Reader’s Editorial: Golden Pacific Powerlink: The ratepayer math nobody has run

By Maxim Maximov

(San Diego) – You have covered Golden Pacific several times, including the County Supervisors presentation. Here is an angle I have not seen anywhere: the ratepayer arithmetic.

SDG&E wants roughly $2.3 billion for 145 miles of 500 kV line. The same money, spent as a 30 percent rebate on home batteries, would reach about 750,000 households — more than twice every solar home SDG&E has. And none of it would enter the rate base.

That last part is the story. In December the CPUC cut SDG&E’s authorized return to 9.93 percent and in the same decision acknowledged total authorized return across the four big utilities is rising about $840 million, because the rate base grew. Build a $2.3 billion line and you have bought roughly $114 million a year, guaranteed by ratepayers, for decades. Distributed storage earns the utility nothing.

I am an Oceanside homeowner with 37 panels and 40 kWh of storage. Last year I exported 7,125 kWh, was paid $427, and SDG&E resold it on my street at up to 46 cents. I am not allowed to sell a kilowatt-hour to my neighbor sixty feet away.

The opinions in this editorial reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.

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