PG&E Rate Increases Here and Coming !

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By BStigers on September 20, 2019.

PG&E, the stateas largest public utility announced yesterday that monthly statements to customers will have two rate increases starting October 1st. Company officials said the average electric bill will be increased by $3.07 and the average Natural gas customer will see $1.73. Both charges have been approved by the Public Utilities Commission. PG&E said these increases will not pay for the liability charges that have amassed against the utility from the 2017-2018 wildfires in Northern California. The company has additional rate increase requests before the commission that would raise the average customer bill by an additional $10.57 a month in the year 2020. PG&E officials say more than half of this additional money would be spent reducing wildfire risks. The status of the company fiscal health is still in limbo and will stay that way until the billions of dollars in settlement of claims from victims of the wildfire disasters are settled to the satisfaction of the bankruptcy court overseeing all company business. There are several other issues with the utility: City of San Francisco offering to purchase assets inside the city for 2.5 billion which could throw a monkey wrench into the bankruptcy proceedings; recent settlements with insurance companies but angry victims; and a wildfire payment plan that died in the legislature earlier in the month. The PG&E story is far from over.