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by baldfat 1282 days ago
It's the financial piece. The poor again get screwed with higher prices because they will never have solar panels. So electric company was charging more to the poor to pay for this. Just like they do for food and for gas. Just like poor voluntarily pay the education tax for the rich.

Agreed that monopolies need to be regulated by the state. In PA my electricity went up over 300% in the first 6 years it was deregulated, and the company's profits were record quaters from 2008 - 2017.
1 comments
ghouse 1282 days ago
Investor-owned utility monopolies are regulated by the state. Either Public Utility Commissions or Corporation Commissions.

The alternative is publicly-owned utilities, like munis or coops. Typically the publicly-owned utilities have materially lower electricity rates.

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labcomputer 1282 days ago
> The alternative is publicly-owned utilities, like munis or coops.

You mean, like Silicon Valley Power (Santa Clara) or Los Angeles Department of Water and Power?

Both of which charge a fraction of PG&E does, and have more reliable power, and offer better customer service (SVP's website is around 1000x better than PG&E's), and more transparent billing, and more assistance to needy customers.

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ghouse 1282 days ago
Yes. Other California, US examples are SMUD (Sacramento), TID (Turlock), MID (Modesto), IID (Imperial Valley), Redding, and Needles. Generally all have lower rates than PG&E, SCE, or SDG&E.
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