Commentary by Christopher South

Look at what households here actually pay.

In June 2026, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, put California residential electricity at 34.74 cents a kilowatt-hour. The U.S. total was 18.34 cents. For all sectors, California ran 28.50 cents against 14.48 cents nationwide.

At the pump it is the same story. The EIA Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update for the week of Sept. 14, 2026, listed California regular at $5.827 a gallon. The U.S. average was $4.319.

Those are not campaign numbers. They are published federal tables. Hemet and San Jacinto see them on the bill and at the station.

Sacramento has an answer ready. Officials say Washington starved transmission and left the West with a brittle grid. They say oil companies set pump prices, not Cap-and-Trade. They say climate rules are insurance, and that other states free-ride on what California already paid for. The federal gasoline tax is real. A western energy market is real. Fine. If the whole premium were federal, the state’s own paper would say so.

It does not.

The California Energy Commission’s January 2026 gasoline cost stack lists the Low Carbon Fuel Standard at about 17 cents a gallon. Cap-and-Trade is about 25 cents. The state excise tax is 61.2 cents. The federal excise tax is 18.4 cents. Three of those four lines belong to Sacramento.

California also requires CARBOB, a gasoline blend most states do not use. The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and the Energy Commission count the refineries that make it: 25 in 1996, 15 in 2020, 10 in 2022. Fewer plants. A special recipe. A higher pump price.

The power bill follows the same statutes. Senate Bill 100 requires 60 percent renewable electricity by 2030 and a carbon-free supply by 2045, with interim marks of 44 percent by 2024 and 52 percent by 2027. Advanced Clean Cars II requires 35 percent of new vehicles to be zero-emission in 2026, 68 percent in 2030, and 100 percent of model year 2035. Ratepayers and drivers fund that buildout.

Diablo Canyon charged them twice. Senate Bill 846 reversed a retirement already in motion. The Energy Commission’s February 2023 report and Public Utilities Commission Decision 23-12-036 keep the plant running through October 2029 and 2030. Ratepayers funded the close. Ratepayers now fund the stay. Retire, then extend.

Cap-and-Invest draws from the same people. The Legislative Analyst’s Office, on Feb. 10, 2026, projected $3.77 billion in auction proceeds for 2026-27. Senate Bill 840 moves $1 billion from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to high-speed rail as a Tier 2 use. Tier 3 climate programs are projected at about 70 percent of their statutory amounts. General Fund deficits sit at $20 billion to $35 billion. Auction dollars also backfill CalFire, among other uses. Money sent to rail is money not filling those Tier 3 shortfalls, and not easing the deficit.

That is one bucket. The electric premium, the gasoline adders, the climate auctions, and the General Fund all come from ratepayers, drivers, and workers who earn and pay. There is not a second pile of money in Sacramento. The Capitol overspends on social programs, mismanagement, and waste. Those same households still pay the energy premium while that pattern continues.

Medi-Cal is the documented social-program pressure. The Legislative Analyst’s Office, in its March 2, 2026, Medi-Cal analysis, reported that spending has more than doubled over the last decade on both a General Fund and a total-funds basis. For 2026-27, Medi-Cal is estimated at about $49 billion General Fund and $222 billion total funds. That is about 20 percent of overall state General Fund spending. The Analyst’s Office says costs for undocumented and other expansion populations have pressured the budget, and that the Legislature enacted solutions amid the deficits. Waste and fraud are how big programs bleed. The growth is already in the tables.

Then Sacramento scapegoats the producers. Officials point at oil companies, utilities, and anyone still making fuel or power under California rules. Fair rules for producers are not a gift. They are how a state keeps supply. Scapegoating those producers does not cut 34.74 cents down to 18.34. It does not bring $5.827 in line with $4.319. Productive people in Hemet and San Jacinto pay the statutes either way.

The Legislature and the Public Utilities Commission should publish a two-page ledger that subtracts federal taxes and federal rules from the EIA and Energy Commission totals and lists the state share of the electric and gasoline premiums in cents. Freeze any new Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund transfer to high-speed rail until that ledger is public and the Legislative Analyst’s Office certifies that Tier 3 climate programs are funded at their statutory amounts. The same productive people funding the energy premium should not also fund rail as Tier 2 while Tier 3 and the General Fund are short. Name the cents. Name the statutes. Defend them in the open.

Christopher South

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