Front Page  »  

Rate payers on the hook for PG&E’s seismic study

September 18, 2012

The State Public Utilities Commission agreed last week to allow PG&E to pass the $64 million cost of a planned seismic survey near Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant on to its customers. [KSBY]

The current proposed plans are to use high-decibel sound waves to map earthquake fault lines from November through December with the possibility of the tests being divided into two parts in successive years.

Last week, while requesting to pass the cost of the study to ratepayers, PG&E officials noted that Senator Sam Blakeslee and the state had requested the testing, not PG&E. In addition, officials said that because PG&E’s customers will benefit from the study, they should pay for it.

“It is appropriate to pay for the studies through rate increases as the study benefits all of PG&E’s customers,” Blair Jones of PG&E told KSBY. “The enhanced seismic knowledge of the region, allows for the continued safe operation of this valuable generation facility.”

PG&E customers throughout the state are slated to see a small increase in their bills.

 


Loading...
Subjects:             
Related:


20 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

We do pay. Especially last PG&E CEO Peter Darbee’s $35,000,000 retirement package. And what was the cost of Sam’s last environmental disaster seeing how much oil was left in that WWII tanker sunk by a Japanese sub? Let’s waste time and money while ignoring real problems. Then, we can pretend we did something while California went down the tubes.


0

ECONOMICS:

If you don’t like PG&E’s rates, you don’t have to pay them. The reality is that PG&E delivers fairly cheap electricity conveniently to your homes and businesses. If you want to make your own electricity instead, you can, and plenty of people do. A person can live quite comfortably off the grid. It’s like the difference between renting and buying a home. For no investment up front, you can rent PG&E’s power station. Or, you can buy your own and never pay ever-rising electrical rent again.


ENVIRONMENT:

I don’t think anyone should have to pay for seismic testing, because I don’t think it should be allowed. Diablo Canyon is a huge liability to our geographic area regardless of what those tests show. It’s not worth the risk. Close the plant and move on.


0

While Diablo puts out electricty for about 3 million homes what would you like to replace it with, the coolaid drinkers in San Fransico are going to vote on taking down the Hetch Hetchy dam, where they get water and pretty much free electric from, where they going to get power from, don’t tell me from solar farms, that mess thats going up in the Carrisa plans is only going to put out enough electric for about 300,000 homes, the money spent there would have done better if it had been spent for homeowners to put solar on their homes, but the feel goods think that destorying the Plains is the thing to do.


0

What would I replace Diablo with? Nothing. Macroeconomics teaches us that when demand exists for a product and the supply goes down, the price will go up. When the price goes up, people will reduce their usage until an affordability equilibrium is reached.


As for destroying the plains, which would you choose: Giving the kit fox a place in the shade to rest beneath a solar panel when it’s hot as hell out in the valley? Or would you prefer killing off the local sea life so that you can cheaply keep the soda in your extra garage freezer cool; all the while, a pending nuclear disaster threatens to kill us all and make the most beautiful area in California uninhabitable for generations to come?


0

Even if my numbers are off, you miss my point, 3 million against 270,000, how are 2 and 3/4 milling people gonna get electricity.

The kit fox doesn’t need us to build him a shade tree, he has lasted out there all these years without solar panels to hide under, besides the wack jobs out there are now concerned that the fox is actually using the panels as shade and are wondering what to do about that, my guess is that they will put more collage people standing in the road with a stop/slow paddle.


0

Obviously, 550 is 1/4 of 2200. Therefore, Diablo services four times what the Topaz Solar Farm will service when completed. A solar ranch is ideal for meeting peak demand during the daytime in the summer months as this is the peak output window for a solar ranch.


There is an even bigger solar ranch being planned for Lost Hills and many being built in other CA and AZ locations today. You are going to wake-up one day and be shocked at the amount of wind, solar, etc. that is now being built and will start generating electricity in the near future.


0

Your numbers are way off. Diablo is 2200 megawatts and the larger of the two solar farms currently being built on the Carrisa Plains, Topaz Solar Ranch, is going to be 550 megawatts.


0

I would be perfectly happy paying higher rates to be rid of Diablo. Rates are ridiculously low anyway.


0

Don’t all costs of everything PGE does ultimately get passed on to the ratepayers? Where else would the money come from?


0

From a reduction of the bonuses and stock options given to the bigwigs at PG&E


0

Aren’t those pd by the ratepayers as well?


My point is that everything PGE does is paid by us, the customers.


One trouble is that we cannot easily opt out of being their customers.


Another side of the coin is that when Mothers, etc., make life hard for PGE, who that ends up hurting is us.


0

Thats why the idea of a agency looking at for the ratepayers and having to approve any costs past along is a good idea, and I always thought that is what the PUC was for but more times than not they seem to be looking after the utility than the ratepayers.


0

Kayaknut

You have that right! The PUC is headed by an ex utility CEO! It is way tilted toward the industry!


0

“Mother’s, etc.” are the biggest reason Diablo is operating in as safe a mode as possible! Letting PG&E run as they wish would have most likely lead to some sort of serious incident. Remember PG&E covered up knowledge of earth quake faults way back in the beginning. Stock holders have profited nicely over the years from For Profit public utility and there lies the true “racket”!


0

No Racket, you can’t blame the “Mothers’ for any costs. They sole mission is to protect us from high costs and safety issues ignored by the utility or regulators. That attitude of yours is corporate nonsense, more lies from the ‘suits’ as they rip us off for millions and put us at risk. Thank the heavens for the ‘Mothers’.


0

Be aware Blakelslee fully approves of testing and feels it is only fair to pass the cost on to the consumer. I guess it is fair to say I will never vote for him. I approve this message.


0

PGE has a Claim form on their website for reimbursement of losses you have sustained for which you believe PG&E may be responsible.


http://www.pge.com/myhome/customerservice/contact/claims/claimform/


I intend to file a claim for the loss of my marine life, as well as my portion of the payment for the testing.


0

Good Luck with that, Morpheus. (You obviously took the blue pill and are still in the Matrix).


I filed a claim for a blown transformer that fried most of my electronic gear last summer. They claimed ‘act of god’ and denied it.


0

I’m sure PG&E has their team of lawyers working on a way to claim the pipeline explosion was an act of God or find a way to get the PUC to allow them to put the lawsuits costs onto the ratepayers


0

As i pointed out above, OF COURSE the lawsuit costs will be put on the ratepayers.


That’s where PGE gets all its money. Unless they have income streams I am unaware of, all the money that they pay for *everything* with comes from the ratepayers. Where else would their money come from?


0