It’s not you, it’s them - PG&E rates rising three times faster than inflation

Nope, you’re not the only one wondering how it’s possible your PG&E bill just keeps going up.

Over the last decade, PG&E rates have risen three times faster than inflation, according to a new report from the California Public Utilities Commission’s Public Advocates Office, a state agency that watches out for utility customers.

MIND BLOWING 🤯 - Since 2014, PG&E rates are up 121%, while inflation has climbed only 36%. "I think what we consider more normal is having rates track roughly with inflation,” Mike Campbell, deputy director of the Public Advocates Office, said last month, “This being so far out of whack with inflation, we don't think should be a status quo.”

You can say that again. The new report finds one in five households in PG&E’s service territory have fallen behind on their energy bills after PG&E raised rates four times last year—adding $400 annually to the average bill. That adds up to almost 1.1 million customers!

PG&E has tried to explain all this away with their usual gaslighting, claiming residential customers “are paying lower bills today than they were a year ago,” according to one spokesperson.

The Public Advocates Office report shows just how misleading this is. Here’s their chart showing how PG&E rates over the last decade compare with other utilities. Spoiler alert: They keep going up.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: San Francisco doesn’t have to put up with PG&E and its broken promises.

There’s a better option. That’s why the City is moving forward with a plan to purchase the local grid from PG&E and provide full public power—where we can set transparent rates and reinvest 100% of revenues back into the power system.

Public power has been operating in San Francisco for more than 100 years, and we’re already achieving this goal: SFPUC customers saved more than $170 million in 2023 alone on electric bills compared to what they would have paid PG&E. Hetch Hetchy Power rates continue to be lower on average than PG&E’s.

Read more about our progress, including a major milestone we reached this spring with the publication of our draft environmental impact analysis, the next step toward purchasing PG&E’s local power assets.

It’s our city. It’s our power. And it is long past time to take it back.

Learn more: www.publicpowersf.org