Apparently, even California Democrats cannot resist promising voters free things to ease costs their own policies helped create. 

Xavier Becerra, the Democrat front-runner for California governor who is expected to face Republican Steve Hilton in November, apparently decided he could improve his chances further by promising Californians free power. Calling it “Power Hour,” Becerra outlined a plan earlier this week to give lower-income Californians two free hours of electricity each day, using the state’s solar output. 

But he failed to mention that, in many ways, his party bears primary responsibility for the state’s out-of-control utility prices. Through years of green-energy mandates and regulatory policies, California Democrats have helped drive up costs for everyone. 

In other words, they created both the disease and are now offering the cure.

"I wanted to mention here an idea that I believe we can actually put into action within my first year, and it's what we're calling my power hour. I believe that we can say to Californians, maybe we start smaller, maybe with those who are lower income, for whom affording their electricity bill is really difficult, and we say, I'm going to offer you two hours of free electricity," Becerra said. 

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How do I pay for that? Well, it just so happens that today we produce so much solar energy, electricity, that oftentimes in the afternoon, we can't make use of all of it. And so it essentially goes to waste, or we ship it off to some other state. Sometimes we have to pay to ship it out. Why don't we use it? And why don't we do what we used to do back in the 90s, in the 20th century, we tell people, hey, please don't use your appliances during the late afternoon, evening, or afternoon hours, because we need to cover for all the air conditioners and the cost of trying to take care of a hot day. And so we used to tell people, wait, or do it very early in the morning. Well, today it's almost reversed. 

"We have to rebalance," he continued, "Today, we produce a lot of energy during the hot hours because the sun helps us produce solar energy. Take advantage of it. So the best way to get you to readapt, to recalibrate, is to tell you the best time for you to use electricity today, one to three. And if you do that, I won't charge you."

However, if California Democrats had not spent years forcing costly green-energy mandates down the Golden State’s throat, many residents might not be dealing with these utility bills in the first place. “Power Hour” may offer limited relief for a few hours each day, but it does nothing to address the policies that made electricity unaffordable for so many Californians. 

It remains unclear why Becerra felt compelled to offer voters yet another government giveaway despite holding a solid lead in the polls. Perhaps even a commanding lead is not enough to resist the familiar Democratic instinct: raise costs through regulation, then claim some credit for offering a small, taxpayer-funded reprieve.