So, the PG&E bill arrived today.
We were lucky we have one of those home defibrillator kits on hand because after we picked ourselves up off the floor we did the math and found out our bill had gone up 127 percent.
Repeating for those who read quickly: 127 percent.
Now, we know some among you – okay, okay, many among you – don’t care a whit about the travails of the impoverished scribblers who work among you in the 24/680. We can hear the comments now: “Good, probably, deserved it – stop heating that pool” or “…running that coffeemaker around the clock.” On and on.
Only, we don’t have the former and we cut back on the latter due to over-caffeination issues. Plus, our PG&E-supplied power was OUT for much of the most recent payment cycle, and we were running the News Bunker on backup batteries and alternative power systems.
“Probably taking long showers or washing their clothes at all hours – after covering those fires and things,” some might suggest. Well, a logical conclusion, only our other local utility tells us our water usage has actually dropped – again – and we use a solar dryer to dry our clothes. You know… the sun.
We’re wondering where all this excess power usage came from, and attempted to ask a human-type person at PG&E, only their labyrinthine phone system hung up on us… three times.
Being relatively quick on the uptake we began to realize that PG&E may not want to speak with us about their latest exercise in over-billing and that this 127 percent stickup may in fact be payback for all our reporting on local power outages and tongue-in-cheek Rorschachian quizzes – intended to take the sting out of having to revert back to 1865 technologies.
Maybe not. We don’t know. But something tells us we’re not alone in this… or are we? Get your bill today?
If you have a Smart meter you can get a $30 device that lets you track electricity usage on your phone live. https://www.amazon.com/Connects-Electric-Metering-Burlington-Mountain/dp/B084T6HGNR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=99ARELC3DV85&keywords=emporia+vue&qid=1694826136&s=hi&sprefix=emporia+vu%2Ctools%2C173&sr=1-1-catcorr
There’s Secret Santa and maybe secret sauna? Trap door under a rug? Hidden door in the library? New padlocked outbuilding? Is Kramer (Seinfeld) suddenly raving about steaming veggies?
Well, being part of The Press may get you a little more attention from (y)our legislators. Of course, the key figure is our governor, who I generally support, but has a massive flaw when it comes to PG&E, like all our governors.
The only solution is breaking PGE into smaller parts, not that it will happen in my lifetime.
Got the largest bill we’ve ever gotten today – almost $600. And like you guys we’re big on conserving.
Someone has to pay for all those lawsuits.
My bill went up $150 this month for less usage. For this kind of money they better bury the cables in front of my house.
“Sooner or later, the state or the federal government must take over PG&E lock, stock, and barrel. There is good reason to believe that the astute executives who manage the company are not only fully aware of this possibility, but that their present strategy is based on the assumption that the company will some day be taken over by a public agency. The aim, therefore, is to delay public acquisition as long as possible, and at the same time, build up a book value which the government will some day have to pay for the company’s properties. By tying-up contracts for the sale of power, by fighting the Bureau of Reclamation every step of the way, and by continuing to subvert public opinion in California, the company can count on a fairly extended term of existence.”
Carey McWilliams, California: The Great Exception, 1949
And the price of Natural Gas is way down from a year ago, go figure…
Alamo is dark again – 3000 people. Monday sept 18