California Electricity Problem
 

We have a trip planned to California this summer. I was wondering if perhaps we should change our plans. Any first had reports out there. I know that sometimes the media exagerates things. Thanks.

It is a very real problem every time I open my bill, but as a tourist I doubt if you will be inconvenienced.

Cindy, Some spotty blackouts but nothing horrendous. (knock on wood). <BR> <BR>A hot Summer may be different, tho. <BR> <BR>We spent the past weekend in SF and were docked an extra $2.75/night "energy surcharge". Other than that, business as usual in "The City".

Unless Gail asks you to pay her PG&E bill this is nothing for tourists to get hysterical about. For us living here, coming bills will produce a lot of hysteria.

In San Diego, my hairdresser put an extra $1.00 "energy surcharge" on my last bill and we've had a total of 2 hours of blackouts; that's it. I agree with everyone else -- it's a burden for the residents, but I can't see that it will affect the visitors.

Cindy, if you plans include Los Angeles you should not be effected at all. If you are visiting Hollywood for example, since we are Department of Water and Power and we never deregulated and therefore have not experienced so much as an increase in our bill...*knock on wood.

Thank you all for your responses. I feel much better. BTW, we are visiting San Diego! Can't wait!

It cracks me up that companies are actually tacking on "utility surcharges." The rest of the world has bills which fluctuate by season. In the summer months, I don't charge my customers an "air conditioning surcharge" even though my bill is 3x normal. What a typically Californian move!

Jason, Do I smell a Florida travel agent or Florida business owner troll?

Jason, <BR> <BR>Then you will have considered your "normal" summer electicity costs when setting your prices, just as people in California or anywhere else do. what has changed in San Diego is that our "normal" bills for any season of the year have increased by about 150% since last summer.

Florida, yes. Travel agent, no. <BR> <BR>What you folks fail to realize is that utility bills have been outrageous all over the country this year. My January bill was 3.5 times higher than normal. Yes, 3.5! California is the only place to have the nerve to charge "surcharges" for this, however.

Poor California.

How widespread is this "surcharge" thing in California? Still limited to a few places or is everyone doing it? This is the first I've heard of it. <BR> <BR>I don't live there (former San Franciscan) anymore but when I did our electric bills were ludicrously inexpensive. Even if California prices doubled or tripled, they are still inexpensive compared to other places.

Hello, As mentioned before, most of the hotels here seem to be charging the "surcharge". <BR> <BR>Jason...look out..you know a lot of "crazes" start in Cali and work their way east! Especially if all the hotels know the Calif. hotels are "getting away with it".

I've been paying 12.5 cents per KH for years. Is it true Californians have only been paying 7 cents?

Energy costs on natural gas in the Midwest have made many small homes or condos rise 300% this winter. Also when the prices for natural gas did go down to the suppliers, it was not passed on to the customer anywhere near the decreased differential. Apartment owners who include heat in their rentals have not increased their rents or added surcharges, YET. I think it bodes that many contracts will not have heat included in rental costs in the near future. <BR> <BR>Many months ago a poster just reamed me up and down for saying that deregulation has tripled my phone bills for LESS service. Theory doesn't suggest this, but in reality large scale utility dynamics are done best and cheapest in huge quantity and not piecemeal with competing firms doing all their own "reinventing of the wheels needed" and spending more money on marketing than on reasearch and development. <BR> <BR>Hopefully California will work out its problems with electrical planning and capacities. All of you who think deregulation is always better, take a lesson. It can become a tower of Babel, with the consumer the big loser. We are still unable to rationally figure out our phone bills. We have either two or three companies with constant billing changes. We have between 7 to 11 different short, medium and long distance zones both within and out of our state. Phone service people can not give us straight answers, or on a couple of occasions, any answer. Depending on distance and company I sometimes can not get accurate information about where the location of that area code definitely is. We have 6 area codes within 100 miles, and 708 can be 2 or 99 miles away- with completely different rates. Don't go the deregulation route, if you have any voting power on this.

My utility bill was over $1,000 for ONE MONTH this year...for a 2,000 square foot house. I wish I could pass on the surcharge! :-) <BR> <BR>I just read that California's Public Utilities Commission his hiked rates dramatically. Yikes!

Remember, the blackouts, if they should occur, will only last 1 hour or less. I would go with that in mind, watch the breaking news, and have a plan B if you are worried. I live here. It's great. SUNSHINE!

The hotel I stayed last weekend (Mission Valley Hilton)at San Diego charged an additional $3.00 per night an then an additional.32 energy surcharge.It was a suprise!It is a good idea to ask when reserving the room.