No Good Deed Goes Unpunished As PG&E Seeks Higher Rates for Frugal Customers

Energy-sipping customers of PG&E may face higher rates, if the California utility has its way. One might think it would be good if people cut down on their energy usage, but PG&E apparently doesn't agree.

PG&E, has filed documents with the state asking for a 5% rate increase for its most energy-efficient customers. The increase would allow PG&E to give price cuts of 2.5 to 5.7% to their largest customers. These are those who use between 131 and 300% of the monthly baseline average.

The document says:

PG&E proposes to increase Tier 1 and Tier 2 rates on all non-CARE residential rate schedules by 5.0 percent and to decrease non-CARE Tier 3, 4, and 5 rates commensurately.

CARE refers to a financial assistance program for low-income homes and housing facilities. So this would refer to those customers not in that program. The tiers are based on usage. Tiers 1 and 2 use the least. They are as follows:

Tier # Description
Tier 1 Up to the Baseline amount
Tier 2 Electricity usage from 101% to 130% of Baseline
Tier 3 Electricity usage from 131% to 200% of Baseline
Tier 4 Electricity usage from 201% to 300% of Baseline
Tier 5 Electricity usage in excess of 300% of Baseline

PG&E saw profits rise 4.6% in the third quarter of this year. This is reminiscent of what happened to East Bay Municipal Utility Customers earlier this year. After a year of drought-induced water rationing, EBMUD said customers were saving too much, and they were losing too much money. So not only did EBMUD remove rationing, they hiked rates.