Newsom must think he is Biden. Biden wants you to pay more for expensive, inefficient dishwashers and washing machines. Newsom wants YOU to pay for inefficient and costly heaters in the homes of OTHER people.
“California wants to get to zero emissions, but regulators are wincing at the price tag of one utility’s plan to remove natural gas from thousands of homes.
A proposal by Southern California Edison up for approval at this Thursday’s Public Utilities Commission meeting would charge ratepayers for 250,000 heat pumps for low-income residents. But regulators are balking at the cost.”
Now you know why productive people are fleeing California—they do not want to go bankrupt fulfilling the dreams of a Slicky.
NOT THOSE HEAT PUMPS:
Politico—California Climate, 1/8/24 https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-climate/2024/01/08/would-you-pay-1-a-month-for-your-neighbors-heat-pump-00134438?nname=california-climate&nid=00000189-315c-d8dd-a1ed-797dc9f10000&nrid=0000014e-f100-dd93-ad7f-f905c0f70001&nlid=2745178
California wants to get to zero emissions, but regulators are wincing at the price tag of one utility’s plan to remove natural gas from thousands of homes.
A proposal by Southern California Edison up for approval at this Thursday’s Public Utilities Commission meeting would charge ratepayers for 250,000 heat pumps for low-income residents. But regulators are balking at the cost.
Heat pumps, as you’ll recall, are a priority of both President Joe Biden, whose Inflation Reduction Act provides tax credits of up to $2,000 for them, and Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose California Energy Commission last year set a goal of 6 million pumps by 2030.
Southern California Edison laid out stark numbers in its pitch to the California Public Utilities Commission : The state is on track to install only 4.7 million pumps by 2030, according to the utility’s analysis.
Charging customers up to $734 million — or less than $1 per month on average, according to the utility — would help make up the difference in SCE’s territory, it says.
“We recognize that these investments need to happen bigger and sooner, including building electrification,” SCE spokesperson Jeffrey Monford said in an interview.
But the CPUC is skeptical. An agency judge recommended in October that the CPUC reject the proposal — first pitched two years ago — concluding the utility hadn’t shown the spending makes sense for its 15 million customers.
Two sentences from Administrative Law Judge Zhen Zhang ’s proposed decision sum the tension up neatly:
“There is no dispute as to the importance of reducing GHG emissions,” Zhang wrote. And also: “Ratepayers in SCE’s territory have experienced record increases in recent years, and these increases are likely to continue.”
Zhang said the utility hadn’t shown it had looked for more efficient ways to meld the plan with more than $100 million the CPUC has already authorized SCE to spend on heat pumps.
Consumer advocacy groups including the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office and The Utility Reform Network also oppose the proposal. TURN says it would sour moderate-income customers on the energy transition by making them pay for others’ heat pumps, and would hurt low-income customers by switching them to more-expensive electricity instead of cheaper natural gas.
“We’ve got to look at the big picture here and look at where we’re going,” said Mark Toney , TURN’s executive director. “Yes, we need to electrify and we’re in support of that, but there have got to be other ways to do it.”
Southern California Edison’s request is on the CPUC’s consent agenda for its regular meeting Thursday, suggesting the commission is likely to reject it (although the commission could still move it to the regular agenda for more discussion or reschedule the vote).
In total, SCE estimates it will cost California between $6 billion and $19 billion to close the gap between its emissions ambitions and its plans. Monford said the utility is still hopeful the CPUC will change course on its heat pump pitch.
“Denying the application would miss a key opportunity to provide urgently needed support for the state’s 2030 and 2045 decarbonization objectives,” he said Monday. — WV
