OK, not really, it was actually a study done by a USC researcher, but I am a bit amazed its any kind of a surprise for anyone:
Policies, not greed, driving California’s sky-high gas prices, study finds
As Californians continue to wonder why they suffer disproportionately at the pump compared to other states, a new study from a prominent researcher says the state’s perpetually high gas prices are largely “self-inflicted.”....
....Mische came to that conclusion after examining about 50 years of gas prices throughout the state and analyzing what led to spikes and lulls.
“It is uniformly acknowledged that California has the most stringent regulatory … environment, for oil and gas companies in the world,” the study reads in part. “Regulatory oversight, irrespective of one’s (political) perspective, is layered into and accumulates throughout the supply chain, ultimately adding to the cost burdens of compliance for oil and gas industry operators, which, in turn, contribute to higher consumer prices at the pump.”
https://ktla.com/news/california/policies-not-price-gouging-to-blame-for-californias-soaring-gas-prices-study-finds/
Professor Michael Mische offers the following conclusions in his study on 30 to 50 years of data on California’s high gas prices:
“…the primary conclusion from this study is that California’s high gasoline prices and supply dilemmas are, by design, engineering or serendipitously, largely self-inflicted, and the result of directed policies and a litany of regulations, taxes, fees, and costs. The economic evidence is abundant; California refiners have not engaged in widespread price gouging, profiteering, price manipulation, “unexplained residual prices” or surcharges, magical or otherwise. The Golden State’s gasoline price dilemma is the result of the complex interactions regulatory and political policies, and the subtleties of refinery operations and global crude oil prices and in-state centric supply and demand. Specifically, California’s high gasoline prices can be attributed to:
https://californiaglobe.com/fl/new-study-californias-high-gas-prices-and-supply-dilemmas-are-self-inflicted/
It should be noted that recent required changes (more regulations) to gas production in CA might raise price 60 or so cents more. Also, electrics are not generally a good options at this point for many. Ironically (in a state pushing them) CA also has some of the most expensive electricity.
In reply to aircooled :
We keep voting ourselves energy price hikes. We've also got some nuttiness where many pay very little while others pay ridiculous amounts for electricity. From a recent bill...
Tier 1 @ $0.34050
Tier 2 @ $0.42516
An EV won't be of much help to me.
One problem with California electricity prices is that the rich have exempted themselves from paying for daytime power.
If a solar installation costs $2/w, and you want to earn 10% on your money, then that's $0.20/w*year.
The panel will have effectively 8 hours of insolation per day, multiplied by 365 days per year, creating 2.92 kWh/year.
Divide that out and it's 6.8 c/ kWh. That's less than a quarter of what the utilities charge in SoCal. Sizing your array to match peak demand and just giving the power company the excess under NEM3 works out if you're not being completely ripped off on the installation cost.
The problem will get worse, of course, when you can go to Aldi or Lowe's and buy a balcony panel of 300 or 500 W that just plugs into an outlet. That'll make every apartment dweller self-sufficient by day.
Our rates will continue to get higher and higher as the power company sells less and less power and still needs to charge everyone $500-1000 per year to maintain the grid.
In reply to chaparral :
Don't forget that the power company also has to maintain generation stations, which may become less necessary as residential power generation takes up a larger percentage. So their costs do drop. Not to zero, but somewhat.
The decrease in cost to build solar production at both the household and utility level is having a big effect on utilities. Now they're interested in short term storage.
Don't forget that the power company also has to maintain generation stations, which may become less necessary as residential power generation takes up a larger percentage. So their costs do drop. Not to zero, but somewhat.
The decrease in cost to build solar production at both the household and utility level is having a big effect on utilities. Now they're interested in short term storage.
Solar is a big problem for utilities. It doesn't generate the right type of power, usually at the wrong time of the day, and can't be controlled the way traditional power generation sources can. They need big mechanically turning generators to stabilize the grid. Solar has become more expensive in many places due to changes in net metering specifically done to address the problems. Utilities are installing BESS systems to try to help without building more traditional power plants, but they are largely very expensive Band-Aids.
Solar isn't so much the "wrong time of the day" but more that it gives up early. That's where the batteries (and other storage solutions) come in. I have a friend in that industry and they're seeing big growth.
I believe solar is now the least expensive type of generation to build and operate at a utility level. The math for residential changes quite a bit depending on the utlities and environment. We use net metering at our home and our overall power bill has dropped even if you count the financing on the array. Thanks to new time-of-day metering, I think we're actually getting paid more for overproduction than when we installed it.
I don't know anything about stabilization, I'm going to have to look into that.
back to gasoline - the sheer variety of blends across the US is ridiculous. When we were tuning ECUs for customers, we had to take local fuel quality into account and it's a significant variance. It makes it more expensive everywhere to have to blend the fuel differently state by state.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Solar isn't so much the "wrong time of the day" but more that it gives up early. That's where the batteries (and other storage solutions) come in. I have a friend in that industry and they're seeing big growth.
I believe solar is now the least expensive type of generation to build and operate at a utility level. The math for residential changes quite a bit depending on the utlities and environment. We use net metering at our home and our overall power bill has dropped even if you count the financing on the array. Thanks to new time-of-day metering, I think we're actually getting paid more for overproduction than when we installed it.
I don't know anything about stabilization, I'm going to have to look into that.
I'm in the industry, from residential solar to solar farms and substation sized energy storage. Solar modules are less expensive. That's it. But the requirement of storage has more than eclipsed any savings. Battery storage is showing tremendous growth not because it's cost effective, but because it is required. Either through regulation, time of use incentives, or through changes that made solar without battery storage not economically viable. Before battery storage, utilities had to cap how much solar was allowed on the grid, see Hawaii. CA was planning to shut down a nuke plant but couldn't do it. They need X amount of traditional generator produced power on the grid. Solar is the wrong time of the day in that peak production and peak demand are pretty far apart, hence the need for battery storage.
Edit- this is a great video detailing some of the challenges of adding solar to the grid, as well as the solutions that they are working on...
Boost_Crazy - why not just use the road-going battery packs? Why won't rates be something like 10c/kWh by day and $1.50/kWh by night in two years? That way the utility doesn't have to install a bunch of packs.
As for gasoline, I've written to two different Assembly members, of both parties, recommending that we switch California to a single gasoline specification. Year-round summer-blend national-spec 93-AKI gasoline. Get rid of the special fuels, just use low-volatility summer gas year round for HC control. No more E85, no more racing gsoline, one tank at a gasoline station. I've gotten precisely nowhere.
Thanks Jason, I'll check that out. My industry friend is in the battery industry, so obviously he's a big fan of them :)
Keith Tanner said:
In reply to chaparral :
Don't forget that the power company also has to maintain generation stations, which may become less necessary as residential power generation takes up a larger percentage. So their costs do drop. Not to zero, but somewhat.
The decrease in cost to build solar production at both the household and utility level is having a big effect on utilities. Now they're interested in short term storage.
Has anyone figured out how long these short tern storage will last ?
I would think that they are not going to like the below freezing temps or above 100F temps
In reply to californiamilleghia :
Not forever, and there are a bunch of interesting technologies out there. Not just various battery chemistries, there are other options like compressed air and pumped water. The latter doesn't work as well below freezing for a long time :)
The requirements are quite different than for an EV, so the solutions are often different.
In reply to chaparral :
How does getting rid of the winter blend help? I will certainly hurt the areas of California that regularly sees temps below 45F- which there are a number of.
And are there even regional blends in Calironia? I was only aware of a single fuel spec for all of CA when I did work on it. The rest of the country is a hodge podge of set ups that actually make emissions harder to be low everywhere. As Kieth mentioned, car companies would really appreciate reducing the fuel blend availability in the country.
In reply to chaparral :
Boost_Crazy - why not just use the road-going battery packs? Why won't rates be something like 10c/kWh by day and $1.50/kWh by night in two years? That way the utility doesn't have to install a bunch of packs.
It sounds good in theory, but that would be another variable for the utility to deal with- the batteries are moving around and may or may not be plugged in or able to accept a charge. EV owners would not be enthused if they plugged in their car to find later that it was discharged because the utility needed the power. Homeowners can do this with their own solar and EV's, but in practice they usually are at work during peak solar. Plus, discharging your car overnight could be problematic in the morning. I'd expect the more frequent charging and draining would affect battery life too. Maybe when EV's are more common- multiple per household- and have more reserve range it will be more beneficial. But by then, demand on the grid from the added EV's may negate that.
Time of use is already a thing, but at much higher rates in my area. Enough so that some are installing batteries to store the "cheaper" off peak power to use during peak hours. But the cost wouldn't make sense unless you have expensive power and the right kind of demand.
