[nradov]

I don't particularly like PG&E but you're misrepresenting the situation. They have to lift a lot of "fingers" when it's sunny in order to keep their portion of the grid stable. Unlike base load power plants, the power supplied by household solar panels constantly fluctuates. Some sort of grid scale storage might eventually solve the problem but for today that doesn't exist.

[malchow]

Honestly, no. PV does fluctuate, but at PG&E scale, the fluctuation is (a) smooth and (b) predictable. Demand for energy is going up, but demand for PG&E's brand of energy is going down. But state law guarantees PG&E revenues. That's the reason for these anti-consumer moves.

In any event, surely you agree that state granted monopoly utilities are public services. They're endowed with a monopoly to serve what the people need. PG&E seems to believe it has a right to live perpetually in... I don't know... 1988? But it doesn't.