My trip to Salton city for the weekend of February 1st and 2nd 2014 was different simply because I brought along my older son with his wife and Grandma.  They all enjoyed the perfect weather and beautiful sunshine.  The kids played with the neighbor's kids and everything went well.  I have a couple of photos I'd like to share with you, then more troubling news coming from my National city house which may hasten my move to live out here in the desert quicker then expected.

The first photo was taken inside the local Am Pm convenience store.  This place is open 24 hours and seven days a week.

And the second photo of the local watering hole which you may have seen in previous posts.  It's called Capt'n  Jims.  It was listed as for sale for $225,000 but whether someone bought it or not is not known.



I patronized this place only once and It's a lively place on Saturday nights.  It has a patio area, big screen tv, darts, a full bar and karaoke entertainment which I found entertaining.  The reason I went only once is that I don't drink alcoholic beverages due to medications.

Well, I've got to depart from the land of heaven and go back to the doldrums of the big city.  Back in National city, (a suburb city of San Diego) San Diego gas and electric is playing their hand at shaking more money out of the customer piggy bank. Rates for electricity are already the highest in the nation and they want more.  If you're not aware, our local nuclear power plant went offline because of rapid deterioration of cooling tubes.  The customers paid to replace steam generators which were supposed to last many years but didn't.  The customers have to pay to decommission the plant, and now the customers have to pay to rewire the grid to compensate for the loss of the  nuclear energy.  It's a no win situation for us customers.  How can anyone expect to retire in San Diego with electric and water utilities running amok, complaining they need more of my money.  I need my money too. The California public utilities commission (CPUC) is a big joke here.  They are supposed to regulate utility costs here but they don't.  They supposedly vote on these increases, which I deem as unnecessary because they always vote in favor of the utilities and  customers already know "what San Diego gas and electric want, San Diego gas and electric get".  Their parent companies are generating massive profits while we, the customers get poorer.  I figure since the investor owned utilities pay big taxes to the state, these utilities have the CPUC in their pocket.  Thank goodness I planned well enough and have my home in the desert and the cost is low enough so I can retire somewhat comfortably still. 

Faced with these grim realities, here in San Diego I hear from friends that live here, that San Diego will soon become too expensive to retire comfortably.  They have pretty much succeeded in killing solar as an option to save on electricity costs by charging more to low end users.  Net metering, which was a big benefit of solar is now being attacked and will probably no longer exist by 2018 which is the reason I am considering the move to my retirement home in Salton city sooner.  I hope to be there permanently before 2018.  Then, I'll pretty much be free from those greedy utilities and the CPUC.

There is one possible benefit to this, however.  The CPUC allows San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)  to reward its shareholders an 11% return on their investment.  And with the CPUC so in love with SDG&E this probably won't change at all.  After I move to the desert, I"m thinking of putting some of my 401k money into their stock to receive that rate of return to get some of my money back I paid them over the years.  11% sounds pretty good in today's low rate environment.


Please accept my apologies for this unusual post, but although I hate to see utility companies rip us off, I do have to be pleased that it will accelerate my move to the desert.  If any of you people wish a move to California from either another state or another country, welcome.  However do your homework and investigate before you buy.  Try to stay out of investor owned utility territory in California, you'll be better off and happier too.