OAKLAND >> PG&E’s top boss said the utility can keep monthly bills flat to lower over the next few years — even though the company has asked the state to authorize it to collect more revenue from its ratepayers.

The company said it can achieve that goal because it has begun to rein in costs and improve efficiency to a greater degree than in previous years.

“This is not the old PG&E,” CEO Patricia Poppe said in an interview with this news organization. “This is a turnaround story in the making.”

On Thursday, the investor-owned utility asked the state Public Utilities Commission to approve additional revenue as part of the company’s general rate case, which the company files roughly every four years.

“Although there is a revenue increase, we are decreasing other costs,” Poppe said. “The other parts of the bill are coming down. We are passing along the savings to customers.”

This new proposal covers 2027 to 2030, according to PG&E.

“Based on current information, if the proposal is approved in full, PG&E expects residential combined gas and electric bills in 2027 to be flat compared to 2025 bills,” the company stated.

Consumer groups torched the proposal, saying that any bill declines arrive on the heels of massive increases in recent years.

“PG&E can claim that customers might see slightly lower bills next year because current bills are artificially inflated due to the six rate increases last year,” said Lee Trotman, a spokesperson for consumer group The Utility Reform Network. “A slight decrease from these inflated rates does little to help customers experiencing an affordability crisis. The solution to the affordability crisis is to support the TURN affordability package of bills in Sacramento, headlined by SB 254, which will reduce long-term ratepayer costs, and provide immediate rate relief.”

Over the five years that ended in January, PG&E bills have increased by 68.6%.

In January 2020, PG&E monthly bills were roughly $175 a month for combined services. In January 2021, the average monthly bill rose to $188.

The January 2022 combined bill rose another 17.6% compared with 2021, and then another 9% in January 2023 compared with 2022 for an average of $241 a month. By January 2024, monthly residential bills averaged $294, up 22% from the year before.

Monthly bills in January for customers who receive combined electric and gas service from PG&E were $295, a 0.3% increase over the one-year period.

Oakland-based PG&E predicted that the rest of 2025 will bring no further increases in electricity rates.

In 2026, the typical residential customer who receives combined electricity and gas services should see lower bills compared to 2025, the utility stated.

“PG&E is requesting its smallest general rate case percentage increase in a decade, made possible in part by reducing costs and passing on savings to customers,” PG&E stated.

If the general rate case impacts were the sole factor, PG&E monthly bills would rise $10.64 in 2027, $9.94 in 2028, $10.50 in 2029 and $11.08 in 2030, according to the utility. The annual average increase over the four years is 3.4%, PG&E estimated.

Other factors are in play, however, which, when they materialize, will help curb the impact from the general rate case, the utility argues.

“Our goal is to also stabilize bills through this period,” PG&E stated. “They could even go down.”

Public Utilities Commission decisions that authorized PG&E to recover prior costs are slated to expire and vanish from customer rates.

The scheduled terminations of the cost recovery efforts, combined with PG&E’s push for greater efficiency and cost reductions, may help offset the revenue increases PG&E is seeking through the new general rate case, PG&E said.

There are other factors that could force costs lower, including a $15 billion U.S. Energy Department loan guarantee that enables PG&E to borrow money at sharply lower costs than the conventional market.

The state could also see higher energy demand, which would spread fixed grid costs.

Over the last three years, PG&E said it slashed operating costs and capital expenses by $2.5 billion.