April 2010 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.

• Know what's below—call 811 before you dig
  For details, visit www.pge.com/diggingandyardsafety
• Proposition 65—Public Warning
  The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, commonly referred to as Proposition 65, requires the governor to publish a list of chemicals "known to the State of California" to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. It also requires California businesses to warn the public quarterly of potential exposures to these chemicals that result from their operations.
  
  Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) uses chemicals in its operations that are "known to the State of California" to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.
  
  For example, PG&E uses natural gas and petroleum products in its operations. PG&E also delivers natural gas to its customers. Petroleum products, natural gas and their combustion by-products contain chemicals "known to the State of California" to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.
  
  A warning odorant is added to natural gas so that leaks of unburned gas can be quickly detected. If gas odor is detected, PG&E should be contacted immediately at 1-800-PGE-5000 (1-800-743-5000).
  
  For additional information on this Proposition 65 warning, write to Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Prop. 65 Coordinator, 77 Beale Street B23H, PO Box 770000, San Francisco, CA 94177.
• Notice of Public Participation Hearings Regarding 2011 General Rate Case (GRC) Phase I and Gas Transmission and Storage Proceeding and Notice of Filing of Pacific Gas and Electric Company's 2011 GRC Phase II Application
  THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU
  
  What is the Gas Transmission and Storage proceeding (A.09-09-013)?
  Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) Gas Transmission and Storage (GTS) proceeding was filed with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on September 18, 2009. Notice of the application was mailed directly to customers in October 2009. The GTS proceeding proposes cost of service and rates for gas transmission and storage services for the period 2011-2014. PG&E also presents its forecasts of expected demand and system usage for 2011 through 2014, as well as how the costs to operate its transmission and storage business will be assigned to each customer class.
  
  What is the 2011 General Rate Case (A.09-12-020)?
  Phase I of PG&E’s General Rate Case (GRC) was filed with the CPUC on December 21, 2009. Notice of the application was mailed directly to customers beginning in January 2010. Every three years, PG&E is required to file a GRC in which the CPUC sets annual revenue levels. Annual revenue is the total amount of money a utility collects through rates in a given year for specific purposes. PG&E’s application asks the CPUC to increase the revenue that PG&E uses to distribute gas and electricity and to generate electricity. While the GRC will determine the total amount of money PG&E may collect in rates, the design of the actual rates themselves (that is, the level of prices charged to customers) will be determined in a separate proceeding (2011 General Rate Case Phase II), which was filed on March 22, 2010, and is noticed later in this insert. The GRC, in addition to the GTS proceeding, will be the subject of the Public Participation Hearings discussed below.
  
  PUBLIC PARTICIPATION HEARINGS
  The CPUC will hold a series of Public Participation Hearings (PPHs) commencing on May 24, 2010, at various locations throughout PG&E’s service area. The dates, locations and times of the PPHs are listed below. Consumer services representatives from PG&E and consumer affairs representatives from the CPUC will be present at each location to assist with individual customer billing and service concerns. These hearings will be your opportunity to express your views.
  
  The PPHs will be facilitated by the assigned Administrative Law Judge with oral comments accepted from the public. The CPUC will consider public comments and include them as part of the formal record in the GRC and GTS proceedings. The following locations are all accessible to those in wheelchairs. If you need to have interpreters for language or are hard of hearing, please contact the CPUC’s Public Advisor’s office at the address listed in this notice at least five days in advance of the hearing date.
  
  
  
  Staff from the CPUC’s Public Advisor’s office will be present at all meetings to assist you. If you would like more advice on how to participate at these hearings, or if you would like to submit written comments about PG&E’s 2011 GRC Phase I or GTS applications, please call or write to:
  
  The Public Advisor
  California Public Utilities Commission
  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 or 1-866-836-7825 (toll free)
  E-mail to public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov
  
  NOTICE OF FILING OF PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY'S 2011 GENERAL RATE CASE PHASE II APPLICATION (A.10-03-014)
  
  Background
  On March 22, 2010, PG&E filed its 2011 General Rate Case Phase II (GRC Phase II) application with the CPUC.
  
  In the GRC Phase II application, PG&E is asking the CPUC to allocate or divide its authorized revenue among different customer classes and to design electric rates for these classes. In addition, PG&E is requesting authority to recover approximately $53.1 million in costs associated with $12.6 million in revenue requirements for 2011–2013, which includes the cost of implementing a new real time pricing rate option and a revised customer energy statement for electric and gas customers.
  
  Does this mean electric rates could change?
  Yes. In the GRC Phase II application, PG&E is seeking CPUC authority to change electric rates for all customer classes. PG&E makes this request to better align electric rates with current costs of serving its various customer classes. PG&E proposes decreases for some customers and increases for others, with such rate changes to take effect by mid-2011. PG&E estimates that electric rates will be affected in the manner shown in the tables below, which show the effects by customer group without any change in the total revenue PG&E collects. The actual increase or decrease to each customer class depends on how the CPUC ultimately decides all the proposals in GRC Phase II.
  
  The rate changes proposed in GRC Phase II will affect bundled customers (those who receive electric generation, transmission and distribution service from PG&E) and customers who purchase electricity from other suppliers (direct access and community choice aggregation customers). Finally, while not shown in the tables below, PG&E’s proposals will affect departing load customers (those who receive electric generation, transmission and distribution services from non-PG&E suppliers) who are required to pay certain utilities charges (in this case, the Public Purpose Program charge).
  
  
  
  PG&E’s proposals include a number of changes to residential rates. To illustrate the effect these changes would have on residential customers, the next table shows the bill change first for the typical bundled customer using 550 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month, next for a bundled customer using approximately twice the average baseline allowance, or 850 kWh per month, and finally for a bundled customer with significant upper tier usage of 1,500 kWh per month. Results are shown in the table for standard residential schedule E-1 and for customers of the same size taking service on the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program for low-income customers.
  
  
  
  Real time pricing and revised customer energy statement
  In this GRC Phase II application, PG&E is seeking CPUC authority to approve the second phase of its dynamic pricing rates, or optional Real Time Pricing rates, as ordered by the CPUC in July 2008. PG&E is also requesting recovery of $17 million in costs associated with $7 million in revenue requirements to implement this new real time pricing rate option. In addition, in compliance with a July 2007 CPUC order, PG&E needs to revise its customer energy statement and is requesting recovery of $36.1 million in costs associated with $5.6 million in revenue requirements to implement the changes. These costs are not included in the tables above but will increase rates for all electric and gas customers who take transmission and distribution service from PG&E (bundled, direct access and community choice aggregation customers) by a small amount. For electric customers, the maximum rate increase is expected to occur in 2014 and would be $6.5 million, or an increase of approximately 0.05 percent to system average bundled electric rates. The maximum increase for gas customers is expected to occur in 2013 and would be $4.8 million, or an average increase of 0.1 percent. Departing load electric customers will not be affected by this cost recovery request.
  
  THE CPUC PROCESS
  The CPUC’s Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA) will review this application. The 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. The DRA has a multi-disciplinary staff with expertise in economics, finance, accounting and engineering. The 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 may 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 application.
  
  If you are writing a letter to the Public Advisor’s office regarding any of the applications mentioned in this notice, please refer to the address listed inside and include the number(s) of the application(s) (A.09-09-013, A09-12-020 and/or A.10-03-014) to which you are referring. All comments will be circulated to the Commissioners, the assigned Administrative Law Judge and the Energy Division staff.
  
  FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
  For more details, call PG&E at 1-800-PGE-5000. For TDD/TTY (speech-hearing impaired), call 1-800-652-4712.
  
  If you have questions regarding PG&E’s 2011 GRC Phases I and II or GTS applications, please contact PG&E at the phone numbers noted above. If you would like copies of the applications and exhibits, please write to PG&E at this address:
  
  Pacific Gas and Electric Company
  2011 GRC Phase I/Phase II/GTS Applications
  P.O. Box 7442, San Francisco, CA 94120
  
  Copies of PG&E’s GRC Phases I and II and GTS applications and exhibits are also available for review at the California Public Utilities Commission, 505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.–noon.
  
  In addition, you may obtain electronic access to GRC and GTS documents on PG&E’s Web site at http://apps.pge.com/regulation/search.aspx
  
• Notice of Workshop and Public Participation Hearing Regarding California Public Utilities Commission Order Instituting Rulemaking to Revise and Clarify Regulations Relating to the Safety of Electric Utility and Communications Infrastructure Facilities (R.08-11-005)
  On November 6, 2008, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued R. 08-11-005 to consider revising and clarifying its regulations designed to protect the public from potential hazards, including fires, which may be caused by electric utility transmission or distribution lines or communications infrastructure facilities in proximity to the lines. The CPUC’s current General Orders 95, 128 and 165 are already designed to promote the safe operation of electric utility and communications infrastructure facilities, and to provide the minimum safety requirements which the state's utilities are supposed to supplement with additional safety precautions when local conditions warrant. Nevertheless, as the devastating fires in Southern California during the last two years have shown, additional CPUC safeguards may be necessary.
  
  PUBLIC WORKSHOP/PUBLIC PARTICIPATION HEARING
  Pursuant to an Assigned Commissioner’s Ruling and Scoping Memo for Phase II of R.08-11-005, dated November 5, 2009, the Energy Division will conduct a workshop at the date and location listed below to solicit comment from invited public agencies regarding power line inspection; vegetation management; strength requirements for power lines, including design criteria and safety factors; special environmental requirements (e.g., temperature, wind, moisture) for fire-prone areas; designation of fire-prone areas; and other issues of concern. The specific subjects covered, in addition to the names and titles of the persons making the presentations, will be announced at a later time.
  
  Elected officials and the public will have the opportunity to comment at the end of the public agency portion of the workshop. The workshop will be held in the afternoon and will be open to the public. A Public Participation Hearing (PPH), during which the general public may make recommendations and comments relevant to this proceeding, will follow in the evening.
  
  For Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) customers, a workshop and PPH will be held within PG&E’s service area at the following location:
  
  SACRAMENTO
  Tuesday, May 25, 2010
  Workshop: 1 p.m.–6 p.m.
  PPH to immediately follow
  Location:
  Mack Powell Auditorium
  2003 Howe Avenue Sacramento, CA 95825
  
  This location is wheelchair-accessible. If you need interpreters for language or are hard of hearing, please contact the Public Advisor’s office at the phone numbers below at least five working days in advance of the meeting date.
  
  A member of the CPUC Public Advisor’s office will be present at the meeting to assist you. If you would like additional information on how to participate at this public meeting or if you would like to submit written comments about R.08-11-005, please contact:
  
  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 or 1-866-836-7825 (toll free)
  E-mail to public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov