California’s four year drought has cost residents more than $2-billion dollars in increased electricity costs. That's the findings of an updated report from the Pacific Institute.
As reservoirs dried up over the drought, the amount of electricity produced by hydroelectric power plants has declined.
That means that in order to power the state, California had to produce electricity by more costly means like natural gas.
Peter Glieck with the Pacific Institute says so far in the drought hydropower has dropped from 18% of all electricity production in the state to just 10%
“When we don’t get the electricity that we normal get, we have to burn that more expensive natural gas. And that cost is passed on to ratepayers. And so it has been a little bit of an increase in all of our electric bills over the last four years,” Gleick said.
The report also raises concerns about climate change because the increased reliance on natural gas electricity has resulted in a 10% increase in carbon pollution.
