Power customers get break
Rates would increase about 50 cents a month under new deal, not $4
SAN FRANCISCO — PG&E customers could get a big break on their electricity and gas bills under a sweeping deal reached with the utility company, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday.
Instead of an increase of $4 a month in PG&E bills for electricity and gas for the average residential customer, bills would increase only 50 cents a month, PG&E estimated Thursday.
“We’ve been working collaboratively with all parties to reach our goal of a comprehensive agreement,” Steve Malnight, senior vice president of regulatory affairs, said in a prepared release.
The deal included PG&E, the Office of Ratepayer Advocates at the state Public Utilities Commission, The Utility Reform Network and numerous other parties involved in the general rate case. At issue was how much the utility should be allowed to charge electricity and gas customers over a three-year period starting in 2017.
“It’s rare to reach an agreement with PG&E on a general rate case,” said Mark Toney, executive director with TURN. “Our main goal was to stop another big rate increase on the heels of many other rate increases that have been going into effect.”
The most recent jump in monthly bills arrived this week, when PG&E gas bills skyrocketed by 14 percent for the average residential customer.
The gas bills rose sharply to help pay for an array of upgrades, improvements and maintenance on PG&E’s aging gas transmission and storage system.
San Francisco-based PG&E has been undertaking improvements to its gas system in the wake of a fatal explosion in San Bruno in 2010 that killed eight people. Investigators have determined that PG&E’s flawed record keeping and shoddy maintenance, along with lazy oversight by the PUC, coalesced in a lethal combination to cause the blast.
“We are confident that this settlement will allow for investments in safe and reliable energy service that support California’s clean energy goals while keeping typical residential bills well below the national average,” Malnight said.
The utility’s general rate case is a far-reaching proceeding that occurs every three years before the PUC, the agency which approves PG&E changes in rates for electricity and gas. The case will cover a big chunk of PG&E’s revenue requirements for 2017, 2018 and 2019.
“We think the fact that PG&E has already received significant increases in other proceedings was a factor in them being able to accept a lot less,” Toney said. “We got PG&E to slash what it was looking for.”
On Aug. 1, monthly gas bills for the average PG&E residential customer jumped by $6.80, to a new average monthly bill of $55.42 — a 14 percent increase.
The average monthly gas bill — now at about $55.42 after the increases of a few days ago — would remain unchanged under this deal. The average electricity bill, now at $96.94, would rise 50 cents to a new average of $97.44.
Despite this deal, a PUC administrative law judge and the full five-member commission at the state agency would have to approve this settlement or craft a different decision for PG&E power rates.
PG&E had been seeking a total of $1.15 billion more in revenue over the three years covered by the case. With this deal, the utility would capture just $893 million from customers, according to a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s 22 percent less than the company’s initial request for revenue.
“We thought this was a settlement that brought value to the people who are paying the bills,” Toney said. “It protects people from a huge rate shock on top of increases that had already been adopted and are going into effect now.”
“Ourmain goal was to stop another big rate increase on the heels of many other rate increases.” — Mark Toney, executive director with TURN