It’s no surprise that Southern Californians are seeing their monthly electricity bills surge this summer. As increasing rates have met with increasing temperatures, there have been anecdotal reports that, for some consumers, bills have skyrocketed, even by hundreds of dollars.
And Californians are looking for answers.
Why costs are rising
There are several factors that influence electricity prices across the United States, including the cost to build, finance, maintain and operate power plants and the electric grid, as well as weather conditions and state regulations, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration .
In California, the driving force behind rate hikes is utilities recovering the cost of wildfire mitigation, transmission and distribution upgrades and rooftop solar incentives, according to a recent quarterly report by the California Public Utilities Commission’s Public Advocates Office.
Over the last 10 years, rates at California’s three big utility companies have risen as much as 110%, according to the report.