On the note of PG&E, my electric bill averages to about $750 despite only running an air conditioner, several device chargers, a router, some lights and a fridge...
Thanks PG&E.
Thanks PG&E.
In the broader SF Bay Area, our recent PG&E bills for a 50 year old single-family home without air-conditioning is under $150/mo, with a couple fridges, electric clothes dryer, and a half-dozen laptop class computers. That's averaging about 8-9 kWh per day (250-280 kWh/month).
Last winter, our bill ramped up to over $400/mo for a few months, due to heating with natural gas.
Let's say your overall rate is $0.50/kWh, that would put you at 1500kWh per month. Which is....high. Even if your rate were $1/kWh, 750kWh would be a decent amount of juice for a region with an overall mild climate.
The EIA[0] says the typical annual electricity consumption for homes in "the West" (ie not just California) is 8525kWh/year, or 710kWh/month.
[0] https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/electricit...
It's way higher than that with PG&E.
My PG&E bill tends to be around $500/mo and I run basically nothing out of the basics. Never turn on the A/C. Tiny house, normal usage of fridge, lights and the usual househould gadgets like washer/dryer. Near the coast so climate is cool, if we lived in the hot areas and had to run A/C I imagine it would be double at least.
The profound corruption of PG&E is an existential risk to California and Silicon Valley.
This is from a recent PG&E bill from my house:
Peak pricing: 0.48575 delivery + 0.14920 generation = $0.635 kWh
So yes that's pretty much higher than $0.50 kWh
It seems to have gone down a bit this year though. These are the numbers from 2024:
Peak pricing: 0.53 + 0.183 = $0.71 kWh
Note that peak is 4pm to midnight, so basically all the electricity-using hours one usually would be at home if working regular hours at the office (like we do). Off-peak is a bit cheaper but we're either sleeping or out of the house so not very helpful.
PS Where I live now, its $0.04/kwh and that's pretty normal in the rest of the US and in Latin America.
That is completely wrong.
For comparison, I have double that plus electric appliances and a home-lab with 6 rack servers that run 24/7 and my bill rarely tops $175 in the dead of summer. And I like the thermostat cold.
If you live in a duplex or condo I would consider if your meter is miswired (with your neighbor's meter daisy-chained to yours) and you are being double-billed. It is more common than you think and often goes undiscovered for years.
“Fleeing” is hyperbole. Population is roughly flat [1].
[1] https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/CA/PST045224
North Korea has a stable population, people flee all the time. The comparison is apt. California's 4-walled fences are much tighter around their residents.
How could you possibly know this.
There could be people fleeing that have lived there for some time, while being supplanted with newcomers. That would have a net zero effect.