CPUC undercuts its own purported ‘decarbonization goals’

Re “$24 monthly fee is an exorbitant, inflationary scam” (Aug. 24): This letter is spot-on and that may be the main reason why the electric delivery Basic Service Charge enabling legislation was passed three years ago by Sacramento lawmakers “under questionable circumstances” described charitably as “opaque” in an Aug. 24 U-T news article.

What’s also difficult to comprehend is California Public Utilities Commission President Alice Busching Reynolds’ assertion that this overhaul of billing practices will encourage customers to adopt electrification measures in their homes to “propel us toward our decarbonization goals.”

Who in their right mind would be motivated by this misplaced incentive to incur major expenses to convert their efficient gas cooktops and heating furnaces to electric power?

I also fail to understand how the added demand from such electrification on California’s already-overstressed fossil-fueled electric power generating stations promotes decarbonization.

— Howard Young, La Jolla