PG&E could be allowed to recover over $1 billion total expenses under proposal
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. could be allowed to recover more than $1.4 billion from ratepayers for wildfire mitigation, vegetation management, storm response and other expenses the company had in 2022 under a proposed decision set to go in front of state utility regulators.
If approved, it is not expected to dramatically affect customer bills, according to a company spokesperson.
That’s because PG&E, which says it serves roughly 16 million people in northern and central California, and has collected almost two-thirds of that money from ratepayers through a multi-year payment plan, spokesperson Mike Gazda said.
The company, one of the largest utilities in the country, wouldn’t start collecting the remaining $472 million until after the current payment plan is removed from bills in March, Gazda said. He declined to say what that would mean for utility bills because the proposed decision has not been approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. It can rule on the proposal as early as next month.
“When costs go into rates at the same time that they are removed from rates, it results in a smoother rate impact,” Gazda said in an email.
PG&E’s request to recover such costs is not unusual. But it comes as the company has faced increased scrutiny over its role in sparking major wildfires, its efforts to prevent future ones and the costs customers have to pay in their monthly bills.
PG&E said it was cutting electricity rates and natural gas prices this year and that typical residential bills would drop by about $8 per month combined.
The Public Advocates Office, an independent state consumer agency within the utilities commission, said it was still reviewing the decision but that it supported the cost-recovery plan overall.
Part of the company’s spending in 2022 included a response to storms and a major heatwave, which broke an almost 100-year record in Sacramento.
While the proposal, from an administrative law judge, allows the company to recoup a huge sum. It is not as much as PG&E requested.
It rejects allowing the company to collect more than $350 million as part of a program to trim and remove trees.
The Utility Reform Network, an organization also known as TURN that closely watches and challenges utility filings, said the company knew the program was not cost-effective but kept doing it anyway in 2022.
The suggested decision supports that argument, saying the company acted “unreasonably and imprudently” when it continued the program in 2022 without making changes even as expenses outpaced budgets.
The proposal calls for approving a partial settlement that TURN, PG&E and the Public Advocates Office reached regarding the company’s expenses.
“This proposed decision sends a clear message that ratepayers should not have to pay for unnecessary overspending that doesn’t benefit wildfire safety,” Mark Toney, TURN’s executive director. “We are hoping the commissioners will stand strong and adopt the recommendations.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2026 at 10:02 AM.
