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This summer is being anticipated as one of the hottest California will experience in recent years. Last week in California, the California Independent System Operator, issued a "flex alert" urging residents to conserve and reduce the use of energy, if possible. This may be a message we will be seeing more often.
According to the Energy Information Administration, Californian's are now paying extreme amounts for their energy. Get this, in 2020, California's electricity prices went up by 7.5%. That is the biggest price increase of any state in the United States and this price jump is nearly seven times the increase that has been seen in the United States as a whole. This is some concerning data. It's being predicted that over the next decade, electricity rates in California are expected to ascend at a record rate.
With this impending issue that will only get worse with time, California officials suggested certain decarbonization mandates. These mandates would include California entering a 100% zero-carbon electricity by 2045, as well as an a goal to enter an economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2045. This is not the way to address this impending issue. Furthermore, the state of California has banned the future sale of cars that are powered by internal combustion engines. This means that there will be a drastic increase in the demand for electricity and would require the installation of over 1 million new EV charging stations by 2030. Continued bans on natural gas will burden California and will increase the demand for more electricity. This is concerning. California committed to these goals, but have plans of closing California's LAST remaining nuclear plant, the Diablo Canyon Power Plant. The nuclear plant responsible for nearly 10% of the energy used by Californian's.
In a 10 year period from 2010 to 2020, California's electricity prices jumped by a whopping 39.5%. This is the BIGGEST increase of any state in the United States.
In a February report from the California Public Utility Commission, they warned residents that California's energy costs are growing at a faster rate than inflation. They went on to mention,
"[that] energy bills will become less affordable over time"
With the summer months bringing hotter temperatures, energy blackout's are being predicted more often than we have seen in the past. California officials need to take action and address these concerns. Rather than suggest goals that would increase the demand of electricity in our state, we should be looking for solutions on how to prevent this impending issue that is getting worse by the day.