Should we price gasoline the same way as we do water? When filling up your car, the gas meter would be reset to $30.00 instead of $0.00. Instead of charging $4.00 per gallon, we might pay $2.00 per gallon. Let's work the numbers and see who really benefits.
The $30.00 would be similar to the service charges, sewer charges & property taxes that are included in the real cost of water. In the Temecula Valley, these fixed charges range from $29.30 to $106.31 depending on which Water District services your home.
The typical mid-size car using 15 gallons would still pay $60.00 or $4 per gallon.
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Gas Station pricing ($4 *15 gallons = $60.00)
Water District pricing ($30 + ($2 * 15 gallons) = $60.00)
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The typical economy car using 10 gallons would pay $50.00 or $5 per gallon.
Gas Station pricing ($4 * 10 gallons = $40.00)
Water District pricing ($30 + ($2 * 10 gallons) = $50.00)
A typical gas guzzler needing 30 gallons would pay $90.00 or $3 per gallon.
Gas Station pricing ($4 * 30 gallons = $120.00)
Water District pricing ($30 + ($2 * 30 gallons) = $90.00)
The Water District pricing methods penalizes both the poor and those who conserve. The current pricing system provides a volume discount to those who can most afford or those that waste.
The tiered pricing structure currently used by the water districts does not promote conservation near as well as gasoline pricing. How much extra time and money is being spent by the Water Districts to support and enforce the Tiered Pricing Structure now in place?
Water Districts justify their billing methods because of infrastructure costs. To get gasoline to our local gas stations, Oil Companies support refineries, pipelines, ocean tankers, truck tankers, storage tanks, wells, pumps, etc. If anything, I would suggest that Oil Companies have significantly more infrastructure to support than does the Water Districts.
If Oil Companies were to price gasoline using the Water District formulas, how long would it take Sacramento to address this and force change? Why is Sacramento not as vigilant with their own Water Corporations as they would be with the Oil Companies?
The real problem is supply and demand. Throwing more money at the Water Drought problem is worthwhile if it is spent on increasing the supply of water. Any other use of this money would be a band-aid, kicking the problem farther down the road. Why do I not see any outlays in Governor Brown's Drought Plan that address desalination plant(s) in each of our major farm areas.
The demand issue can be addressed by pricing water like gasoline and by pricing recycled water so that the private sector has a financial incentive to convert. As a side benefit, this would go farther to help the poor than any redistribution program that Sacramento could devise and all with no additional Government bureaucracy or spending.
