Off The Grid

I mentioned I won't be voting on California propositions any more.

California is probably better off if I simply abstain from voting, as I currently do with signing petitions out in front of the Safeway - I abstain from those, too, to prevent these fucking propositions from ever getting on ballots in the first place.

SMUD, like other public power providers, is going to have to spend a half million dollars, once California's proposition 16 passes, to hold a special county wide ballot measure to allow it to continue to provide electric service in Sacramento county. Once it passes, SMUD will not be able to offer services to new customers in Elk Grove without a 2/3rds vote from existing ratepayers. The addition of one additional customer would require a 2/3rds vote, because SMUD isn't the sole provider of electricity in its service territory.

Of course, this is a fantastical stretch of the vague language in this proposition, but you can already see what the net result will be from the passage of this proposition -- the real meaning of the proposition will only be determined by the court system after several years of litigation, because it will have to be challenged.

Who, exactly, will gain from this proposition? Litigators! And only litigators! A whole cadre of people who truly produce nothing; they only provide lawyering to others who do the producing.

I blog about this as if I want a particular outcome, but truthfully, the war has already been won by PG&E's $35,000,000 to the opposition's $40,000 -- an 875 to 1 spending advantage. Funny, the advertisements state how you the taxpayer should have the right to vote before a public utility spends money to expand service, yet public utilities are forbidden by law from spending money to support or oppose ballot propositions, even if they would seek to eliminate them. Also funny how PG&E only needs a 50% proposition vote to create a supermajority requirement. Brilliant!

Like I said, it might seem that I'm after a particular outcome, but I'm not...I really don't care much about what you are willing to pay for your power. Indeed, the more you pay, the better off I am as an electric service employee. As the owner of a solar array and a shareholder in a solar farm, I am looking forward to future electric rate increases which will make my investments in solar revenue-neutral even earlier, and this proposition can only work to increase rates -- PG&E claims that their shareholders will foot this $35 million bill, but with a guaranteed rate of return the money can only eventually come from ratepayers. SMUD will spend a few hundred grand just to send its own lawyering teams to court to listen to arguments!

If this is what you want, go right on ahead, slick. Keep on signing those petitions outside your supermarkets, offered by paid employees who could care less about what you are signing so long as you just sign. PG&E only had to spend $2,250,000 to get the required signatures for proposition 16, an insignificant blip of corporate money to allow you, the taxpayer, the right to vote! You do want to keep your right to vote, yes? Of course you do! So vote yes on 16, so you keep that right, Mr. Taxpayer!