PG&E raising rates in March to fund wildfire prevention initiatives
The average customer bill is creeping closer to $200 a month, according to figures released by PG&E.
(File photo by Matthew Keys/Solano NewsNet)
The Pacific Gas & Electric Company will increase its rates for utility services for the second time this year.
In a blog post published last week, a PG&E executive did not point to specifics on its new rate, but said the average customer should expect to pay $8.73 more for service starting March 1.
“That increase includes $5.01 to support additional electric improvement work and $3.72 for gas,” Robert Kenney, an executive in charge of regulatory affairs, wrote in the post.
PG&E acknowledged the rate increase was hitting residents at a time when people are using more power at home because of the ongoing coronavirus health pandemic. The average customer’s utility bill was almost $190 per month, and that will now increase to nearly $200 a month.
But the utility said the rate increase was necessary to fund wildfire prevention and detecting initiatives that the company promised to implement after regulators proved a link between PG&E equipment failures and several destructive wildfires in recent years. PG&E promised the additional revenue wouldn’t be used to pay for legal costs associated with those fires, nor would it be used to cover the salaries of its executives.
“This increase is focused on work to keep our customers and communities safe,” Kenney wrote. “That’s just as important to us as it is to you, because our 25,000 PG&E employees live and work in these same communities, too. We’re your neighbors and your friends.”
Kenney said the company is working hard to keep rates from skyrocketing in the face of its financial and legal obligations and had implemented a strategy to reduce spending by $1 billion through the end of 2025.
It is also seeking to raise revenue through other means, including a sale of licensing agreements with wireless phone companies who need to lease space on utility poles in order to install nodes like the type that support 5G wireless connections. Those licenses are expected to bring in $900 million, Kenney affirmed.
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