Tag Archives: PG&E

On Taxing the Sun

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https://www.kqed.org/perspectives/201601141773/andrew-lewis-taxing-the-sun

The latest on KQED. And of course there are lots of nuances to the current situation, far more than can fit in 300 words. But I’d love to discuss if any one has questions.

In 1696, a British government desperate for revenue imposed a tax on windows. In response, the English people chose to board up their houses, closing themselves in darkness. Windows allow sunlight and fresh air into homes. The sun and light belong not to us, one might reason, but to God. How could any people in their right mind tax God?

In 2011, frustrated by governmental inaction over climate change, our family decided to do what we could to help transition our beloved state to a clean energy future. We paid dearly to install a 7-kilowatt hour solar system. It would power our house. And it would power our car. Any excess power was sent back onto the grid to be consumed by our neighbors before it even reached the end of our block. 

In 2022, PG&E and other utilities have pushed forward a plan with the California Public Utility Commission that would penalize homeowners for installing solar panels. These new rules would allow bad-faith actors to once again monopolize power generation. Under the new rules, a family such as ours, which uses little power from the grid, and in fact provides power to others, would now be charged an additional $600 per year. 

Not much, it seems has changed between 1696 and 2022. By taxing homeowners for installing solar panels, the CPUC plan would punish average citizens, taxing them for that which is freely given by nature. They would, you might say, be levying a fine against God. Rather than moving us toward a clean energy future, our utility companies that are supposed to serve, instead are leading us into darkness.

With a Perspective, this is Andrew Lewis.

Finding Power

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And the radio version:
Kincade fire
During the last wind event of the Kincade Fire, I along with a few neighbors had returned to our Sebastopol homes to prepare for any flying embers.  All of us had been without power or water for days.
PG&E was in a bummer of a position, I thought.  “Sorry folks.  We have to turn off the only service we provide.  And if we turn it back on,  it might kill you!”  They were powerless.
I set to cleaning spoiled food from our fridge, raking up possible debris, setting aside additional possessions that I would take if I had to evacuate.  As dusk fell and the Diablo wind picked up, I carried a box of perishables through the pitch down to our neighbor who had been running a generator.
While there, another neighbor walked in the door.  She had just returned from a shelter. Alone in her darkened home, the stress of the previous days had overwhelmed her and she was having an emotional meltdown.  She sat on on the floor and sobbed violently.
We did what we could to console.  We made tea.  We cooked up an Angus steak that had been on ice for a few days, opened up a jar of olives and braised some chard picked from the garden.  We got some food in her.  Others showed up.  One with a bottle of Japanese whiskey.  It became a kind of mid-apocalypse party.
We told our neighbor that she was fine, that she was safe.  She was surrounded by powerful people.  One of them, after all, even had power.  But then I realized that she may have been the most powerful one of all.  If not for her, we would all have been sitting alone in our darkened homes.  If not for her, we would not all have come together.
With a perspective, this is Andrew Lewis.