For the umpteenth time within the last 60 years, Californian electricity consumers are being pressured for more cash. As usual, the explanation given is that they should pay a whole lot of thousands and thousands of dollars to maintain the facility on.
But later, Governor Gavin Newsom panicked because renewable energy was coming online more slowly than expected, so he negotiated a deal that may extend the nuclear plant's life until 2022 and supply state loans that the federal government would underwrite.
Does anyone seriously consider the administration will do this if Donald Trump returns to the White House? The same goes for the newest “loan” that state legislatures reluctantly approved this summer as a part of their budget agreement with Newsom. PG&E mustn’t be expected to pay it back.
Currently, it isn’t federal taxpayers who’re funding PG&E to maintain the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant running beyond next yr. Instead, it’s electricity customers nearly in every single place in California. Yes, even in case your electricity comes through Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, or PacifiCorp, you’ll still be held accountable for Diablo.
A giant query is why this extension can be forced on thousands and thousands of people that don't deal directly with PG&E. Newsom's answer is that the facility from Diablo Canyon is required to stop blackouts during this yr's record heat, even when that power must travel a whole lot of miles through the state's power grid to be useful.
But what about all of the so-called “peaker plants” that operate in periods of high electricity demand across the state? When they were approved, their purpose was to maintain the grid running during times of utmost need. Are they redundant now that Diablo Canyon has been restarted? Utility officials and the ignorant state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) aren't answering that query.
Instead, thousands and thousands of electricity customers are forced to pay ever-increasing bills without argument. Most do it themselves, shelling out whatever amount is on their monthly bill. And who's to say Diablo Canyon shall be more reliable than ever? If it really works, this power plant can produce 8.5% of all of the energy needed to run all of California's electrical facilities.
However, Diablo Canyon was shut down for much of 2022 since it violated PG&E's own management procedures. Those outages occurred when a hydrogen cooling system in Unit 2 of the plant leaked and needed to be manually shut down. Hi, Peaker.
Diablo was equally unreliable in 2020 and 2021, when it experienced 149 days of unplanned outages over a 476-day period. Essentially, the plant produced next to nothing for a 3rd of the time. How smart is it to depend on a plant that has proven liable to prolonged outages for backup power? What happens when those outages occur during heat waves and other times of extremely high air con usage?
It's all a part of an extended line of California governors, Republican and Democrat, coddling large private utilities. All of them received large campaign contributions from the businesses. Newsom's own earnings totaled greater than $10 million over the course of his profession.
That $10 million is a no brainer for PG&E and the others after they can snap their fingers and get sycophantic political tools to get a whole lot of thousands and thousands, often billions, in consumer money. In fact, despite the fact that the utility's customers are paying to run Diablo Canyon, the PUC may soon approve even more cash to the businesses, starting once more with PG&E.
Instead of limiting these firms to applying for a base rate increase every 4 years, they’ll now be asked to pay as repeatedly as they’ll persuade the PUC that they need more cash to create latest power for the electrical vehicles that the state hopes will dominate latest automobile sales within the near future.
All of this implies higher costs for patrons, more inflation, and fewer money in most wallets. That makes now a great time for the PUC to make itself electable and accountable to the thousands and thousands it likes to beg for money.
Send Thomas Elias an email at tdelias@aol.com and browse more of his columns online at californiafocus.net.
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