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Video ID: _cdLN7tA6CQ
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[0:00] Welcome to the Anton Stener podcast.
[0:02] Today I have one question for you,
[0:05] Anton. Why is my utility bill bill going
[0:08] up and is it going to go higher?
[0:11] >> Yes. [laughter]
[0:13] >> Okay. Why? What is happening? Uh I heard
[0:16] some scary stuff earlier in the week and
[0:19] I'm kind of afraid of what's going to
[0:21] happen.
[0:22] >> I think everyone should really take a
[0:24] look at your utility bill. Burn it in
[0:26] your memory because the number you see
[0:28] there is dead. It's getting ready to
[0:30] change. And in 2024, we had almost two
[0:34] million Washingtonians vote yes on the
[0:39] initiative to protect natural gas. And
[0:42] then just right around the corner,
[0:44] September 17th
[0:46] here in the last two weeks, the Supreme
[0:49] Court justices of Washington State in a
[0:51] six to3 decision said, "No, no, no.
[0:55] Washingtonians, general public, we
[0:57] disagree with you." and they just erased
[1:01] that initiative. And the politicians and
[1:04] utility companies are going to tell us
[1:05] basically two stories. They're going to
[1:07] say, "One, no one's coming to rip your
[1:10] furnace out tomorrow.
[1:13] Two, electrification is clean, cheap,
[1:17] and abundant." One of these stories is
[1:21] true for now. And that is the trap of
[1:24] what we're seeing in front of us right
[1:26] now. Two. Story number two is false
[1:29] based on the math, the physics, what's
[1:31] actually happening.
[1:34] They want electric cars everywhere. They
[1:36] want the electrification of everything.
[1:39] The grid can't handle that.
[1:42] >> One thing that I think people don't
[1:45] realize if you grew up here in
[1:46] Washington state is we have very
[1:49] reasonable utility bills, especially
[1:52] when it comes to natural gas. Because
[1:54] natural gas, we have an abundance of it
[1:56] in Washington state.
[1:58] >> We have an abundance of natural gas and
[2:00] of hydroelectric power.
[2:02] >> Yeah.
[2:02] >> So hydro is the cheapest technically,
[2:05] >> but we'll get into the reasons why
[2:08] natural gas is so essential for the grid
[2:10] right now.
[2:11] >> And in a lot of other states and cities,
[2:13] they're still burning coal. Their
[2:16] electricity just really expensive. Uh,
[2:19] and when I say expensive, it's because
[2:20] that's what they use to l uh heat up
[2:23] their food or, you know, uh, run their
[2:26] stoves. And that's why what's happening
[2:29] here, what you're talking about is a big
[2:30] deal because, correct me if I'm wrong,
[2:32] they're trying to take away our natural
[2:34] gas altogether, which seems kind of
[2:36] extreme. They are taking away our
[2:38] natural gas and that's where we're
[2:40] going. So PSC electric rates in went up
[2:44] 12% in 2025,
[2:47] 12% in January 2026, and they're asking
[2:51] for 16.75
[2:55] on residential electric in 2027.
[2:57] >> They're asking for a 16% raise. the
[3:00] government
[3:00] >> Puget Sound Energy PS.
[3:05] This means, and this is from PSSE's own
[3:09] data, the home owner will pay an
[3:13] additional $888
[3:16] more per year by 2029.
[3:19] >> That doesn't make sense. Is that a tax
[3:21] or is it because costs are going up?
[3:23] Woo! So good. Such good questions. Good
[3:26] job.
[3:27] This is the calamity of errors. This is
[3:30] ideology not meeting economic reality
[3:34] again. It's the grid the the utilities
[3:39] own planners say that the position of
[3:43] surplus electricity towards not having
[3:45] enough power at critical times. We are
[3:47] moving from this surplus electricity to
[3:52] not even having enough. So they have to
[3:54] raise rates. I've got to change the way
[3:56] we're doing it. And for those of you
[3:58] that are literally just joining us, I'm
[4:00] Anton Stener. I've been in real estate
[4:02] since 2003. We do new construction. We
[4:05] do land development. So, this is
[4:06] something we plan in, something we have
[4:08] to pay attention to on a regular basis.
[4:11] And now I'm telling our investors, hey,
[4:14] you need to make sure where you're
[4:17] buying something, look at the utilities
[4:19] because if you're paying for the
[4:20] utilities on that multif family or that
[4:23] commercial building or that warehouse,
[4:25] we got to start looking into that. For
[4:28] the the properties that have big HOAs on
[4:31] them, we got to start paying attention
[4:32] to what utilities are being covered by
[4:34] the HOAs and how much of that bill
[4:37] you're going to get stuck with. because
[4:39] I like to spend the time like digging
[4:41] through these things. And this is like
[4:42] the prime example. This is ideology,
[4:46] policy, economic realities, and real
[4:49] estate and new construction. This is
[4:51] like my happy spot. So, hit that
[4:53] subscribe button if you want to talk
[4:55] more about these things that affect us
[4:58] here in Washington State.
[5:00] >> I mean, this is nuts. I love cooking
[5:02] with natural gas. So,
[5:04] >> if they got rid of it, are they going to
[5:06] do that for houses like mine that are
[5:08] currently connected? Are they going to
[5:10] just shut it off?
[5:11] >> So, here is,
[5:14] you know, how everyone likes to put
[5:15] things off or put things out there and
[5:17] they like to put their spin on it. One
[5:20] side says, "It's okay. It's not a big
[5:23] deal. We still got natural gas. You can
[5:25] make it happen." If you if anyone here
[5:28] in the comments has ever filled out a
[5:32] Washington state energy code worksheet,
[5:36] a WCC West. If you've ever tried to fill
[5:40] one out, you need an engineering degree
[5:42] to fill them out. I got a degree in
[5:44] biochemistry. I read the freaking sheet.
[5:47] And I go, I don't know what that means.
[5:48] I don't know what that means. And you
[5:50] got to pick up the phone and you got to
[5:52] call people and you got to chat with the
[5:54] HVAC guy, with the plumber, with the
[5:58] appliance guy to figure out what the
[5:59] efficiency is going to be on everything
[6:01] because you have to meet a certain code.
[6:04] What they've done is they've they
[6:05] haven't outlawed natural gas. They have
[6:07] made natural gas cost prohibitive.
[6:10] >> Oh, because it's not getting up to the
[6:13] code standards that they're setting, the
[6:15] new ones. This is the climate commitment
[6:18] act BS coming and fighting us from
[6:20] again.
[6:21] >> Oh, so it's a indirect way of getting
[6:23] rid of natural gas.
[6:24] >> This is a direct way and an indirect
[6:28] way. This is okay. This attack was very
[6:32] smart. It changed building codes. It
[6:35] changed energy codes and it changes the
[6:39] fact that through the climate commitment
[6:41] act, places like the Puget Sound energy
[6:44] have to start getting all of their
[6:47] energy by a certain time period. I
[6:49] believe it's 2030 from all renewable
[6:51] resources.
[6:53] That's not possible in Washington state.
[6:57] And these judges that are supposed to be
[7:00] for the people, that are supposed to
[7:03] represent the will of the people. I want
[7:05] to get you guys the exact number. 1.94
[7:09] million people voted in 2024 to protect
[7:12] natural gas. Then it was appealed. And
[7:16] as it was appealed, there was, you know,
[7:18] basically a an environmental group that
[7:21] appealed it. It goes to the Washington
[7:23] State Supreme Court. In the Washington
[7:26] State Supreme Court, six judges said no
[7:30] because it violated what they call the
[7:32] single subject. The single subject is
[7:36] where it's supposed to only address one
[7:39] item, but they said it barred gas
[7:42] utilities uh to keep serving eligible
[7:45] customers.
[7:46] It barred the UTC from approving rate
[7:49] plans and restrictions. And then it
[7:52] caused the state building council um
[7:55] codes that prohibit penalize or
[7:59] discourage gas barred cities and
[8:01] counties and error agencies from doing
[8:03] the same and it rolled back parts of a
[8:05] house bill
[8:07] because it was it it had more than one
[8:11] item. They said it's not single subject.
[8:13] And we're going to get into in a minute
[8:15] how our Washington state supreme court
[8:18] justices are using this idea of single
[8:22] uh item to remove what the voters are
[8:26] actually saying. See, when we put out an
[8:28] initiative, that means hundreds of
[8:32] thousands of Washingtonians said yes, we
[8:35] want to get this on the ballot. When an
[8:37] initiative is approved, it is designed
[8:39] to push back against a mistake that the
[8:43] legislators have made that the public
[8:45] doesn't approve. But now our Supreme
[8:47] Court is demonstrating a pattern of
[8:50] ideology specifically when it comes to
[8:54] taxes, control, and the climate
[8:58] >> and aka utilities
[9:00] >> aka control.
[9:02] >> So well, [laughter] what are they do?
[9:04] So, how do they
[9:07] disregard old initiatives?
[9:10] >> They're not disregarding old
[9:11] initiatives. Let's go into this one
[9:12] specifically.
[9:13] >> Okay.
[9:14] >> So, almost 2 million, 1.94 million
[9:17] Washingtonians said, "Yes, we want
[9:19] natural gas."
[9:19] >> Yes.
[9:20] >> When was that?
[9:21] >> Uh that was in 2024. Okay. And this
[9:24] ruling just happened September 17th. The
[9:28] six judges uh justices said no. Three of
[9:31] them dissented. The three that dissented
[9:34] said
[9:37] that
[9:40] when they dissented, they're basically
[9:42] saying that we agree it should be
[9:46] upheld. They're saying we agree with the
[9:49] people and they're also even saying it
[9:50] that they should have maybe just kept
[9:52] parts of it. But what this does is when
[9:55] they say no, it erases the whole
[9:57] initiative.
[10:00] And they haven't just done this with
[10:01] this one. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, if
[10:05] you
[10:07] believe that some of these initiatives
[10:09] should have been passed, you know, and
[10:11] not struck down, or if you believe this
[10:14] is ideology, let us know in the
[10:15] comments. The $30 car tabs I695
[10:21] struck down in 2000. The tax roll back
[10:25] limiting property taxes struck down in
[10:27] 2001. That was I722.
[10:30] I747, a 1% property tax growth cap
[10:34] struck down in 2007.
[10:37] I 1053
[10:39] 23 majority vote to raise taxes struck
[10:44] down in 2013. Have we noticing a trend
[10:48] here? Taxes control.
[10:52] 1366 the sales tax cut struck down in
[10:55] 2016. $30 car tabs again struck down in
[10:59] 2020. Natural gas just struck down in
[11:02] 2026. So, what I want you to be thinking
[11:04] about is all of a sudden these justices
[11:08] are massively violating the will of the
[11:10] people. Number one. Number two, it makes
[11:13] us kind of question democracy.
[11:16] If Washingtonians by a majority are
[11:20] saying yes at the ballot, why are these
[11:22] justices then saying no? and they're
[11:24] using this this thing called the single
[11:26] subject rule. My fear though is because
[11:29] this is a clear pattern. How clear is
[11:31] this pattern? It's so clear. And uh do
[11:36] you think AI is biased?
[11:38] >> I think that it could be biased.
[11:42] >> Okay, so check this out. GPT
[11:45] >> Mhm.
[11:45] >> and Claude both told me this was not a
[11:48] clear pattern. And I said, Claude, can
[11:51] and I said, both those models, can you
[11:53] define the word ideology for me? And it
[11:56] defines ideology and it says a group of
[11:59] beliefs or a system. I said, so is this
[12:02] then ideologically motivated that
[12:05] magically anything that affects control,
[12:08] taxes,
[12:10] or a government body
[12:12] gets struck down. But we have
[12:14] initiatives that pass and the Supreme
[12:16] Court doesn't overturn them. And the
[12:19] models go, "No, no, no. That's not how
[12:21] that works. You're making a a jump in
[12:23] correlation." I said, 'Really
[12:26] go run the percentage that have been
[12:29] struck down versus the percentage that
[12:32] haven't. And the model goes, oh, the
[12:35] majority that have been struck down have
[12:36] been in relation to
[12:40] control. When I say control, I'm talking
[12:42] government bodies, aka the do, the UTC.
[12:47] Okay, that's the car tabs, that's the
[12:48] natural gas
[12:51] and taxes and and I said, "Okay, well,
[12:54] what percentage of Washingtonians voted
[12:57] on these, you know, as a percentage of
[12:59] the population?" And then finally both
[13:01] models go after I pound on them for a
[13:03] while, it goes, "Okay, I agree. This is
[13:07] showing a clear sign
[13:10] this could be ideologically motivated."
[13:12] I was like, "You think?" In other words,
[13:15] >> why does that matter though if Chad GPT
[13:17] is biased in that sense?
[13:18] >> It matters because what happens is
[13:22] people are trusting AI models.
[13:25] >> They shouldn't.
[13:26] >> They shouldn't. But they are though,
[13:27] Benji, and our listeners, they're
[13:30] trusting them like it's an absolute
[13:32] fact. like what they're telling them is
[13:35] the truth because they're so good at
[13:38] paring back to us what we want and
[13:41] talking to us in a manner we want to
[13:42] hear that you kind of naturally agree
[13:45] with it. And so you have to have this
[13:47] kind of crazy critical thinking to say,
[13:49] "Wait a second. Is that true? Can you
[13:51] prove that to me? What does the data
[13:53] look like? Run the data right now. Let's
[13:55] go through it together." I don't think
[13:57] enough people are questioning the
[14:00] information that's being pushed to them.
[14:02] Oh, I don't even use chat GBT very much
[14:04] anymore. I just I have started to do a
[14:08] Google search in addition to doing the
[14:10] AI search.
[14:10] >> Oh, I like this. Yes.
[14:11] >> And then just going back to old school
[14:13] to really compare like how many times
[14:15] because you know what happened to me?
[14:17] There was too many times where it asked
[14:19] the exact same question, the exact same
[14:23] way, and it would give me two totally
[14:25] different answers. like it was it knew
[14:27] like I was looking for a different
[14:28] answer or it was maybe framing it like
[14:32] it's in a different format. Yeah. But
[14:34] the actual answer
[14:36] >> was totally different.
[14:37] >> Yeah.
[14:37] >> So like a good example is like what's
[14:39] the top five places um that are serving
[14:43] the best seafood or whatever, right?
[14:46] >> I'll ask that same question and the five
[14:48] is different the second time from the
[14:51] first time.
[14:51] >> Yeah.
[14:52] >> Okay. Now I understand with like chat GT
[14:54] any kind of AI you have to give it
[14:56] context.
[14:57] >> Well that's the thing people are asking
[14:59] like Google related kind of searches.
[15:02] >> Yes.
[15:03] >> And then you know and maybe the search
[15:05] results are different but the difference
[15:07] is you go in there and you determine
[15:08] what the five are based off of what you
[15:10] search or you decide hey this website is
[15:13] good enough for me.
[15:15] >> So the reason kind of bring this up is
[15:17] going back to your question about the
[15:19] Supreme Court justices and this pattern.
[15:21] Yeah,
[15:22] >> I feel like
[15:24] you're like the master at doing these AI
[15:27] searches or whatever, but you have to
[15:28] give it context on what even ideology
[15:31] is, your definition of ideology and
[15:34] define the ideologies, right? Because
[15:36] there can be like spectrums.
[15:38] >> Well, when I'm preparing and doing
[15:40] research, what I actually instruct the
[15:43] models to do is I is I say remove all
[15:47] political bias. I want unbiased data. I
[15:51] want the data and for the data to show
[15:54] what the facts are. Remove your opinion
[15:58] and remove even the author's opinion and
[16:02] where you got it.
[16:03] >> Do you say that at the very beginning?
[16:04] >> It's it's in every deep research
[16:06] problem.
[16:06] >> Okay. Can I go back to this because I
[16:08] think it can be confusing.
[16:10] >> The the gist of what you're saying is
[16:13] voters are voting to approve certain
[16:16] things for Washington state. Yes.
[16:18] Initially
[16:19] >> and then the Supreme Court justices
[16:21] which are the judges. There's five of
[16:22] them.
[16:23] >> There is nine of them.
[16:24] >> Nine of them, right? They are striking
[16:28] them down. So, let's go through some of
[16:30] these 30 car $30 car tabs. We want that,
[16:33] right? Because it keeps it. Okay. And
[16:36] then the justices are striking down. Tax
[16:38] roll back and property tax limits.
[16:41] People want a limitation to how much we
[16:43] can get tax. That's getting struck down.
[16:45] >> Think about this. How much has your
[16:47] property taxes gone up in the last
[16:48] decade?
[16:48] >> Oh my gosh, it's so crazy.
[16:50] >> Yeah, but like it raises my mortgage.
[16:52] You know, I had a mortgage that I knew
[16:53] that I was going to pay and now it's
[16:55] like way more because of taxes only, not
[16:58] because of the mortgage. Um 1% property
[17:00] tax growth cap. That's just like slowing
[17:03] down. Same thing got struck down. This
[17:05] is where it gets confusing.
[17:06] >> 23 vote to raise taxes.
[17:10] Uh that one is it would take a twothirds
[17:14] vote. Oh yeah. Of the government. So in
[17:16] other words, not just a majority, a a
[17:19] super overwhelming majority.
[17:21] >> And then the last big one was to keep
[17:23] natural gas. All these are being struck
[17:26] down. So that's the thing too. Do you
[17:28] even need chat to tell you if this is
[17:30] biased or not? It's like or it's like
[17:33] ideology. This is just clearly a uh a
[17:38] kind of almost like an abuse of power.
[17:41] >> I agree. 100% agree.
[17:42] >> And and the the the thing is too,
[17:45] >> our justices probably lean more one type
[17:49] of ideology.
[17:50] >> Yes, of course. So the justices what
[17:52] happens is they don't naturally time
[17:56] out. They play this game.
[17:59] >> What happens is they're like, "Oh, I'm
[18:02] going to retire in two years." They
[18:04] retire at the right time so the sitting
[18:07] governor can elect the person that they
[18:11] want to come onto the court so they can
[18:13] stack the court.
[18:15] >> How is this even a thing? How why why do
[18:17] the justices have the power to overturn
[18:21] what the people vote for?
[18:24] >> That is a very good question in in this
[18:27] regard. But generally speaking, our form
[18:30] of government in the United States works
[18:32] really well and it's amazing.
[18:34] >> Yeah.
[18:34] >> And I love that. What I don't like is,
[18:38] and this can happen anywhere, there is
[18:41] one party rule for a long period of
[18:44] time. So in Washington state, one party
[18:46] rule, long period of time. So you're
[18:47] getting pushed all the way to one side.
[18:49] So there's nothing neutral about what's
[18:51] happening. The cool part or the good
[18:53] part I guess I would say is we do have
[18:56] five of them up for election in
[18:58] November. Your vote matters. Go vote.
[19:01] >> So basically what you're saying is cuz
[19:04] you're probably cherrypicking these
[19:05] initiatives too. There's way more than
[19:07] just these like
[19:08] >> No, these are all the ones that were
[19:09] struck down.
[19:10] >> Yeah, just struck down though. But how
[19:11] many initiatives are there just total in
[19:13] general?
[19:14] >> Um there were a bunch more initiatives
[19:16] that passed that weren't struck down.
[19:18] >> Okay, got it.
[19:18] >> So for example, liquor.
[19:20] >> Yeah. when when we won when
[19:22] Washingtonians said we want our booze
[19:24] >> does the judges also want their booze
[19:26] too
[19:26] >> and the judges said we want our booze
[19:28] too we can agree with that
[19:29] >> so okay what I'm trying to get at is
[19:32] >> even though I said how can this be that
[19:34] is the system that we have created for
[19:36] ourselves and it is agreed that it's
[19:38] good what you're just saying is the
[19:40] judges are just leaning towards a
[19:43] certain ideology
[19:44] >> yes
[19:45] >> that's striking down what would just be
[19:46] generally thought of as good for
[19:48] everyone right regardless of ideology
[19:50] and they're striking it. And then the
[19:52] question is why, right?
[19:54] >> Because Washington state has become such
[19:57] a tax hungry machine that it has to have
[20:01] the revenue so it can keep spending.
[20:03] >> Our government's hungry for our money.
[20:05] >> Our Washington States government has
[20:07] shown it has an inquenchable thirst for
[20:10] your dollars. And next, I literally just
[20:13] wanted to talk about like this idea of
[20:16] the ban. So Washington state politicians
[20:19] are literally going to stand up and
[20:20] they're going to use their gymnastics,
[20:23] their word gymnastics, and they're going
[20:24] to say, "Well, it's not really a ban. It
[20:28] just bans new gas hookups."
[20:31] And the other side will say, "They're
[20:34] coming for you and you got to rip all of
[20:36] your appliances out." Neither one is
[20:39] completely true. Now, I will tell you
[20:41] that today they're not coming for you
[20:44] and you have to rip all your appliances
[20:46] out. But do you believe in the future
[20:49] that they could pass something else and
[20:51] force the retrofit
[20:53] would Washingtonians because, you know,
[20:56] we've gone so deep. Do you believe
[20:58] because of things like the Climate
[21:00] Commitment Act and the taxing and the
[21:03] millionaire tax that at some point they
[21:05] could just turn around and say, "Ah, we
[21:07] want you to retrofit your whole house."
[21:09] I do believe that's possible in the
[21:11] future. And that's actually my fear and
[21:13] why I wanted to talk about this a little
[21:14] bit more. And so basically, it prohibits
[21:19] new residential and and uh commercial
[21:23] construction from having natural gas.
[21:27] It's it's still available in the code,
[21:30] but you can't make it economically
[21:31] feasible because you put in a gas
[21:33] furnace, it now requires extra credits,
[21:36] which just adds more money on. We've
[21:38] talked about on this podcast and on this
[21:41] channel a million times how expensive
[21:44] construction already is here in
[21:45] Washington state. So, for example, if
[21:47] you wanted you're like, I have to have a
[21:50] heat pump that's gas and I want a gas
[21:53] stove and I want a gas fireplace, then
[21:56] be prepared to have like R30 insulation,
[22:01] triple pane windows, okay? Massive
[22:05] insulation in the roof,
[22:07] zero air leaks throughout the thing. So,
[22:10] I'm talking like zip sheeting on the
[22:12] exterior, everything taped down. You go,
[22:14] "Well, Anton, how much is that?" If you
[22:16] if you're like, "I am getting natural
[22:18] gas in in my home." Be prepared to add
[22:22] 150 grand minimum to the price tank
[22:24] price tag to make up for that.
[22:26] >> Why would they Okay. Why would they make
[22:30] you do more to your house? because
[22:34] you're going to use natural gas versus
[22:36] using electricity.
[22:37] >> It's how the freaking energy code works.
[22:40] It just drives me insane.
[22:41] >> That doesn't even sound logical.
[22:43] >> It's not logical. This is why two
[22:46] million Washingtonians were like, "We
[22:47] want natural gas.
[22:49] >> We want natural gas, but not with the
[22:52] extra cost of higher regulations."
[22:56] >> The initiative allowed natural gas to
[22:58] stay. It repealed some of the crazy
[23:01] building codes and wasn't going to force
[23:04] people to retrofit even in a remodel.
[23:07] So, let me give you an example. What's
[23:10] going to happen is if you want to
[23:12] replace your gas range, for example,
[23:14] >> yeah,
[23:15] >> you're going to be able to replace your
[23:17] range like for like, but you can't put
[23:20] in a more efficient one.
[23:23] H interesting.
[23:25] >> Why?
[23:27] because the code doesn't allow it
[23:29] >> to get a more efficient Isn't that the
[23:31] whole point to like to like make make
[23:35] the house more efficient? Why would they
[23:37] not let you
[23:39] >> get an a gas furn a gas stove that's
[23:43] more efficient or is it gas stove or gas
[23:45] furnace?
[23:45] >> I was talking your cooking stove
[23:46] furnace.
[23:47] >> Yeah. Yeah. But the
[23:48] >> furnace, hot water tank, it doesn't
[23:50] matter. You can replace like for like
[23:53] unless it requires a permit or if you're
[23:56] doing a major addition or a remodel. If
[23:58] you do a major addition or remodel, they
[24:00] are going to if it requires permits,
[24:03] they're going to make you replace them.
[24:04] So then you start going down the price
[24:06] tag list and you go, "Oh, well, how much
[24:08] does this stupid stuff cost?"
[24:10] >> Mhm.
[24:13] >> How many old homes don't have a 200 amp
[24:17] service inside of them because they have
[24:19] gas? So think about that. So, first off,
[24:21] you
[24:21] >> Yeah. Yeah. The where the stove is at,
[24:24] right?
[24:25] >> Where the stove, the dryer, the HVAC,
[24:30] the barbecue stub.
[24:32] >> And you should explain what a 200 uh
[24:35] what do you call? Yeah. What that is?
[24:37] >> So, generally speaking, in new
[24:39] construction right now, we're putting in
[24:41] 200 amp services.
[24:42] >> And that's just your box. Like, you open
[24:44] the box and there's a number of
[24:45] switches, but there's 200 amps of power
[24:48] in the box.
[24:49] >> Got it.
[24:50] A lot of older homes are like 100 amps
[24:52] or 150. That means there's no room to go
[24:57] put the plug in for the dryer that's now
[25:01] electric. There's no room
[25:03] >> Oh.
[25:04] >> to put the HVAC on there. There's no
[25:07] room to put the range on there. So, you
[25:10] got to expand the panel. How much How
[25:12] much is that?
[25:12] >> Yeah.
[25:13] >> So, you expand the panel. That panel
[25:15] expansion, depending on where the power
[25:17] is and where you're at, you're looking
[25:18] at a minimum of probably seven grand to
[25:21] 20 grand
[25:21] >> for like a standard three-bedroom, two-b
[25:24] house
[25:25] >> to just expand from 100 amps to 200
[25:27] amps.
[25:28] >> How much again?
[25:29] >> 100 amps to 200 amps.
[25:31] >> How much does it cost?
[25:31] >> 10 to 20 grand guaranteed.
[25:34] >> Oh my gosh. To upgrade. Most people
[25:35] don't have enough to like replace their
[25:38] fridge. Most people don't have enough in
[25:41] their current panel to be able to put in
[25:43] the electric plug for the car. And now
[25:46] you want to put all of the appliances on
[25:48] there. See, what I'm getting at is is
[25:51] all of these appliances are now going to
[25:53] be hitting the power grid.
[25:54] >> I know what you're really saying.
[25:56] >> What am I really saying?
[25:58] >> People should become electricians.
[26:00] >> Well, when we talk about opportunities
[26:03] at the end, that was actually one of the
[26:04] opportunities I laid out. the if you got
[26:07] to replace your heat pump, your heat
[26:09] pump, you know, to go electric is going
[26:12] to be anywhere between 12 to 30 grand.
[26:15] Uh uh a hot water tank is going to be
[26:18] 3,000 to 6,500.
[26:21] Your range is going to be anywhere
[26:22] between 2,200 to 5 grand. Now, of
[26:25] course, it can go higher. There's always
[26:27] a higher end. Like if you go buy a
[26:29] Subzero, a Wolf, you know, something
[26:31] really expensive, the range is going to
[26:32] cost more. So, a lot of these full
[26:35] conversions estimate wise, you're
[26:37] looking at anywhere between 20 to 60
[26:39] grand if you've got to convert your
[26:41] house. Plus, these tax credits are gone.
[26:44] These subsidies are gone. Okay. I have a
[26:48] question for you.
[26:48] >> Yes, sir.
[26:49] >> The whole point of today's conversation
[26:52] though was
[26:54] why are utility bills going to go up?
[26:57] So, in addition to the cost of
[27:01] retrofitting or adding more amps to your
[27:05] electricity and even just like the the
[27:07] cost of like uh I don't know the fee to
[27:10] get more energy efficient. Why is the
[27:12] actual utility bills going to go up?
[27:15] >> I love it. I love it. The utility bills
[27:18] are going up right now because the
[27:21] climate commitment act is forcing the
[27:25] change of energy. And let me find PUB PS
[27:31] and the uh uh where their rates are and
[27:37] why
[27:37] >> and this is related to that why it's
[27:40] going to go up another 16% in 2027. So
[27:43] PSSE's numbers is going up basically
[27:45] another 17%.
[27:47] Because PSSE has to buy carbon credits
[27:52] to comply with the Climate Commitment
[27:54] Act
[27:54] >> because they're using natural gas
[27:56] >> because they're using natural gas and
[27:58] coal.
[27:58] >> That just seems like paying for nothing.
[28:02] >> It is 1,000% paying for that.
[28:04] >> And then and then us, the customers of
[28:07] these utility services, has to eat the
[28:10] cost. We have to pay that money. We have
[28:12] to pay it out of our pockets. Businesses
[28:15] have to pay it out of their pockets
[28:17] because we decided on this thing called
[28:19] the Climate Commitment Act. It when
[28:22] someone creates carbon emissions, they
[28:25] have to go buy these credits to offset
[28:28] carbon emissions.
[28:29] >> It's like guilt payments.
[28:31] >> You're guilty for making the earth more
[28:34] polluted. Even though literally if you
[28:36] think about the whole world,
[28:38] >> all these other countries, everyone's
[28:40] doing it. And don't get me wrong, I am a
[28:42] tree hugger at heart. Like I love the
[28:45] forest. I love nature. I love clean air,
[28:48] clean water, all that kind of stuff. But
[28:49] there there is a certain need for, you
[28:53] know, uh energy and utilities and just
[28:56] running our home. So like it's
[28:58] inevitable. But then
[28:59] >> it's just crazy to me. I mean, I guess
[29:01] for me, like I just can't fathom this
[29:03] because I thought there was actual extra
[29:07] costs to getting the natural gas. I
[29:11] thought like they were making the the
[29:14] facilities more efficient. So, you're
[29:16] saying these are literally payments
[29:20] that is being forced? Yes. on the
[29:22] utility companies because people
[29:25] determine, you know what,
[29:26] >> we need to pay money and then where's
[29:29] that money going?
[29:30] >> So, it goes into the fund for the
[29:32] climate commitment act. We talked about
[29:33] this on a previous episode. Our
[29:35] listeners, our subscribers, they already
[29:37] know this. If you've not done that, hit
[29:38] that magic button. Hit that hype button.
[29:40] We need it because remember we talked
[29:43] about in our previous episode less than
[29:45] 3% of the money from the climate
[29:48] commitment act is actually being spent
[29:50] on the climate and the rest is just
[29:52] going into all these NOS and programs
[29:55] and BS and being just just splashed and
[29:59] you know fittered away
[30:00] >> and that's a whole another discussion
[30:01] about is it being managed well is it
[30:04] actually helping people or is it going
[30:06] to services for Washingtonians? I mean,
[30:09] the other the other uh um
[30:13] Yeah, I like this line right here in
[30:14] your notes, by the way.
[30:15] >> Yeah, go ahead, read it.
[30:16] >> Politicians sell you the future, your
[30:19] utility sends you the invoice, which is
[30:21] a good segue [laughter] to what you're
[30:23] saying because
[30:24] >> yes,
[30:24] >> the climate uh commitment act. Yes.
[30:27] >> And all these programs and services,
[30:29] they sound nice, right? Saving the
[30:32] planet. Also, we're going to have these
[30:34] programs for you and Washingtonians,
[30:37] but ultimately we have to pay.
[30:40] >> Yes.
[30:40] >> Through our utility bills.
[30:42] >> Yeah.
[30:42] >> It's like another tax.
[30:44] >> It's absolutely another tax
[30:46] >> in a time where everything's so
[30:48] expensive.
[30:50] >> So, Snowish County PUB gets 75% of its
[30:53] power from BPA's federal hydro. Seattle
[30:57] City Light runs on its own BPA dams with
[31:00] 77% hydro. PSE, which is investorowned,
[31:06] 1.2 million electric and 900,000 gas
[31:11] customers. In 2024, power was 32% gas
[31:16] and 18% coal, about half fossil fuels.
[31:22] So, they are then having to pay that.
[31:26] CEDA compliance added 820 million in
[31:30] power and balancing costs from 2022 to
[31:32] 2025. These numbers are insane
[31:36] and it's literally selfforced and
[31:40] destructive to our businesses to the
[31:44] middle class and Washingtonians in
[31:47] general. I want to talk next about the
[31:51] this gas ban and how gas is actually a
[31:53] buffer in our system because I think
[31:55] people don't realize this.
[31:57] When does peak energy demand happen? It
[32:00] happens at two times.
[32:02] >> Uh in the year or in the day?
[32:04] >> In the day.
[32:05] >> Oh, like in in a house. I I'd imagine.
[32:08] >> Um
[32:10] I mean I I I think it's when you get
[32:12] home from work.
[32:13] >> Bingo. Early in the evening
[32:15] >> and first thing in the morning. Yeah,
[32:17] because that's when you wake up and you
[32:19] turn on the stove to cook
[32:21] >> and the heat turns back on.
[32:23] >> Yeah. Right.
[32:23] >> To heat the house back up from being off
[32:25] overnight. Yeah.
[32:26] >> So, literally, generally speaking, 6:00
[32:28] a.m. is peak load.
[32:29] >> Okay.
[32:30] >> And then approximately 5 to 6 p.m. is
[32:33] like our secondary peak load.
[32:34] >> Okay.
[32:35] >> Now, someone can correct me in the
[32:36] comments, but I I'm trying to get to
[32:37] where I'm going. You already mentioned
[32:39] climate. So, you remember a couple years
[32:41] ago or a few years back, we had that
[32:43] like super crazy cold spell. You
[32:46] remember that? Mhm.
[32:47] >> And it was just really freezing out. The
[32:49] problem is is they want a heat pump in
[32:52] every home. So they don't want you to
[32:53] put in a furnace. They want you to put
[32:55] in a heat pump. What happens to a heat
[32:57] pump when it's super freezing cold out
[33:00] like that? It
[33:00] >> doesn't work.
[33:01] >> They don't work.
[33:03] They literally don't work because
[33:05] they're below their efficiency
[33:07] threshold.
[33:08] >> Well, when you say efficiency threshold,
[33:11] they're just they just don't work.
[33:13] Period. Like right. They're only good to
[33:15] a certain cold temperature.
[33:18] >> It's not even about efficiency. It just
[33:20] won't work. It can't convert it out.
[33:22] Right.
[33:22] >> It can't convert it out. You're
[33:23] absolutely correct. So, it's just not
[33:25] working. Now, during those cold snaps
[33:28] and during those peak spells,
[33:31] what? So, power is a constant because it
[33:35] most of it comes from hydroelectric,
[33:37] >> right?
[33:37] >> So, the water's going through, it's
[33:39] spinning the turbines and making the
[33:41] power. That's a constant.
[33:44] What can flux up and down? Natural gas.
[33:49] >> Yeah. Well, natural gas will just always
[33:51] be there.
[33:52] >> Natural gas can flux up and down because
[33:54] it's in a pipe.
[33:56] >> Yeah. Under the ground.
[33:57] >> We can grab more of it.
[33:59] >> Yeah.
[34:00] >> We can't force more water through the
[34:02] turbine
[34:02] >> and you can't force, you know, God to
[34:06] raise the temperature of outside.
[34:07] [laughter]
[34:07] >> Bingo. Yeah. Bingo. And so what that
[34:10] means though is natural gas is currently
[34:13] one of the buffers that takes us through
[34:16] those crazy cold snaps or the times when
[34:18] we need a massive amount of electricity.
[34:21] >> I'm a good example. Did I tell you I
[34:23] have a heat pump, right? A just a
[34:26] standard heat pump. So I heat and cool
[34:29] my house with a heat pump. It's great. I
[34:30] basically have air conditioning because
[34:32] of this heat pump. I know it doesn't
[34:33] sound right, but I do. But when it gets
[34:35] super cold, I can turn on what it's
[34:37] called. That's funny. Maybe this is part
[34:39] of the climate commitment act, but they
[34:41] call it emergency heat, right?
[34:43] >> Yeah.
[34:44] >> Kind of is, but also it just means your
[34:46] furnace will start using natural gas and
[34:50] it heats up the house right away and
[34:51] it's great. Most houses in Washington
[34:54] for a long time were just natural gas
[34:56] because it's immediately available. So
[34:58] even though my
[34:59] >> and it's more efficient
[35:00] >> and it's it costs less for us
[35:03] >> and it costs so you used to
[35:06] >> it costs less in certain districts. So I
[35:08] want to point that one out. Okay.
[35:10] >> It's not the same for everyone. So this
[35:12] is where the models didn't fail me. I
[35:14] ran the cost I ran the model I even ran
[35:16] the carbon footprints
[35:18] >> because they make it sound like natural
[35:20] gas is horrible.
[35:22] The difference in the and I didn't put
[35:24] it in here, but the difference in the
[35:25] carbon footprint between them was like
[35:28] 10 grams. It was such an infot
[35:32] like it doesn't even matter.
[35:35] I want to use these people's exact
[35:38] words, though. The Northwest Power and
[35:41] Conservation Council's
[35:44] 9inth power plan calls for 2,100
[35:48] megawws of brand new natural gas
[35:51] generation by 2032
[35:55] because they know they need the natural
[35:58] gas.
[36:00] Centriia PSSE plans to convert
[36:02] Centriia's coal mine to burn gas. PSC's
[36:06] rate case includes gas turbines and gas
[36:09] generation for capacity. The h the
[36:12] hypocrisy is they're squeezing gas out
[36:15] of your home and building gas plants
[36:17] just to keep the lights on because they
[36:19] have to. In Washington state, our power
[36:23] breaks down like this. This is numbers
[36:25] from 2024.
[36:27] 54.9%
[36:28] comes from hydro. 15.1% comes from
[36:31] natural gas. So it is our second largest
[36:33] source. 9.2% 2% comes from wind, 8.1%
[36:37] comes from coal, 5.6 comes from nuclear,
[36:40] 5.3 is unspecified, and 0.9 or a
[36:44] rounding error comes from solar. Now, if
[36:47] I had my personal way, I would love to
[36:50] see more solar and then I would love to
[36:53] see more nuclear. I think it's going to
[36:56] take all of these options, but it's
[36:58] pretty clear that the grid in Washington
[37:01] state is currently surviving and we're
[37:04] not having blackouts
[37:06] because of natural gas. So, I don't know
[37:09] how we will electrify everything here in
[37:12] the future. They expect regional demand
[37:16] to grow by 30% in the next 10 years.
[37:21] And so, in other words, we're not
[37:22] keeping pace. P.S.
[37:25] That's no data centers. That's not
[37:28] industry. When they're talking about
[37:31] this, they're talking mostly about just
[37:33] homes. When they're talking about this
[37:36] residential uh construction coming in,
[37:39] >> can I just ask you a couple questions?
[37:41] All right.
[37:42] >> What will this do to home costs?
[37:46] >> Great question.
[37:47] >> Well, like I mean, just can you lay it
[37:48] out? If
[37:49] >> if they start banning natural gas,
[37:51] right? No, natural gas is now banned.
[37:54] >> It's banned.
[37:56] >> It is banned.
[37:58] >> You might as well call it banned because
[37:59] it's economically prohibitive to do it.
[38:03] >> And that means that
[38:05] >> utility bills are going to go up.
[38:06] >> Yes.
[38:07] >> The cost of building a house is going to
[38:09] go up. And how? By how much? Because you
[38:11] build homes, right? The cost the cost of
[38:14] building a home
[38:16] you basically each home now essentially
[38:19] will require a heat pump. Natural gas
[38:21] will not be an alternative which means
[38:25] everything has to operate in their
[38:27] electricity. So the average cost and the
[38:31] building association of Washington I
[38:33] think said this better but I want to say
[38:35] it's like it's basically an additional
[38:38] 15 to 30 grand per home.
[38:40] and these building codes and these
[38:43] energy credits are just getting more
[38:45] stringent. This is what we talk about on
[38:47] a regular basis when we're talking about
[38:48] this idea that the red tape that the
[38:51] unelected bureaucrats are driving up the
[38:54] cost of homes and making them
[38:56] unaffordable because the citizens said,
[39:00] "I like my cheap my my natural gas. We
[39:03] like the way it heats. We like it how it
[39:04] feels comfortable." The politicians
[39:06] said, "Hey, we don't we don't want that.
[39:09] that we want all to go away because
[39:10] we're ideological.
[39:13] The Supreme Court turned around and
[39:15] said, "You know what? We agree with the
[39:17] politicians and they kicked out the will
[39:19] of the people.
[39:22] This is just another nail in the coffin
[39:24] in the unaffordability in Washington
[39:27] state, which just makes us less
[39:29] competitive.
[39:31] At some point, we have to start turning
[39:34] this corner. We cannot constantly have
[39:37] the cost of housing increasing. We
[39:40] cannot have the consumer's utility bills
[39:43] increasing. We cannot have the
[39:45] business's bills increasing and expect
[39:49] to have a middle class and expect to
[39:52] have families start here. That's it.
[39:55] >> How and what can you do to stop this? I
[39:58] mean, you could almost call it a crisis,
[40:00] a cost crisis, a self-inflicted cost
[40:03] crisis. What can people do?
[40:06] >> I believe that Washingtonians need to
[40:10] start really paying attention at the
[40:13] local level to city councils and county
[40:16] councils. And then they have to have
[40:18] more discussions with their state
[40:20] representatives
[40:22] and the state senators about
[40:26] it's becoming unaffordable
[40:29] for the middle class, for family
[40:31] formation, and for people to retire here
[40:33] in Washington state. And in order to do
[40:36] that, we have to be able to provide them
[40:38] cheap utilities,
[40:40] cheap housing, and a stable economy so
[40:44] that we can get enough taxes in the
[40:45] door. We've got to cut the spending. We
[40:48] got to make housing attainable, not
[40:51] affordable. Attainable. I'm talking buy
[40:54] a single family home that the middle
[40:57] class can then make babies and make the
[41:00] next generation of Washingtonians and
[41:01] taxpayers. It's going to require people
[41:04] getting involved. And I make videos
[41:08] about this. We make videos about this
[41:10] because I love real estate. Real estate
[41:13] has been my career path of choice. I'm
[41:17] in love with home ownership
[41:21] because what I've seen over decades is
[41:24] how it's a vehicle that creates wealth.
[41:26] But not only that, it creates stability,
[41:29] creates comfort for the family, for the
[41:33] kids to know they're going to be in the
[41:35] same area, in the same school district.
[41:38] And that's what creates communities and
[41:39] that's what creates stability and
[41:41] safety.
[41:44] Flipping it over
[41:46] on the investor side, you have to be
[41:50] able to plan for the future.
[41:53] A business has to be able to plan for
[41:55] the future and understand that the rules
[41:57] aren't going to fundamentally change.
[41:59] Otherwise, the investors and the
[42:01] businesses just leave the state and go
[42:03] somewhere else.
[42:06] But you got to have business. You got to
[42:08] have the middle class and you've got to
[42:09] have business. So, we're constantly
[42:12] selling real estate, constantly having
[42:14] fun. But then we're pushing back, trying
[42:16] to bring light to what's happening
[42:19] because
[42:20] I did not believe this was going to
[42:22] happen. I actually,
[42:25] in my naive optimism, I did not believe
[42:29] the Supreme Court was going to overturn
[42:30] this because so many people were for it.
[42:34] And it wasn't Republican, it wasn't
[42:36] Democrat, it wasn't libertarian, it was
[42:39] like a big majority of Washington's
[42:41] population because it affects their
[42:43] pocketbook.
[42:45] And yet the Supreme Court says, "We
[42:47] don't care. Get out of here." So these
[42:51] building codes keep increasing, the
[42:53] requirements keep increasing, and we're
[42:54] basically stuck in this little vice
[42:58] grip. I want to give one more example,
[43:00] though, to drive this really home. Has
[43:02] everyone see the little green box in
[43:05] your neighborhood? The little green
[43:06] power box.
[43:08] >> Do you know how old that technology is?
[43:11] >> I'm guessing at least 30 to 40 because
[43:14] when I was a kid, I used to sit on them.
[43:16] >> Bingo. That is 40y old technology.
[43:21] That technology
[43:23] is set up to where that green box, a
[43:27] typical neighborhood transformer, is
[43:29] between 25 to 50 KVA.
[43:33] And it's basically to serve 4 to eight
[43:36] homes at 3 to 5 kW of peak load.
[43:41] Now, the problem though, if I need a
[43:44] heat pump running 4 to 6KW
[43:48] and 10 to 15 on backup strips, I need a
[43:52] heat pump hot water heater. That's
[43:54] another four to 5K. I need a level two
[43:57] EV charger. That's 7.2 to 11K
[44:01] per house. All of a sudden, on a cold
[44:03] winter day, you're looking at 20 to 30KW
[44:07] per house. one transformer that's 120 to
[44:11] 100 180 KVA on something that's only
[44:15] rated to go to 50.
[44:18] Our infrastructure is not set up to deal
[44:22] with this. That's what I'm trying to say
[44:24] on a like an even bigger level. Like you
[44:27] idiots, you can't rip it all out and
[44:29] then just expect it to work. Why is
[44:32] diesel so expensive right now? Because
[44:35] we killed off a bunch of diesel
[44:37] refineries.
[44:39] Why is gas so expensive? Because of the
[44:42] climate commitment act. Do you see a
[44:44] correlation here?
[44:47] Would I like to get rid of the coal?
[44:50] Yes. Okay. Problem is coal is cheap and
[44:53] abundant and it's quick. So in a
[44:57] situation where the grid needs load,
[44:59] they can use coal. They can use natural
[45:01] gas. I'd rather just keep the natural
[45:03] gas. But I'd really like to see
[45:05] personally, once again, this is just the
[45:07] nerd in me, more of the small nuclear
[45:09] reactors, the small modular reactors,
[45:12] and more solar. But the problem is is is
[45:15] all the regulation going into this. So,
[45:19] think about this. I think this takes us
[45:20] right into the problems and the
[45:23] opportunities.
[45:26] The problem is is that PSSE specifically
[45:28] is stuck in a trap. and their trap is
[45:32] because of the Climate Commitment Act,
[45:33] the carbon credits they have to pay. And
[45:35] then a chunk of their power comes from
[45:37] natural gas and coal.
[45:40] We've got permanent retirement of like,
[45:44] you know, ripping out working gas
[45:46] furnaces and hot water heaters. So, they
[45:50] were rebates for all of these things.
[45:53] That work goes away. That's gone. You
[45:56] got older homes with the smaller panels
[45:58] like we talked about. You've got
[45:59] landlords that are going to pass on
[46:01] these utility bills to the the the
[46:05] renter.
[46:07] Okay? You've got new construction
[46:09] mandates that got a bunch of now money
[46:12] and fees stacked on top of it and we're
[46:14] not allowed to use some of the cheap
[46:16] abundant free sources.
[46:19] And the last one is, you know,
[46:25] you're pulling people off of the gas
[46:27] meters. And so the people then who are
[46:29] stuck on the gas meter, that means less
[46:33] people, less spending, less
[46:34] infrastructure spending, it means their
[46:37] rates are going up no matter what. Does
[46:40] that make sense? Mhm.
[46:41] >> So the people who are getting gas cheap
[46:42] today are going to get naturally pinched
[46:45] out and be forced to retrofit their home
[46:48] over time because it will become
[46:50] economically unfeasible due to lack of
[46:53] infrastructure investment. What's the
[46:56] opportunity? Okay, you kind of already
[46:57] mentioned it. I think this creates
[47:00] another opportunity in construction. It
[47:01] just does. For your electricians, for
[47:04] your plumbers,
[47:06] like blue collar, it's cool. Let's go
[47:09] people. Let's get wood shop back in high
[47:11] school, you know, get the vocations back
[47:14] in high school. I think you're going to
[47:17] also start thinking about like how do
[47:19] you pair
[47:22] um existing gas furnaces with maybe like
[47:24] backup heat sources that are electric.
[47:27] You're going to see people start to do
[47:28] hybrid things, especially if that cost
[47:30] gets out of control. you're going to see
[47:33] people start um uh skipping or changing
[47:37] how they're how they're dealing with it
[47:39] during cold winter.
[47:41] Uh
[47:43] if you do have a working gas system and
[47:45] you're in the right area, you're going
[47:47] to want to keep it. But this is that may
[47:50] become a selling point for homes because
[47:53] there's not going to be them in the
[47:54] future. So if gas stays cheap and it
[47:57] doesn't explode in cost, that might
[48:00] become a selling point. a feature point
[48:02] for homes located in those areas.
[48:05] Uh
[48:05] >> yeah, ones that are already
[48:07] >> that are already existing that are
[48:09] essentially grandfathered in where it's
[48:11] not exploding in price.
[48:15] Land
[48:17] near
[48:18] closer to the power. It's going to
[48:20] become more valuable in the future
[48:23] and resilience and backups are going to
[48:26] become more uh needed. I think you're
[48:29] going to see homes need more power, uh,
[48:32] more batteries, for example, more
[48:35] on-site storage, more backup generators.
[48:38] This is too much hitting the grid all at
[48:40] once. And as this gets force played onto
[48:43] the grid, once again, this doesn't
[48:45] include like any AI or major industry
[48:48] buildout.
[48:50] As this gets forced into the grid,
[48:53] we are going to run into grid bottleneck
[48:56] programs. So, you're going to have to
[48:57] make your home more resilient, more
[49:00] sustainable. Um, which is good and bad.
[49:04] One, I kind of like the idea because I'm
[49:05] nerdy, but two, it's another cost on top
[49:09] of it. You know, questions before you
[49:12] buy something or you sell something, you
[49:14] should be asking like, all right, which
[49:16] utility company is at this exact
[49:18] address? What's the size of the panel
[49:21] that's here? Is there anything open in
[49:23] the panel? How much do I have left?
[49:26] Which appliances in this house are
[49:28] reliant upon natural gas? What would the
[49:31] cost be to replace this? If I have to
[49:33] replace this during my my my ownership
[49:38] and then
[49:39] PSC's rates are shooting up. But what
[49:42] happens if all of a sudden PUD has to
[49:45] start mirroring that and other major
[49:46] utilities have to start start doing
[49:49] that? Okay, pulling it all together. In
[49:52] the words of our friend Sean, we're
[49:54] gonna land the plane. And
[49:57] I think the Supreme Court did us really
[49:59] wrong on this one. I think they
[50:00] completely violated the will of the
[50:02] people. And I think we demonstrated that
[50:04] that um they've done that before. Let me
[50:07] know your thoughts in the comments on
[50:09] that. Two, I think that we really need
[50:14] to be worried about uh the millionaire
[50:17] tax initiative
[50:19] because based on this current track
[50:21] record, they may just overturn it and be
[50:23] like, "Oh, it wasn't a single source."
[50:24] It addressed more than one thing. Now,
[50:27] we might have massive public outrage if
[50:29] they do that. Three, this this is
[50:32] starting to change the economics of
[50:34] housing. and you asked some questions,
[50:36] but I don't know the answers to all of
[50:38] them because as these rules play out, as
[50:41] the data changes, as our economy changes
[50:44] and our local building industry changes
[50:46] and the utilities change, we're going to
[50:48] have more information. So, this is
[50:49] something we're going to have to revisit
[50:50] here in the next 6 months to a year to
[50:53] kind of figure out what the full impact
[50:55] is. Lastly, this doesn't include AI and
[50:59] AI's buildout. AI is a power- hungry
[51:02] beast.
[51:03] What we didn't talk about though is the
[51:06] United States as a whole has a power
[51:07] problem.
[51:08] We essentially need our grid. This isn't
[51:12] just a Washington state. This is the
[51:13] United States as a whole. We need to
[51:15] triple the size of our grid. We need to
[51:16] update our grid. This is a bigger
[51:18] problem than just natural gas. But I
[51:21] believe Washington state is shooting
[51:23] themselves in the foot with natural gas
[51:26] and taking that offline. So give this a
[51:29] thumbs up if it was worth your time.
[51:31] Share this with someone else who needs
[51:33] to understand what's happening here with
[51:35] natural gas and construction. Drop a
[51:38] comment if your utility bill has been
[51:40] rising or if you voted for any of these
[51:43] initiatives and it kind of pisses you
[51:45] off that they overturned them with their
[51:47] ideology. I'm Anton Stener. Thanks for
[51:50] hanging out. Hit us in the next one.
[51:51] We'll see you later.