Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

With summer fast approaching, and manufacturing going out the door, it is really making it difficult to count on at least one thing, and that is the cost of my electric bill. Starting in May, my electric bill goes up by 50%, which is really odd. I called PG&E this morning, and talked with the business rep in Fresno. I wanted to know why, with the power generators in Washington and Oregon being paid not to generate power because there is a surplus of electricity available, why does my bill jump by 50%? Why, with electricity being the lowest in 12 years since PG&E filed bankruptcy do they raise my rate by 50% in the summer time?

Also, with so many businesses closing, and people losing their homes and moving out of state, there is, no doubt, a surplus of power. The PG&E guy in Fresno reminded me that somebody had to pay for those people who walked away from their bill. So, now we get redistribution of wealth from PG&E too?

I went to the Manteca Patriots meeting a couple of weeks ago and asked the spokesman from PG&E just how much electricity PG&E generates. His reply was that it was against the law for them to generate power, but the business guy from PG&E in Fresno says that is not true. So, for an explanation why the power is costing more money, his answer left me at a loss for words. He said if I look at the power lines in the summer you can see them sag from the weight of the power going through them. What? I guess I didn’t know an electron gained so much weight in the summer. It must be the amps.

 But, the PG&E guy in Fresno did let something out I don’t think he wanted me to know. What he said was that “the value of electricity is more valuable in the summertime.”

Well, there you go. PG&E prices electricity according to how much they can stick it to us.

Beam me up, Scotty, there is no intelligent life down here.

Gary Duran
Manteca
March 21, 2012