PG&E BECOMES CALIFORNIA'S MOST EXPENSIVE POWER PROVIDER

On Jan. 1,  PG&E started charging 13% more for power. The rate hike – expected to cost an average family another $33 a month – will pay to bury power lines and other wildfire mitigation efforts. But it is likely to be just the beginning of the pain. PG&E has filed paperwork with regulators to raise rates another $24 a month, for the average customer, in March, to pay for storm repairs and more wildfire mitigation costs. On top of that, according to a chart PG&E recently showed  shareholders, the utility indicates it intends to seek even more, to recoup billions it already spent.“We have an extremely bad problem on our hands,’’ said Mark Toney, head of The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a ratepayer advocacy group. He says the utility is playing catchup on rates, having spent far more than authorized for tree cutting and other efforts to reduce wildfires between 2020 and 2022. According to an accounting PG&E submitted to state regulators for that three year period, the utility spent $9.3 billion more than the $4.7 billion allotted in rates by the California Public Utilities Commission for vegetation management.

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