MS: YOU MIGHT BE PAYING MORE
THAN YOUR FAIR SHARE FOR POWER
IF GET ELECTRICITY
FROM PG AND E. I SPOKE ENERGY
EXPERTS TO FIND OUT WHY KERN
COUNTY RESIDENTS
MIGHT BE PAYING MORE THAN THEIR
FAIR SHARE.
MS:TEMPERATUR ES ARE SOARING
THIS WEEKEND IN KERN
COUNTY, BUT YOUR POWER BILL
DOESN'T HAVE TO.
AND SOMETIMES USERS DON'T KNOW
WHY THEY GET FEES
FOR USING A LOT OF POWER. PG AND
E SAYS AS 40 PERCENT
OF POWER BILLS GO TOWARD RUNNING
AIR CONDITIONERS.
SO CUTTING DOWN CAN SLASH YOUR
BILL.
"Some of the ways they can do
that is turn their thermostat to
78
degrees or higher health
permitting,
and leave it at 85 or even turn
it off if
you're leaving for a little bit"
MS: PG AND E CHARGES THE
SAME RATES FOR HOMEOWNERS IN ALL
PARTS OF
ITS SERVICE AREA. AND IT'S A
SYSTEM OF
TIERS . OR STEPS. SO IF YOU USE
TOO MUCH
ELECTRICITY, YOU MOVE TO A
HIGHER STEP . MEANING
YOU'RE PAYING MORE PER KILOWATT
EXPERTS SAY THAT'S BAD NEWS FOR
PEOPLE WHO
LIVE IN HOT WEATHER. KERN
RESIDENTS ARE
MORE LIKELY TO MOVE TO THE
HIGHER TIER AND PAY A
HIGHER RATE THAN PEOPLE WHO
LIVE IN THE COOLER CLIMES
OF SANTA BARBARA.
"When you start trying to make
everybody use the same amount of
electricity with the same
philosophy
and some of them live on the
coast
and some of them live in the
central
valley, I would say the central
valley
gets short shrift in terms of
representation."
MS:THAT MAKES ENERGY MORE
EXPENSIVE HERE. ESPECIALLY
BECAUSE
COMPANIES LIKE PG AND E ARE
TRYING TO MAKE CONSUMERS
USE LESS ENERGY.
"That's their objective and I
have no problem with their
intent but there's a long
distance between
good intention and good
ratemaking."
MOSES
YOUR POWER BILL MIGHT BE
GOING UP BECAUSE TEMPERATURES
HERE ARE NOT AS STABLE AS THEY
ARE ON THE COAST. BUT YOU CAN
FIGHT BACK BY WARMING UP
YOUR THERMOSTAT, TURNING IT OFF
DURING THE DAY, CLOSING YOUR
SHADES TO KEEP OUT THE SUN.
IN STUDIO, MOSES SMALL. 17 NEWS.
TAMI
THAT'S THE SUBJECT OF
TONIGHT'S 17 INTERACTIVE
FEEDBACK POLL.
