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OAKLAND — PG&E monthly utility bills are slated to hop higher — yet again — as a group of key decisions by state regulators loom regarding the power company’s upcoming revenue requirements.
That’s the ominous economic reality that faces PG&E customers, who already have been jolted by steadily rising electricity and gas bills in the wake of a string of deadly and catastrophic wildfires that triggered the utility’s bankruptcy due to a mountain of debt and liabilities.
Potentially this week, the state Public Utilities Commission is slated to choose between two options in connection with PG&E’s general rate case, a proceeding that authorizes changes in the amount that PG&E can harvest in the form of customer rates and monthly bills.
The options have something in common: Both will unleash higher monthly electric and gas costs for PG&E customers.
“PG&E’s GRC (general rate case) application for 2023-2026 claims that it needs to make several changes to ensure the safety and reliability of its energy services,” the California PUC stated in a post on its website that provided answers to some frequently asked questions regarding the proceeding.
The PUC’s powerful five-member commission was scheduled to vote Thursday on the two options for authorizing additional PG&E revenue.
“The top drivers of PG&E’s proposed increases are inflation and significant investments in undergrounding electric lines to decrease wildfire risk,” the PUC stated in its website post.
Here are the two options and their impact on monthly utility bills:
— The first option would increase bills for the average residential customer who receives combined electric and gas services from PG&E by $31.13 a month. Electric bills would jump by $22.37 a month while natural gas bills would increase by $8.76 a month.
— An alternate proposal floated by a PUC commissioner would increase average residential monthly bills by $25.25 a month. Electric bills would jump by $18.59 a month while natural gas bills would increase by $6.66 a month.
The original proposal would equate to a 12.5% increase in average monthly bills for residential customers, while the alternate proposal would produce a 9.9% monthly bill increase.
“PG&E’s general rate case proposal focuses on continued safety improvements for our customers and hometowns,” PG&E spokesperson Mike Gazda said in comments emailed to this news organization. “More than 85% of our proposed increase in revenues are for reducing risk in gas and electric operations.”
Sam Liccardo, a former mayor of San Jose who for the last several years has become a harsh critic of PG&E, said people in the Bay Area, Northern California and Central California have a right and duty to demand oversight on how PG&E uses the money it collects from its customers.
“We need greater accountability for how PG&E spends money and to ensure the money is spent in ways that benefit PG&E customers and not PG&E executives and shareholders,” Liccardo said in an interview with this news organization. “Ratepayers have a right to ask what’s in it for us.”
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