Frequent wildfires and efforts to counteract climate change are driving Californians’ electric bills to twice the national average, a state report concluded. Those skyrocketing rates have the unintended effect of making it harder to meet California’s climate goals through a transition to electric power.
State budget analysts released the report Thursday in tragically timely fashion, amid the climate-fueled fires decimating Los Angeles neighborhoods.
“On average, residential electricity rates in California are close to double those in the rest of the
nation” and second highest after Hawaii, according to the report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, which advises the legislature on fiscal and policy issues.
Steep rate hikes burden ratepayers, the report stated, and “also impede the state’s efforts to meet its ambitious climate goals by discouraging households from pursuing electrification through switching out their fossil fuel-powered cars and appliances.”
In other words, state leaders desperately want Californians to switch to electric cars, stoves and heaters, but high power rates make it too pricey to do so.
Before 2019 wildfire-related costs made up a tiny portion of rates, but fire-fighting costs now make up 7 percent and 13 percent of average bills, the analysts found. That’s due to California’s high risk of catastrophic wildfires and the way the state assigns wildfire liability to utilities, including San Diego Gas & Electric.
In addition, California ratepayers help cover costs of climate programs to promote zero emission vehicles, improve energy efficiency, and develop renewable energy sources and transmission lines. About 4 percent of the average electric bill goes to climate programs, the report estimated.
“High electric rates can encourage efficiency and conservation,” the report stated. “But if rates are too high, they can discourage beneficial electricity use.”
In other wildfire news: Scripps Institution of Oceanography posted a primer with lots of information about how current weather and atmospheric conditions affect fire risk now, and some scary statistics on the health risks of wildfire smoke.
Persistent high-pressure weather has made California “extraordinarily dry,” climate researcher Daniel Cayan stated, leaving a desiccated landscape threatened by Santa Ana winds.
“Santa Anas are typical for this time of year,” Scripps meteorologist Sasha Gershunov said. “What is unusual is the fact that we haven’t had any significant rain by now.”
Wildfire smoke is a mixture of pollutants including fine particles that can enter the lungs and bloodstream. In the short term, those can cause asthma attacks or other respiratory symptoms. Over the long term, it’s worse; people exposed to fine particulates from wildfire smoke over many years can develop lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases or dementia, scientists found.
2025 Bills Tackle Gas Prices and Housing
As the California legislature kicks into gear, San Diego lawmakers are putting out their first batch of bills. These give a glimpse of how they hope to address affordability and other issues this year.
Some background: California Senators and Assembly members can introduce up to 35 bills over a two year period, down from 50 in the Assembly and 40 in the Senate in previous years. Legislators agreed to lower the limit so they could focus on the most important measures.
The first bills to come out are a sample of eventual legislation, often with just a few paragraphs on what they would do. Here’s an early look at what San Diego’s delegation wants to do, and whether their ideas are likely to make the cut.
Make it easier to build small multi-family structures: Assemblymember Chris Ward wants to expedite housing construction by streamlining building standards for small developments.
His bill would allow developments between three and 10 units to be built to simpler standards under the California Residential Code, instead of the California Building Code.
The residential code covers construction of single family homes, duplexes and some townhouses. The building code governs all other structures, including apartments and condos. But the complex requirement for bigger buildings can make development too costly and complicated for smaller ones, Ward argued.
“I believe we should be utilizing every available efficiency and cost-saving measure that preserves health and safety in building more affordable housing,” Ward said in a statement.
Ward calls for the state to recommend simplified standards for “smaller, missing-middle housing types, including triplexes and fourplexes,” to the California Building Standards Commission.
Cut gas prices: Assemblymember David Alvarez proposed changing fuel formulas to allow a higher percentage of ethanol to gasoline.
Most gasoline in California contains 10 percent ethanol, but Alvarez’s bill would make the California Air Resources Board bump that to 15 percent.
Adding more ethanol would stretch the state’s gasoline supply a little further and improve engine efficiency, potentially lowering prices at the pump, Alvarez’s office stated. A study by researchers with UC Berkeley and the U.S. Naval Academy estimated it could cut gas prices by 20 cents per gallon. And tests by the air board found it lowered tailpipe emissions.
“E15 is win-win for consumers and the environment,” Alvarez’s office stated.
End housing first: Incoming Assemblymember Carl DeMaio has gotten a jump on the legislative session with 10 bills on topics including homelessness, crime and border security.
As the new representative of the 75th Assembly District, one of San Diego’s few red-leaning districts, he’s pitching ideas at odds with California’s Democratic supermajority.
For instance, one of his bills takes on a centerpiece of state homelessness policy, known as “housing first.” That policy aims to stabilize conditions for homeless people by immediately placing them in housing and then offering referrals to social services.
Some cities, including Escondido and Vista, have shifted their homeless programs to emphasize public safety instead, our Tigist Layne reported last year, but they risk losing federal funding. DeMaio’s bill proposes taking the strategy statewide by ending the housing first model throughout California.
It’s unlikely to get anywhere. Recent Democratic efforts to make even modest tweaks to the housing first policy didn’t make it. For instance, a bill that Ward proposed last year would have allowed the state to fund some housing emphasizing abstinence. It passed the Assembly but failed in the Senate.
The Sacramento Report runs every Friday. Do you have tips, ideas or questions? Send them to me at deborah@voiceofsandiego.org