California utilities company want to increase rate to combat wildfires

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) proposed a rate increase from 2023, the utility said late on Wednesday, adding it would use some of the funds to further reduce wildfire risk and deliver safe, reliable and clean energy service.

If California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approves the proposal, there would lead to a roughly US $1 per day increase in the bills of its electricity and gas customers, PG&E said.

"PG&E's GRC (general rate case) proposal includes approximately US $7.4 billion in new investments from 2023-2026 to help keep customers safe and reduce the impacts of extreme weather and the threat of catastrophic wildfires," the company said in a statement.

"As part of this GRC and other filings, the average residential customer bill is expected to increase about 5 percent annually, on average, from 2021 through 2026," PG&E said in a statement.

Reuters reported that the watchdog group The Utility Reform Network (TURN) was strongly critical of the proposal.

"This mindboggling PG&E increase is a slap in the face to millions of California residents still hurting economically from the pandemic," the group wrote in a statement.

PG&E has around 16 million customers in central and Northern California which has been suffering from catastrophic wildfire.