Business & Real Estate
PG&E is on track for a $575 million rate hike. What it means for your monthly bills
PG&E Corp. took a big step Friday toward getting a rate hike, announcing a settlement with a host of influential consumer advocacy groups on a plan that would increase revenue at the troubled utility by about $575 million a year.
If approved by the Public Utilities Commission, average household bills would increase $4.90 a month for electricity and 79 cents for natural gas service. It’s about half as much as PG&E requested when it filed for the rate hike a year ago, shortly after it was suspected of causing the deadly Camp Fire with faulty equipment.
PG&E said the bulk of the money would be plowed into improving wildfire safety, including stronger power lines and poles, increased tree-trimming efforts and the installation of remote cameras in fire-prone areas.
None of the money will go for paying liability claims or other costs from the string of wildfires, including the Camp Fire, that drove PG&E into bankruptcy in January. PG&E shareholders agreed earlier this week to swallow more than $1.6 billion in wildfire expenses under a penalty to be imposed by the PUC.
The deal announced Friday involves a settlement with several groups, including the two customer-advocate units of the PUC itself and the independent advocacy group The Utility Reform Network, or TURN. The rate increase is expected to take effect sometime in 2020, although it first must be vetted by a PUC administrative law judge and then get approved by the five-member commission.
“This agreement furthers our commitment to ... making our system more resilient to the growing threat of wildfires,” said utility president Andy Vesey in a prepared statement.
Michael Wara, who has been advising the Legislature on wildfire issues and directs the climate and energy program at Stanford, said a rate hike is to be expected in light of PG&E’s commitment to improving wildfire safety. “If we want them to do the things we want them to do, it’s going to cost money,” Wara said.
The settlement came a day after the commission rejected PG&E’s request for an increase in profit margins. The company argued that higher profits are needed to attract investors in an era of continued wildfire risks. The PUC said PG&E’s permitted profit margin is already higher than the industry average.
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