Pacific Gas and Electric

Our account is on budget billing. After the winter months (peak season for our account), PGE increased our 'budget billing' to MORE than any prior bill on our account. It is supposed to be an average of prior usage, not an increase based on absolutely nothing. I phoned and asked that we be removed from the program and was assured I would be removed. I received this month's statement and again, it includes an overinflated amount stated as 'budget billing' and when I try to phone PGE there is no option for me to speak with a customer service agent. We are being gouged by PGE for services we have never received. As a side note, the statement reflects a 'credit' yet, it doesn't show up in the amount billed. Not sure how they are doing their accounting but nothing adds up.

On Oct. 12th a PG&E guy in a cherry picker replaced a power pole by our house. In so doing he disconnected the internet wires. He didn't know how to put them back together, so he just taped them off, without reporting to ATT who would have come right out. After restoring electricity, he left without notifying us - or ATT - that our Wi-Fi was down. 3 days later, Oct 15th, ATT came out and discovered the problem. Mel, the guy from ATT said that if they had been notified by PG&E, they could have come right out and fixed it that day. We wouldn't have had to wait 3 days.

I applied for new service March 1, 2018. Anything they asked for was done within 24 hours, including paying $25,000 for 300 feet of service. I paid them that late June. I passed my meter inspection in July. Its now September 24th, and I still have not even been given a date as to when it will be installed. I was told by PG and E employees that management decided to lay off half their install crew earlier in the year. They know we have to go through them, so they couldn't care when the work gets done, as long as we have to pay them upfront. Despite what their commercials say, PG & E truly is a company that does not care about their customers.

For the past 7-8 months, during the construction of our home we tried many many times to get PG&E out to our property to install power, and nothing. We would get told one thing here and another thing there. Until one day we showed up to continue construction on our home, with use of a generator, when we discovered PG&E was there and had cut down a large tree that covered our home from the road along with bushes that acted as a barrier from our house to the road. We did not receive any phone call and there was no concern for what we wanted or any concern for trying to keep any barrier from our house and the road.

I have lived in Alameda, CA fourteen years, so I'm well aware what my PG&E bill should be month-to-month. Imagine my surprise when I get May's bill and it's over fifty dollars more than it should be. I'm a single gal in a small house and only have PG&E for heating water. My bill for this month is normally $18 and change. I'm on the CARE program. After asking me, 1) if I had changed the setting on the water heater? 2) Was someone else living in my home? 3) Did I change my habits? I was told PG&E had been undercharging me, that my Smart Reader wasn't reading correctly to their meter. They went ahead and yanked the $70 out of my account, and immediately I called to be removed from APS, only to receive another letter stating my bill for next month is $68 and I'm still on APS. Now, I have to go to Chase and put a stop on their routing number, and plead for a refund.

PG&E changed my meter to a smart meter, which is capable of recording electrical usage by the day and hour. I hate that the smart meter was forced down my throat against my will, due to the health and danger implications associated with them. But the one positive side, is that my usage can be charted and seen by the month, day, and hour. My home is located in Central CA. and is used as a vacation rental. It is therefore not always occupied. Strange spikes have been recorded at 4, 5, and 6 AM.

My July 21st 2017 electric bill for my 3900 sq ft home where my wife and I live was $505.85 with an additional $66.23 added for "high usage". When I complained to PG&E about the high usage charge they said that my usage was a lot higher than the year before on the same month. I told them that July of 2016 averaged 85 degrees while July of 2017 was in the 100s. Duh, I used more electricity in the hot month and how can you compare the 2 different months of 2 different years when the weather affects how much energy is used for air conditioning? Not fair to penalize when the circumstances are completely different. PG&E said they could do nothing to rectify my concern. I will try PUC. I wish I could understand how the new meters work...

I cannot believe how inconsiderate and how awful PGE has been to my mother. Father recently passed leaving my mother on her own. My mother has worked hard all her life, took care of my father when he became ill, never in a day was my mother ill. So within this last year, my mother had colon cancer, for which they removed 1/2 of her colon, major surgery. Not only the cancer, but heart failures, and other ailments. Its been hard for my mother with her illness and her age of 87 she is always cold, So the heater is always on for my mother. Now to get to my point, I cannot believe that PGE wrote my mother advising her that she is the only one in her neighborhood with the highest usage of gas and electric. My mother could of had another heart attack for the disrespect she felt. No prior letter asking my mother reasons for the high usage, nothing.

I have lived in Palo Alto for about 7 months now, renting. Moved from NC due to husband's job. After his job duties, I cannot wait to head back east. We have never had an energy bill for $900!!! I call and they go down a ** list of what I can do to make it less. When in fact, during the day nothing is running, nothing is on -- if things are on they are not worth a $900 bill. In NC at the most for 2 adults and a toddler. Water was about $40-60 with electric and gas $80 to $150. When I call PG and E, there is no clear answer on the rates, how they charge or how they bill. If you have the gas heater on, not have it on, have an electric heater on or not have it on -- still being charged the same amount. Truly robbing people and I am sick to my stomach. Cost of living is so much in the bay area, which even that baffles me. Why are people and how can they afford this?? It is all robbery and I hope this company changed things soon.

In our Gilroy, CA neighborhood we've had a history of power outages, usually affecting the same number of houses and addresses. This is due to a problem with a power station, and/or lack of redundancy. It's been like this for years with no action from the company, let alone government ineptness. Let's face it, profit drives the greed of companies, aided by agency corruption at all levels, at the expense and lives of ordinary people.

I noticed the greed with this Co. Pig&E. I'm Bakersfield CA being on Social Security. My monthly bill was high. It was summertime. I had an option to pay payments! Which was fine. The following month I was reviewing my bill. When I noticed an amount that was higher than it was supposed to be and the bill was double what I was supposed to pay. So I called them and mentioned the bill. He mentioned that, "Go ahead and pay it." That it wouldn't reflect the minimal amount. I told them that wasn't the amount was suppose to pay. I finally just sent in the amount I was suppose to pay!

Almost Every damn bill there's a new request for a rate increase and there's no competing company to keep rates in check and they have a monopoly on the market.

PG&E offers low income and medical equipment use discounts and free energy savings measures for income qualified persons which includes but isn't limited to installing weather stripping, providing new microwaves, more energy efficient replacement refrigerators. They have ads on TV reporting they were responsible for a gas leak which killed people and are working to become a safer utility companies after paying fines. Becoming a safer utility company is very important and non-negotiable.

This company has a monopoly in Northern California and they keep raising their prices. I have tried for the last year to get on the care program with no success and my bills just keeps climbing. I have had one smart meter catch fire, and I believe that these meters are faulty which my $2880.00 bill reflects. Please bring another company in to help the rising cost from soaring way out of our ability to pay.

I've had this company, PG&E for years, never had to call and complain about anything. Outages happen during storms, but not often and they are fixed pretty quickly. Reliable energy provider.

They do a good job and never had a problem getting through on the phone. But the rates are somewhat high. And it would be nice if I could get them over to help me make my house more efficient. My wife and I are both retired and I am 75 years old and unable to fix weatherstripping and such.

PG&E charges way too much for basic electricity and gas. I could not afford to heat my house last winter, and I'm not sure if I can this winter either.

I live in a small 1100 square foot house and in the summer our bills run over $700.00. We have no pool, do not run air am at work, and was told by one rep we had a malfunction in Smart Meter... Kept questioning them about that and outrageous bill. Same answer. The rep was mistaken and they go over all the things to do. We have been ripped off by this horrendous company for years and there is NOT one thing that can be done. They have us under their disgusting control!!!

I have observed a trend over the last couple of years in that our P.G. & E. bill is higher on gas delivery charges (which you can't prove one way or the other) is higher during our true up Month of January (we have solar). We spend an entire year to build up the credit to pay our final true up bill so that it's at least zero, if not additional credit to roll over for the next year. This year in December our gas delivery between PG & E and Sparks was $85.29. In January it was $278.15. Give me a break if that doesn't look suspicious.

PGE with their electronic meters Overcharge customers. Electronic equipment as we all know has its defects/glitches but PGE uses this to overcharge their customers. They use estimates when they have glitches but it isn't really an estimate just a High usage for the day. See this on electric normally which is hard to prove. But saw it now on Gas. They claim they are going by yearly estimate if they don't get a reading from the system for the day. Baloney!! I use only 1 Therm of Gas during summer every 3-4 days. In spring and fall I used 1-2 per day. This winter with health I have used OCCASIONALLY 3 therms. Normally Only 2 and even only 1 Therm 1 day this current billing. Yet even though for last couple days I have NOT let the heater run all night long, I still got charged for their Estimate as 3 Therms.

PG&E had to remove their meter from our apartment, while the owner had to replace the electrical box. Once the meter was pulled from the apartment, we were completely without power. The owner was kind enough to move us to another apartment while the work was being done. Long story short, there was dispute with the contractor and owner on the work to be done, and the apartment sat vacant for over 4 months. Eventually, the work was completed, the city signed off on the building permit, PG&E replaced the meter, and the electricity was restored to the unit. We moved back in and was surprised to later get a bill from PG&E claiming there was power usage during the time the electricity was off and their meter was disconnected. The owner was just as shocked, and is helping us fight PG&E. Unfortunately, PG&E is so crooked, that they refuse to meet with any of us to discuss the glaring issue. We will be looking for an attorney!

My account is in my mother's name as I have a chronic illness and she helps take care of my affairs. My mother pays for the 2 accounts (hers and mine) with the same card. PG&E assumed my mother was paying her bill twice. They never notified her or me that my bill had gone unpaid for a technical error, and that the money for my month's bill ended up as credit on my mother's. Instead of notifying us, they showed up and discretely turned my water off. My mother called to sort it out and they gave her so much lip at first.

I had my home rented out for a couple of years. The tenants applied for the PG&E low income program without my permission. They forged my signature on a document and PG&E did not even check with me to verify it. PG&E came in and replaced every ceiling fixture in my house with the identical cheap fixture. I checked online and the price for the fixture is about $6.50 each before buying them in bulk. They replaced one $150 fixture with ones that cost a few dollars! They even installed one ceiling fixture on a wall where it looks like a big **! In the bathrooms where I had bronze or gold fixtures, towel racks, lights, etc., they installed all these unmatching silver fixtures. I am furious!

We are a small Business. When we moved the business 16 months ago we had to deposit $1200 to PG&E before they would turn on the gas because we never had them for a business account. We had them at our residence for 15 Yrs. Anyway we ended up depositing $600. Our business uses only gas for air conditioning so we use zero therms during summer. I am upset that they still charge you with the highest daily usage in the past 12 months. They should give us a bonus for being energy efficient.

With Calif. hydroelectric plants along with the concentration of wealth and resources it should have some of the lowest cost electricity in the nation. Instead you pay the highest electric rates in the world. I do not understand the extreme ignorance of the voters of Calif. Decade after decade you vote in the same party that has been ripping you off and never asking why after 47 years in a row of Liberalism controlling the State Legislature. How can a state that has almost every natural resource within its borders, wealth most countries can't even dream of having, an 840 mile long coastline that is home to two of the largest military and civilian ports in the world, ideal weather conditions, and some of the highest taxes in the country, have an infrastructure that has not been maintained or improved for 50 years, virtually no public transportation and be nearly a $Trillion dollars in debt?

Just a heads up regarding what happened and can happen after SMART meter is installed without enough power to reach PG&E; 0150 therms read on 2/11/15 36. 2/13/15 9 am, at pge.com I sent this: I am disputing this latest charge for PGE gas. My records show and so does the meter, that I've used less than 35 therms during the last billing cycle, which shows the amount as 101 therms on your web page here (97 on billing statement). I read the meter on 2/11/15 which shows ONLY 36 therms since last reading on 1/6/15. PGE shows meters were read on 2/2/15. I always read the meter the same day and close to the same time as the meter reader does. PGE online showed THIRTY NINE occurrences of ESTIMATED readings on the gas over several months. It took 3 months to straighten it out and for refunds. Many phone calls, and me just being persistent, THEM just trying to dismiss it out of hand.

Recently turned our vacation home into our retirement home and permanent address. Right away PG&E began hitting us with huge (hundreds of dollars) of high use fees. When we called to find out why, PG&E told us that our usage base was based the amount used by other homes in our neighborhood. When we explained that our home was larger than most in our area, they pretty much told us to "Go Pound Sand"! There is no adjustment or allowance for the size of your home. They expect a 3,000 sq.ft. home to use the same amount of electricity as a 1200 sq.ft. And what's worse, they can charge us these outrageous fees forever! As I see it, it's basically a legal way for them to rob us. Shame on you PG&E.

From the PG&E tariffs on their website, PG&E increased their gas transportation costs by over 110% over the last seven years from 2010 to 2017 or 11.1% per year (ironic just after the 2010 San Bruno pipe explosion). During the TEN year period from 2000 to 2010, these same gas transportation costs increased 27.5% or 2.5% per year. The actual cost of the gas has gone down but PG&E's cost to get it us has risen dramatically. In the meantime, our California governor, a few years ago, appointed an attorney and ex-PG&E vice president to be his secretary and advisor. An investigation occurred where the ex-PG&E vice president, who still held PG&E stock, was advising our governor who to appoint as CPUC directors.

I live in an apartment where the only gas used is to heat water. For the last 6 months, our gas charges have been between 37$ and 34$ dollars each month. When I called to speak with a representative about the high fee for gas (Seeing as we don't have a gas stove, do not have a washer or use heat in our home), she said it was all based on the fee "they" pay for gas - and the fee is passed onto us.

I have a friend who retired from PG&E. They call it Pacific Gas and Extortion. In our home we have a flash water heater and have the heating and air system off at the power box. So basically it is only lights and the well. Our bill is 600 to 800.00 a month. Where is this going?