Last year, I started my own landscaping business, my wife is a teacher and together we support our three wonderful children on a small salary. For us, every dollar counts as we wait for our business to grow, and cutting down our energy bill is one way to save.
We live in Hemet, California, where it can get really hot, so we open the windows, hang out at the community pool, and use fans when we can. Plus, it’s nice to feel like we're doing our part to avoid relying on dirty energy (you may have heard about our smog problem). I recently heard about a new proposal to change how we pay for electricity from my friend Allen, who works the Sierra Club. When I heard that the majority of households, including mine, were going to pay way more, I was shocked and mad.
It is frustrating that utilities are messing with our energy bills to "help" communities that get really hot in the summer, when they aren't. Most of the year a lot of us fall under the low-energy category, so after the summer is over, and the air conditioning goes off we, go back to paying lower rates. But because the utilities want to significantly raise rates on low-energy users, my family will pay up to $150 more a year than we do now. This is money that I would rather be spending on diapers, food, and clothing for my kids.
In addition to charging people like me the same the same as those who use a lot of energy, the utilities want to tack on an extra $10 a month to our bill. This fixed charge is permanent and will not be reduced if we use less energy. Their argument? Customers that use way less energy because of solar are not paying for the energy grid, when they absolutely are. Nearly all of the utilities customers are still sending them a check and only a tiny fraction of customers are paying less than $10 a month on a bill. Asking everyone to pay more when only a sliver of households are paying nearly nothing is not only an attack on rooftop solar, but any household that does its best to conserve.
Lastly, the utilities are trying to sell their plan as one that will help low-income families when in fact it is quite the opposite. Families in my community don’t make a lot of money, including ours. We are the ones who can least afford major bill increases. The vast majority of households that are considered “high-energy users” are also high income. According to a California Energy Commission report, only eight percent of the state's low-income residents are high energy users.
There is a better way, which is why when we heard about Commissioner Mike Florio's plan we got excited. His plan will give some bill relief during the summer months, but will keep my rates low for the majority of the year as we use less energy. Overall, we will only pay $2-$3 a month more. Also, it completely eliminates the fixed charges, which is a big win for families like mine who want to conserve.
In our house, we do everything that we can to cut back on our energy use to save money and be good to the planet. We hope that one day we will be able to invest in energy efficient appliances and rooftop solar, but we need a rate plan that will support that and utilities to get out of the way of change. It is time that they stop using people like us to benefit their bottom line. We can speak for ourselves, and know that the Florio plan is a far better for my family, our environment, and our values.
Glen Perez and his family are residents of Hemet, California