Proposed rate hike would give PGE highest profit rate of any utility in the country
Mar 21, 2025
(KRON) -- Pacific Gas & Electric customers could see their bills increase next year by as much as $5.50. That’s what the utility company sent to the California Utilities Commission for approval yesterday.
PG&E says that prices are going up because their investors expect to be compensated
when providing the utility company with funding. For many customers however, that's a less-than-satisfactory reason for raising already high rates.
On Thursday, PG&E sent a request to California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) asking to increase customers' bills by $5.50 a month. If approved, the rate hike would take effect in January 2026.
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That doesn’t sit well with Executive Director of the Utility Reform Network, Mark Toney.
“I am absolutely stunned that PG&E would ask for such a huge increase in their profits for shareholders," Toney told KRON4.
PG&E says the increase is happening because shareholders in the utility expect to be compensated for four main risks:
Inflation
Action by the federal government
Climate change
Damages caused by PG&E equipment such as wildfires.
Toney says the changes to your electric bills would give PG&E the highest profit rate of any utility company in the country.
“The CPUC should reject the increase that PG&E is asking for,” he said.
PG&E says if the increase is approved, they expect average annual bill increases to be limited to two to four percent throughout 2026, calling it a "Cost of Capital Routine" that’s done every three years.
The proposed increase would come on top of the $3 a month increase that customers are experiencing this year. The Utility Reform Network wants to see changes to PG&E equipment, not monthly bills.
“Insulate your overhead power lines, because it only costs one fifth of burying them underground and that’s going to save rate payers money,” Toney said.
Toney says that this request for a price increase is just one of about 10 that the CPUC has on their desk from PG&E. ...read more read less
