California regulators approve PG&E's 4th rate increase of 2024

EL DORADO COUNTY — As Pacific Gas and Electric customers already struggle to keep up with their bills, the California Public Utilities Commission approved the company's fourth rate increase in 2024.

The increase was approved Thursday and will add about $6 per month on average to customers' bills.

"More and more people falling behind on their bills. More people than ever are now behind on their bills," said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, or TURN.

Toney said an increase approved in January added about $35 per month. Then, there was another increase in March of $4-5 per month followed by a temporary decrease of 9% in July.

"There's $6 we're talking about now, but guess what? Earlier this month, there was a $6 increase a month in natural gas. Now, PG&E customers pay one bill, natural gas and electricity together," he said.

When you add it all together, he said customers will be paying about $40-50 more per month than they were before the beginning of the year.

"I don't know what the solution is. And we're just the end of a long chain," said Jim and Kim McCarthy, owners of the 50 Grand Restaurant and Bar in Pollock Pines.

The McCarthys said that when they took over the restaurant in 2018, their PG&E bill was about $1,800 a month. It has now more than doubled, even with energy efficient renovations.

"Everything in here is what you need to do to make it more cost efficient yet we went from $1,800 to $4,000," Kim McCarthy said.

Jennifer Teie owns the Green Room Social Club in Placerville and said she has heard from several business owners that they are one bad night away from needing to close.

"We can't spend more to make more in this scenario. We can't keep up with the increases," Teie said.

Toney said there needs to be a cap on how many rate increases PG&E can implement per year, as business owners said they feel left in the dust.

"To keep this restaurant going, I've been working secondary jobs just to be able to continue to fund it. So I haven't actually pulled money out of this restaurant in 6 years," Jim McCarthy said.

To learn more about TURN's advocacy work, click here.

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