THE PROBLEM:

California families and small businesses pay the highest electricity bills in the continental United States. The average bill is now $253 per month, with Californians paying 35 cents per kilowatt-hour compared to a national average of 17 cents. That is more than double what most Americans pay, even though California is rich in energy resources. Over the last decade, the average monthly bill has more than doubled.

These costs are not the result of shortages, but of deliberate political choices. Two policies in particular have driven rates sky high: the system of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which forces utilities to buy ever-greater shares of renewable electricity regardless of price. Both were sold as tools to promote clean energy. In practice, they have become hidden taxes on ratepayers, funneling billions to special interests while households struggle to keep the lights on.

The harm does not stop with higher bills. Subsidized solar farms are also spreading across some of California’s most productive farmland, putting long-term food production at risk. Families are being squeezed at the grocery store as well as on their utility bills.

HOW WE GOT HERE

California politicians have spent decades layering mandates and subsidies that distort the true cost of power. The result is at least $5 billion a year—and possibly as much as $10 billion—in extra costs that show up directly on utility bills.

• Renewable Energy Credits (RECs). These credits can be sold into programs like California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard for about $15 per REC. In 2023, utility-scale solar generated over 40,000 gigawatt-hours of power. That translates into 40 million RECs worth roughly $600 million a year, costs that businesses and households ultimately bear through higher rates and prices.
• Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). California law requires utilities to source 60 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2030 and 100 percent carbon-free by 2045. This mandate forces utilities to buy renewable power or credits at inflated prices. The real costs go far beyond the electricity itself: billions for new transmission lines to remote solar farms, battery storage, inflated costs for gas plants that are forced to run only part-time, and endless litigation and permitting delays that drive up the price of nuclear and other reliable sources. Families pay twice—once through taxes that bankroll subsidies, and again in soaring monthly bills.
• Farmland at Risk. Solar farms are spreading onto some of California’s best farmland, raising local temperatures and cutting into the “chill hours” that crops like almonds and pistachios need to grow. Even small changes reduce yields and hurt long-term food production. Italy confronted the same problem in 2024 and banned new solar installations on productive farmland to protect its food supply. California should do the same and keep its farmland focused on feeding families and supporting our great farmers and world-leading agriculture industry.

STEVE HILTON’S PLAN

Steve Hilton will repeal California’s costly wind and solar mandates and subsidies, replacing them with an energy policy focused on affordability, reliability, and consumer choice. His plan includes:

• End Renewable Energy Credits and Portfolio Mandates. Stop forcing utilities and businesses to buy credits and overpriced renewable power that drive up household bills.
• Audit the full system costs of renewables. Demand honest accounting of transmission, storage, backup, and permitting costs that are often hidden. Californians deserve transparency, not accounting tricks.
• Prioritize affordable, reliable energy. Allow natural gas, nuclear, and consumer-driven rooftop solar to compete on a level playing field, free from government mandates that tilt the market.
• Protect farmland. As governor, Steve Hilton will ensure California’s farmland is preserved for food production by banning new solar farms on fertile and productive fields, while allowing projects that do not disrupt agriculture. And by ensuring that farmers get the water they need, Steve will end the cruel and cynical trick currently being played by Democrat climate extremists: denying farmers water, rendering potentially fertile farmland unusable for agriculture, then claiming that solar farms are the only realistic option for generating income from the land. We have the most fertile farmland in the world and we should be using it to grow the food that will help make America healthy again – fruit, nuts, produce – instead of dumping solar panels made in China.

With these reforms, Californians will finally see their electricity bills fall, the grid strengthened, farmland saved, and families protected from politically imposed energy inflation. Energy policy should serve working people and small businesses, not lobbyists or ideological crusades.