Californians already paying a few of the nation’s highest utility payments may quickly get slammed with a pricey double whammy: paying extra for each energy and water.
As Pacific Gasoline & Electrical prospects brace for potential fee hikes of lots of of {dollars} a yr, a deepening disaster on the Colorado River is threatening the water lifeline hundreds of thousands of Southern Californians rely upon.
The warning comes as Lake Powell, the large Colorado River reservoir on the Utah-Arizona border, enters summer season at its lowest stage on document for this time of yr after a traditionally dry winter didn’t replenish the lake.
Federal projections present the reservoir may fall to the “minimal energy pool” as quickly as subsequent yr — the purpose the place Glen Canyon Dam can not generate hydroelectric energy.
It’s greater than an vitality drawback.
Lake Powell regulates flows into Lake Mead, which provides water to Southern California cities, the Imperial and Coachella valleys, and helps the Colorado River system that gives water to about 40 million individuals throughout the West.
California receives the biggest share of that water — roughly 4.4 million acre-feet yearly.
Not like earlier years, spring snowmelt by no means arrived to refill the reservoir. Lake Powell is now simply 23% full and sits greater than 170 toes beneath capability, with federal forecasts projecting inflows at roughly half of regular.
“This end result is … a transparent reminder that the Colorado River stays susceptible,” federal water managers mentioned in current projections.
With provides dwindling, California, Arizona and Nevada have proposed conserving as much as 3.2 million acre-feet of water by means of 2028 with necessary reductions and voluntary conservation packages tied to reservoir ranges.
That would imply lots of of 1000’s of acre-feet in water cuts for California, funds to farmers to depart land fallow and extra conservation mandates.
The controversy is particularly intense within the Imperial Valley, the place farms irrigated by the Colorado River produce a big share of the nation’s winter greens whereas consuming huge quantities of water.
Even a moist El Niño winter would supply solely short-term reduction, specialists say, with out fixing the long-term imbalance between provide and demand.
A 2025 research by UCLA discovered that in Los Angeles County, water payments have risen practically 60% over 10 years, vastly outpacing inflation and straining lower-income households.
As Californians face rising uncertainty over water, many are additionally staring down larger electrical payments.
PG&E prospects may see annual vitality prices rise by as a lot as $840 by 2030, in keeping with estimates from the California Public Utilities Fee’s Public Advocates Workplace.
“The general development is upward and can proceed to outpace inflation,” mentioned Public Advocates Workplace spokeswoman Mary Flannelly.
PG&E disputes these projections, saying payments will rise far much less as wildfire prices expire and spending controls take impact.
“Critics like to say PG&E [electricity] charges will go up, however we maintain proving them fallacious,” spokesman Mike Gazda mentioned.
“There’s a world the place payments can go down,” PG&E Chief Govt Patti Poppe advised the Chronicle.
