Effort to cool bill for heat
Legislation would tinker with PG&E’s tiered rates to lower charges during winter months
SACRAMENTO — A proposal to buffer Californians from unpredictable and skyhigh energy costs to heat their homes in the winter is cruising through the state Legislature with bipartisan support.
Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, says he wrote Senate Bill 711 — which unanimously passed the state Senate this week — after an outcry from Pacific Gas & Electric customers during the chilly winter.
“SB 711 stems from the shock of high heating bills that customers across Northern California felt this winter — many of whom contacted my office,” Hill told his colleagues on the Senate floor Monday.
PG&E uses a tiered system for consumers — charging the cheapest rates for a certain percentage of the energy used and higher rates for the rest. Hill’s bill would make sure average residential customers pay the lowest rate for 60 to 70 percent
of their heating energy usage from November to March, lowering utility bills in the coldest winter months.
It also would require utility companies to predict next month’s bill — and the California Public Utilities Commission to review how those estimates are calculated.
PG&E released a statement Tuesday saying it had programs and tools to help people lower their energy costs, including signing up for energy alerts. “We know that higher-than-expected bills are frustrating, and no one wants a surprise when they open their energy statement,” spokesman Donald Cutler said.
In December and January, the average customer got charged higher rates for 43 percent of their heating energy, according to data from Hill’s office. That’s partly because the winter was colder than usual — but it was also because PG&E included average energy usage in warmer winter months when it calculated the baseline usage for December and January.
In January and February, Andrea Sinclair, of San Jose, got PG&E bills of $687.04 and $681.67 — more than double what she had ever paid before.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Sinclair told this newspaper in March. “We’re barely making it, and now I don’t know how we’re going to survive.”
The bill now moves to the Assembly.