Year in Review: Definitely not a good one for PG&E

This just in - it has been another record-breaking year for PG&E — and not in a good way.

Only a few years after exiting bankruptcy, doling out $50 million to its new CEO, and reinstating dividend payments to Wall Street shareholders, the company raised rates on its customers FOUR TIMES this year - with a potential FIFTH on the way — adding more than $400 annually to the average bill.

All told, PG&E rates have gone up 118% over the last 10 years — significantly more than the state’s other for-profit utilities, according to a new report from the Public Advocates Office at the state Public Utilities Commission.

But that’s not stopping PG&E from hinting that there are more rate increases in store next year. And potentially into 2026 as well. "PG&E’s rates now are simply unaffordable," said Matt Freedman, with the Utility Reform Network, who notes that one out of three low-income families are having trouble paying their power bills.

At the same time, the company is sitting on $830 million in excess payments — money its customers could be using to pay the rent or cover other rising costs. Literally, wth.

With customer frustration rising, PG&E has started making outlandish claims about how it got here — trying to make everyone forget that its years of mismanagement, deferred maintenance, and multi-billion-dollar wildfire liabilities are a major reason customers’ bills keep going up. In a new explainer the company tries to pin rising rates on “state programs” like renewable power mandates. Huh? In a laughable graphic on “what your energy bill pays for,” PG&E acknowledges that a steady 10% of its revenues keep going directly to company profits. PG&E can try to bury that fact at all it wants, but it's real money: Almost $2.3 billion last year alone.

If all those profits were handed back to customers now or used to defer rate increases (as they would be under a public power system), customers would see a nearly 25% rate decrease.

PG&E’s for-profit model is no longer a good fit for San Francisco, where rising costs and widespread dissatisfaction with the company have led 78% of residents to support the shift to public power.

It’s not complicated: Public power is a better option — and the only way for San Franciscans to finally put an end to the endless cycle of PG&E raising rates, shrugging off customer complaints, and pocketing billions in profits. Last year, San Francisco’s public power utility, Hetch Hetchy Power, saved its customers more than $120 million compared to PG&E. That is the benefit that public power is already delivering today. Now, it’s time to expand it for all of San Francisco.

It’s Our City. It’s Our Power. And it’s time to take it back.

Learn more about public power at the link below — and add your name to our growing list of community supporters who are saying it’s time for full public power now!