(Dan Rubin Reporting)
The Public Utility Commission is considering PG&E's request for a $12 per customer rate hike over the next 3 years.
A public meeting was held in downtown Fresno Wednesday night to hear concerns about the increase.
PG&E spokesman Denny Boyles said, "This is the amount of money that we need to operate our business for the next three years, and we're asking for this additional revenue to basically increase the reliability and safety of our gas and electric systems."
PG&E has over $15 billion in operational revenue, but in a regulated industry, revenue streams are limited.
Jeff Smith with PG&E said, "We don't make more money based on how much electricity our customers use or how much gas they use."
PG&E puts a lot of the money they make, back into their business. Improvements to the infrastructure, come at a high cost.
Historically, PG&E gets less money than they ask for and the CPUC has much to consider. "They are demanding more accountability from the utility companies, more so than they have in the past," said Ana Montes with the Utility Reform Network.
While PG&E's stock price continue to climb, their expenses have climbed as well. "We know what happened in San Bruno, in terms of pipeline safety, we paid for that. We're going to be paying for that again," said Montes.
If approved by the CPUC, the $12 rate hike would generate over $1.2 billion dollars for PG&E, which they say is not for what happened in the past but for future improvements. "We're owned by shareholders, and our shareholder have incurred about $2 billion in costs associated with San Bruno. What's going on today, and the decision that the CPUC will make from hearings like this one, won't have any impact on that..." said Boyles.
A final decision isn't expected until the end of this year. If there is a rate increase, it will go into effect in 2014 and then be revisited three years after that.