Yeah, I feel that standing charges should be a political issue, not just in California, because they're regressive and don't encourage people to save energy. If they were to bundle it into the per-unit cost, that would be better for low-income users and provide more of an incentive for high-consumption users to economize (or do their own generation to offset).
In my country there is no standing charge, everything is within the price you pay per kWh. If you usage is 0 kWh, your bill is €0. However only about half of what we pay goes towards electricity, the rest is for transmission and infrastructure costs and taxes.
I have solar that covers all my usage, and net metering, but I still need to ~€30 per month to cover the cost of storing it and taking it back from the grid. I'd be paying around €120 if I didn't have solar.
