pipelines and by denying permits to build new ones. Think of pipelines like the highway. The old highway was two lane and was fine until population growth (demand) pushed us to go to four lanes, now we are building six lanes because you can only fit so much volume through a two lane highway
And, thankfully, the tone of everyone except the carbon industry has taken the sane path of “get rid of fossil fuels”.
It seems like CA is becoming a place that is only habitable by the wealthy elites. Nothing is being done to help the average working shmoe. We were supposed to get gas rebates back in October, what happened to those? We never got ours. Now these insane heating and electric bills and nothing, not a peep, from the governor or our attorney general. If someone can explain this to me without political finger pointing then please do because other places in this nation are NOT experiencing the pain at the pump or in their homes like we are here.
SACJON utilites are supposed to be regulated. They are in most places. Rate hikes have to be approved. These are basic life necessities, like being able to cook and see at night, and to work. The state absolutely should be regulating this. And if they are not then who is buying who to keep quiet? Never in my life have I witnessed utility companies being able to just, with less than a month’s notice, more than double the rates without any oversight, process, or approval. SO what gives here?
ANDREA – you’re right. This is outrageous and it should be regulated. I’m not saying otherwise. I was simply pointing out that some complain about “socialism” or “government regulation” then demand lower prices when the market allows increases, like this.
Socialism is very different from government regulation and you’re missing a key part in this specific issue, it wasn’t a free market that allowed this but a heavily regulated (by the government) of a public utility.
You missed where I said “or.”
ANDREA – so now you want our Governor to regulate utility prices? I don’t understand. Real capitalism means no regulation, even on utilities.