SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — Pacific Gas & Electric on Thursday announced an almost 10% year-over-year increase in earnings per share, just a day after a California state senator introduced a bill that would limit utility rate increases.
The state’s utility giant said earnings per share reached $1.15 for 2024, compared to $1.05 for the prior year, under generally accepted accounting principles. Its operating cash flow was $8 billion last year, up from $4.7 billion the year before. Additionally, PG&E is focused on a dividend payout of about 20% of core earnings by 2028.
“In 2024, we continued progress in ways that matter to both customers and investors,” PG&E CEO Patti Poppe said in a statement. “We delivered energy safely — our system has never been safer, and we are working to make it even safer.”
But PG&E has come under increasing attack recently. Opponents point to its multiple rate increases last year as the reason for its earnings growth. A growing number of people speak against the utility at meetings of the California Public Utilities Commission, the entity that approves rate hikes.
On Wednesday, state Senator Aisha Wahab, a Silicon Valley Democrat, introduced the Investor-Owned Utility Accountability Act.
“Affordability is something I have always prioritized as a policymaker, and the simple fact is investor-owned utility rates are not affordable for Californians and the residents in my district,” Wahab said in a statement to Courthouse News. “PG&E had six rate increases in 2024, and their annual gross profit for 2023 was $20.23 billion. Those profits are at the expense of ratepayers who are struggling with stagnant wages and high inflation.”
Kellie Buster, the president and founder of Stop PG&E, moved to Missouri when her utility bill became unbearable.
“When my bill hit $850, I blew up,” Buster told Courthouse News in a phone interview.
The rising utility costs led her to start the group, which she said has some 10,000 members. It’s planning an April march and rally at the state Capitol. Buster intends to be there.
Her main priority is to make public utility commissioners an elected, not appointed, office. She also doesn’t want utilities contributing to politicians.
“I’m working with liberals, I’m working with Democrats, conservatives, Republicans,” Buster said. “I’m working with them all.”
Buster’s group isn’t the only one opposing PG&E’s rate hikes.
“While utility executives and shareholders reap billions and spend millions to curry influence with lawmakers, customers are forced to choose between basic necessities and utility bills,” said Lee Trotman, communications director of The Utility Reform Network, in a statement. “This situation demands immediate legislative and regulatory action to curtail excessive profits, eliminate wasteful spending, and protect the public.”
Wahab and other California lawmakers have heard the pushback. Wahab in a statement said the bill would help protect and support the Golden State’s 40 million residents.
The bill has several prongs. It seeks to cap rate increases by investor-owned utilities for residential customers to the consumer price index. It also would stop utility shut-offs for vulnerable ratepayers, including those at or below 200% of the federal poverty line and pregnant and postpartum customers.
Additionally, the bill would increase an investor-owned utilities’ contribution to the Wildfire Fund and lower the amount for ratepayers. Annual equipment audits would occur, with older equipment being replaced.
Also, proposals for executive compensation would be tied to safety metrics.
The bill also calls for a study team to examine the possibility of transitioning away from investor-owned utilities.
The team would examine existing utilities’ operations and impacts, and the benefits and issues of changing to a different kind of utility. If the study determines a change is in people’s best interests, it would write a plan for shepherding that transition.
PG&E in a statement to Courthouse News said it was reviewing the bill and currently had no position on it.
“I’m expecting this bill to be a fight in every committee in both houses,” Wahab said. “But I think Californians have made it very clear they are tired of the status quo. They want substantive change that puts money in their pocket and I’m willing to do the work to ensure — where their utility bill is concerned — we are doing that.”
Buster said her group intended to support Wahab’s effort.
California lawmakers have introduced a handful of bills this session targeting utilities.
Assemblymember James Gallagher, a Yuba City Republican and his chamber’s minority leader, wrote Assembly Bill 286. It would require the Public Utilities Commission to reduce the kilowatt-per-hour rate for electricity by no less than 30%.
Assemblymember Tri Ta, a Westminster Republican, wrote Assembly Bill 99. It would prohibit an electric utility from requesting, and the utility commission from approving, a rate increase over the inflation rate. A majority of customers approving the increase in an election, and utility commissioners determining the rate increase was linked to safety and modernization upgrades, would be exceptions.