SACRAMENTO, California — California’s increasing wildfire-related costs and policies to drive down greenhouse gas emissions are behind the state’s high and growing electricity rates, state analysts said Tuesday in a report to lawmakers.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office’s report determined that the growth in Californians’ residential electricity rates, which are already nearly double those in the rest of the nation, has outpaced inflation and growth in other states — and is set to continue in the future.
As a statutorily required annual update, the report didn’t include specific policy recommendations but warned that the high costs could hinder the state’s progress toward its climate goals by discouraging customers from buying electric cars and appliances.
“In the coming years, the Legislature likely will confront difficult decisions about how to approach electricity rates in order to best support its varied goals, including balancing the desire to both mitigate and adapt to climate change as well as preserve affordability,” legislative analyst Gabriel Petek wrote in the report.
