PG&E Bill Too High? Here's Why (And How to Fix It)

If your PG&E bill has felt shockingly high lately, you're not imagining it. California residential electricity rates have climbed 47% since 2020, and PG&E customers are absorbing a disproportionate share. But the dirty secret is this: most households are overpaying for reasons that have nothing to do with how much electricity they actually use.

Here's a breakdown of what's actually driving your bill — and what you can do about it today.

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Why PG&E Bills Keep Going Up

1. Rate Increases That Compound Every Year

PG&E has filed for rate increases every single year since 2019. These aren't small adjustments — in 2024 alone, the average residential customer saw bills increase by $34/month, entirely from rate hikes. By 2026, PG&E's base rate is expected to be 32% higher than it was just three years ago.

These increases are approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and largely unavoidable. But they make it even more critical to be on the right rate plan — because overpaying on a high base rate compounds fast.

2. You're Probably on the Wrong Rate Plan

This is the biggest controllable factor on your bill. PG&E offers multiple residential rate plans:

• E-1 — Flat tiered rate, simple but often expensive for high-usage homes
• E-TOU-C — Time-of-use with off-peak evenings (good for EV owners who charge at night)
• E-TOU-D — Time-of-use with off-peak weekends
• EV2-A — Designed specifically for electric vehicle households

Most customers are auto-enrolled in E-1 or E-TOU-C when they sign up and never switch. According to industry data, 62% of California households are on the wrong rate plan for their actual usage patterns. The average savings from switching? $180–$400/year for a typical home, and up to $1,700/year for households with EVs or heavy daytime usage.

PG&E won't proactively tell you to switch. It's up to you.

3. NEM 3.0 Quietly Slashed Solar Credits

If you have solar panels installed after April 2023, you're on NEM 3.0 — and your credits are worth a lot less than your neighbors' on the older NEM 2.0 program.

Under NEM 2.0, customers received near-retail credit (around $0.30/kWh) for energy exported to the grid. Under NEM 3.0, that dropped to roughly $0.05/kWh — an 83% reduction in export credit value.

For a typical 7kW solar system, that's a difference of $800–$1,500/year. Many solar customers don't realize this until they get hit with a massive true-up bill at the end of their 12-month cycle.

The fix: shift your energy usage to when your panels are producing (daytime), and use stored energy at night if you have a battery. Your rate plan also matters enormously under NEM 3.0.

4. Demand Charges During Peak Hours

PG&E's time-of-use rates charge dramatically more during peak hours (typically 4–9 PM on weekdays). If you're running the dishwasher, AC, and EV charger simultaneously at 7 PM, you're paying the highest possible rate for every kilowatt.

A single bad habit — charging your EV during peak hours — can add $80–$150/month to your bill, depending on your vehicle and usage pattern.

5. Billing Errors Are More Common Than You Think

PG&E processes millions of bills monthly, and errors slip through. The most common ones:

• Wrong rate plan — customers enrolled in incorrect plans after moving or adding solar
• Incorrect baseline territory — your baseline allowance depends on your climate zone; errors here shift you into higher tiers faster
• Missed CARE/FERA discounts — if your household qualifies for the low-income discount (up to 30–35% off), but it's not applied
• Meter read errors — rare but real, especially for homes with smart meters that had connectivity issues

These errors can persist for months or years before anyone catches them. PG&E won't audit your account proactively.

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What You Can Do Right Now

Step 1: Check Your Rate Plan

Log in to PG&E's website, go to My Energy → Rate Plan Analysis, and run their rate comparison tool. It shows your last 12 months of usage and estimates your annual cost on each available plan. The catch: PG&E's tool is conservative and doesn't factor in your appliance mix or solar setup.

Step 2: Audit Your Bill for Errors

Pull up your last 3 months of bills and check:

• Is your baseline territory correct for your zip code?
• Are all applicable discounts (CARE, FERA, medical baseline) applied?
• Does your rate plan match what you enrolled in?

Step 3: Get a Free AI Analysis

The fastest way to find everything wrong with your bill is to let an AI read it. BrightBill analyzes your PG&E bill in under 3 minutes — it identifies billing errors, compares every available rate plan against your actual usage, and calculates your NEM true-up if you have solar.

The average BrightBill user finds $340/year in savings in their first analysis.

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The Bottom Line

Your PG&E bill is high for reasons you can and can't control. Rate increases are unavoidable — but being on the wrong rate plan, missing discounts, and ignoring solar credits are all fixable. Most households leave hundreds of dollars on the table every year simply because they don't know where to look.

Start with your rate plan. That single change accounts for the majority of savings for most households.

Analyze your PG&E bill for free →