  Most electric appliances are much cheaper to operate, even in places with expensive electricity like MA and CA.

Nope. I'm in PG&E territory. Electricity is too expensive and natural gas is too cheap. Even compared to my not-high-efficiency gas powered furnace a heat pump is more expensive to run. At best electricity is about $0.40/kWh and natural gas is $2.45/therm.

▲ baggy_trough 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

I suppose their solution will be to greatly increase the price of gas.

▲ danans 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> Nope. I'm in PG&E territory. Electricity is too expensive and natural gas is too cheap.

Yes, the electricity rates in the IOU territories (PGE, SCE, SDGE) are horribly high.

But in publicly owned LADWP or SMUD, the average rate is around $.22/kWh, depending on usage patterns. Not Pacific Northwest cheap, but definitely better than PGE.

	▲	inferiorhuman a day ago \| parent [-]
		Yes, muni power is significantly cheaper. Unfortunately it's in the minority. PG&E is the dominant player in most of California. In the Bay Area only Alameda and Santa Clara (cities) have muni power. PG&E's astroturfed (hi Greg Dewar!) and lobbied hard against it each time it comes up.