PG&E power rate increase rant

[Richard230]

Has anyone checked their latest Pacific, Gas and Electric bill recently? There is something fishy going on with their rates. Kind of like some sort of shell game. 

I use a low amount of electrical power each month (151 kWh shown on the current bill) and am on the lowest tier of PG&E's rate system. My power bill for August showed an electrical cost of $0.26071 per kWh for the entire month.

Starting with the current billing cycle, PG&E has instituted a new rate system that charges more for "peak" hours of the day (4pm to 9pm, I believe) and less when electrical power is used at other times during the day or night. The reasoning behind this billing concept has to do with California generating a lot of its electrical power from solar which goes offline when the sun goes down. That power then has to be made up by using more expensive sources such as gas turbines.  OK, that makes sense, but it is sure going to screw their customers over during the summer when AC is needed and during the winter if they generate heat using electrical power - as the state government would like everyone to be doing.  (A number of cities, and I believe the state too, are requiring all new homes and commercial buildings to be powered by electricity only and not gas. No more "cooking with gas" like I do at my home built 50 years ago. 

Back to my electric bill: For the period between August 27 and August 30, the rate increased from 26 cents per kWh to a "peak" charge of $0.41972 per kWh and an "off-peak" charge of $0.35628 per kWh.     That seems like quite an increase to me.  For all of October the "peak" charge dropped (relatively speaking) to $0.32264 per kWh and the "off-peak'' charge was $0.30531 per kWh. This is still a substantial increase over the previous month's $0.26 per kWh.

For both months I was given a "baseline credit" of -$0.07575. At the end of the bill I got an "Adjustment" for the "California Climate Credit" of -$17.20, whatever that is. But I do believe that credit only shows up once or twice a year, typically when electric costs go up in order to disguise the rate increase a bit so it helps this month but likely not from now on. 

I feel as though I am at a magic show and am watching electrical prices come and go under three shells to a point where most customers will have no idea what is going on. I give PG&E credit for coming up with a unique billing system that will completely confuse their customers, but it sure is not "customer friendly" - especially for anyone with a weak heart and a tight budget.  And raising prices like that is certainly not going to do anything to promote the sales and usage of electric vehicles.   

[HadesOmega]

Do you have an EV?  I recently bought a Toyota Rav4 Prime (it's where the Empulse buyback money went towards)  and they have an EV rate plan that will lower your rate after midnight to $0.18 kwh.  I couldn't do it before because they won't accept electric motorcycles for the rate plan but they do for PHEVs!  This coupled with my solar panels should help keep the bill down.  All the info you need is the make, model, and the vin# of your EV.  They ask what type of charger you have also level1 or 2.

[Richard230]

Do you have an EV?  I recently bought a Toyota Rav4 Prime (it's where the Empulse buyback money went towards)  and they have an EV rate plan that will lower your rate after midnight to $0.18 kwh.  I couldn't do it before because they won't accept electric motorcycles for the rate plan but they do for PHEVs!  This coupled with my solar panels should help keep the bill down.  All the info you need is the make, model, and the vin# of your EV.  They ask what type of charger you have also level1 or 2.

I only have my Zero and five ICE legacy motorcycles. While I do have a 22-year old Saturn station wagon that I use to drive to the local Ace Hardware store located 3.5 miles away once in a while, it doesn't get driven more than a few hundred miles a year. So buying a new car, EV or otherwise, just doesn't make any financial sense to me.

Since Pacific, Graft and Extortion, with its electrical grid that might go down at any time (although it is excellent at starting wildfires) doesn't have an electrical billing rate plan for electrical motorcycles, all I can do is to recharge during the day before 4pm or early in the morning right after I get up at 5am.   

[Richard230]

Here we go again: In my newspaper today was a "Notice of Public Forums regarding PG&E's 2023 General Rate Case Application". Their proposal to be submitted to the CA PUC is to raise both electric and gas rates by 18% over the next four years. The proposed new rates will increase their income by $3.56 billion in 2023, $930 million in 2024, $590 million in 2025 and $381 million in 2026. These are general increases and likely will be supplemented by additional special rate increases, as was done last January and in the next two weeks.   

As near as I can tell from reading the legal notice, they are raising their rates because they can.   

It sure seems as if electric rates in California are going up a lot faster than gasoline costs with no end in sight.     

[HadesOmega]

Yeah we pay so much here that almost doesn't make sense to have an EV.  They need all the money to pay all the lawsuits against them, in the end we lose.  That's why I built a hybrid solar off grid power plant for my garage to charge my car.

[Richard230]

They are at it again. Two rate increases so far this year and PG&E has just applied for another one.