Take a close look at your May electric bill. You just might get
a pleasant surprise.
Take a close look at your May electric bill. You just might get a pleasant surprise.
Pacific Gas and Electric will be paying out $100 million in one-time refunds as part of its rise from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Customers will also receive $799 million in electricity rate reductions in 2004.
Large businesses will be getting refunds as big as $61,000, and the average residential energy user will see an average refund of $10.64.
“The amount of the refund you get depends on how much energy you use,” PG&E Representative Jeff Lewis said. “Anyone who uses a lot of energy will naturally see a bigger refund.”
The Intel Corporation and Cisco Systems are two examples of companies that would get big checks, Lewis said.
Local governments aren’t sure how much they’ll get back, but the city plans to use its refund to pay future electric bills, saving them some cash. The city will spend $49,636 on electricity this month.
“The refund will go toward the monthly energy bill, which will allow us to not have to take money from the general fund,” City Finance Director Barbara Mulholland said. “The general fund provides money for all the activities in the city, so the refund will be helpful.”
San Benito County isn’t sure how much its refund will be, but County Auditor Daniel Vrtis said it will be helpful for the county’s tight budget.
“The money we receive will go into a non-departmental revenue which will then be used to help next year’s budget,” he said.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved a plan for PG&E to provide the refunds as a part its total electric rate reduction plan. The overall rate decrease, which was approved in Feb. 2004, took effect March 1. The new rate structure is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2004. As a result, the CPUC approved the refund relevant to rates paid in January and February.
Customers may see more savings in years to come if federal regulators approve refunds from power generators and suppliers. PG&E plans to continue working with federal and state officials to pursue refunds from energy suppliers who charged excessively high prices for gas and electricity during the 2001 energy crisis.
“Being able to reduce customer rates is one of the cornerstones of the agreement that allowed us to emerge from Chapter 11,” Beverly Alexander, PG&E’s vice president of customer satisfaction, said in a statement released last week. “Each of our customer classes will benefit from the lower rate structure and the one-time refund.”
