California gubernatorial candidate pledges two hours of free power a day

California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra has proposed giving residents up to two hours of free electricity a day, starting with low-income households. He estimates the plan, called "Power Hour," could save families about $1,000 a year by encouraging people to use power when the state's solar output is highest, often early afternoon, when so much solar energy floods the grid that prices can turn negative and excess power gets wasted.

The idea borrows from Australia's "Solar Sharer" program, where millions of households can now get three free hours of midday power. But that program shows free power doesn't always mean lower bills overall: utilities often charge higher rates during other hours to make up the cost, so the savings depend on how much you can shift your energy use, like running appliances or charging an EV, into the free window. Households with home batteries or electric vehicles benefit most, since they can store cheap or free power for later use. Australia offers a 30% discount on home batteries; California already has its own battery incentive of up to $1,100 per kilowatt-hour for qualified households, plus a $3,500 rebate for first-time EV buyers.

Becerra's plan is not law yet. If elected, he'd need to work with the state's utility regulator and utilities to design it within his first year. Energy experts are divided: some say it could make electricity prices better reflect real costs, but warn that fixed utility costs would still need to be covered somehow, possibly through higher prices at other times.