PG&E's Rate Increases and Operating Utilities Underground

Before you open your next electricity bill, you might want to brace yourself. PG&E is hiking their rates starting this month, and this one is historic. Bills for the average household are expected to jump $34.50 a month and there could be more rate hikes on the horizon. The increase will fund projects addressing wildfire mitigation, especially an unprecedented attempt to bury power lines in high-risk areas. After the new rate hike, PG&E rates will have doubled over the last 10 years. Is all the new work necessary? Is sticking ratepayers with the bill the only option? We’ll talk with energy and utility experts about what this move means for PG&E and for the rest of us.

Guests:

Katherine Blunt, energy reporter, Wall Street Journal. Her recent book is "California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—And What It Means for America’s Power Grid."

Meredith Fowlie, professor, UC Berkeley Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics; faculty director at the Energy Institute at Haas

Mark Toney, executive director, The Utility Reform Network

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