A week ago, I wrote about PG&E’s record profits and its seemingly never-ending quest to get more rate increases approved by the always-compliant California Public Utilities Commission. I also shared an example of how much our home utility bill has increased, and I invited you to do the same.
Not surprisingly, I got far more responses to that invitation than we have room in the newspaper to print. But, as promised, I’ll be sharing a cross-section of those today.
We’ll get to that. First, though, I want to touch on something else.
At the end of that column, I reminded you that the front-line workers of PG&E are not to blame here. They’re fantastic people who often do Herculean work in their various arenas to keep our lights on, and we should be thankful for them, regardless of how many billions of profit dollars the upper end of the company is yanking out of its customers’ pockets.
I got some great reminders of that this week courtesy of Paul Moreno, PG&E’s marketing and communications principal. He read the column and was quick to reach out with some reminders that should help all of us who are wondering why our bills are so high and are curious if something can possibly be done about it.
Good news — sometimes, there is!
Moreno reminded me that customers with questions about their bill can call the customer service number at 800-PGE-5000 during business hours and ask for a bill analysis. PG&E also offers online tools and information at pge.com, and even a “home energy checkup” that can be done online.
I’ve be sharing that information with everyone who reached out to me about their bill. I encourage the rest of you to check, too. The last thing PG&E wants is more unhappy customers; while it’s fair to complain, it’s also fair to check with them to see if there’s something they can do.
And, about those bills … here’s the promised sampling of stories (horror and otherwise) I was told about this week. I must say I was surprised by the number of people who said they’ve switched to solar — but didn’t always find the financial boon they’d expected.
John D’Ewart, Chico: “A few years ago, my wife and I moved into a new home, so we got solar installed. The first year our ‘True-Up’ was about $100, the next year about $200, then $300. This year it was over $1,700 for such items as transmission, distribution, electric public purpose programs, wildfire fund charge, and taxes and other.”
Tim Milhorn, Chico: “My bill went from averaging $200 to last month’s $545. Yet the Public Utilities Commission keeps granting the increases…”
Janet Owen, Chico: “My horror story isn’t as bad as others, bad enough for me. I’m retired collecting Social Security only. I keep my thermostat at 65, I wear layered clothing and a jacket inside. Minimal washing machine, dryer (electric) and dishwasher use. Leave lights off. TV is on a lot. My recent bill was $217.08.”
Autum Thomas, Oroville: “$1,421.98. Yes, you read that correctly. In February 2023, our bill was $719.76, which was bad enough, considering in 2022 our bill ranged from $250-$450 per month … We’re seriously thinking about selling and moving to Texas or North Carolina. We’d take a pay cut but at this point I think we’d be better off.”
Don Thomas, Orland: “I had not noticed the large bill you speak of because I installed solar panels in 2019. … We are now a two-person family in a 2,080 square foot home. I calculated what our usage was for the last month, and based on the current rate, our electricity would have cost us $310. Natural gas $299 — ugh.”
Paula Wilson, Chico: “We lived in Hawaii for 20 years and moved to Chico a little over two years ago to be near our family. The entire time we were in Hawaii, we heard over and over again that we were living in the state with the highest utility rates in the country. … Our bill was mostly in the range of just shy of $200. So I was looking forward to a cheaper utility bill by moving back to California, even though we would now have both AC and heat to pay for. Since moving here, our bill has only been below $300 in probably three months of each year — the times when we don’t need either heat or AC.”
And on the home front? An analysis of our bill showed our usage was up. How, I’m not sure, considering (as noted in this space a week ago) we’ve gone from four people in the house to two the past few years while replacing every single appliance.
But it is what it is, and as long as we have a Public Utilities Commission (appointed by the governor, approved by the state Senate) whose job could be done much more cheaply if the state just bought a good old-fashioned rubber stamp, it’s not likely to change.
On the bright side, rates are expected to go up only 1.6% next year. So far. Pending future rate increase requests, of course.
Mike Wolcott is the editor of the Enterprise-Record. He can be reached at mwolcott@chicoer.com.
