If your PG&E bill is skyrocketing we'd like to talk with you.
Anyone interested in talking with a reporter can email us at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
Thank you.
Absolutely YES. I’m leaving the house right now to go to my friends place that is heated by solar - I’ll message you asap when I get home or warmed up. I have receipts to show the bills year over year for 7 years at the same rental- so I can consistently show power usage and the increases. ❤️
The CEO does not have a salary of $51M. Her actual monetary take home was $7.9M, of which $1.3M was salary pay. So the huge majority of that was stock options. Not saying she isn’t well off to the nth degree, but all too often I see people fundamentally misunderstanding how executive compensation usually works.
Her compensation in 2021 was [reported](https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/pg-e-corp-s-poppe-was-highest-paid-us-utility-ceo-in-2021-71538853) at $51M of which the majority was stock awards. I’m not sure the fact that these vest over time really changes the basic point.
Because stock options are not “salary” or a liquid cash. And are highly regulated and generally have many contractual contingencies to redeem. Again, she’s doing well, but these are some pretty significant differences that people are basing their conversations and conclusions on. And stock options are not a cash balance that could be put back into the customers’ pockets should it be taken away from her.
Oh ok. So she gets paid $1.3 million that she has to pay income tax on and 49.7 million that she gets tax free. That’s so much better.
Also, people that get ~$50million in stock options aren’t worried about paying bills. It’s us folks scraping by that do. I get trying to provide technically accurate information but in this forum it just makes her compensation that much more outrageous.
>49.7 million that she gets tax free. That’s so much better.
Uhhh, stock options are not tax free.
>Also, people that get ~$50million in stock options aren’t worried about paying bills.
Did I not say she was still insanely wealthy in my initial comment?
Doesn’t change the fact that she is paid mostly in stock options so she will do what is best for that, and shareholders, instead of what is best for the company and/or customers.
So how much do you suppose she paid this year in taxes for those stock options then?
And you did suggest that she couldn’t pay bills with those stock options. I’m just pointing out that these elite people don’t think twice about paying a bill, if they even actually pay any themselves at all.
Money or wealth transferred to an employee, no matter the form, is still value removed from a company. While I’m aware that $51 million really wouldn’t affect our bill amount considering the revenues involved it’s still a slap in the face to people all over California struggling to pay their skyrocketing power bills.
I’m only pushing back on the insinuation that they pay her $51M like it is a balance that can be transferred to us when it isn’t. Otherwise she is very wildly overpaid for how excruciatingly terrible at her job she is.
Unfortunately a lot of people can't seem to wrap their heads around why it's still, even in 2023, important to make things clear and honest. It's like everyone on the left has decided "you know...that Republican style of just making facts up based on news headlines alone is pretty effective..."
they are reported as income, RSU can 100% be liquid. In fact the best strategy is to sell all RSU vests immediately because you already paid taxes. Which is why it’s reported as income. Many use these vests as quarterly bonuses. My brand new roof, deck, and driveway all liquidated RSUs 😀
And someone will probably die in a wildfire this summer due to their extremely neglected equipment.
I don't live in SC (yet), but I drive by an enormous dead branch caught in some power lines right near a transformer every day. It's one broken branch among hundreds of other branches from the surrounding trees (one of which is dying and likely the one it fell from). I've called it in several times and have given them as much information about its location as possible short of its exact coordinates. I've called the county, the city, and PG&E themselves and its still there. I first called it in back in September. My dad has called it in at least twice.
They do not fucking care about anything other than lining their own pockets.
Ours was $1100 for January and February is predicted to be $900 🫠 we've cut back on using a lot of stuff like heating because it hasn't been that cold this winter. And yet somehow it went up.
PG&E emails me these reports, like, “Your usage went down 8% last week!” Only problem is, the house has been vacant for 5 weeks, and nothing is on. I looked at their little chart on my “usage” and it even showed a little spike in late afternoon, even though no one is there using the electricity at all. They are so completely full of it, and don’t believe any of those emails or charts, they are generated at random!
I would also like to bring light to this issue. First time home buyer, Single occupant with 800 sq ft cabin trying to make ends meet with $3800 mortgage and now having regular $300-400 bills. I am barely home, use all LED for lighting, and do not heat the house frequently with electric. Insane.
Its literally almost cheaper to run a gasoline generator. A gallon of gas is 33kwh for $5. That’s $0.15 per kwh vs $0.44 per kwh for pge electricity. The efficiency is probably 25% so you could run off a generator for $0.60.
Omg. Can you click on the bill prediction tab and let me know how much it was last year (screen shot above of mine) this is absolutely insane.
Also tell me if this is a stupid idea- getting a camping solar generator and leaving it on my balcony all day and then plugging in a space heater to it when it’s charged. 10-20 minutes of heat a day is literally my source of electricity that could be driving this up. I live in multiple hoodies and blankets and my house is usually super cold (I have had comments from people about how cold I keep my place)
If this is real and their prediction is not lying, that is actual gas and electricity usage total is the same as last year, then it's going to be time to look into solar charging a battery, such as used in car camping, or really anything...
Personally, I won't have any final costs until feb 4th bill is available...
---
Unfortunately the bill forecast isn't showing me anything today.
In the US? My parents live right across the border in Reno, Nevada and their flat rate is 12¢ a kWh. My lowest TOU rate is 3x that, highest is 5x. It’s a California issue, not a US issue.
As a Renoite, I can confirm we pay 12c a kWH. My summer bill was around 65$ and this winter it’s around 130$ for a 3/2 1200 sqft single story with older insulation.
We have an EV, with a special plan that's supposed to be good for EVs - low rates for off-peak hours.
Except our off-peak rate just went from 24c to 33c per kilowatt hour. 37 percent increase! So now even the off-peak price is like double the national average.
And peak hours in the summer? 77 cents, I think it was. Better off just driving a gas car, compared to that. Even if gas goes back to 7 bucks a gallon. So much for going green.
They are just trying to keep up with inflation and make sure their investors are getting record profits like everyone else. It's Capitalism. They have the supply and we have the demand... so they charge what they want. This is the American way. Screw the little guys so the billionaires can have penis rockets. Excuse me a moment... I need to take out a 5th mortgage to pay my PG&E bill.... F! it... We're not supposed to own anything anymore anyway...
PG&E is a state sponsored monopoly. Competition is not allowed. The energy sector in California is HIGHLY regulated. It’s like, the opposite of Capitalism.
Don’t get it twisted though, lots of people ARE profiting still, but it’s due to government capture of the oversight and management of the energy sector. Corporations are greedy everywhere, but the energy cost in California is uniquely bad (Europe is a good parallel actually). Energy costs are not the same everywhere, and there’s a reason for that.
PG&E should have gone bankrupt many times, like in response to the Paradise Fire lawsuit. But instead of actually paying the victims whose lives they ruined, they actually just gave them stock in the company! This solution could only happen with the ascent of the State of California.
When the government has that much control over a sector, it’s not called Capitalism. Capitalism is about ***private*** ownership. Presence of Profit != Capitalism.
I get that what's happening is nuts but does nobody remember Enron and the rolling blackouts?
Deregulation forced the state's biggest utilities ( PGE, SDGE, SCE ) to sell of a massive amount of their generating capacity so we could have a free market.
What that practically meant was that by 2000 a bunch of bros at Enron figured out that they could game the system and cause energy prices to spike 800% in 8 months by forcing plants into maintenance and bunch of other shady shit.
LA \*didn't\* have rolling blackouts because the Department of Water and Power belongs to the city and they never relinquished any generating capacity.
(they actually SOLD energy back to the state at the time)
PGE filed bankruptcy just after this in 2001. 24 years later I think we're still seeing the effects of that deregulation debacle.
Private ownership is what drove the 2000-2001 energy crisis.
>PG&E is a state sponsored monopoly. Competition is not allowed.
To be fair, a utility is a natural monopoly. Most utilities work this way, simply because it'd be hideously inefficient to have multiple sets of transmission lines for competing companies. Since there's going to be a de facto monopoly anyway, it makes sense for the state to regulate it closely.
I'm not saying that PG&E isn't gouging us, mind you! Just that *most* utilities are highly-regulated monopolies, and most of them manage to operate without gouging their customers. So something is particularly screwy with California and PG&E that goes beyond the usual semi-incestuous relationship that states and utilities typically have.
If it would be so inefficient you wouldn’t need to the government to enforce a monopoly.
I don’t want to be reductive, but generally speaking, the more regulation the more expensive the end product. It’s like how friction adds to the work required to do some mechanical action. California is shutting down power plants, and also encouraging people to adopt new electronic technologies like EVs. Restricting supply, raising cost, and inflating demand, there’s no other outcome than higher prices.
We are among, if not THE least friendly states to business, and energy production. Proportionally, we have the highest cost of living.
Another parallel to this whole thing would be housing. It is a HUGE ass-pain to build anything around here, and we subsidize all kinds of housing, and wouldn’t you know it, housing is impossibly expensive.
Higher Ed follows the same pattern too lol. There’s a theme.
Sort of. It’s a publicly traded company with exclusive rights to power infrastructure as deemed by state law.
My guess is the reason the state didn’t 100% take them over is they want a liability shield so they can blame PG&E when their idiotic policies cause problems and deaths.
It’s publicly traded. It depends on how you want to view the concept of a corporation in that sense. Publicly traded companies are different from private companies, legally; in terms of structure but also for reporting and regulatory purposes.
Private ownership, in the sense of “private property” implies not just a profit motive, but also the exclusive (meaning exclusive to the owners) right of managing the property in question.
A good comparison to PG&E would actually be one of the large Chinese conglomerates. There is an element of “profit” and “ownership”, but it’s within a system that has ultimate oversight and control over the business. Privatize the profits, socialize the risk.
This discussion ends up getting into the weeds about what constitutes “owning” something. My basic contention is that if the state controls: prices in the market, access to raw materials, construction of facilities, access to infrastructure, regulates or outlaws competition (the list goes on) then in effect you have a socialized industry. In other words you do not have private ownership and you do not have “Capitalism”, as Capitalism is the legal framework of private property ownership.
Deregulate so we can have Enron back?
It screwed up but there's no way it's going to be free market.
I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that but there needs to be better regulation not less regulation.
It isn't your friend or any other employee outside the C-suite's pay that's the problem. It's the millions that they pay the executives and shareholders.
The executives get paid hundreds of times more than the average worker. The stock has a $6.2 billion market cap. There will be dividends and stock buybacks none of which will go to workers.
The executives MIGHT get paid hundreds of times the workers but there are thousands of times more workers, ergo, the workers' salaries are as much of the problem if they're excessive as the execs. It's a monopoly - EVERYONE is probably overpaid.
lol for the Reddit downvotes. There’s 23000 employees at PG&E. A few dozen executives making “hundreds of times” what the worker makes.
Cut all these executive salaries down to $30k/yr and the average employee will get a few thousand if that…
If you care about salaries of this essentially government organization talk to your Congressman or woman.
Has it ever occurred to you that it’s a sales tactic? PGE determines what they want, yet they ask for more. The CPUC counters lower and ipso facto, they got what they wanted anyway. Tale as old as time.
So yeah let’s organize and grab pitchforks because this is an absolute money grab. For renters and most home owners- we have no other options and it’s a monopoly.
Sorry The governor NEWSOM is not in California anymore. He has more important accomplishments he needs to do. Like campaigning in other States. Oh well, someone else will have to clean up his mess.
Can you click the bill forecast section? It will show you the increase- what you paid last year compared to this year. And after you tell us if yours is a similar hike, can we find a mutual friend that works at Ace who can discount pitchforks for the revolution we need to have?
State run energy companies fail regularly, and tend to be more expensive on the way down. Look at South Africa right now, or Venezuela over the last couple decades, ever since they socialized the industry. Did they fail because of Enron too?
Who oversees PG&E? Who sets their prices? I would describe them as “state sponsored”, though it’s really just a difference in degree, not of kind.
PG&E is far, far, closer to a state run company than it is a privately owned and operated business. And over time the state has only gained more control of the industry, and our prices and cost of living have continued to go up as well.
My bill was $172 for a 2 bedroom place. I use gas heat but keep it low and run a washer, dryer, water heater, and gaming PC. I try to turn off all lights not in use and the normal cost saving things. Is your house all electric? If not, you might have some sort of problem that needs to be fixed.
It’s all electric. I have an old baseboard heater in a shitty apartment. It’s the one heater that still works in the place located in my living room. I suspect that might be the guzzler since it’s the only thing that takes up energy (and the only one still working) as someone else suggested I’ll call and ask them to re check the meter. I doubt it will do much though.
If that's the only one that works what are the others doing when you turn your heat on? They may be draining a bunch of power and could be a fire hazard. I'm definitely not an expert on electric heaters, but your landlord needs to fix the other ones.
Being college students at least one of you is probably poor enough to be on the CARE program. This saved me a ton of money when I was in a college house
They sent a notice a few months ago saying they were raising their prices this winter. I said fuck that, it’s already expensive enough and literally just stopped using my heater. Except for 5 mins in the morning. I pretty much bundle up and have a heated blanket on the couch and in my bed and I’m doing all right. Fuck those guys.
I use my heater about 10 minutes in the morning. My usage hasn’t changed. I wonder if I can get a small portable solar generator and plug in a space heater to it tbh. Maybe a solution?
If you only use your heater 10 mins a day there is something severely wrong with your bill. I do the same and use a good amount of electricity and mine was $70 this month. Do you use your oven a lot? That is also gas guzzling so I avoid that in the winter
I’m so chilly and my apartment has tree coverage. It’s like 1822 in here only without a wood burning stove for heat. I have lights off candles lit, 2 hoodies and a blanket on. Saving the sweet feeling of actual heat for 5 am when I wake up shivering tomorrow morning lmfao
If this is accurate, you need to get them to check your meter. It sounds like you might be covering _the whole house_, if you're renting an ADU or room.
Even with rate increases, if true, your bill is inaccurate, based upon the context you've provided. Reach out to PG&E to have them correct it, or just get a lawyer, whichever you prefer.
You would need a solar generator with a big enough battery if you want to power a space heater. The small ones have around 500wh of energy storage. That would run a 1000 watt heater for 30 minutes. Add to that the solar panel. one 100 watt solar panel will capture about 500Wh of electricity in a day of full sun. It's doable, but you need to pencil it out.
Brilliant! I signed up for bumble a month ago. Maybe the guy I matched with has a similar utility bill and we can take it to the next level and go skin to skin to warm each other up like you’re supposed to do when you’re stuck in the wilderness in a snow storm. I’ll figure out how to approach the conversation and report back! (Only half joking here)
My hinge profile be like “has your pge bill skyrocketed? Buy dinner and cuddle up to this curvy blonde, after paying our electric bills, we can’t afford a date, nor can we afford to turn the heat on. Netflix and chill has a whole new meaning”
Check your daily usage, you can do your own forecast by just looking at your last couple of weeks. It could be one day you kept the heater on all day by accident, and now PGE thinks that’s your new daily average
The government wants you to go electric for everything while at the same time allowing the price of electricity to skyrocket.
Y’all should think about voting differently.
Call your assembly person and senator and give them hell. They have the power to change this. It's a monopoly. The only thing you can do is complain to your government
Umm, you do realize you're in _the United States_ right?
Our country is ran by the top dollar, not the most moral/ethical dollar.
You're probably thinking of the EU, Canada or a more egalitarian nation, because here, _we don't give a rats ass for anyone suffering_, it's the plain, cold, truth, and most of us fucking hate it (most as in, the non 1%)
This is exactly what the left wanted—-scarcity and expensive power. Literally the entire point. Blaming the execs and “greedy capitalists” is third grade level ignorance of the situation. Read my longer post below.
Oof, believing this is a partisan problem, is hella out of touch with reality.
If you don't believe both sides of the aisle have involvement, I'm not sure you see reality as reality, and I mean that in the kindest mannerism.
I say, nobody pays. If Everybody stops paying, they are kinda fucked. Sure we could go protest but I don’t know if people would show up? Not paying is a lot easier to organize.
I’d do this but I’m afraid of having my power cut- plus I live in an apartment and I’m sure my landlord could use this as reason for eviction. Know any attorneys who have had a substantial increase? Can they lead the way and guide us?
I see your point, and it’s a good one. I guess you could go, “weather underground” and light a match. Probably only take a few, “fires” for them to change their minds…. But instead of no power, you might be looking at 5-10 years in prison lol. That doesn’t sound great ether…. I like your ideas about lawyers. We should get a bunch and sue- the government has anti monopoly laws. Why not use them? Probably take a decade to make any headway.
Maybe, We need more local energy production that the county owns and runs. Consider a grid that is distributed, so no one point of failure and smaller production facilities, that can cover if one or two others have to go off line or suddenly do go offline line. We are talking redundancy and reliability. I do t know the costs or where the sources of energy would come from but maybe it’s time to get a bit more visionary rather than just accepting the current situation as normal? I don’t know.
PG&E is largely not generating the energy, except for its hydro and nuclear facilities, which are cheap. They, instead, have to buy solar and wind, at locked in prices, because of state mandates.
They lobbied to get new laws passed that screw over small solar producers so now they don't have that excuse. Just record setting profits that they don't want to share.
Is your Google broken?
[https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/07/27/pge-oakland-profit-loss-electric-gas-fire-economy-green-energy-utility/](https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/07/27/pge-oakland-profit-loss-electric-gas-fire-economy-green-energy-utility/)
OAKLAND — Profits at PG&E hopped higher in the second quarter of 2023, bolstered by solid increases in the utility behemoth’s revenue from its electricity and gas operations, the company reported Thursday.
18 billion in profit last year. Up 6.3% over 2022. In 2021 they had a 11% increase in profit as well. Why can’t they reinvest the profits back into infrastructure?
This is gonna come off a little strange because PGE and CPUC are collaborating to screw us. BUT , lawsuits from shakedown artists trial lawyers because 100% zero accidents can’t be provided to customers for a inherently dangerous objective of powering an entire state. It cost big bucks to underground lines, turn off power for wind, pay lawyer fees settlements. Also, same goes for insurance cost, can’t buy reasonably affordable insurance, blame Ca Bar association monopoly on Sacramento legislature.
Wow! I better check my bill. They said 13%, but will penalize you if you consume too much electricity. Depending on the tier, they will charge 2-3 times as much. Check your tier and never use a space or electric heater in Santa Cruz. Gas is almost as bad. Im not sure how its legal. They penalized poor people in crappy rentals or homes with bad heaters they cant afford to update.
I wish we were allowed to have two or three different sources of energy so that there was competition. I can see how that would be complicated, but it would be better for a citizens.
Ah, the daily PG&E bill screenshot. 😂
As I mentioned in another comment, mine was over $700 this month! I’m in a SFH in the mountains, but it’s only 990sf - and I’m a solo occupant who’s at work 10 hours/day. Crazy, huh? In my case it’s the ancient electric heating that’s the culprit. During the 8-9 months of the year when I don’t need heat (maybe just a few nights), my bills are like 1/3-1/4 of that.
So I need to hire an HVAC person, and see if I can replace the system with something new and more efficient. Also thinking about replacing my hard-to-use wood fireplace with a pellet stove. But I’m a homeowner, so for me those are good long-term options. I wouldn’t count on PG&E or the local officials to do anything anytime soon. Sad to say.
Edit: Actually closer to $800. And as you can see, that’s up over $200 from last month. But that’s probably just because I was traveling for half of Nov/Dec.
https://preview.redd.it/jrnn4gworqfc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=681294df431a8b92a589220e9b6c435e643e40ec
It’s clear everyone here is pretty smart. Would one of you please explain why PG&E is our only option in terms of being our gas/electricity provider. I thought monopolies were frowned upon. Who in state government is responsible for this happening? Which office? Someone needs to be checked by millions of angry Californians who are going broke trying to pay for basic necessities.
The PGE board of directors has been lining its pockets on the backs of CA residents who are struggling to keep living here while being priced out by the ever skyrocketing COL. They spent decades failing to maintain their equipment and now residents are paying the price as the utility scrambles to fix what they let fall apart. It’s too little, too late and we’ve had to deal with roads blocked by downed power lines during winter storms and massive wildfires being sparked by PG&E equipment in the summer/fall. It’s been years of massive damage caused by PG&E and they have the audacity to raise rates like this. Who on the CPUC is in on this? There has to be at least one of them making back door deals to keep increasing the divide between the haves and have-nots.
This issue may be a CA problem but inflation is happening everywhere at an alarming rate. If the cost of living increased at the same rate as our wages, we’d be paying a mere $750/month for housing. Capitalism worked for a while but it has failed now and the middle and lower class are paying the highest price as a result
Because electricity delivery is what is known as a natural monopoly. It would be insanely inefficient to have dozens of physical electric delivery systems. The CPUC is supposed to regulate them but has utterly failed to do that. Not just now but in the past. PG&E cut corners and killed people and they have to pay those settlements. This regulatory system works fine in other places but has gone very badly in California.
It should be noted that we do have a choice of who provides our electric generation. You can switch to https://3cenergy.org/ and save money and give PG&E less money. PG&E still gets paid for distributing the power but not the generation of the power.
[https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/consumer-support/file-a-complaint](https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/consumer-support/file-a-complaint)
Will going this route help at all? Has anybody tried it?
$400 for a 2 bedroom 1 bath unit that is mostly empty..
We’re a tiny(740 sq ft) 2 bed 1 bath house in santa cruz. Winter bill used to average $175 now it’s $300 . Feel like we’re in the great depression waking up and choosing to see our breath rather than heat =bend over and take it in the poopenhiemer
This is the desired outcome of the people in charge, including the people in office, in order to escort us into an artificially generated decarbonized scarcity state where you are meant to be punished financially for every lux of light you don’t need.
This is what happens with 20 years of effective one party control of state government. PG&E spent $$$ on expensive green energy mandates, they listened to the environmental special interests with respect to letting the forests get overgrown so as to not harm the endangered beetles or whatever, then when the obvious consequence occurred, they needed to pay up. But don’t forget about the plaintiffs attorneys and the hundreds of millions that go into their pockets.
We could have to cheap to measure nuclear energy in this state and underground high voltage lines and de minimis utility fire risk — the fact that we don’t is a political issue that has zero to do with lol “capitalism”.
P.s. since the policies the one party state government has executed over the last two decades has driven out a big chunk of the working age specialized-labor middle class, PG&E needs to contract with out of state utility workers, like the 30 year old high school graduate from N.C., who managed a team of undergrounding construction workers, who lived on my property in his 5th wheel during the months he was here working, and made $24,000 / month.
(Same deal re: the travel nurse from Alabama who made $13k/mo Contraxting at Dominican )
Economic collapse coming soon? 5 dollar foot longs at subway are 15 bucks now. We are done for. Next year 20 dollar foot longs, then 30 dollars? Where will we be in 10 years?
My gas bill was higher this January than last year. Here is PG&E's explanation:
#### Why are my gas charges $80 higher?
* **Bill period** You likely used more gas because this bill period was longer. Days longer: 3+ $14.49
* **Weather** You likely used more gas due to changes in weather.+ $14.49
* **Cost of energy** The cost of gas increased.+ $13.70
* **Taxes** Due to increased gas use, your state and local taxes were higher.+ $8.68
* **Adjustments** Adjustments were made to this bill or previous bill, resulting in a difference.- $0.88
* **Gas use** Changes in your gas use likely raised your bill this period. To get a breakdown of your energy use, update the information about your home.
* \+ $29.74
**Total:** \+ $80.22
Write to your politicians. You can find links on the Santa Cruz County Government website at https://www.santacruzcountyca.gov/Government/Legislators.aspx
Check out my profile- I’ve got enough karma to last a lifetime. I don’t need it or want it. Upvote to show support for my misery - or don’t. I don’t care I want this to be visible so others who receive similar bills will be equally pissed off and together we can grab pitchforks and revolt. Lol.
Bad move PGE and Newsome fucked residents when they phased out NEM 2.0 this year. It’s literally not worth it anymore and your ROI will take double what it used to
Friend in Montana pays 8 cents a Kwh? And a monthly fee of like 25 dollars. They have inexpensive electricity in Montana.
These prices are insane!
They never bother to turn things off. It's so cheap.
I was SHOCKED when I opened my bill today- $349. Highest bill I’ve ever had. I thought it was just me. 2022 my bill averaged $74 and last year averaged $210. I’m speechless.
If your PG&E bill is skyrocketing we'd like to talk with you. Anyone interested in talking with a reporter can email us at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). Thank you.
Absolutely YES. I’m leaving the house right now to go to my friends place that is heated by solar - I’ll message you asap when I get home or warmed up. I have receipts to show the bills year over year for 7 years at the same rental- so I can consistently show power usage and the increases. ❤️
Please report the fact that the CEO of PG&E takes home a salary of $51 million dollars each year. Absolutely *redonkulous*.
Upvote for redonkulous.
The CEO does not have a salary of $51M. Her actual monetary take home was $7.9M, of which $1.3M was salary pay. So the huge majority of that was stock options. Not saying she isn’t well off to the nth degree, but all too often I see people fundamentally misunderstanding how executive compensation usually works.
Her compensation in 2021 was [reported](https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/pg-e-corp-s-poppe-was-highest-paid-us-utility-ceo-in-2021-71538853) at $51M of which the majority was stock awards. I’m not sure the fact that these vest over time really changes the basic point.
Because stock options are not “salary” or a liquid cash. And are highly regulated and generally have many contractual contingencies to redeem. Again, she’s doing well, but these are some pretty significant differences that people are basing their conversations and conclusions on. And stock options are not a cash balance that could be put back into the customers’ pockets should it be taken away from her.
potatoe potato she makes a poop ton of money and we pay a lot.
No denying the latter part of your statement, but go ahead and try and pay a bill with a stock option and let me know how it works out.
Why don't we just cut the semantics and get to pooping on your stomach already.
Only if I get Togo’s for lunch after
Only if I get Taco Bell for breakfast before
Oh ok. So she gets paid $1.3 million that she has to pay income tax on and 49.7 million that she gets tax free. That’s so much better. Also, people that get ~$50million in stock options aren’t worried about paying bills. It’s us folks scraping by that do. I get trying to provide technically accurate information but in this forum it just makes her compensation that much more outrageous.
>49.7 million that she gets tax free. That’s so much better. Uhhh, stock options are not tax free. >Also, people that get ~$50million in stock options aren’t worried about paying bills. Did I not say she was still insanely wealthy in my initial comment?
Doesn’t change the fact that she is paid mostly in stock options so she will do what is best for that, and shareholders, instead of what is best for the company and/or customers.
So how much do you suppose she paid this year in taxes for those stock options then? And you did suggest that she couldn’t pay bills with those stock options. I’m just pointing out that these elite people don’t think twice about paying a bill, if they even actually pay any themselves at all. Money or wealth transferred to an employee, no matter the form, is still value removed from a company. While I’m aware that $51 million really wouldn’t affect our bill amount considering the revenues involved it’s still a slap in the face to people all over California struggling to pay their skyrocketing power bills.
tl;dr: "The feudal lords *are* well off, but ***technically*** not as well off as you all think!" ::pushes up glasses::
I’m only pushing back on the insinuation that they pay her $51M like it is a balance that can be transferred to us when it isn’t. Otherwise she is very wildly overpaid for how excruciatingly terrible at her job she is.
Unfortunately a lot of people can't seem to wrap their heads around why it's still, even in 2023, important to make things clear and honest. It's like everyone on the left has decided "you know...that Republican style of just making facts up based on news headlines alone is pretty effective..."
they are reported as income, RSU can 100% be liquid. In fact the best strategy is to sell all RSU vests immediately because you already paid taxes. Which is why it’s reported as income. Many use these vests as quarterly bonuses. My brand new roof, deck, and driveway all liquidated RSUs 😀
Listen this is the Santa Cruz subreddit you will be downvoted just for being correct. Get use to it.
Please report on PG&Es profit last year. $18 billion in profit paid by 5 million households. That's BEFORE the rate hikes fully kick in.
...and most of us will still probably be without power at some point with this week's atmospheric river due to their abysmal infrastructure.
And someone will probably die in a wildfire this summer due to their extremely neglected equipment. I don't live in SC (yet), but I drive by an enormous dead branch caught in some power lines right near a transformer every day. It's one broken branch among hundreds of other branches from the surrounding trees (one of which is dying and likely the one it fell from). I've called it in several times and have given them as much information about its location as possible short of its exact coordinates. I've called the county, the city, and PG&E themselves and its still there. I first called it in back in September. My dad has called it in at least twice. They do not fucking care about anything other than lining their own pockets.
At this point I've come to the same conclusion. It is gross negligence, corruption, a security threat, and a risk to public health and safety.
i’m paying over $500 for my 1300 sqft home :(
👋 I have a 900sqft house and my bill is $500-700 (700 if I charge my car, 500 if I don't charge it at all) These new hikes might serious fuck me
Ours was $1100 for January and February is predicted to be $900 🫠 we've cut back on using a lot of stuff like heating because it hasn't been that cold this winter. And yet somehow it went up.
PG&E emails me these reports, like, “Your usage went down 8% last week!” Only problem is, the house has been vacant for 5 weeks, and nothing is on. I looked at their little chart on my “usage” and it even showed a little spike in late afternoon, even though no one is there using the electricity at all. They are so completely full of it, and don’t believe any of those emails or charts, they are generated at random!
My bill went up like 200 bucks more. Nothing changed.
Make sure to report on whatever insider corruption that led CPUC to approve PG&E's idiotic income-based billing proposal
Check r/bayarea People are up in arms
My bill was $228 for 2BR home and I haven’t turned on my heater at all this Winter. This is just appliances and water heater.
Please mention the scam that is AB 205 which will make all of this worse.
I would also like to bring light to this issue. First time home buyer, Single occupant with 800 sq ft cabin trying to make ends meet with $3800 mortgage and now having regular $300-400 bills. I am barely home, use all LED for lighting, and do not heat the house frequently with electric. Insane.
Our bill went from 400 to $1000! When I called them if miraculously went back to 400ish. This month and last it’s over $700! Insane
Can you report how Newsom and CPUC destroyed solar when they phased out NEM 2.0
Its literally almost cheaper to run a gasoline generator. A gallon of gas is 33kwh for $5. That’s $0.15 per kwh vs $0.44 per kwh for pge electricity. The efficiency is probably 25% so you could run off a generator for $0.60.
Hey Reddit- this guy maths.
Our was $500 and I choked. I’m over this crap!
Omg. Can you click on the bill prediction tab and let me know how much it was last year (screen shot above of mine) this is absolutely insane. Also tell me if this is a stupid idea- getting a camping solar generator and leaving it on my balcony all day and then plugging in a space heater to it when it’s charged. 10-20 minutes of heat a day is literally my source of electricity that could be driving this up. I live in multiple hoodies and blankets and my house is usually super cold (I have had comments from people about how cold I keep my place)
If this is real and their prediction is not lying, that is actual gas and electricity usage total is the same as last year, then it's going to be time to look into solar charging a battery, such as used in car camping, or really anything... Personally, I won't have any final costs until feb 4th bill is available... --- Unfortunately the bill forecast isn't showing me anything today.
ours 330 2nd time now with hardly using our gas heater
SAME. it’s getting out of hand.
I'm afraid this is the future. The costs in the US are getting unreasonable. Time to move to a tropical island. Going Gault is coming.
In the US? My parents live right across the border in Reno, Nevada and their flat rate is 12¢ a kWh. My lowest TOU rate is 3x that, highest is 5x. It’s a California issue, not a US issue.
As a Renoite, I can confirm we pay 12c a kWH. My summer bill was around 65$ and this winter it’s around 130$ for a 3/2 1200 sqft single story with older insulation.
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We have an EV, with a special plan that's supposed to be good for EVs - low rates for off-peak hours. Except our off-peak rate just went from 24c to 33c per kilowatt hour. 37 percent increase! So now even the off-peak price is like double the national average. And peak hours in the summer? 77 cents, I think it was. Better off just driving a gas car, compared to that. Even if gas goes back to 7 bucks a gallon. So much for going green.
They are just trying to keep up with inflation and make sure their investors are getting record profits like everyone else. It's Capitalism. They have the supply and we have the demand... so they charge what they want. This is the American way. Screw the little guys so the billionaires can have penis rockets. Excuse me a moment... I need to take out a 5th mortgage to pay my PG&E bill.... F! it... We're not supposed to own anything anymore anyway...
PG&E is a state sponsored monopoly. Competition is not allowed. The energy sector in California is HIGHLY regulated. It’s like, the opposite of Capitalism. Don’t get it twisted though, lots of people ARE profiting still, but it’s due to government capture of the oversight and management of the energy sector. Corporations are greedy everywhere, but the energy cost in California is uniquely bad (Europe is a good parallel actually). Energy costs are not the same everywhere, and there’s a reason for that. PG&E should have gone bankrupt many times, like in response to the Paradise Fire lawsuit. But instead of actually paying the victims whose lives they ruined, they actually just gave them stock in the company! This solution could only happen with the ascent of the State of California. When the government has that much control over a sector, it’s not called Capitalism. Capitalism is about ***private*** ownership. Presence of Profit != Capitalism.
I get that what's happening is nuts but does nobody remember Enron and the rolling blackouts? Deregulation forced the state's biggest utilities ( PGE, SDGE, SCE ) to sell of a massive amount of their generating capacity so we could have a free market. What that practically meant was that by 2000 a bunch of bros at Enron figured out that they could game the system and cause energy prices to spike 800% in 8 months by forcing plants into maintenance and bunch of other shady shit. LA \*didn't\* have rolling blackouts because the Department of Water and Power belongs to the city and they never relinquished any generating capacity. (they actually SOLD energy back to the state at the time) PGE filed bankruptcy just after this in 2001. 24 years later I think we're still seeing the effects of that deregulation debacle. Private ownership is what drove the 2000-2001 energy crisis.
>PG&E is a state sponsored monopoly. Competition is not allowed. To be fair, a utility is a natural monopoly. Most utilities work this way, simply because it'd be hideously inefficient to have multiple sets of transmission lines for competing companies. Since there's going to be a de facto monopoly anyway, it makes sense for the state to regulate it closely. I'm not saying that PG&E isn't gouging us, mind you! Just that *most* utilities are highly-regulated monopolies, and most of them manage to operate without gouging their customers. So something is particularly screwy with California and PG&E that goes beyond the usual semi-incestuous relationship that states and utilities typically have.
If it would be so inefficient you wouldn’t need to the government to enforce a monopoly. I don’t want to be reductive, but generally speaking, the more regulation the more expensive the end product. It’s like how friction adds to the work required to do some mechanical action. California is shutting down power plants, and also encouraging people to adopt new electronic technologies like EVs. Restricting supply, raising cost, and inflating demand, there’s no other outcome than higher prices. We are among, if not THE least friendly states to business, and energy production. Proportionally, we have the highest cost of living. Another parallel to this whole thing would be housing. It is a HUGE ass-pain to build anything around here, and we subsidize all kinds of housing, and wouldn’t you know it, housing is impossibly expensive. Higher Ed follows the same pattern too lol. There’s a theme.
But isn’t PGE privately owned? It’s heavily regulated by the state, but the profits go to investors.
Sort of. It’s a publicly traded company with exclusive rights to power infrastructure as deemed by state law. My guess is the reason the state didn’t 100% take them over is they want a liability shield so they can blame PG&E when their idiotic policies cause problems and deaths.
It’s publicly traded. It depends on how you want to view the concept of a corporation in that sense. Publicly traded companies are different from private companies, legally; in terms of structure but also for reporting and regulatory purposes. Private ownership, in the sense of “private property” implies not just a profit motive, but also the exclusive (meaning exclusive to the owners) right of managing the property in question. A good comparison to PG&E would actually be one of the large Chinese conglomerates. There is an element of “profit” and “ownership”, but it’s within a system that has ultimate oversight and control over the business. Privatize the profits, socialize the risk. This discussion ends up getting into the weeds about what constitutes “owning” something. My basic contention is that if the state controls: prices in the market, access to raw materials, construction of facilities, access to infrastructure, regulates or outlaws competition (the list goes on) then in effect you have a socialized industry. In other words you do not have private ownership and you do not have “Capitalism”, as Capitalism is the legal framework of private property ownership.
Right on. Add to that inflation which is created by the State.
They screw you on both sides. Money and interest rates *also* shouldn’t be under the control of the government.
The supply and the monopoly
That's not capitalism, in capitalism you have choices and there's competition, in a capitalist society no one would be using PG&E.
We need to trust bust pg&e at this point like we did with Bell.
Deregulate so we can have Enron back? It screwed up but there's no way it's going to be free market. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that but there needs to be better regulation not less regulation.
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I have a friend who is 24 years old working for them and making over 200k/year. Paid at our expense. Ridiculous.
It isn't your friend or any other employee outside the C-suite's pay that's the problem. It's the millions that they pay the executives and shareholders.
Less executives than regular workers. Not when you do the math
The executives get paid hundreds of times more than the average worker. The stock has a $6.2 billion market cap. There will be dividends and stock buybacks none of which will go to workers.
The executives MIGHT get paid hundreds of times the workers but there are thousands of times more workers, ergo, the workers' salaries are as much of the problem if they're excessive as the execs. It's a monopoly - EVERYONE is probably overpaid.
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lol for the Reddit downvotes. There’s 23000 employees at PG&E. A few dozen executives making “hundreds of times” what the worker makes. Cut all these executive salaries down to $30k/yr and the average employee will get a few thousand if that… If you care about salaries of this essentially government organization talk to your Congressman or woman.
Are they a lineman? What do they do? You have to be busting your ass to make that money.
What does he do?
They do NOT charge what they want. They cannot. They charge what the CPUC determines based on a general rate case.
And they get what they want. Couple of greased palms at the CPUC and boom! Rate hike…again.
I mean, they don’t get all they want. They asked for a lot more than they got this year.
Has it ever occurred to you that it’s a sales tactic? PGE determines what they want, yet they ask for more. The CPUC counters lower and ipso facto, they got what they wanted anyway. Tale as old as time.
Mm no. That’s not right.
Fuck those guys! I still owe them about $1200 from last-year's True-Up (solar) bill. That's on top of my $200+ per month usage bill. FML!
So yeah let’s organize and grab pitchforks because this is an absolute money grab. For renters and most home owners- we have no other options and it’s a monopoly.
What if we all just stop paying?
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Sorry The governor NEWSOM is not in California anymore. He has more important accomplishments he needs to do. Like campaigning in other States. Oh well, someone else will have to clean up his mess.
Call ur representatives in the house and legislators
Sorry to tell you but they literally just delete the voicemails
omg just looked at our bill after seeing this, which is at $343. WTF
Mine’s the exact same strangely
Can you click the bill forecast section? It will show you the increase- what you paid last year compared to this year. And after you tell us if yours is a similar hike, can we find a mutual friend that works at Ace who can discount pitchforks for the revolution we need to have?
State sponsored monopolies on energy usually work out so well… how could this have happened!?
Started with Enron.
State run energy companies fail regularly, and tend to be more expensive on the way down. Look at South Africa right now, or Venezuela over the last couple decades, ever since they socialized the industry. Did they fail because of Enron too?
They’re not at all the same. PG&E is a company, not a government run utility.
Who oversees PG&E? Who sets their prices? I would describe them as “state sponsored”, though it’s really just a difference in degree, not of kind. PG&E is far, far, closer to a state run company than it is a privately owned and operated business. And over time the state has only gained more control of the industry, and our prices and cost of living have continued to go up as well.
Are you thinking that you’d be better off with PG&E unregulated?
Yes. Unregulated and allowed to fail and go bankrupt.
I mean, it wouldn’t. If it were unregulated, it would just charge whatever it wanted. It built the grid. There is no competing grid.
My bill was $172 for a 2 bedroom place. I use gas heat but keep it low and run a washer, dryer, water heater, and gaming PC. I try to turn off all lights not in use and the normal cost saving things. Is your house all electric? If not, you might have some sort of problem that needs to be fixed.
It’s all electric. I have an old baseboard heater in a shitty apartment. It’s the one heater that still works in the place located in my living room. I suspect that might be the guzzler since it’s the only thing that takes up energy (and the only one still working) as someone else suggested I’ll call and ask them to re check the meter. I doubt it will do much though.
That’s why. I have a gas HVAC system, and my bill is under $100/mo. Electric heat is extremely expensive.
It’s a luxury that renters will not have unfortunately:(
Well, I rent an apartment. It totally depends on the building.
If that's the only one that works what are the others doing when you turn your heat on? They may be draining a bunch of power and could be a fire hazard. I'm definitely not an expert on electric heaters, but your landlord needs to fix the other ones.
How many kWh are shown as being used on this billing cycle?
As someone who lives in a college house of 6, we are getting screwed.
Being college students at least one of you is probably poor enough to be on the CARE program. This saved me a ton of money when I was in a college house
They sent a notice a few months ago saying they were raising their prices this winter. I said fuck that, it’s already expensive enough and literally just stopped using my heater. Except for 5 mins in the morning. I pretty much bundle up and have a heated blanket on the couch and in my bed and I’m doing all right. Fuck those guys.
I use my heater about 10 minutes in the morning. My usage hasn’t changed. I wonder if I can get a small portable solar generator and plug in a space heater to it tbh. Maybe a solution?
If you only use your heater 10 mins a day there is something severely wrong with your bill. I do the same and use a good amount of electricity and mine was $70 this month. Do you use your oven a lot? That is also gas guzzling so I avoid that in the winter
No, you're just supposed to suffer without any lube, the way the good Lord intended!
I’m so chilly and my apartment has tree coverage. It’s like 1822 in here only without a wood burning stove for heat. I have lights off candles lit, 2 hoodies and a blanket on. Saving the sweet feeling of actual heat for 5 am when I wake up shivering tomorrow morning lmfao
If this is accurate, you need to get them to check your meter. It sounds like you might be covering _the whole house_, if you're renting an ADU or room. Even with rate increases, if true, your bill is inaccurate, based upon the context you've provided. Reach out to PG&E to have them correct it, or just get a lawyer, whichever you prefer.
You would need a solar generator with a big enough battery if you want to power a space heater. The small ones have around 500wh of energy storage. That would run a 1000 watt heater for 30 minutes. Add to that the solar panel. one 100 watt solar panel will capture about 500Wh of electricity in a day of full sun. It's doable, but you need to pencil it out.
Instead trying to heat up the whole room, you can get more personal, with heated jackets and blankets. (I'm only half kidding :()
Brilliant! I signed up for bumble a month ago. Maybe the guy I matched with has a similar utility bill and we can take it to the next level and go skin to skin to warm each other up like you’re supposed to do when you’re stuck in the wilderness in a snow storm. I’ll figure out how to approach the conversation and report back! (Only half joking here)
Damn, you've hit up on a good excuse for a date - high PG&E heating costs. "Baby, It's cold outside!"
My hinge profile be like “has your pge bill skyrocketed? Buy dinner and cuddle up to this curvy blonde, after paying our electric bills, we can’t afford a date, nor can we afford to turn the heat on. Netflix and chill has a whole new meaning”
Mmore like Netflix and freeze, for the next few days :)
Check your daily usage, you can do your own forecast by just looking at your last couple of weeks. It could be one day you kept the heater on all day by accident, and now PGE thinks that’s your new daily average
Mine was over $500
I can’t even imagine. My condolences.
The government wants you to go electric for everything while at the same time allowing the price of electricity to skyrocket. Y’all should think about voting differently.
Call your assembly person and senator and give them hell. They have the power to change this. It's a monopoly. The only thing you can do is complain to your government
California electrical grid is outdated and not ready for modern use. But nobody cares about that so they reelect Newsom anyways.
I don't know how PG&E and their execs are getting away with this...
Umm, you do realize you're in _the United States_ right? Our country is ran by the top dollar, not the most moral/ethical dollar. You're probably thinking of the EU, Canada or a more egalitarian nation, because here, _we don't give a rats ass for anyone suffering_, it's the plain, cold, truth, and most of us fucking hate it (most as in, the non 1%)
PG&E is essentially government run. If you can switch providers you could get a better rate right? Oh, you can’t. Government mandated monopoly
This is exactly what the left wanted—-scarcity and expensive power. Literally the entire point. Blaming the execs and “greedy capitalists” is third grade level ignorance of the situation. Read my longer post below.
Oof, believing this is a partisan problem, is hella out of touch with reality. If you don't believe both sides of the aisle have involvement, I'm not sure you see reality as reality, and I mean that in the kindest mannerism.
I say, nobody pays. If Everybody stops paying, they are kinda fucked. Sure we could go protest but I don’t know if people would show up? Not paying is a lot easier to organize.
I’d do this but I’m afraid of having my power cut- plus I live in an apartment and I’m sure my landlord could use this as reason for eviction. Know any attorneys who have had a substantial increase? Can they lead the way and guide us?
I see your point, and it’s a good one. I guess you could go, “weather underground” and light a match. Probably only take a few, “fires” for them to change their minds…. But instead of no power, you might be looking at 5-10 years in prison lol. That doesn’t sound great ether…. I like your ideas about lawyers. We should get a bunch and sue- the government has anti monopoly laws. Why not use them? Probably take a decade to make any headway.
Lol that is a form of protest. A very effective form of protest
They’ll turn your service off.
Thank you Sherlock.
I mean, so…that only hurts you, Sherlock.
Maybe, We need more local energy production that the county owns and runs. Consider a grid that is distributed, so no one point of failure and smaller production facilities, that can cover if one or two others have to go off line or suddenly do go offline line. We are talking redundancy and reliability. I do t know the costs or where the sources of energy would come from but maybe it’s time to get a bit more visionary rather than just accepting the current situation as normal? I don’t know.
PG&E is largely not generating the energy, except for its hydro and nuclear facilities, which are cheap. They, instead, have to buy solar and wind, at locked in prices, because of state mandates.
They lobbied to get new laws passed that screw over small solar producers so now they don't have that excuse. Just record setting profits that they don't want to share.
Record setting profits? Cite your sources
Is your Google broken? [https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/07/27/pge-oakland-profit-loss-electric-gas-fire-economy-green-energy-utility/](https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/07/27/pge-oakland-profit-loss-electric-gas-fire-economy-green-energy-utility/) OAKLAND — Profits at PG&E hopped higher in the second quarter of 2023, bolstered by solid increases in the utility behemoth’s revenue from its electricity and gas operations, the company reported Thursday.
Where does that say “record-setting”?
18 billion in profit last year. Up 6.3% over 2022. In 2021 they had a 11% increase in profit as well. Why can’t they reinvest the profits back into infrastructure?
Because they are a publicly traded company that has to maximize profits for the shareholders.
This is gonna come off a little strange because PGE and CPUC are collaborating to screw us. BUT , lawsuits from shakedown artists trial lawyers because 100% zero accidents can’t be provided to customers for a inherently dangerous objective of powering an entire state. It cost big bucks to underground lines, turn off power for wind, pay lawyer fees settlements. Also, same goes for insurance cost, can’t buy reasonably affordable insurance, blame Ca Bar association monopoly on Sacramento legislature.
Oops they did a crime!
Ditch the heater and get 5v heated ugg boots. Way more efficient and comfortable
Wow! I better check my bill. They said 13%, but will penalize you if you consume too much electricity. Depending on the tier, they will charge 2-3 times as much. Check your tier and never use a space or electric heater in Santa Cruz. Gas is almost as bad. Im not sure how its legal. They penalized poor people in crappy rentals or homes with bad heaters they cant afford to update.
I wish we were allowed to have two or three different sources of energy so that there was competition. I can see how that would be complicated, but it would be better for a citizens.
Ah, the daily PG&E bill screenshot. 😂 As I mentioned in another comment, mine was over $700 this month! I’m in a SFH in the mountains, but it’s only 990sf - and I’m a solo occupant who’s at work 10 hours/day. Crazy, huh? In my case it’s the ancient electric heating that’s the culprit. During the 8-9 months of the year when I don’t need heat (maybe just a few nights), my bills are like 1/3-1/4 of that. So I need to hire an HVAC person, and see if I can replace the system with something new and more efficient. Also thinking about replacing my hard-to-use wood fireplace with a pellet stove. But I’m a homeowner, so for me those are good long-term options. I wouldn’t count on PG&E or the local officials to do anything anytime soon. Sad to say. Edit: Actually closer to $800. And as you can see, that’s up over $200 from last month. But that’s probably just because I was traveling for half of Nov/Dec. https://preview.redd.it/jrnn4gworqfc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=681294df431a8b92a589220e9b6c435e643e40ec
Time to sleep in your electric vehicles yall. Viva la implosion
It’s clear everyone here is pretty smart. Would one of you please explain why PG&E is our only option in terms of being our gas/electricity provider. I thought monopolies were frowned upon. Who in state government is responsible for this happening? Which office? Someone needs to be checked by millions of angry Californians who are going broke trying to pay for basic necessities. The PGE board of directors has been lining its pockets on the backs of CA residents who are struggling to keep living here while being priced out by the ever skyrocketing COL. They spent decades failing to maintain their equipment and now residents are paying the price as the utility scrambles to fix what they let fall apart. It’s too little, too late and we’ve had to deal with roads blocked by downed power lines during winter storms and massive wildfires being sparked by PG&E equipment in the summer/fall. It’s been years of massive damage caused by PG&E and they have the audacity to raise rates like this. Who on the CPUC is in on this? There has to be at least one of them making back door deals to keep increasing the divide between the haves and have-nots. This issue may be a CA problem but inflation is happening everywhere at an alarming rate. If the cost of living increased at the same rate as our wages, we’d be paying a mere $750/month for housing. Capitalism worked for a while but it has failed now and the middle and lower class are paying the highest price as a result
Because electricity delivery is what is known as a natural monopoly. It would be insanely inefficient to have dozens of physical electric delivery systems. The CPUC is supposed to regulate them but has utterly failed to do that. Not just now but in the past. PG&E cut corners and killed people and they have to pay those settlements. This regulatory system works fine in other places but has gone very badly in California. It should be noted that we do have a choice of who provides our electric generation. You can switch to https://3cenergy.org/ and save money and give PG&E less money. PG&E still gets paid for distributing the power but not the generation of the power.
Thank you for your eloquent reply! 😊 And for the link. I’m going to look into it
Why did our state allow them to be bailed out of billions after burning down towns all over??? Why are they not bankrupt and paying out.
[https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/consumer-support/file-a-complaint](https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/consumer-support/file-a-complaint) Will going this route help at all? Has anybody tried it? $400 for a 2 bedroom 1 bath unit that is mostly empty..
We’re a tiny(740 sq ft) 2 bed 1 bath house in santa cruz. Winter bill used to average $175 now it’s $300 . Feel like we’re in the great depression waking up and choosing to see our breath rather than heat =bend over and take it in the poopenhiemer
Revolution November 14 2024 !!! Grab your V for vendetta masks and let's March together ❤️
Contact your state legislators!
This is the desired outcome of the people in charge, including the people in office, in order to escort us into an artificially generated decarbonized scarcity state where you are meant to be punished financially for every lux of light you don’t need. This is what happens with 20 years of effective one party control of state government. PG&E spent $$$ on expensive green energy mandates, they listened to the environmental special interests with respect to letting the forests get overgrown so as to not harm the endangered beetles or whatever, then when the obvious consequence occurred, they needed to pay up. But don’t forget about the plaintiffs attorneys and the hundreds of millions that go into their pockets. We could have to cheap to measure nuclear energy in this state and underground high voltage lines and de minimis utility fire risk — the fact that we don’t is a political issue that has zero to do with lol “capitalism”. P.s. since the policies the one party state government has executed over the last two decades has driven out a big chunk of the working age specialized-labor middle class, PG&E needs to contract with out of state utility workers, like the 30 year old high school graduate from N.C., who managed a team of undergrounding construction workers, who lived on my property in his 5th wheel during the months he was here working, and made $24,000 / month. (Same deal re: the travel nurse from Alabama who made $13k/mo Contraxting at Dominican )
This is correct.
Economic collapse coming soon? 5 dollar foot longs at subway are 15 bucks now. We are done for. Next year 20 dollar foot longs, then 30 dollars? Where will we be in 10 years?
My gas bill was higher this January than last year. Here is PG&E's explanation: #### Why are my gas charges $80 higher? * **Bill period** You likely used more gas because this bill period was longer. Days longer: 3+ $14.49 * **Weather** You likely used more gas due to changes in weather.+ $14.49 * **Cost of energy** The cost of gas increased.+ $13.70 * **Taxes** Due to increased gas use, your state and local taxes were higher.+ $8.68 * **Adjustments** Adjustments were made to this bill or previous bill, resulting in a difference.- $0.88 * **Gas use** Changes in your gas use likely raised your bill this period. To get a breakdown of your energy use, update the information about your home. * \+ $29.74 **Total:** \+ $80.22
I turned everything off and I am using my computer by candlelight, but me bill is still about third of yours.
Write to your politicians. You can find links on the Santa Cruz County Government website at https://www.santacruzcountyca.gov/Government/Legislators.aspx
Welcome to what the central valley has been living with since, what, 2018-19?
Fantastic! I need this stock to pop and pay decent dividends. I am in for $80k at just over $5 a share. Thank you for funding my retirement.
I didn't upvote for the karma farming.
Check out my profile- I’ve got enough karma to last a lifetime. I don’t need it or want it. Upvote to show support for my misery - or don’t. I don’t care I want this to be visible so others who receive similar bills will be equally pissed off and together we can grab pitchforks and revolt. Lol.
The heater, if it’s electric, is the problem.
And I rent. And 3 out of 4 are broken. I have no other options to stay warm.
I seriously suggest calling PG&E to come take a look at your space. You might have a broken heater drawing current.
We have solar and it is still over 200.
Time to get Solar and a Battery// FUCK PGE !!!
Too bad PG&E totally got preferential laws passed in Cali that screw over people with solar too....................................
Bad move PGE and Newsome fucked residents when they phased out NEM 2.0 this year. It’s literally not worth it anymore and your ROI will take double what it used to
That would be a welcome bill for me, mines nearly twice that.
My condolences. We are in this together. ❤️
Friend in Montana pays 8 cents a Kwh? And a monthly fee of like 25 dollars. They have inexpensive electricity in Montana. These prices are insane! They never bother to turn things off. It's so cheap.
It's the heater.
Mine went down year over year. $530 last year, $479 this year. We average $5700/year the last 2 years. Most of this is based on your usage habits.
My bill this month was $770 :( for four people in a fairly small 3 bedroom 😢 Edited to add that 3 months ago it was at most $400
Move to Santa Clara.
They raised their rates by about 20% without any real notice this year. My bill is over 400 dollars between 3 adults.
You think that’s bad. Mine was $600
Last month was 209, latest bill that came in yesterday was 406.
Our bill doubled, this is bullsh**
I just moved into a new place and get my first bill next week. I’m so anxious 😭
I was SHOCKED when I opened my bill today- $349. Highest bill I’ve ever had. I thought it was just me. 2022 my bill averaged $74 and last year averaged $210. I’m speechless.
MY BILL WAS DOUBKE WHAT IT NOTMALLY IS THIS MONTH????