As much as I like summertime in the South Bay–the beach, the bay, the barbeques, and the bike way–I have come to dread the near-constant humming of air conditioners. That low whir is a sure sign that painfully high energy bills are just around the corner. As we all know, summer is when our bills shoot through the roof, and we are tired of paying more than our fair share to beat the heat.
Thousands of South Bay families, not to mention families all throughout the county, are paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars more than they should each summer in energy costs. And these aren’t necessarily wealthy families, sucking up energy with their big houses, infinity pools, Jacuzzis, multiple refrigerators, and three-car garages. No, it turns out that over one-third of these households make less than $60,000 a year, 20 percent are senior citizens, and many have multiple generations living under one roof in order to live within their means, especially after almost five years of recession and a sluggish economy. More people in the house makes it difficult to reduce energy use, and families where grandparents, parents, and children live under one roof out of financial necessity often find themselves in the most brutal tier of energy usage.
The current tier structure was put into place in a time of emergency energy conservation, and it might have seemed reasonable at the time to severely punish those households that used more energy with much higher bills. But the end result is that now even today’s more energy-conscious families are being forced to pay 75 percent more than what it costs SDG&E to serve them. Monthly bills of $200, $300, $400, or more? That’s not encouragement or a reasonable incentive to conserve. That’s unfair punishment. Should families have to decide between buying groceries and making their house cool enough for their children or elderly parents to sleep at night–especially when this artificially high rate structure requires them to pay more than their energy actually costs?
Something must be done, but SDG&E by themselves can’t fix this. They have proposed a solution at the California Public Utilities Commission to avoid another summer of blistering energy bills, but it’s the Commission that has to act to fix it.
The Commission is expected to decide how to fix our high energy bills this month. But will they? Will they deliver real relief from our energy bills, or will they do nothing with every passing summer to change that inflated number in the “Total Due” line at the of our SDG&E bill?
Together, we have the power to let the state know that we want this broken structure fixed. Visit fixmyenergybill.com today, and send a message to the California Public Utilities Commission that the South Bay demands they deliver fair energy rates now, so that we can go back to enjoying summer in the South Bay.
Mendez is Principal of Mendez Strategy Group and a supporter of the Fix My Energy Bill Coalition, a group of more than 40 San Diego County businesses and community leaders that is dedicated to ensuring the California Public Utilities Commission develops and implements a fairer and more equitable electricity rate structure for all of California. For more information, visit fixmyenergybill.com.
