Another Rate Increase Proposed By PG&E
Sacramento, CA — The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to vote this Thursday on a proposal that would allow PG&E to increase electrical rates by an additional 2.7%.
It would equate to about $6 more on the average bill. The company is asking for the increase to help offset costs from recent winter storms that caused wide-scale power outages.
The watchdog group The Utility Reform Network (TURN) is opposing the increase and points out that it would be the fourth PG&E rate hike this year. There was an average increase of $34 at the start of the year, a $4 increase in March, and a $6 average increase at the start of this month.
The latest bump up, September 1st, was for wildfire risk reduction projects.
Vincent Davis, PG&E Senior VP of Customer Experience, says in a statement, “We are building a resilient, sustainable energy system to meet our customers’ energy needs now and in the future. As we do this work, we understand our customers’ concern over higher energy bills, and we are taking a variety of actions to stabilize bills without sacrificing safety.”
PG&E continues by stating, “The company is managing more than 200 initiatives to reduce materials, labor and other costs, and is more efficiently planning, executing and automating work to deliver results and future savings for customers.”
