PG&E announces yet another increase to 2024 utility bills

Pacific Gas and Electric bills will jump by about $34.50 each month for average households starting Monday, according to an end-of-the-year rate adjustment the company filed with state regulators Friday.

The new forecast — about $2 higher than earlier estimates — rounds out a historic year of PG&E rate hikes the company estimates will increase household gas and electric bills by more than $400 annually compared to 2022.

The California Public Utilities Commission and PG&E executives have said the rate changes are necessary for the company to update its aging infrastructure, meet a growing demand for electricity and reduce the risk of power line-sparked fires after years of disastrous blazes.

Carla Peterman, chief sustainability officer and executive vice president of corporate affairs for PG&E Corp., said in a statement that the company plans to minimize future rate changes to align more closely with inflation.

“The investments we plan in 2024 and beyond focus on three goals: keeping our energy system safe and reliable for our customers, meeting growing energy demand and adding even more renewables to our energy mix,” she said.

Critics, however, decry the rate hike as untenable for most households in California, where utility prices are some of the highest in the country.

Mark Toney, executive director of ratepayer advocate nonprofit The Utility Reform Network, said his organization is pushing the state to establish a cap on rate increases, and said a lack of limits on utility bills are hurting Californians.

“We are in an affordability crisis, the likes we’ve never seen before,” Toney said. “These increases are just unprecedented.”

PG&E bills have risen dramatically over the past 10 years. Average monthly residential bills for electric and gas service jumped from $154.52 in January 2016 to $241.03 in January 2023 — an increase of $86.51, according to data from PG&E obtained by the Chronicle.

And in November, state regulators voted unanimously on one of the biggest rate increases for PG&E in recent memory. The increases reflect PG&E’s four-year budget through 2026 and help set the company’s project agenda, including funding to bury about 1,230 miles of power lines in communities where the risk for wildfires is high.

The rate adjustment PG&E submitted to the PUC on Friday includes increases to account for money PG&E already spent during previous storms and wildfires on top of the four-year budget plan.

These new rates also calculate a decrease in natural gas prices compared to 2023 — an unusual year when natural gas prices spiked amid a series of challenges including the war in Ukraine, gas storage limits and problems with a critical pipeline delivering gas from Texas.

PG&E said January gas bills were expected to be about 9% lower compared to 2023 — a difference of about $17 for the average residential customer’s gas bill.

Reach Julie Johnson: julie.johnson@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @juliejohnson