PG&E bills hop higher, utility seeks further hikes

Higher monthly bills in effect in October

PG& E bills rose on Oct. 1 due to new stateimposed fees, and the utility is seeking further increa ses in mont h ly bills for wildfire costs, according to new regulatory filings by the company.

T his week , electricity bills rose due to an increase that the state P ubl ic Ut i l it ie s C ommission imposed on user fees for all utilities in California.

The new increase in monthly bills for PG& E residential customers is 31 cents a month and resulted from the commission’s mandate, according to PG& E spokesperson Kristi Jourdan.

As of August, PG& E’s residential customers experienced an average bill of $181.21 a month. That included an average residential electric bill of $127.40 and an average gas bill of $53.81, according to PG& E spokesperson James Noonan.

The state regulators a lso a re c on sider in g whether to grant a PG& E request to collect increased revenue — higher monthly customer bills — to pay for wildfire mitigation and catastrophic events.

The powerful regulatory agency hasn’t made a final decision yet on whether to allow PG& E to collect $ 447 million in revenue on an interim basis over a 17-month period.

Under one possible outcome, based on a proposed decision issued by a PUC hearing officer, electric bills would rise on an interim basis by $7.74 a month if collected over a 12-month period.

If collected over a 17- month period from December 2020 through April 2021, electric bills would rise by about $3 a month. Gas bills are unaffected in every scenario.

The PUC proposal to allow PG& E to collect $ 447 million in revenue for wildfire- linked costs is considerably less than the original PG&E request to collect $891 million in revenue on an interim basis.

“This proposal would authorize PG& E to collect funding through customer rates for previously completed safety, storm response, and wild fire response and mitigation work completed between 2017 and 2019,” PG& E said in a regulatory filing.

With PG& E actively pursuing are location of its headquarters to downtown Oakland, a move that is being coordinated with the company’s intent to sell its downtown San Francisco office holdings, the utility said it will work with the state PUC to pass along the cost savings to customers, PG& Es pokesperson Kris ti Jourdan said.

“PG& E has historically worked closely with the PUC to stabilize rates by using cost reductions to offset cost increases,” Jourdan said.