Why Is My PG&E Bill So High?

Nobody likes getting a bill. For Northern Californians, the monthly Pacific Gas and Electric Co. statement can be a particular source of frustration.

A reader named Lisa from Oakland wrote to me with a plea: “I am hoping that you might provide an explanation of our PG&E bills. I am a savvy consumer and it still boggles me when I try to figure it out!”

She’s far from the only one among the utility’s 5.5 million electricity customers and 4.5 million natural gas customers dissatisfied with the PG&E billing experience: It ranked dead last in customer satisfaction among U.S. utility companies, according to the 2025 American Customer Satisfaction Index. (Still, the report notes that PG&E’s score has improved from what it was in 2020 through 2023.)

PG&E’s residential rates are more than twice the national average, and have increased by an average of 12.5% annually for the past six years. From January 2015 to April 2025, residential rates have increased by 104%. So despite the state’s mild climate, which requires less heating and air conditioning, Californians have the 13th-highest electric bills in the country, according to a 2023 CNET analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration data.