Rising electricity rates should not be blamed on rooftop solar | Opinion

Needed oversight

“Can Steyer drop California electricity rates 25%? Don’t hold your breath | Opinion,” (sacbee.com, Dec. 22)

If you conserve energy by turning off unused lights or appliances, does that increase your neighbor’s bill? Of course not. Solar owners not only reduce their consumption, but they also provide electricity to their neighbors, reducing what the utilities must buy from fossil-fuel suppliers. That helps everyone.

The real reason electricity rates are rising is out-of-control spending on transmission and distribution lines by utilities — spending that has tripled over 20 years while electricity demand remained flat.

The California Public Utilities Commission oversight is broken.

David Rynerson

Huntington Beach

Rooftop solar is a win

“Can Steyer drop California electricity rates 25%? Don’t hold your breath | Opinion,” (sacbee.com, Dec. 22)

The data clearly shows that rooftop solar is a win for all ratepayers, and we should be doing more — not less — to encourage it.

Danett Abbott-Wicker

Orange

We all lose

“As California debates a billionaire tax, class lines begin to harden | Opinion,” (sacbee.com, Jan. 2)

Take away just a few billionaires, and we all lose. The Legislative Analyst’s Office reports that a major fiscal effect of a billionaire tax is “Likely ongoing decrease in state income tax revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars per year,” because some billionaires will leave the state.

Brian Powers

Sacramento

The power of the Federalist Society

“California ban on open-carry firearms is unconstitutional, appeals panel rules,” (sacbee.com, Jan. 2)

Gov. Gavin Newsom is correct in calling the Supreme Court’s ruling on the open carry of guns a “dark day in America.”

The six conservative justices who make up the majority are all Federalist Society members appointed by Republican presidents.

The rulings of Federalist Society judges at all levels of our federal courts ignore the Constitution and federal law and rule in favor of Republican Party policies.

They represent an extreme danger to American democracy.

Terrence Dunn

Roseville

City must redesign bike lanes

“Traffic and deadly crashes: Top 5 Sacramento-area transportation stories of 2025,” (sacbee.com, Jan. 1)

As an urban cyclist who uses the bicycle lanes on 19th and 21st streets, I constantly have cars turning right in front of me while I am turning left. They either don’t see me or they are not looking before turning.

All bike-friendly cities around the world design their bike lanes so that cyclists ride with the flow of traffic, just as if they were driving a car. The city needs to change these lanes. They are not safe, and someone is going to get hurt.

Larry Womack

Sacramento

Pull back the curtain

“‘We need PG&E to do better’: S.F. leaders blast utility over mass outages,” (sacbee.com, Dec. 22)

When California granted the Pacific Gas and Electric Company a monopoly to deliver power, it did so on a clear condition: strict public oversight.

The current oversight consists of five commissioners, all appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. During those appointments, Newsom’s campaigns received contributions from PG&E, and his wife received hundreds of thousands of dollars from PG&E for her film company. When asked if that was a conflict, Newsom repeatedly stated there is “no correlation, period, full stop.”

However, the results now speak much louder than Newsom’s rhetoric. The state-level checks and balances have failed, so it’s time for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to pull back the curtain on PG&E.

Curtis Panasuk

Sacramento