Skyrocketing PG&E rates hitting Central Valley harder than most parts of state

Energy bills are on the rise across Central California with what feels like no end in sight.

Pierre Thiffeault, a Northwest Fresno resident, says his PG&E bill has skyrocketed.

Just last month, he paid a little under $400, and now he's paying close to $1,000.

Pierre says he's done all he can to cut his power use, but the bills keep going up.

"This one's $900. The next one is projected to be $1,100 for this next month. I'm like, that's just not fair," said Thiffeault.

Even though he's taking measures to try and bring the bill down, he isn't seeing his bill budge at all.

"We have our AC set at 84 and then we have a ceiling fan, and we also have the oscillating fans to go back-and-forth," explained Thiffeault.

"We can even turn off the AC in one part of the house and just run it in another section. And it's still like you're sitting in there still sweating."

Thiffeault says his peak-hour rates are going up by about 10 cents week to week. Telling Action News that he feels taken advantage of.

"Do you feel helpless at this point? Yeah, because we don't have any other choices as far as I know it's for electricity. We just have PG&E and that's really not fair as far as us out here just trying to keep cool and use our electricity for anything," says Thiffeault.

PG&E received approval for a 12.8% rate increase in 2024, but that will hit homeowners in the Central Valley harder because we are using more energy amid our sweltering heat waves.

PG&E Spokesperson Jeff Smith says it's a combination of a few things for those in the Valley.

Beyond the increased rates, the tiered system is set up based on the average use across all PG&E customers, so those who live in hot areas can end up paying more.

"Tiered rates means the more energy you use the more you pay per kilowatt per hour you use. Different tiers based on how much energy you use, once you get into that third and fourth tier energy that you're using at the end of your billing cycle cost more than the energy you're using at the beginning of your billing cycle," said Smith.

PG&E says it has tried to provide relief by issuing a 9% rate decrease.

But most haven't felt that relief yet, as it will only apply when this month's bills start rolling in.

"That should have a particular impact in Central Valley because when it's a percentage and usage is higher, the percentage is also means the dollars that'll be reduced by will also be higher," says Smith.

According to PG&E, they asked the state for an increase and were granted it because they needed funds to decrease wildfire risk, recover from the pandemic and bankruptcy, and improve operations.

But Thiffeault says, to him, it feels like he is being asked to subsidize big business.

"There's like no checks and balances it doesn't seem like it, it's pretty outrageous," said Thiffeault.

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