Our society is moving rapidly towards electrification. Building electrification is good for the climate, good for our health, and good for our economy. We’ll all be using more electricity — it’s inevitable. Luckily, using all this extra electricity for our heating and our cars is inexpensive when you get it from rooftop solar and storage.
But utilities have a monopoly on electricity distribution. They’re rubbing their greedy hands together like Montgomery Burns, safe in the knowledge that as long as their monopoly holds, people without solar and storage will have to pay exorbitant rates for power. All the tax credits, IRA rebates and local incentives that benefit homeowners to electrify will ultimately mean even more profits for utilities — and much higher electric bills for everyone.
Even though electricity rates are supposed to be regulated, when it comes to safe, clean and inexpensive power — money talks much more loudly than morality. It’s a little known fact that utilities around the country contribute enormous amounts to politicians. For example, in 2022 over $18 million was spent by utilities and their employees to influence California politicians, $5 million to the governor alone. That’s why the California Public Utility Commission unanimously voted to eliminate net metering for solar. Think about it: utilities are using our money to lobby the government to enforce and extend their electricity monopoly.