OAKLAND — PG&E bills — already soaring to record heights — are set to hop higher in the coming weeks following a decision Thursday by state regulators to approve a new spending plan for the utility behemoth.
Monthly bills for PG&E customers who receive both electricity and gas services from the company are expected to rise by an estimated $32.62 a month on average starting Jan. 1, 2024. That’s an eye-popping jump of 12.8% slated to take effect right after the holiday shopping season. The estimate was posted on the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) website.
The agency’s five governor-appointed commissioners approved on a unanimous vote a revenue plan for PG&E that is poised to dramatically ratchet up the financial burden for customers in the Bay Area and other parts of California.
The bill hike — while not unexpected — was a bitter pill for customers and advocates to swallow.
“You should be sending PG&E back to the drawing board,” Jessica Tovar, an energy advocate, told the PUC before its vote. “They have incinerated communities, devastated people and raised rates over and over.”
The Oakland-based company has been linked to a string of disasters, including a lethal gas explosion that destroyed a San Bruno neighborhood and a string of destructive — and in some cases deadly — wildfires across Northern California. In 2020, the utility pleaded guilty to 84 separate counts of involuntary manslaughter and admitted that the company’s equipment started the 2018 Camp Fire that torched the town of Paradise.
“PG&E rate hikes are outrageous,” said Cheryl Maynard, a survivor of the catastrophic Camp Fire in Butte County. “Fire victims still have not been made whole.”
The company says it is attempting to improve the safety of its electricity and gas systems. The PUC decision enables PG&E to undertake a hybrid program of upgrades — including burying 1,230 miles of power lines and the covering of hundreds of miles of overhead lines with insulation.
“Undergrounding is the best tool in the highest fire-risk areas to protect our customers and hometowns and improve reliability year-round at the lowest cost to our customers,” PG&E Chief Executive Officer Patricia Poppe said in a statement.
Still, customers blasted the decision that ultimately means higher monthly bills.
“California energy consumers cannot support endless rate increases,” said Kevin Lee, a PG&E customer who spoke before the PUC’s vote.
“We are supporting PG&E’s criminal negligence,” Lee added. “Reject the PG&E giveaway. Enough is enough.”
PUC commissioners acknowledged the brutal reality of the higher monthly bills — before voting to impose the increased costs anyway.
“We know we are facing an affordability crisis,” PUC Commissioner John Reynolds said before approving the general rate case to boost PG&E revenue and raise customer costs.
Reynolds at one point was an advisor to former PUC commissioner Carla Peterman, now a PG&E executive.
“Small businesses, workers, renters and many other Californians are struggling under the weight of PG&E bills that have skyrocketed at three times the rate of inflation since 2020,” Sam Liccardo, San Jose’s former mayor and one of the principal leaders of advocacy group FAIR California, said in an interview with this news organization last month. FAIR California is a coalition of groups that have banded together to oppose the continued increases in PG&E bills.
Electricity bills will soar by $22.20 a month on average, while gas bills will jump by $10.43 a month, the PUC estimate stated.
By comparison, the Bay Area inflation rate rose 2.8% over the one-year period that ended in October — which means that as of early 2024, PG&E bills will be rising more than four times faster than the current pace of increases in consumer prices.
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