PG&E customers could face up to $840 more in annual bills

A fresh warning over California’s sky-high utility bills suggests millions of state residents could soon be paying even more to keep the lights on.

Pacific Gas & Electric customers could see their annual energy bills increase by as much as $840 by 2030, according to estimates from the California Public Utilities Commission’s Public Advocates Office.

The warning sets the stage for another round of sticker shock for the roughly 16 million Californians served by the utility company, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton told The Post it was an outrageous act of “vicious” price gouging.

He said: “This is just the latest example of the vicious gouging of regular working Californians by Xavier Becerra’s corrupt Sacramento machine.

“We already have the highest electric bills in the mainland, more than double the national average – and now they’re heading even higher thanks to more of the same policies that have doubled bills in the last ten years.

“Instead of a common sense energy policy that uses our natural gas-fired power stations to generate affordable, reliable electricity, the Democrat machine in Sacramento is forcing utilities like PG&E to push windmills and solar farms as the only option. Unbelievably, they’re even putting barriers in the way of renewable hydro power. 

“We can’t go on like this. It’s not just the direct cost of every family’s electric bill – it’s the cost that hits every business and the prices they charge. It’s one of the reasons we have the highest grocery prices in the country.

“And now Becerra’s cronies are pushing costs even higher. The PG&E CEO is quoted as saying ‘There is a world in which bills go down’ – she’s right, it’s when I’m elected in November, take office in January and start dismantling the insane and extreme regulations that do nothing to help the environment but crush working people and small business.”

The forecast is very different from what PG&E Chief Executive Patti Poppe said last year, when she promised customers would not face the big increases that affected households in recent years.

“I’m begging you,” Poppe told the Chronicle in 2025. “Tell the story: Bills will be flat.”

The Public Advocates Office estimated the typical household’s bill could jump by $444 in 2027. By 2030, annual increases could total roughly $840 compared with current levels.

If these predictions are correct, the increases would be even higher than what many Californians experienced in 2024, when the average PG&E household paid about $443 more for energy than the previous year.

“The overall trend is upward and will continue to outpace inflation,” said Public Advocates Office spokeswoman Mary Flannelly.

PG&E disagrees with those estimates.

The utility provider said that average residential customers with both gas and electric service will see their bills go up by about $128 next year.

While the company is asking customers to pay an extra $1.2 billion, cost-cutting steps and the end of some temporary wildfire programs will help reduce the increase, so the average bill will go up by just over $10 a month.

Under PG&E’s own projections, bills would rise another $119 annually in 2028, $126 in 2029 and $133 in 2030.

Company spokesman Mike Gazda said the Public Advocates Office used “simple math” and did not consider factors such as expiring wildfire costs and PG&E’s efforts to control spending.

“Critics love to say PG&E [electricity] rates will go up, but we keep proving them wrong,” Gazda said.

Poppe’s short-term prediction proved mostly correct. Average residential bills for customers with both gas and electric service dropped from $295 in January 2025 to $285 in January 2026, according to PG&E.

Most of this was due to lower natural gas prices caused by global factors beyond the company’s control.

Even so, Californians still pay some of the highest utility costs in the country.

“There is a world where bills can go down,” Poppe told the Chronicle.

The California Public Utilities Commission is expected to make key decisions on new rates beginning in 2027.

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