UCSB study: PG&E overcharging $686 million for Diablo Canyon
Three professors say California ratepayers are subsidizing a profitable nuclear plant, costing the average SCE customer about $80 a year.
Californians are being swindled out of 1.8 billion dollars in tax money by the private electricity corporation running the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant.
That's according to a white paper written by three UC Santa Barbara professors, who have done a deep dive into state subsidies into the controversial nuclear power plant 140 miles upwind from Los Angeles. Their report was issued yesterday. The LA Times has a lengthy article about it today.
As we've reported, the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors are at the end of their lifespan. But they supply California with 8% of our electricity, and they do it without creating any additional carbon pollution. But two potentially deadly nuclear reactor cores sit on top of two earthquake faults that were not known about when the plant was constructed on the coast near San Luis Obispo.
The state is paying Pacific Gas and Electric — PG&E — 1.8 billion dollars to keep the plant running. And the new white paper says PG&E is overcharging Californians $686 million.
PG&E denies inflating costs, while critics argue the utility has earned record profits and shareholders should pay back the loan, not taxpayers.
California's expensive electric rates mean that Diablo Canyon is profitable and could cover its costs just by selling electricity, according to the researchers. They say they cannot find any reason why, at a time of these record electricity rates, Californians are handing out billions and billions of dollars to the power company monopoly.
Even ratepayers connected to Diablo Canyon via Southern California Edison or the Clean Power Alliance are paying the Diablo Canyon subsidy to PG&E. The average SCE customer is on the hook for about 80 dollars a year.
PG&E says the utility did not inflate Diablo Canyon's costs, and that all the state subsidy money will be spent on eligible projects and activities by the end of the year. PG&E has enjoyed record profits the last three years.
The researchers say lawmakers should pass legislation to make company shareholders cover the Diablo Canyon gamble.