• bradv@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    61
    ·
    5 months ago

    That’s an argument for making utilities publicly-owned again more than anything else.

    • dan@upvote.au
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      At least in the Bay Area, there’s a few cities that have municipal utilities (owned and ran by the city). Usually this is because they installed power lines before PG&E existed.

      In those areas, the electricity rates are less than 1/3 of PG&E’s rates. Residential electricity is around $0.16/kWh in Palo Alto and Santa Clara (city, not county), compared to something like $0.55-0.60/kWh in summer peak with PG&E.

      One of the things with PG&E is that customers in city areas subsidise customers in rural areas, since it’s quite a bit more expensive to service customers in rural areas. Most of the price difference is greed, though. PG&E have record profits every year. The municipal electricity providers are non-profits and have an incentive to keep prices low.