San Francisco Progressives Bellyache About Higher Power Bills They Asked For

Click here to read the original Cautious Optimism Facebook post with comments

Progressive/enlightened PG&E customers

The Cautious Optimism Correspondent for Economic Affairs and Other Egghead Stuff has a quiz for CO readers.

As CO has posted repeatedly, California leads the country in green energy mandates for which there is one inevitable outcome: greater energy scarcity and higher energy prices. And within California the city of San Francisco takes the crown as loudest climate change progressive virtue-signaler of all.

So the quiz question is: How many of the fourteen San Francisco Nextdoor commenters below have made the logical connection between their feelgood carbon-neutral policies and the sharply higher energy rates they’re now complaining about?

1) “I’ll join in a fight the cost is getting out of hand. Half the time I don’t turn on the heat because to warm my house is $$$$”

2) “It's ridiculous to live in an apartment the size of a double wide, and receive a $150 bill.”

3) “My husband and I have been spending time in our cabin, both sons working full time out of the house and our bill is still escalating astronomically, guess that damn cat is playing with the heater all day.”

4) “PG&E wants us to blame ourselves for the high bills and to get us to think all we have to do is use less energy. Like just eat less and your grocer bill will go down. But if grocers keep charging more you can eat less and still have to pay more.”

5) “I recently called the “People Gouging, & Enemy” office about these ridiculously annoying notifications and was told to ignore them said everyone is receiving them.”

6) “Yes, the notices that we use more than our neighbors may be a way to shift blame to us and away from PG&E and the city.  These notices I have been receiving used to be notices I was using less than my neighbors. With fewer people in my home, the bills have gone up from the $300s per month to mid $500s month after month this winter.”

7) “We get those. We don’t even have a heater of any type, and we do laundry less than once a month so it baffles me”

8) “Yep. I don't turn the heat on in the house until it reaches 59 degrees inside, and even then, I only turn it on when someone else is going to be around, since I don't mind the cold. Most days, I am only running the energy that it takes to cook dinner, yet we still receive these notices on our bills. It is absolutely a lie. And, how on earth am I using $500 of energy a month when living like this? Would be nice to have PG&E either be a government organization, or, if private, to have multiple options for carriers.”

9) “Great topic. My PG&E bill is through the roof and the reports of my usage versus other comparable dwellings is not accurate, IMHO. We remodeled our home in the last 10 years, which added new EStar rated windows, wall insulation, EStar rated heating system and went 100% LED on our lighting. PG&E increases are approved by the state, and Newsom… …BTW, PG&E rates have increased 8X the inflation rate in resent years and they are looking for another 14%.”

10) “I’m experiencing the same, except my heat is on 56. I just don’t get it. I turn off my lights, I don’t watch TV and run the laundry and dishwasher sparingly.  I’m at a loss as to what else to cut.”

11) “We, like so many San Franciscans are feeling the PGE throttle on our utility bill. We receive notifications that we are using way more energy than comparable neighbors, but I feel this is a lie. We took measures to monitor our usage and reduce etc, but we continue to get these notifications. Do you get these as well? What can we do as a united force to show PGE we are fed up? It's very frustrating to feel captive to this for-profit public service.”

12) “Yes, I get those notices too. The only way this could be true is if no one was ever home or used their PG&E. Everything in my house is energy efficient, my heater is on a timer, and I'm on the bundle package and the economy use, high time is 4p-9p weekdays. Yet it still is getting higher and I'm concerned. I really think PG&E should be sharing their profits with us users and use some of that to repair the lines that they are responsible for and not be charging us!”

13) “This is the profit motive, pure and simple. The little guy or gal doesn't stand a chance.”

(Correspondent’s note: Yes, “profit motive” is to blame in the most anti-corporation, most regulated, most “consumer protection” blue state in America)

14) “Well you all keep voting democrats and climate change agendas, the energy bills have no where to go but higher and higher. Renewable energy does not work. When we shut down natural gas, hydroelectric, nuclear, and fossil fuel generation plants. There’s just not enough energy. Expect higher prices, brown outs and blackouts.”

Bonus question. What mixes worse: cats and dogs, oil and water, or San Francisco progressives and reality?