Canary Media
By Elizabeth McCarthy
California, the fifth-largest economy in the world, continues to up its clean electricity game, most recently with state regulators’ groundbreaking mandate for 11.5 gigawatts of new non-fossil resources to come online by 2026 to help decarbonize the grid. But at the same time, regulators are allowing continued long-term investments in climate-unfriendly natural gas infrastructure, including ratepayer-funded gas connections to new homes and rebates for relatively efficient gas water heaters, furnaces, stoves and dryers.
“We have to stop digging the climate hole deeper,” said Panama Bartholomy, executive director of the Building Decarbonization Coalition. “If we don’t, we will see an escalation of the extreme weather events we’ve seen the last month and year, including in Seattle, Portland and Texas, and worsening air quality.” The coalition’s 60 members hail from the building industry, utilities, local governments and environmental organizations.
Ratepayer-subsidized investments extending the life of California’s natural gas industry not only go against the grain of clean energy but also drive up already high electric rates.
Rate increases from California’s investor-owned utilities have far exceeded the annual rate of inflation since 2013, potentially jeopardizing decarbonization investments, according to a white paper released in February by the staff of the California Public Utilities Commission...
Pending legislation in California, Senate Bill 68 introduced by Sen. Josh Becker (D), would direct funds to lower the consumer cost to switch from gas to electric appliances and provide subsidies to cover the costs of panel upgrades.