‘Whole ‘Nother Rent’: Soaring Electricity Prices In Kamala Harris’ Home State Are Crushing Residents

California’s electricity prices are surging, burdening residents with bills that in some cases exceed the rent they pay for their homes or businesses, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Prices have increased thanks in large part to the state’s push to make infrastructure upgrades like burying power lines, as well as demand increases driven by electric vehicle (EV) adoption and the proliferation of power-hungry data centers needed to sustain the growing artificial intelligence (AI) sector, according to the WSJ. These costs — as well as the capital costs of new wind and solar farms that policymakers want to replace fossil fuel generation for a green grid — are being passed on to California’s consumers, leaving ordinary people on the hook for huge electricity bills.

Californians owed a combined $2.1 billion in late utility bills at the end of 2023, representing a more than four-fold increase since 2019, according to the WSJ. Approximately 27% of all California residents have missed payments on utility bills at some point over the last 12 months, and power was shut off for more than 200,000 people in the state in 2023 for not paying bills, with about 20% of those people not getting their power turned back on.

“During the summertime is the only thing on my mind,” Scott Jones, a resident of Borrego Springs, California, told the WSJ. Like others in his mobile home community, Jones tries to save where he can on groceries, works multiple jobs and even uses an array of shades and tints to try to keep the temperature lower in his home to avoid having to use the air conditioner.