Saratoga News

Deregulation brings PG&E customers detailed billing

By Sarah Lombardo

Saratogans may learn more than they ever needed to know about their Pacific Gas and Electric Company bills beginning this month, when the bills will get a new look.

The new bills will break down the various costs that make up customers' monthly charges, which might catch some customers off guard.

"When people first see the new bill, they go through a sort of electric sticker shock," Scott Blakey, PG&E spokesman, said. "But essentially, much of the costs are charges that have always been there."

Such charges include the transmission distribution charge, which pays for the maintenance of transmission lines and poles; the public purpose charge, which helps fund research and development and assistance programs for low-income customers; a nuclear decommissioning charge, which is required by the federal government to ensure that enough funding will be available to safely shut down nuclear power plants if needed; a competition transition charge, which is designed to recover costs; and a trust transfer amount charge, which Blakey described as a sort of "mortgage payment" for PG&E investments that officials said help lower customers' bills.

"These programs have all been around for a long time," Blakey said. "But people may not have been aware of them."

The new look for the utility bills was necessary because of the deregulation of the utility business, Blakey said. "The new look sort of represents the new look of the power industry in California," he said. Now customers may choose not to buy power through PG&E, but the lines and facilities used to transmit power to customers will still be provided through the company.

Blakey said the new item-by-item charge will also better inform customers. "I look at this, and I just know where each penny is going," he said.

But not all customers are impressed with the new features expected on the utility bills. Said one Saratoga resident, who asked not to be identified, when told of the new features: "Big deal."

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