OAKLAND — PG&E electricity bills will be lower this month, the utility revealed Monday, a decline that continues customers’ reprieve from the the brutal price spikes of recent years.
PG&E cut electric rates further on March 1, on the heels of a reduction that went into effect with the January billing cycle.
“We are delivering on our promise to lower prices for our customers again, even as national prices are expected to rise,” PG&E CEO Patricia Poppe said in a prepared release.
The decrease in bills this month suggests the possibility of an ongoing decline in utility costs for PG&E customers as the year plays out.
“Based on current information, the company expects typical residential electric rates to be lower overall in 2026 than in 2025,” PG&E stated.
The Oakland-based company said it reduced residential electric rates by 1.8% on March 1 compared with the February rates. Electric rates fell 8.3% for customers who received subsidized service through the California Alternate Rates for Energy, or CARE program.
This means typical residential electricity bills will decrease roughly $5.14 a month for the average customer who isn’t receiving a subsidy. Income-eligible CARE customers will see a decrease of about $10.37 a month. A typical customer uses approximately 500 kilowatt hours of electricity a month.
In January 2026, residential customers who received combined electricity and gas bills from PG&E were paying approximately $285 a month. That was about $10 less than what the average customer was paying in January 2025, or a 3.4% decrease.
Starting in January 2026, the average electric bill was $203 a month, down $10 from January 2025, or 3.8% less. The average gas bill was $82, a decline of $2 from January 2025, or down 2.4%.
Even with the declines, the bills are markedly higher than what PG&E customers were paying a few years ago, prior to the severe jumps in monthly bills.
In early 2024, PG&E customers were paying about $294 a month — a shocking 22% higher than the average $241 a month PG&E ratepayers paid in January of 2023.
The average monthly bills in January of 2026 for combined services were 18.3% higher than the average bill in early 2023.
Nevertheless, the current trend of reductions in monthly bills is in line with the vow that Poppe issued in an impromptu interview with this news organization after an event in Richmond in April 2024.
“We see a future where customers’ bills can start to come down,” she said in response to a question about rates.
Since January of 2024, PG&E has reduced monthly electricity bills five times. Since September of 2025, the utility has shaved electric bills for three months, the company says.
Why is this happening? An array of one-time costs, many of them arising from wildfire-related expenses, have drifted out of the rate base.
“Our actions match our promises,” Poppe said. “We’ve reduced electric rates five times since January 2024 and remain committed to finding new ways to save and pass those savings on to our customers.”
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