PG&E Customers to Face Significant Rate Hike in the New Year, Following CPUC Approval

Source: ABC 7 |  By Muna Sadek

PG&E customers will see higher energy bills in the new year, following a decision by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The regulatory board approved a new spending plan for the utility company on Thursday, which will result in a 12.8 percent increase to monthly bills for electricity and gas customers.

"Rather than pursuing the lower cost option, we’re out of the gate going with the highest cost option which will be impacting customer rates for a really long time," said Katy Morsony, with Oakland-based group The Utility Reform Network (TURN). "[Insulated powerlines] are the powerlines that stay in the air but they have layers of protection on them so in cases where vegetation blows in, it doesn't necessarily create a fault or a spark." Morsony says she believes price hikes should be dictated based on factors like inflation rates. "What is really astounding here is the degree of the rate increase, especially at a time when customers are already hurting," she said. "We should be limiting how much we see our energy bills go up so that they stay more in lockstep with people's take-home pay otherwise we see what's happening now which is a bigger and bigger piece of people's paycheck going to their energy bills."