SACRAMENTO, California — Electric bills are going up again for some California customers after state regulators allowed Pacific Gas & Electric to proceed with another temporary rate hike.
The increases, approved unanimously Thursday by the five-member California Public Utilities Commission, will cost PG&E customers an average of $5.16 more per month on their residential electricity bills, according to commission documents. The utility company sought a rate increase to recover approximately $940 million in costs from recent wildfire mitigation efforts and severe storm damages.
It’s PG&E’s third temporary rate within the past 15 months. Regulators approved rate hikes averaging $10.30 a month in July 2023, followed by an additional $5 hike in March.
Those charges came on top of a general PG&E rate hike approved by regulators last November to help PG&E cover the cost of burying power lines to prevent wildfires. Customers began paying an average of $32 more per month on their electricity bills in January.
