Full Title: Paying for Electricity in California: How Residential Rate Design Impacts Equity and Electrification
Author(s): Next 10
Publisher(s): Next 10
Publication Date: September 22, 2022
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
California has ambitious goals to fight climate change while also ensuring that energy is affordable for all of its residents. Unfortunately, the current structure of residential electricity prices in the state makes achieving these goals much harder. Electric utility rates feature high volumetric (i.e., per kilowatt-hour) prices that are designed to recover many costs beyond the direct incremental cost of providing electricity. These high volumetric prices make electrification less attractive to consumers while simultaneously distributing the burden of paying for electricity in a way that is quite regressive.