Going green: San Francisco's plan to "go green" will likely cost the typical city consumer about $9 more a month - with most of the money going to Shell Energy, which will be providing the renewable energy. Under the plan approved by City Hall, 50,000 to 90,000 households will automatically be enrolled in the green program, but all will have four opportunities to opt out at no cost. Those who decide to go green can expect to see their electric bills rise by 23 percent.
But because everyone will theoretically benefit from environmental goals of going green, the controller is suggesting a tax be put on the electric bills of those who opt to stay with PGE to help balance out the costs and get them to conserve. Any tax like that would have to be approved by the voters.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Oakland-billboard-perk-may-blight-city-3764848.php#ixzz22mLmX72x
There are at least two interesting points to make here. First note the setting of the "default". You participate unless you "opt out". You don't have to be Bridgette Madrian to see that there is a nice paper to write here. Building on my work with Dora Costa, a researcher could test whether San Francisco's few Republicans are more likely to opt out while liberal environmentalists will like the "default option" (that they are enrolled in green power) and due to inertia wouldn't want to bother to change their behavior.
Now, does the 23% increase sound large to you? I do not know what is the basis for that number but it sounds larger than what the ARB has said would be the impact on consumers of pursuing the green goals embedded in AB32.
UPDATE: I was unaware that San Francisco has more ambitious renewable power generation goals than the goal written into AB32. This document claims that San Fran seeks to generate 0 carbon emissions from power generation by the year 2030. So, we can't easily extrapolate from the San Fran case to how much overall California electricity prices will increase because of the RPS.
Finally, consider the tax initiative. Consider voters choices. Those voter/households who do not care about having a low carbon footprint will opt out of the green power program and vote against a tax increase for staying with PGE and its "dirty natural gas power". The greens will vote for the tax because they won't pay it and they support the cause. Given San Francisco's overall politics, this tax increase is likely to pass.
