I don't care how much it hurts, most Californians say, just keep us plugged in. We are so hooked into the electric grid that only the lonely eccentric even attempts to get off it. Sure, they feel smug now, but it cost them plenty. Alternative sources of electricity tend to be pricey for individuals, more workable for communities. There's no mercy there.
Power lines snaking everywhere pour a buzzing lisp of magical energy into our boxes.
This juice has transformed our cottages into palaces, warm, brightly lit and engaged with all the latest technology. Unless we stick a knife in a toaster or it burns down the house we never question it, just flip the switches and suck off the invisible power our lifestyles require. We know it's explainable by science somehow. In The Thaddle Commercial and industrial users are even more locked into running on full bore, but during the blitzkrieg deregulation hearings in 1996 they had their own lobbyists, with the foresight and buying power to keep their rates lower than consumer and small business rates. Consumers were not represented by our legislators when they guaranteed we would pay for electricity at the highest prices.