A fresh warning over California’s sky-high utility bills suggests millions of state residents could soon be paying even more to keep the lights on.
Pacific Gas & Electric customers could see their annual energy bills climb by as much as $840 by 2030, according to estimates from the California Public Utilities Commission’s Public Advocates Office.
The warning sets the stage for another round of sticker shock for the roughly 16 million Californians served by the utility company, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The forecast is very different from what PG&E Chief Executive Patti Poppe said last year, when she promised customers would not face the big increases that affected households in recent years.
“I’m begging you,” Poppe told the Chronicle in 2025. “Tell the story: Bills will be flat.”
The Public Advocates Office estimated the typical household’s bill could jump by $444 in 2027 alone. By 2030, annual increases could total roughly $840 compared with current levels.
If these predictions are correct, the increases would be even higher than what many Californians experienced in 2024, when the average PG&E household paid about $443 more for energy than the previous year.
“The overall trend is upward and will continue to outpace inflation,” said Public Advocates Office spokeswoman Mary Flannelly.
PG&E disagrees with those estimates.
The utility said that average residential customers with both gas and electric service will see their bills go up by about $128 next year.
While the company is asking customers to pay an extra $1.2 billion, cost-cutting steps and the end of some temporary wildfire programs will help reduce the increase, so the average bill will go up by just over $10 a month.
Under PG&E’s own projections, bills would rise another $119 annually in 2028, $126 in 2029 and $133 in 2030.
Company spokesman Mike Gazda said the Public Advocates Office used “simple math” and did not consider factors such as expiring wildfire costs and PG&E’s efforts to control spending.
“Critics love to say PG&E (electricity) rates will go up, but we keep proving them wrong,” Gazda said.
Poppe’s short-term prediction proved mostly correct. Average residential bills for customers with both gas and electric service dropped from $295 in January 2025 to $285 in January 2026, according to PG&E.
Most of this was due to lower natural gas prices caused by global factors beyond the company’s control.
Even so, Californians still pay some of the highest utility costs in the country.
“There is a world where bills can go down,” Poppe told the Chronicle.
The California Public Utilities Commission is expected to make key decisions on new rates beginning in 2027.
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