Your PG&E bill next month will bring you heart stopping news just in time for Valentine’s Day.

February is when the for-profit utility’s record $13.8 billion rate increase that went into effect Jan. 1 will start appearing on PG&E billing statements.

The California Public Utilities Commission noted the average PG&E residential customer will see a $32 monthly jump in their bill this year that will ramp up to an average of $38 per month in 2025 before declining by $4.50 a month in 2026.

That is on top of an additional PG&E rate hike request of $2 billion the utility made less than a month after the $13.8 billion rate hike was approved by the CPUC.

PG&E wants to be able to start collecting on that $2 billion in March, ahead of formal approval of the request.

For PG&E customers in Manteca, Ripon, and Escalon — as well as the vast overwhelming number of the 16 million people that have no choice but to use PG&E electricity — how will they benefit from forking over the extra $32?

The short answer: They won’t.

And based on 40,000 PG&E meters in Manteca, Ripon, and Escalon the amount they will pay for work that doesn’t even indirectly benefit them will be $44 million over the course of the next three years.

The money is going to underground 2,100 miles of power lines in wildfire zones primarily north of the Bay Area and in mountainous regions.

It will essentially reduce PG&E exposure for wildfire damage their inability to manage vegetation under lines as well as keeping their system in repair.

It does have the advantage of assuring a relatively small handful of PG&E customers— compared to the 16 million the utility has overall  — won’t have to deal as often with the prospect of planned power outages.

It is clear the process isn’t cheap.

Based on various data posts by utility firms, private concerns install power lines for new construction so PG&E crews can hook new customers to the system, and organizations such XcelEnergy:

*The cost of underground versus above ground can run a much as 10 times more.

*Underground power lines have a rated life of 40 plus years compared to 80 plus years for overhead lines.

And while buried lines have significantly less maintenance uses, if problems occur it can take days to weeks to pinpoint and repair compared to hours for above ground line.

Bill Schwandt, South San Joaquin Irrigation District electric utility manager, noted the 125,000 or so people plus businesses, farmers, and institutions such as schools in Manteca, Ripon, and Escalon have no choice as PG&E customers to pay what will be, on average, in excess of $1,000 over the next three years to reduce PG&E’s wildfire exposure.

If the SSJID today were providing the three cities within the boundaries of the district retail power, typical households would have not been slapped with the additional $1,000 burden over the next three years to address PG&E’s fixed costs as their pertain to “hardening” segments of their system.

That is on top of the 15 percent more they are paying for actual electricity by PG&E being their retail provider and not SSJID.

As a result between now and the end of 2026, the 40,000 PG&E customers based on the number of meters within SSID territory will be paying:

*$46.5 million more for electricity than if SSJID  was their provider.

*$44 million more for fixed costs — transmission and distribution  -- than if SSJID was their provider.

That assumes there is not any more PG&E increases for electricity or other costs by the end of 2026 which is highly unlikely given PG&E has already filed for another $2 billion rate increase to address wildfire liabilities.

SSJID is nearing the end of a methodical effort being countered every step of the way to exercise rights conveyed by the State of California constitution for irrigation districts to enter the retail power business for public benefit through eminent domain.

The effort started 20 years ago.

There are two steps left.

A right to take trial that will decide whether SSJID has met the threshold of constitutional requirements to use eminent domain for the public good.

Eminent domain is also a power that PG&E has a quasi-public agency for force others to sell or surrender easements.

That trial is scheduled for early 2025.

The final step, assuming SSJID prevails, is a court decision on setting the price for PG&E’s 955 miles of power lines, 40,000 meters, and three substations serving Manteca, Ripon, and Escalon.

Much of that “hardware” in recent decades has been added at the expense of new construction that is required in subdivisions to install underground lines and meters on their dime and then turn them over to PG&E at no cost.

PG&E then uses that equipment to generate profit from electricity sales.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com