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T he C oast News
Opinion&Editorial
June 20, 2014 Views expressed in Opinion & Editorial do not necessarily reflect the views of The Coast News
Will power companies start “Robbing the ‘hood’?” California Focus By Thomas Elias
Letters to the Editor A silver lining emerges from a tourist’s towing misfortune There are brighter days ahead for tourists in Oceanside for the towing of rental cars. With all the left curves life brings our way, there are times when unexpected good deeds surface to the forefront. Much gratitude for the follow-up initiative of City Manager, Steven Jepsen and Captain Ray Bechler of the Oceanside Police Department, for taking a vested interest in one tourist’s misfortune, to improve the process and protocol when a rental car is towed in Oceanside. Progress is often made through tough life lessons and due diligence. This was no exception! Towing and recovery procedures are currently under review by city officials, and with the upcoming 4th of July holiday, when a parking violation results in the towing of a rental car, the protocol formerly enforced by the city municipality should no longer impede the release of a rental car. The city of Oceanside’s representatives, who work to advocate positive change, are a true testament to the core values found on the city’s website ci.oceanside.ca.us/, particularly those of Integrity, Excellent Customer Service, Teamwork and Leadership! Paula J. Margus, Virginia RE: No Paradise I was appalled at the story of Paula Margus’ problems in the June 6, 2014 article “No Paradise for a Tourist’s First Visit to Oceanside.” What a horrendous experience for a tourist whose rental car was towed when she unknowingly parked in an area designated once a week for a farmer’s market. Perhaps this happens to many motorists and is preventable. The city could set out orange cones and maybe a couple of sawhorses on the day of the market to signal that this is a no-parking zone that day. When the towing company asked for a notarized letter from the car owner (Avis Rent-a-Car) to release the car to the renter, this requirement is a common occurrence which the rental company, I am sure, has dealt with on a regular basis and should have a policy in place to handle the situation. If they don’t have a notary on staff, then a phone call to a mobile notary should have been made. Mobile notaries abound in San Diego county but this is something that a tourist might not know. We give same-day service, very often same-hour service. For the rental company to let the car stay in impound for over a week before obtaining a notarized letter, knowing that towing companies are charging a king’s ransom per day, is cruel and heartless. Also the fact that Pauline called Avis 34 times to get an update on the situation, and
Avis still did nothing shows Avis’ complete incompetence and neglect. So Avis, I will definitely not be renting a car from you, and perhaps others will feel the same way. Paula, I am sorry that your vacation experience in Oceanside was such a terrible one. Consider this a virtual hug from a San Diego County resident. Charlotte Mitchell, Notary on Wheels, San Diego ‘Kook’ entropy When they unveiled the Cardiff Kook a whole lot of people really hated it, particularly in the surfing community. The most often stated complaint was it didn’t really look like a surfer actually surfing. He looked like… well, a kook. Another complaint was that the sculptor was not local to the coastal area. A point well taken as there is many talented, capable local artists who should have been considered for the piece. They would have at the very least depicted someone actually surfing. Instead we got some inlander’s ignorance of the style and grace of wave ridding. But then something cool happened. local critics and detractors started dressing up the kook in clever, funny and sometimes, elaborate ways. Oddly, it really alleviated some of the rising anger over the statue. It was fun to see what they would come up with next. The situation is now changed. The mundane has crept in. Mediocrity oozed over the kook like the monster from the movie, “The Blob.” No longer are the dress-ups filled with wit and sarcasm. It has become a venue for little Bobby’s birthday or ads for some retail endeavor that, frankly, no one but four or five people care about. What was once on the edge with humor and style is now blah, annoying and boring. But I suppose that is the way of things. Once edgy and gritty music becomes elevator muzac played in a dentist’s office or Wal-Mart. Scandalous Rock and Roll degrades into commercial Pop. It must be the universe seeking equilibrium and sadly, “Kook,” entropy has increased. Dave Fletcher, Cardiff
For decades, Californians who use the most electricity have paid extra for that privilege, on the theory that high prices might provide an incentive for them to use less. This system is designed to allow all ratepayers enough power for basic needs at very low prices, with the extra energy needed to run things like Jacuzzis and charge items like Tesla sedans coming at a premium price. One typical Southern California Edison bill for the month of February showed up to 314 kilowatt hours costing just over 12 cents each, for a total of $40.06, while the top tier of that same bill had 135 kilowatt hours priced at almost 30 cents each, for a total of just over $50, about 25 percent more for only about 40 percent as much power included in the bottom tier. Transmission costs for all rate categories were about 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour, meaning the difference in the cost of the energy itself was 17 cents between the first power used and the last, a difference of about 400 percent from the bottom tier to the top one. This may be about to change, as the state Public Utilities Commission considers a proposal by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to cut the number of payment tiers from four to two, a move that would likely raise the rates of low-usage customers. Yes, that’s the same PG&E indicted for criminal negligence in its fatal mismanagement of natural gas pipelines. A further change, added to switches in raw pricing, would see discounts available to low-usage (read: poor) customers cut by as much as 20 percent from today’s levels. That’s one reason the current proposals are the very opposite of a Robin Hood plan that would take more from the rich, but rather have been called “robbing the hood.” If approved for PG&E, it’s almost certain the same rate structure would be imposed soon after in the vast territories of Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric. Typically, systemic changes in utility regulation begin with PG&E and spread to the other companies less than a year later. Some of this switch is prompted by complaints from electric users in the Central Valley and other high summer heat areas where air conditioning runs up electric bills. The current rate structure sees utilities charge high-use customers more for power than low users, regardless of where they live.
Typically, systemic changes in utility regulation begin with PG&E and spread to the other companies less than a year later Editorialized one newspaper during the conference, “The elected officials… receive the free trips because of…their capacity to affect public policy.” If the businesses and their union workers, users on average of far more power than almost any household, had even a slight influence on passage of last year’s AB 327, which enables some of the changes now being considered, a few plane tickets will have proven a superb investment for them. PG&E, in pushing for the rate restructure, says it wants to make prices more sensitive to time of use, with power employed at night or in early morning hours cheaper than kilowatts used in the hottest, highest-use hours of the day. That’s laudable, and has often been combined into the existing rate structure, which gives preference to small users. But it also could doom many poor, elderly Californians to heatstroke and worse if they can’t afford air conditioning. If the PUC approves rates favoring big users over small ones, the folks calling this robbing the hood will be proven right. For it would be a classic reverse Robin Hood tactic, robbing the poor and rewarding the rich. Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol. com. His book, “The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It,” is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit californiafocus.net
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But it’s also quite likely driven by a 2012 legislative conference on Maui, where some lawmakers saw their expenses paid by corporations and/or labor unions. Rate restructure was pushed there by meeting sponsors, who had great access to legislators of both major parties, including some members of both parties’ leadership. Disclosure documents showed lobbyists there discussed energy rate changes with Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway of Tulare and Republican Fresno area state Sen. Tom Berryhill, for two examples.
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