By , Senior California politics reporter : sfgate -excerpt
During midday in California, the state’s solar grid produces so much energy that, sometimes, it can’t even use it all. It’s a good problem to have, and one that the leading Democratic candidate governor thinks could be a boon to low-income households. At a recent summit hosted by Politico, Xavier Becerra said he wants to offer free electricity from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. for those who qualify, possibly saving them upward of $1,000 annually…
Becerra’s program would apply to a few million households that already qualify for the state’s CARE/FERA program. Those customers receive reduced rates based on their income. A family of four earning less than $82,500 a year, for instance, would meet the requirements.
Texans have speculated online whether or not the free hours actually lighten the load for them financially. There’s no available data on the success of the program so far, which appears to have debuted for the first time in 2012.
This summer, the Australian government began offering its version of this initiative, which is most similar to Becerra’s “power hour” plan because it is also designed around midday power use. The program does not state any specific guaranteed annual savings, but it gives users three hours of free electricity per day… (more)
He must know that Governors set the rates through the CPUC.