OAKLAND — PG&E customers face an increase in monthly bills during March due to higher charges for electricity — but the utility titan believes it has begun to rein in the pace at which costs are rising.
Monthly bills will rise by an average of about $3 a month for the typical residential customer, starting with the March billing cycle, according to Lynsey Paulo, a spokesperson for PG&E.
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“Beginning on March 1, residential electric rates will increase by 1.5% compared to rates currently in effect,” PG&E stated in a blog post that explains the billing changes.
Oakland-based PG&E argued that monthly bills still compare favorably to the utility cost levels of much of 2024.
“Even with this small increase, PG&E electric rates will still be lower than they were last year,” PG&E stated in the blog post.
In January, a typical PG&E residential customer who was receiving both electric and natural gas services from the investor-owned utility began paying an average of $295 a month for combined services.
That was $1 higher than the $294 a month typical PG&E residential customers were paying for combined electricity and gas services in January 2024. It was also a dramatic turnaround from the increases ratepayers had experienced in recent years.
“We are staying within our target of annual increases of 2% to 4% a year,” Paulo said.
Here is how the monthly bills in January looked for the separate electric and gas components of a combined bill of $295:
— Electric bills averaged $211 a month for residential customers in January 2025, which was a decrease of $11 compared to January 2024, when those bills averaged $222 a month.
— Gas bills averaged $84 a month in January 2025, up $12 from the average gas bill of $72 a month in January 2024.
This means that even with an average increase of $3 a month for the electricity component, the new level for March of $214 a month would still be lower than the $222 a month cost in January 2024.
The average monthly bill for combined electricity and gas services would be in the range of $298 a month for the typical residential customer. That equates to an increase of 1.4% for the March bill compared to January 2024’s average cost.
In recent years, PG&E customers have seen monthly bills surge dramatically. But the company is looking at ways to curb increases, according to PG&E CEO Patricia Poppe.
PG&E’s top boss in April 2024 suggested that ratepayers would start to see monthly utility bills flatten out and someday even fall below the levels at that time.
“We see a future where customers’ bills can start to come down,” Poppe said in response to questions from this news organization about fast-rising ratepayer costs. Poppe made the comments after a PG&E-hosted Earth Day event in Richmond.
One reason why the Poppe prediction could materialize is that some wildfire-related expenses that are now baked into monthly bills could start to depart the ratebase, which could help reduce customer expenses.
“As for the rest of 2025, based on current information, electric rates are expected to decrease slightly in the fall as additional wildfire costs come out of rates,” PG&E stated in the blog post.
Plus, natural gas bills might remain stable during 2025, according to the utility.
“Natural gas rates will not change March 1, and gas delivery rates are expected to be flat for the rest of the year,” PG&E stated in the blog post. “Natural gas supply costs are market-based and change monthly.”
A temporary decrease in monthly bills could occur depending on the outcome of a request that PG&E expects to make of the state regulators.
“Rates could drop another 8%, for a period of 12 months, if the California Public Utilities Commission approves PG&E’s request to spread some vegetation management costs over a longer period,” PG&E stated in the blog post.
