I went through my San Jose PG & E bills since I bought the house in August of 1980 and have put the summer and winter rates in a table. You can see it at: San Jose PG & E electric rates since January 1981. The main points are: In 1981 the first 240 kilowatts cost slightly under 4 cents per kilowatt, anything over 240 KWH costs over 8 cents per kilowatt. In 1981 the Dow Jones went from a low of 824.01 to a high of 1024.05 Today the Dow Jones is over 11,000. It is more than 11 times higher than it was in 1981. If electric rates had kept pace we would be paying between 44 and 88 cents per kilowatt. But, we are paying between 11 and 13 cents per kilowatt hour. Is it any surprise PG & E has been forced into Bankruptcy? Take a look at the table there is a lot more there.

Mon 04-09-2001

But, the "California Cry Babies" want the Federal Government to impose price caps on what producers can charge.

What the entire nation needs is more electrical power generating facilities. Federal Price caps will certainly stop any new investment in power generation. I hope Bush and the smarter people will realize this.

Indeed, the best thing the Federal Government could do to increase power generation would be to announce that there would be no price caps, and any income produce from power generation would be tax free for at least the next twenty years. Investors and venture capitol would poor into the power generation business and the problem would be solved.

Wed 02-21-2001

I moved to California in the fall of 1969. At that time when I moved into an apartment the only heat was electric. Electric heat is very convenient for builders. It is clean, needs no vents, no plumbing, don't leak, can easily be routed to any location, and each renter has his own billing. It is far the cheapest heating system to install. And when electricity prices are low nobody complains.

But, consider the following laws of physics: Conservation of energy and matter. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, save nuclear which converts matter to energy. The lowest form of energy is heat, and when we think we are using energy we are in fact just converting it to heat. When we put on the breaks in a car we are just converting the energy of motion to heat in the breaks. The engine in the car burns gasoline to create heat to expand the gases and push the pistons, the energy from the gas turns to heat. Most of it is expelled through the exhaust and radiator; a small portion of it moves the car, even that is converted to heat by the stirring of the air and in the brakes.

An engine or steam turbine can extract a little mechanical energy (which can be converted to electricity with a generator) as it transfers heat from a high temperature to a lower temperature. The efficiency of doing this is proportional to the temperature difference. This is what Rudolf Diesel knew and prompted him to make an engine that did not have the fuel in the cylinder until it was ready to fire. Not having the fuel allowed much higher compression which meant higher temperature, thus a more efficient engine. The best that a modern electrical power plant can do to generate electricity is about 50% efficiency. That is why you see huge cooling towers at power plants. (A lot of nuclear plants are build on rivers so they can expend the heat into the water.)

With power line losses when we burn gas, Diesel fuel, coal, or Uranium to generate electricity; we are lucky if we get 25% of the energy into our home. This is why it will never be practical to use electricity for heat; unless the government taxes to subsidize the cost of electricity so it can be wasted. But, this is exactly what Gray Davis is doing and is trying to sell to the people of California; so he can claim he kept electric rates low, and hopefully get more votes. Gray Davis's goal is to get TV coverage and run for president in 2004. Unfortunately, people are stupid enough that it might work!

Wed 01-24-2001

I should not be surprised, Government is above rules and anything that might interfere with their socializing and clipping their finger nails.

Am I cynical? Your damn right! It is the stupidity of California Government that caused the predicament that California is now in. They have the audacity to call it "Deregulation" but in reality it was government regulation. The politicians pass laws limiting what the electric could charge for electricity under the disguise that they were protecting the voters from high electricity prices. Furthermore the utility companies were forced to buy outside power; it was an unfair monopoly if they generated their own. The result is that the power companies have to buy power on the opened market but they have to sell it for prices that are essentially the same as they were at the end of World War II. No business can operate under such stupid rules. Pacific Gas and Electric has been paying 31 cents per Kilowatt hour but only allowed to sell it for around 6 cents per Kilowatt. Thanks to government stupidity, the power companies are so far in debt that they cannot buy power and their stock is at the same level as "Junk Bonds".

The California Governor, has just committed the state to go into the power buying selling business. What will be next? Are they going to pass laws that fix the price that stations can charge for gasoline ignoring what their wholesale prices are? Then the state can take over the Oil Refining business. Next, they should limit the sales prices for groceries, then when the grocery stores go into bankruptcy the government can take them over also. It has been shown that Government running everything in Russia was a disaster, but this is exactly what we are doing in California. Look and the way government runs the Department of Motor Vehicles, or Cal Trans, or Amtrak. They do a terrible job and always run at a loss, but kept going with ever increasing taxes.