California Power Problems ?
Easy Solution--If it cost more people will use less.

Last Up date on: Fri 05-18-2001 20:47:42

Electric rates charged by PG & E from 1981 and the Dow Jones.

   Date  Base    Under   Over   DJ Low  DJ High
1981 Jan 240    .03682  .08137  824.01  1024.05
     Jul 240    .04035  .08137
1982 Jan 240    .07071  .12887  776.92  1070.55
     Jul 240    .05800  .10571
1983 Jan 240    .05427  .09173  1027.04 1287.20
     Jul 240    .05127  .08656
1984 Jan 240    .05528  .09333  1086.57 1286.69
     Jul 310    .05503  .09179
1985 Jan 330    .06688  .11303  1184.96 1553.10
     Jul 310    .07072  .11952
1986 Jan 330    .06976  .11789  1402.29 1955.57
     Jul 310    .06627  .11200
1987 Jan 330    .06360  .10228  1738.74 2722.42
     Jul 336    .06465  .10396
1988 Jan 361.6  .06700  .11754  1879.14 2783.50
     Jul 315    .06898  .11754
1989 Jan 327.7  .07099  .11720  2144.64 2791.40
     Jul 304.5  .08118  .12739
1990 Jan 361.6  .08882  .13524  2365.10 2999.75
     Jul 321.0  .09374  .12842
1991 Jan 362.7  .09374  .12842  2470.30 3168.83
     Jul 267.5  .10924  .13682
1992 Jan 362.7  .11107  .13865  3136.58 3413.21
     Jul 321.0  .11439  .13290
1993 Jan 339.3  .11439  .13290  3241.95 3794.33
     Jul 310.3  .11968  .13819
1994 Jan 333.5  .11950  .13737  3593.35 3978.36
     Jul 302.4  .11950  .13737
1995 Jan 379.5  .11950  .13737  3832.08 5216.47
     Jul 313.2  .11950  .13737
1996 Jan 333.5  .11950  .13737  5032.94 6560.91
     Jul 313.2  .11589  .13321
1997 Jan 379.5  .11589  .13321  6391.69 8259.31
     Jul 313.2  .11589  .13321
1998 Jan 333.5  .11589  .13321  7539.07 9374.27
     Jul 331.2  .11589  .13321
1999 Jan 331.5  .11589  .13321  9120.67 11497.12
     Jul 334.8  .11589  .13321
2000 Jan 379.5  .11589  .13321  9496.03 11722.98
     Jul 334.8  .11589  .13321
2001 Jan 368    .11589  .13321  ????.?? ?????.??
The Base-Line quantity and the KWH prices are from my personal PG & E statements. All at the same address in San Jose, California.

I chose January for the winter rates and July for the summer months.

The Dow Jones Industrial Averages are from page 145 of the 2001 World Almanac, which lists Yearly Highs and Lows since 1963. Incidentally, the

        1963 Low was 646.79 High was 767.21
        1970 Low was 631.16 High was 842.00
        1980 Low was 759.13 High was 1000.17
For 17 years, possibly more if I had earlier data, we enjoyed a relatively stable economy. Since about 1980 prices have been increasing so much that most companies were forced to remove prices from yearly catalogs.

Clearly the rates charged by PG & E (which are totally regulated by California government) have not gone up with the economy. Another sector that is hurting is agriculture prices. Check Farm prices from 1940 to present on page 159 of the same World Almanac and see that most farm prices have not increased since about 1975. In fact: Corn, Wheat, Cotton, Oats, Barley, Rice, Soybeans, Sorghum, Hay, and Potatoes; are all less in 1999 than in 1975. There were only slight increases for Peanuts and Apples.


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