SACRAMENTO – California’s working poor will see higher energy rates in coming years, thanks to a bill discussed at an infamous special interest conference held in Maui.
The Kardashian family’s spotlight consumes real power. For five seasons, the gated-community of Hidden Hills served as the backdrop for “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” During that time, Hidden Hills consistently topped the list of the state’s “most egregious energy hogs.”
In September 2012, the residents of Hidden Hills consumed an average of nearly four and a half megawatt hours of electricity, according to energy consumption data from the California Public Utilities Commission. That’s 4.3 million watts to fuel the star-powered homes of Drake, Britney Spears, the Osbournes, Jessica Simpson, and Sean Penn. For just a single month. You could leave a standard light bulb on for more than eight years to match that level of energy use.
At the other end of the state and economic spectrum, the average household in Oakland used less energy during the entire year. Oakland and Hidden Hills aren’t anomalies. There’s a correlation between energy use and wealth.
Browse the country’s most expensive zip codes, and you’ll see the same communities among the state’s biggest energy consumers. Atherton, Hillsborough, Los Altos Hills, Rolling Hills, Woodside, all among the state’s biggest energy hogs, while California’s poorest communities in Oakland and Southeast Los Angeles consume the least energy.
In the coming years, energy bills will be going down for Hidden Hills and up for Oakland, thanks to a controversial energy rate restructuring plan that was passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Jerry Brown last year.
This is the story of how that bill passed, why a notorious special-interest junket is partially to blame and how the state Senate’s only convicted felon tried to stop his colleagues from “robbing the hood.”
Full story by John Hrabe at calnewsroom.com.
