By Judi Curry
I heard this was coming. This, plus the proposed increase to my water bills, has me pondering if I should go back to teaching. After all, there is a teacher shortage, and at my age I might just have to go back to work just to pay my utility bills.
Yeah, I can hear you now! What the hell is the old negative widder talking about now? You mean you don’t know? What fun to be able to show you a copy of a “flash” from the Union/Tribune just a few days ago. Ready?
News Alert
Aug. 11, 2022
For subscribers: San Diego looks to eliminate nearly all natural gas by 2035. What does that mean for your home?
A dramatic update of city’s Climate Action Plan aims to retrofit 90% of buildings, including homes. But a cost estimate is still to come.
I don’t know about those of you that cook, but as a gourmet cook that has written three cookbooks and working on the 4th, I prefer cooking with gas. I can regulate it better; it doesn’t cost as much to use; and I can adjust the burners better than electricity.
But there is one part of the sentence above that really has meaning to me and that is that “it doesn’t cost as much to use.”
Has anyone looked at their electric bills lately? Has anyone paid attention to what they are trying to do to those of us that already have solar installed? Do you know about the tax – for want of a better word – that they want to place on solar owners? My gas bill runs less than $20 a month, unless my grandkids are coming to visit and I heat the pool for them. My electric bill – I have a gas stove and an electric oven – plus many other electric devices, is easily TEN times that amount. Easily.
And what will happen when all of us are using electricity to cook our dinner and there is a power failure. Can you just imagine that scenario? It is almost comical. No lights; no electricity for cooking; no heat; no television; no radio; no hot water; hell, even our cell phones won’t work. I guess that is good for the power companies – we can’t call and complain that nothing is working. Thank goodness that candles don’t work on electric power.
I doubt if I will be around by 2035 and if I am, at almost 100 years old I hope that I will not have to do my own cooking, cleaning, and whatever else one does with electricity. I certainly hope that I will not have to pay the electric bill!
In the meantime – don’t throw out those sticks and twigs. The year 2035 might be very similar to the year 1535.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh Yeah! Doesn’t SDG&E charge more for electricity from 4-9pm? Think I might buy some stock in the company.
1. Re: Nat Gas – it’s a flowering ambition by the City, and it’s not going to happen. I’m sure they’ll phase it out of new construction, many commercial buildings, and city/county owned buildings, but that’s about it.
2. Even so, I think most people with the economic means to do so should not be complaining about the idea of a switch. Do we want a slightly more annoying way to cook on a stove? Or do you want to let the 2nd largest source of green house gas emissions in our city to continue to grow? This site is a bunch of supposedly progressives, myself included, so we should act as such with an issue like this.
3. Your net metering isn’t going to get taken away. Newsom sent it back for a reason.
4. Electric wouldn’t be as costly if we didn’t irrationally shut down nuclear. Ask Germany how that’s going with having to now fire up all those coal plants again…. creating even more greenhouse emissions.
5. The colorado river is painfully low, our water bills should go up. We need to invest in infrastructure to position San Diego to have most water being from recycled water / desalination, which we are on track to do with these upgrades.
Tyler, also let’s ask Japan how all that nuke energy from Fukushima is doing?
No cyclones are hitting Southern California anytime soon, Frank….
What about Diablo Canyon nuke plant in northern California which sits on 4 or 5 earthquake faults?
“According to USGS seismologist, Jeanne L. Hardebeck, the Shoreline Fault has potential to trigger an earthquake of 6.4–6.8 magnitude,[24] while the company asserts the facility is designed to withstand a 7.5 magnitude quake,[25] and NRC’s estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Diablo Canyon was 1 in 23,810 according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[26][27]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_Canyon_earthquake_vulnerability
I’d be willing to take that chance for the next few years so that we don’t end up with an energy calamity. Do I think that one specifically should stay online indefinitely? No.
Statewide Flex Alert called for Wednesday from 4-9:00pm. And the change-over hasn’t even taken place yet. What a wild ride we are going to have.
I get electric from the streetlight, I removed the face plate at the base of the streetlight, drilled a 2″ hole in it, made my electric connection and ran the romex thru 2″ pvc pipe right to my home, I have 2 20 amp breakers that I use off it, people in baja do it all the time,
8 Ball
Now, there’s some guerilla marketing!
Just a thought…. HEATING your POOL? I’ll leave it at that…
Yep! When you have a nine year old grandson coming from Australia that you haven’t seen for 7 years and he asks you to please heat the pool you heat the pool.
I would get that gas outta my home. I’d rather breath fresh air & not particulate pollutants & other gases exhausted by gas stoves. You could go with an induction stove. For a thousand bucks you could have a new induction stove. Pro models run four-six thousand & beyond.
I’ve heard some school districts are paying $200 per diem for substitute teachers. Six days teaching BOOM! new induction stove.
And what shall we do with nuclear waste? That problem has not been solved yet. Nuclear waste is dangerous for thousands of millennia, so how deep shall we excavate to bury it? And how long will those canisters last before eroding?
Woe is me; how shall I cook my Swanson TV dinners?