December 2009 Bill Inserts

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Each month, PG&E offers important information on rebates, saving energy and safety in printed inserts that accompany your bill. Now, access this information online whenever you wish.

• Lower Your Thermostat This Winter and Earn a Bill Credit
  With PG&E’s Winter Gas Savings program, you can save as much as 20 percent.
  
  We know with the tough economic times, managing your energy bill can be difficult. That’s why we want to introduce you to our Winter Gas Savings program. It’s an easy way to save as much as 20 percent on your winter gas bill.
  
  Here’s how the Winter Gas Savings program works:
  

  • PG&E customers are automatically enrolled.
  • Simply reduce your gas usage by 10 percent or more in January and February and receive a 20 percent credit on your bill this spring.
  • If your gas savings is below 10 percent, you’ll receive a one-to-one credit (e.g., save 5 percent and earn a 5 percent credit).
  • The more you reduce, the more you earn.

  
  With our online tips, tools and resources, conserving gas can be easier than you ever imagined. Simply go to our interactive Web site, where you can:
  

  • Print a list of more than a dozen gas-saving tips for every area of your home.
  • Download a desktop tool that delivers daily tips.
  • Check out a savings calculator that highlights small adjustments that can result in big savings.
  • Send a talking appliance-gram to friends and family asking them to save, too.

  
  Visit www.pge.com/wintergassavings and start saving today.
• Notification of Application Filing by Pacific Gas and Electric Company: The Manzana Wind Project (A. 09-12-002)
  What is the Manzana Wind Project?
  
  Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is seeking approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to construct, own and operate the Manzana Wind Project (Project), a proposed wind generation facility to be constructed in eastern Kern County, in the Tehachapi region of southern California. The Project will range in size from 189 Megawatts (MW) to 246 MW, and is forecast to be operational by December 31, 2011. The project is intended to help meet California’s renewable energy goals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  
  Information about PG&E’s Application:
  
  On December 3, 2009, PG&E filed Application 09-12-002 (Application) with the CPUC, in which PG&E requests authority to collect in electric generation rates the costs associated with purchasing the Project development rights and constructing, owning and operating the Project. If the CPUC approves PG&E’s Application, recovery of costs in electric rates will begin in 2012.
  
  Will electric rates increase as a result of this project?
  
  Yes. PG&E is requesting an increase in electric rates for the costs associated with the Project. If the CPUC approves PG&E’s Application, rates for existing bundled customers (those who receive electric generation as well as transmission and distribution services from PG&E) will increase by $131.8 million, or 1.1 percent, in 2012 (relative to current rates), which is when the project is expected to be operational. PG&E proposes to recover in rates the cost of the facility over its expected 30-year life. The rates for the first year of recovery will decline each year thereafter as the project costs are depreciated. In general, rates for existing direct access customers (those who purchase their electricity from non-PG&E suppliers) will not be subject to change. Finally, customers who depart PG&E’s bundled service in the future may be responsible for a portion of these costs via a non-bypassable charge. The rate changes proposed in PG&E’s Application for 2012 are provided by customer class in the table below.
  
  
  
  If the CPUC approves PG&E’s Application, the average monthly bill for a typical bundled residential customer using 550 kilowatt-hours per month will change from $74.13 to $74.38, an increase of $0.25 per month. The average monthly bill for a bundled residential customer using 850 kilowatt-hours per month, which is about twice the baseline allowance, will change from $164.15 to $166.04, an increase of $1.89 per month. Individual bills may differ.
  
  THE CPUC PROCESS
  
  The CPUC’s Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA) will review this Application. DRA is an independent arm of the CPUC, created by the Legislature to represent the interests of all utility customers throughout the state and obtain the lowest possible rate for service consistent with reliable and safe service levels. DRA has a multi-disciplinary staff with expertise in economics, finance, accounting and engineering. DRA’s views do not necessarily reflect those of the CPUC. Other parties of record will also participate.
  
  The CPUC may hold evidentiary hearings where parties of record present their proposals in testimony and are subject to cross-examination before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). These hearings are open to the public, but only those who are parties of record can present evidence or cross-examine witnesses during evidentiary hearings. Members of the public may attend, but not participate in, these hearings.
  
  After considering all proposals and evidence presented during the hearing process, the ALJ will issue a draft decision. When the CPUC acts on this Application, it may adopt all or part of PG&E’s request, amend or modify it or deny the Application. The CPUC’s final decision may be different from PG&E’s proposed Application filing.
  
  FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
  
  For more details call PG&E at 1-800-PGE-5000.
  
  If you have questions regarding the proposed project, please contact PG&E at the phone numbers noted above. If you would like a copy of the application and exhibits, please write to PG&E at the address listed below:
  
  Pacific Gas and Electric Company
  Manzana Wind Project Application
  P.O. Box 7442, San Francisco, CA 94120
  
  You may also contact the CPUC’s Public Advisor with comments:
  
  Public Advisor’s Office
  505 Van Ness Avenue, Room 2103
  San Francisco, CA 94102
  1-415-703-2074 or 1-866-849-8390 (toll free)
  TTY 1-415-703-5282, TTY 1-866-836-7825 (toll free)
  E-mail to public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov
  
  If you are writing a letter to the Public Advisor’s Office, please include the number of the Application (09-12-002) to which you are referring. All comments will be circulated to the Commissioners, the assigned Administrative Law Judge and the Energy Division staff.
• For your safety… Inspection and Maintenance of Customer-Owned, Buried Natural Gas Piping
  If you are a Pacific Gas and Electric Company natural gas customer, you should be aware of this important gas safety information.
  
  Pacific Gas and Electric Company is committed to providing safe, reliable natural gas service. We maintain all our gas lines in accordance with U.S. Department of Transportation and California Public Utilities Commission pipeline safety regulations.
  
  As a natural gas pipeline operator, Pacific Gas and Electric Company is required by federal law to notify all customers of the following:
  

  • Customer-owned, buried natural gas piping should be inspected periodically for leaks and, if the piping is metallic, also for corrosion. Examples of this piping are any buried piping from the gas service delivery location to your house or appliances, or from the house to a swimming pool heater or spa. See diagram below.
    
  • If any gas leaks or evidence of corrosion to metallic piping are found, you should take immediate steps to correct the problem.
  • When digging near buried gas piping, locate the piping in advance, and dig by hand.

  
  Contact a certified plumbing contractor in your area to help you locate and inspect your buried gas piping. Call 811 to locate underground utility-owned facilities. If you have questions about this notice, call Pacific Gas and Electric Company at 1-800-PGE-5000.
  
  NOTE: In this notice "customer" refers to the owner of the gas piping system served by Pacific Gas and Electric Company. This may be either the property owner or another party that owns the gas piping.
• Understanding Electric and Magnetic Fields
  Questions have been raised about the possible health effects of 60-hertz (power frequency) electric and magnetic fields (EMF), which are found wherever you have electric power. This brochure contains information that will help you understand the EMF issue, plus practical tips you can use if you want to reduce your exposure at home and at work.
  
  Campos Eléctricos y Magnéticos (EMF): Si desea recibir información en español, comuníquese con Pacific Gas and Electric Company al 1-800-660-6789.
  
  Can EMF harm your health?
  
  Electric and magnetic fields are present wherever electricity flows—around appliances and power lines, and in offices, schools and homes. Many researchers believe that if there is a risk of adverse health effects from usual residential exposures to EMF, it is probably just at the detection limit of human health studies; nonetheless, the possible risk warrants further investigation. The varying results from epidemiological studies, which looked at estimated EMF exposures and childhood leukemia, are consistent with a weak link. Laboratory studies and studies investigating a possible mechanism for health effects (mechanistic studies) provide little or no evidence to support this weak link.
  
  The results from many research studies have been evaluated by international, national and California EMF research programs to find out if EMF poses any health risk. Given the uncertainty of the issue, the medical and scientific communities have been unable to determine that usual residential exposures to EMF cause health effects or to establish any standard or level of residential exposure that is known to be either safe or harmful. These conclusions remain unchanged by recent studies.
  
  World Health Organization findings
  
  The World Health Organization (WHO) recently concluded a review of the potential health implications of extremely low frequency (ELF) EMF, which includes power-frequency fields. Their conclusions and recommendations were presented in June 2007 in a report known as the Extremely Low Frequency Fields, Environmental Health Criteria Monograph No. 238.
  
  The WHO report concluded that evidence for a link between ELF magnetic fields and childhood leukemia “is not strong enough to be considered causal but sufficiently strong to remain a concern.” “Virtually all of the laboratory evidence and the mechanistic evidence fail to support” this reported association. For all other diseases, there is inadequate or no evidence of health effects at low exposure levels.
  
  The report emphasized that, given the weakness of the evidence for health effects, the health benefits of exposure reduction are unclear and policies based on the adoption of arbitrary low exposure limits are not warranted. In light of this situation, the WHO made these and other recommendations:
  

  • National authorities should implement communication programs with all stakeholders to enable informed decision-making, including how individuals can reduce their own exposure.
  • Policy makers and community planners should implement very low-cost measures to reduce exposures when constructing new facilities and designing new equipment, including appliances.
  • Policy makers should use existing international guidelines (833 and 9,000 milligauss) to establish standards for exposure to short-term, high-level ELF fields. These guidelines pertain to field levels that are virtually never encountered by the general public except from a few electric appliances.
  • Government and industry should promote research to reduce the uncertainty of the scientific evidence on the health effects of ELF field exposure. Several recommended research projects are already under way through the Electric Power Research Institute, of which PG&E is a member.

  
  To view the full report and a fact sheet summarizing it, visit:
  

  • WHO | Extremely Low Frequency Fields Environmental Health Criteria Monograph No.238 page
  • WHO | Electromagnetic fields and public health page

  
  
  
  
  What you can do
  
  In a situation of scientific uncertainty and public concern, the WHO recommended that utilities explore “very low-cost” ways to reduce EMF exposure from new or upgraded facilities. PG&E and other California public utilities already pursue no-cost and low-cost measures to reduce EMF levels from new utility transmission lines and substation projects. You, too, may want to take no-cost and low-cost measures to reduce your EMF exposure at home and at work.
  
  Human studies have not produced a consensus about any health benefits from changing the way people use electric appliances. But, if you feel reducing your EMF exposure would be beneficial, you can increase your distance from electric appliances and/or limit the amount of time you use appliances at home or at work.
  
  For instance, you can place phone answering machines and electric clocks away from the head of your bed. Increasing your distance from these and other appliances such as televisions, computer monitors and microwave ovens can reduce your EMF exposure.
  
  You can also reduce your EMF exposure by limiting the time you spend using personal appliances such as hair dryers, electric razors, heating pads and electric blankets. You may also want to limit the time you spend using electric cooking appliances.
  
  You can locate the sources of EMF in your work environment, and spend break time in lower-field areas.
  
  It is not known whether such actions will have any impact on your health.
  
  For more information
  Call Pacific Gas and Electric Company for a free information package or home or business measurements at 1-800-743-5000.
  
  World Health Organization International EMF Project
  National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
  California Department of Health Services
  California Public Utilities Commission
  
  Reviewed by: California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)