Why Are My Energy Bills So High?
How Utility Companies and a Broken System Are Driving Up Costs:
A Broken Process with No Limits
The system is supposed to work like this: Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs) submit a comprehensive budget plan to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) every 3-4 years, through a process called a General Rate Case (GRC). This base rate is expected to cover their routine operations, maintenance, and infrastructure needs. The idea is simple: utilities create a budget (just as we all do), regulators approve a reasonable amount, and rates are set accordingly. While IOU’s can petition for additional increases to cover unexpected costs between these GRCs, the expectation was never that these incremental increases should become a substitute for poor budgeting or support ballooning profits.
However, instead of sticking to their budgeted plans, utilities are repeatedly asking for more money outside of the GRC process — and they usually get it. These “off-cycle” requests are often for billions of dollars in unplanned or overspent projects. The CPUC has been granting these requests with little resistance, and you pay the difference through rate increases.
Now, there is no real cap and no accountability — across all the major utility companies.
Overspending Without Limits
California’s major private utility companies have adopted a dangerous business model: Spend now. Ask for reimbursement later. IOU’s routinely blow past their approved budgets, then go back to the CPUC to ask for the extra costs to be paid by you, the ratepayer. It would be like us asking our employers to cover our over-extended credit card bills... can you even imagine?
For instance, look at PG&E’s rate request:
Between 2020 and 2022, PG&E was approved to spend $4.66 billion on wildfire safety. Instead, it spent $11.7 billion—more than double the budget. Now PG&E is asking state regulators to approve a $1.237 billion rate increase in 2027 — an 8% hike compared to 2026 rates. Most of that increase is for electric distribution ($991 million) and generation ($305 million).
And PG&E isn’t stopping there. The utility wants an additional 6% increase every year through 2030 — adding up to a 29% higher revenue requirement by 2030 than what’s currently approved for 2026.
That means PG&E customers would pay $11.3 billion more between 2027 and 2030 — even as families continue to struggle with rising costs of living. By 2030, the average PG&E bill could be 14% higher than it is today.