A new report from the Next 10, a non-partisan think tank at UC Berkeley, says California is getting it all wrong when it comes to building and rebuilding after wildfires.
As California’s wildfire season grows longer and more devastating blazes sweep through communities, researchers say the state must overhaul its development policies and community rebuilding efforts or risk greater tragedy and loss of lives.
The West Coast housing market is metaphorically on fire — with rotting shacks selling for millions. Decades of policies to restrict housing in desirable neighborhoods has pushed prices up — and it has also pushed houses out into more rural, forested areas. As a result, West Coast housing is periodically on fire in the literal sense as well.
California's investor-owned utilities currently operate on a "volumetric" pricing model, where fixed costs are recovered through increased per-kilowatt hour rates — a practice that is very different from the rest of the country and even California's municipal utilities, according to Borenstein.
California’s electricity prices are growing so high that they threaten the state’s ability to convince enough people to ditch fossil fuel-powered cars and appliances, new research says.
