VOSD Podcast: The Electric Slide

By Nate John, the Voice of San Diego

August 26, 2022

Energy from San Diego’s brand new power companies is slightly more expensive than their competitor — the former local power monopoly, SDG&E.

The whole conceit of these new power companies was to boost competition and thereby lower prices. So, mission accomplished?

Not to some folks.

Voice environment reporter MacKenzie Elmer has been following the twisted tale of San Diego energy as fledgling power players rise in the region. Now with more options available, customers have to (and can!) make a choice.

But as Elmer has reported — and VOSD Podcast hosts Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña discuss in this week’s podcast — SDG&E’s new competitors think something deceptive is happening right as ratepayers are asked to compare options.

This week, our hosts got into that electric conversation and some statewide news.

California regulators voted on a big plan to ban the sale of gas-powered cars starting in 2035. Lewis and Keatts noted in the show that plenty of those cars will exist on the road in 2035. But this could accelerate the electric car revolution, as California is a national leader on automobile standards.

Speaking of gettin’ around: Keatts took a trolley ride with the state’s head of transportation, Toks Omishakin, during which they discussed the impact of gas tax on state infrastructure.

With more Teslas avoiding the pump, state leaders are devising new ways to make up for lost revenue it currently earns per gallon of gas. And it’s up to the state, ultimately, to lay down something like a “road-use charge” to tax drivers for every mile traveled — a divisive issue among local leaders.

See that and all of Keatts’s sick transpo coverage at vosd.org/andy.

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