CPUC Approves PG&E Rate Hikes Beginning in 2024
Press release from PG&E:
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) energy rates will change on January 1, 2024, to pay for continued critical safety investments for its customers and hometowns. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today approved PG&E’s 2023-2026 General Rate Case (GRC). More than 85% of PG&E’s proposed increase, originally submitted in June 2021, was to reduce risk in PG&E’s gas and electric operations.
As part of the GRC, the CPUC approved placing 1,230 miles of powerlines underground in PG&E’s highest fire-risk areas. Undergrounding is permanent risk reduction that eliminates nearly 98% of risk of wildfire ignition from electrical equipment, increases electric reliability by reducing the need for safety-related power shutoffs, and saves customers billions of dollars in reduced annual tree trimming and overhead line maintenance costs.
“We are committed to being the safe operator that the people of California expect and deserve. We appreciate the Commission for recognizing the important safety and reliability investments we are making on behalf of our customers, including undergrounding powerlines to permanently reduce wildfire risk. 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,” said PG&E Corporation CEO Patti Poppe.
The GRC funds these key safety and reliability investments for the benefit of customers:
- Undergrounding 1,230 miles of powerlines in PG&E’s highest fire-risk areas. In addition to being the safest, most reliable, and cost-effective solution, undergrounding benefits all customers through improved air and water quality from fewer fires, protecting wildlands, and improving access to homeowners’ insurance at lower premiums, over the long run. It is one of PG&E’s multiple layers of protection that have reduced wildfire risk from company equipment by 94%[1].
- Replacing 139 miles and 24 miles of plastic and steel distribution pipeline respectively; inspecting 343 miles of transmission pipeline with state-of-the-art tools that run inside the pipeline; strength-testing 43 miles of gas transmission pipeline to assess integrity and reconfirm the maximum allowable operating pressure; employing advanced mobile leak detection technology to quickly find and fix gas leaks to improve safety and reduce methane emissions.
- Increasing electric capacity to support the state’s transportation electrification, affordable housing and economic development goals. Additional electric system investments include grid work to support widespread adoption of electric vehicles to reduce climate change impacts and improve air quality; exploring technologies to use electric vehicles and other energy storage; and microgrid advancements to help improve grid resiliency during extreme weather and peak-energy demand periods.
Ways PG&E Helps Customers Manage Energy Use and Costs
PG&E offers no- and low-cost actions to help customers reduce energy use and better manage monthly energy bills, and financial assistance programs for income-eligible customers.
- Check your rate plan – get a personalized Rate Plan Comparison to find the best rate plan for your personal energy use.
- Take a free Home Energy Checkup to identify wasted energy sources and get a personalized savings plan to lower monthly bills in just five minutes.
- Enroll in Budget Billing to spread out annual energy costs throughout the year to avoid peaks in months of higher use.
- Receive Bill Forecast Alerts when your bill is projected to exceed an amount set by you so you can reduce energy use prior to your next bill.
Customers may qualify for bill assistance including:
- California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) provides a monthly discount of 20% or more on gas and electricity.
- Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) provides a monthly discount of 18% on electricity only. Must be a household of three or more people.
- Arrearage Management Program is a debt forgiveness plan for eligible residential customers who may have experienced pandemic-related hardship.
Customer Bill Impacts
Customer bills may vary based on where they live, energy usage, rate plan, program enrollment, weather in their region, and other factors.
The GRC will increase typical residential non-CARE monthly combined gas and electric bills by an average of 3.6% over three years. It will increase monthly bills by approximately 12.8% in 2024, and have a net decrease in the following years, 2025 and 2026. For example, the typical bill will increase by approximately $32.50 in 2024, $4.50 in 2025, and decrease by almost $8.00 in 2026.
For the typical residential CARE customer, the monthly combined bill would increase by an average of 3.8% over three years. Typical bills will increase by about $21.50 in 2024, $3 in 2025, and decrease by about $5.50 in 2026.
Non-CARE 2024 2025 2026 Annual average Annual incremental change $32.50 $4.50 $(8) % Annual Change 12.8% 1.6% -2.8% 3.6% CARE Annual incremental change $21.50 $3 $(5.50) % Annual Change 13.1% 1.6% -2.8% 3.8%
In addition to the GRC, PG&E will implement additional rate changes as part of an annual process called the “true-up” which consolidates rate changes authorized by the CPUC. These amounts will be final at the end of December.
Rates take effect January 1, 2024, however, customers may not see the change in their bill until February depending on their billing cycle.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/.
[1] Based on the methodology established by the CPUC in the Safety Model Assessment Proceeding and implemented by PG&E, accordingly.
You can read about PG&E’s data privacy practices at PGE.com/privacy.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) energy rates will change on January 1, 2024, to pay for continued critical safety investments for its customers and hometowns. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today approved 
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Anyone seriously believe PG&E promise for a rate decrease in ’26 after the immediate huge increases?
No…
Where does the other 15% of the increase go? Into the pockets of the greedy corporate execs? 🙄
Yep, let’s raise the rates so the wealthy can charge the middle class for EV chargers that the middle class will never use.
Automakers are cutting the amount of EV’s they are producing.
The middle class are defaulting on car loans as it is, and the poor sure aren’t buying EV’s.
……………………………
A new study found that fueling electric vehicles costs roughly $17 per gallon.
In its paper “Overcharged Expectations: Unmasking the True Costs of Electric Vehicles,” the Texas Public Policy Foundation stipulated that the hidden costs of fueling EVs drastically outweigh its low upfront fueling costs. The hidden costs come from an increased burden on the energy grid exerted by charging stations, and an enormous amount of federal subsidies.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/fueling-electric-vehicles-costs-roughly-17-per-gallon-study/ar-AA1jNybH
It’s really worth reading.
I have a friend that owns a Tesla an loves it.
True they are expensive but I can tell you never drove a Electric car just by how biased you are
I pay $2.70/gal (equivalent) to drive an EV because California has some of the highest electric rates in the nation… well not exactly, since I have solar on my roof. Actually, I get a check from the utility company every month since I produce more than I use… how is that hurting anyone?
A base model Tesla goes for about $35K after tax credits. No tune-ups, oil changes, or any of the maintenance a gas car has. Anybody can get FREE solar installed and pay a third party a reduced electric rate… you can lease a solar system at a fixed rate (about 50% less than the utilities).
Much of the bad stuff written about EVs is just stupid and clearly the dying lies of an industry that will go away in a decade. For example, the myth that EVs catch fire. Reality: Gas cars are 20 times more likely to catch fire, and hybrids over 50X.
I would suggest reading more than one article, probably written by someone employed by Big Oil.
More BS from Pacific Graft and Extortion…
This feels like a form of rural socialism.
There’s not a lot of risk of fire or need for undergrounding to supply electricity to towns. This is to supply electricity to outlying areas.
Shouldn’t the bulk of the rate hikes be imposed upon those whose lifestyle choices necessitate these investments?
Then insurance rate hikes should only be passed on to those who have made claims. Instead, everyone’s rates have increased due to things like towns being wiped out due to fires.
You really think that each urban place doesn’t use power sent too it over miles and miles of rural places? You don’t think city people get their goods sent to them over miles and miles of highways passing through rural places? You think that cities are even capable of feeding themselves if not for the food sent to them by rural places? Remember the Oakland Wildfire? Malibu fire? San Diego and it’s Santa Ana winds? Sacramento and its fire risky suburbs? You really think that wildfire wouldn’t burn a city? You think the urban people don’t
Grt their water from rural places? The very urban voters who limit rural places from damaging “their” precious resources like water or wildlife is not a handicap for rural places? Being provincial is apparently not restricted to provinces.
Cmon mannnnnnnnn. You just proved why the support for placing the bird chopping windmills here is a complete abomination for everyone and every living thing who lives in this area. Are the giant bird choppers and cetacean killers not city imposed Democrat totalitarian fake man caused Oscar the Grouch cult edicts put on the backs of the rural deplorable hicks backyards so as to not spoil the view of Democrat socialists in Marin County, Sacramento, and Southern California? Yes, they are. Plus, they get all the electricity generated. Yes,, that is true as well. Thanks for providing another reason for Banning Offshore Windmill Industrial Complexes off the Humboldt and Del Norte coasts. Save the whales and Albatross.
👍 Try putting it at Point Reyes or Stinson Beach, or Santa Barbara. LOL
Bolinas has some great longboard waves. Power lines. Old Hippie surfers rule, good energy. There will never be windmills there because they don’t like anybody, especially government humans. Cmonnnn mannnn.
Have you been able to find any evidence that the offshore wind turbines kill either whales or birds?
You keep saying it but you’ve never been able to back up your claims.
It called burn back better they start the fires on purpose. BIDEN-Newscum-nomics
Huge parts of Santa Rosa burned a few years ago. You don’t remember?
Perhaps your ideas have merit. Let’s isolate cities from the grid and let them produce all the energy they need within their geographic boundaries. While we’re at it, let’s have them produce their own food locally too.
City folks are often oblivious to reality. Without rural resources and the fruits of the labor of rural people, cities would be unable to exist.
The Biden administration announced Friday it’s proposing extending a tax credit to boost offshore wind energy projects, according to Politico.
The tax credit proposal is intended to defray rising interest rates and high steel prices that have made offshore wind energy projects more expensive, Politico reported. The Treasury Department clarified that undersea cables that connect wind farms to the power grid are eligible for tax credits due to the Inflation Reduction Act, according to E&E News.
The Treasury Department’s proposal would make the projects eligible for a 6% base credit, and companies could get additional credits for meeting other criteria, including paying “prevailing wages,” locating the projects in certain communities and using domestic materials, E&E News reported.
Orsted, a Danish offshore wind energy company, announced it would terminate two wind farms being built off the coast of New Jersey on Oct. 31 after mounting financial difficulties.
“Macroeconomic factors have changed dramatically over a short period of time, with high inflation, rising interest rates, and supply chain bottlenecks impacting our long-term capital investments,” Orsted Americas CEO David Hardy said about the decision to halt the projects. “As a result, we have no choice but to cease development of Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2.”
Other major companies involved in offshore wind production, including Siemens and General Electric, have either announced expectations of losses or have sought emergency funding.
https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/17/biden-admin-throws-lifeline-to-drowning-offshore-wind-industry/
It’s a start. But we need to do much, much more.
Unelected gov agency making laws to a prove huge increases. Horrible. This is not right only congress can make laws. Makes me sick.