Pacific Gas & Electric’s household customers will be hit with an average rate increase of 8% to help the once-bankrupt utility pay for improvements designed to reduce the risks that its outdated equipment will ignite deadly wildfires.
The higher prices, approved Thursday, take effect March 1 and are expected to boost the bills of PG&E’s residential customers by an average of $13.44 a month.
California power regulators approved the increase after two years of wrangling between PG&E and a variety of groups battling to limit how much of the financial burden customers should have to shoulder for the utility’s long-running neglect of a grid that supplies power to about 16 million people in a sprawling area.
