PG&E wants another $2 billion rate hike in 2024.

And that is on top of the $13.8 billion rate hike  the California Public Utilities Commission granted the for-profit utility less than four weeks ago that goes into effect Jan. 1.

This week’s filing for another $2 billion, if authorized by the CPUC, would start in March. The rate increase is for the electric portion of your bill.

If PG&E receives approval for their latest rate increase request, an average customer will pay between $50 and $60 more a month in 2024 than they are this year.

“A second proposed rate hike, just a few weeks after their initial request to raise prices was approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, is utterly unacceptable,” said Assemblymember Carlos Villapudua, D-Stockton.

“PG&E cannot continue flipping the bill onto unwilling consumers to make up for their own past mistakes. California ratepayers, especially seniors and those on a fixed income, have been struggling over recent years to meet the rising cost of living here. Our constituencies clearly need better protections from these unreasonable rate hikes.”

The latest request piggybacks on the 13 percent rate hike approved in mid-November.

 "Every increase that you hear about is just the tip of the iceberg,' The Utility Reform Network executive director Mark Toney said. "And every increase that gets approved by the California Public Utilities Commission stacks on top of each other.
TURN noted PG&E is asking the CPUC to allow them to start collecting the additional $2 billion on an interim basis in  March before the rate request completes the required regulatory review process.

That means it would be done essentially without public input.

PG&E indicated they are working to make up costs from the last two years to make their electric system safer and more resilient.

"To achieve those goals, we sometimes have to incur exceptional costs to reduce wildfire risk and/or respond to emergency events like wildfires and storms, which exceed what we've previously been authorized to spend in rate proceeding,” PG&E said in a statement.

PG&E said 85% of the previously approved November increase was to improve safety in its gas and electric operations. It says typical bills will increase by about $32.50 next year, followed by a $4.50 increase in 2025 before decreasing by $8 per month in 2026.

Ironically, the CPUC immediately after granting the last rate hike posted on their website on Nov. 16 essentially bragging they had only granted PG&E $13.5 billion of the $15.4 billion they requested.

The CPUC website makes a point that they saved consumers $1.8 billion.

The latest rate hike request not only “wipes out” the rate hike reduction the CPUC stressed that they made but it is actually $200 million more.

PG&E is pursuing a moonshot proposal to underground at least 10 percent of the utility’s 27,000 miles of above ground wires to reduce the company’s exposure to wildfire losses.

Experts have indicated PG&E will need to jack up rates significantly for such work that is expected to cost billions and billions of dollars.

PG&E wants to underground upwards of 1,000 miles a year. That is a major leap from current efforts to bury 70 miles on an annual basis.

PG&E was forced into bankruptcy for a second time after the largest wildfire its equipment has been blamed for starting killed 85 people and destroyed more than 20,000 strictures, most of which were homes of their customers, in and around Paradise.

PG&E pled guilty to 85 counts of manslaughter. The firm has 5 million customers with more than 16 million people depending upon their services.

The CPUC allows PG&E and other for-profit utilities to have a return — basically a profit — that accounts for at least nearly 11 percent of every dollar they collect from customers for transmission and distribution as well as the cost of electricity and gas that is consumed.

That means 11 percent of the already approved $13.8 billion rate hike and 11 percent of the rate hike proposed this will essentially provide PG&E with a more robust profit by adding $1.6 billion to their bottom line.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com