Gas prices are the highest they’ve ever been, and basic energy costs, including those necessary to heat and air-condition homes, keep going up. The result is that nearly a quarter of the country says they’ve had to cut back on other necessary expenses, such as food and medicine, just to pay their energy bills.
One would rightly assume that this is a crisis. Yet in California, where residents pay 66% more for electricity than other homeowners across the United States, and where the poverty rate is the highest in the country, Democratic officials don’t seem to care at all about whether their citizens can afford to keep the lights on.
Los Angeles County became the 57th locality in the state earlier this year to pass an ordinance phasing out natural gas, one of the most affordable sources of energy, altogether over the next several years. By next January, natural gas appliances, such as stoves, will no longer be installed in residential or commercial properties.
The state, as a whole, plans to move its energy grid toward 100% zero-carbon electricity by 2045 and has passed a ban on fuel-powered vehicles that will go into effect in 2035.
Never mind the fact that Californians already experience regular blackouts due to power supply shortages or that the average cost of an electric vehicle is twice the average person’s annual income. Apparently, climate alarmism, which has been wrong about almost everything for the past several decades, takes precedent.
What California needs (indeed, what the entire country needs) is a dependable and affordable energy system that takes into account the various needs of its citizens. But as long as Democrats are in charge, that’s not going to happen.
