The Golden State may soon cost a lot more gold for the residents, as the US state will soon have price hike for its electricity. This hike will reportedly be shared among the population of California.
The catch to this price hike for electricity, however, is that it will only be detrimental for those who consume the most power. This is just one of the ways the state power regulators of California plan to divide the load of the price hike among the Californians. So those who use little to no electricity need not worry too much about the hike. However, for a lot of people who are heavy power users, this could nearly double their expenses.
Estimates predict that the price hike in electricity will amount to as much as 80 percent more. As for the affected population, estimates put the number in at 9 million residents of California who are dependent on two of the state’s largest utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Southern California Edison Co. Still, this number is quite big and amounts to about one fourth of all the people of California.
As stated above, the price hike’s effect each household should be directly proportional to the amount of energy they consume. For the top consumers, however, they should expect an average additional expense of $85 per month. That number may still go higher or lower since it is just an estimate as well.
Regardless, the plan is set in stone since it was approved 3-2 by the state Public Utilities Commission. Some big business executives and analysts such as David Marshall, chief financial officer at Gregg Industries, have stated that “This is probably the worst economic calamity the state has ever seen. It has got ramifications well beyond anything that we can begin to understand.”
Marshall’s statement on the matter seems to be the same with a lot of protesters regarding the price hike. A lot of them have also displayed a form of symbolic action in the form of wearing tombstone props which read “R.I.P. Affordable Energy.” This is despite the price hike targeting only the biggest consumers.
With the impending price hike for the whole state of California now just around the corner, now would then be a good time to look for alternatives. One such alternative would be solar panels which could alleviate the increasing cost of the utility electricity. Otherwise, residents of California may have to tighten their belts for a more expensive stay in the state.