“Millions of California families are opening their utility bills to sticker shock,” Newsom said. “That’s why I’m asking the federal government to use its full authority to investigate the spike in natural gas prices.'
Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to soaring natural gas prices this week, calling for a federal investigation into ballooning utility bills across the West while also promising Californians that relief was on the way.
The wrong kind of fires are burning across California Intensifying wildfires, driven by centuries-long fire suppression and global warming, are destroying forests rather than regenerating them But state regulators also suggested there might be more to the story. “Frankly, we don't know all of the pieces of the puzzle,” said California Public Utilities Commission President Alice Busching Reynolds at a hearing convened Tuesday. “This issue is critically important and needs to be examined further.”
Still, the extra cash will not solve the larger supply-and-demand challenges going forward, regulators conceded Tuesday. “We recognize that that was a short-term bandaid, and this is a longer-term problem,” said Alice Busching Reynolds. Climate change may also be partly to blame. A years-long drought has sapped the state’s hydropower capacity and, in turn, boosted additional demand for natural gas across western markets. In total, hydroelectric generation fell by 23% compared to last year from 2020 levels, according to the California Energy Commission.
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