How announced PG&E bankruptcy could impact the Central Coast
About 16 million customers, including hundreds of thousands in Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz counties, are waiting to see what happens with utility giant Pacific Gas and Electric.
California’s largest power company announced plan to file for bankruptcy, citing potential liabilities from the deadly and devastating 2017 and 2018 California wildfires.
In a statement, PG&E writes “We do not expect any impact to electric or natural gas service for our customers as a result of the Chapter 11 process.”
Because they file Chapter 11, Salinas-based attorney Jason Vogelpohl believes our lights should stay on.
“People will continue to get their electricity. Business will not stop. This is just a reorganization of their debt,” Vogelpohl tells KION.
What we don’t know is how much of the estimated 30 billion dollars in potential liability PG&E will have to pay back and if our bills will increase. They write: “This is a long process that we’re just announcing today and we can’t speculate on what changes, if any, could result.”
Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz counties are under one of 19 community choice energy programs in California. Monterey Bay Community Power generates clean energy for the 270 thousand customers in the region.
However, your bill is still a PG&E bill, meaning if the utility decides to pass liability costs to the customer, we’re still affected.
“If we weren’taround, these prices hike that are going to happen – if they happen – there’s no hedge against that. There’s no opportunity to help reduce the cost,” said MBCP Spokesperson J.R. Killigrew.
Where MBCP says we are at an advantage is through their rebate program. By not having to pay much of the for-profit overhead of Pacific Gas and Electric, Monterey Bay Community Power has been giving back a three percent rebate – that’s about 10-15 dollars for the average resident customer over the last month.
“Regardless of the outcome we know we are always going to be less expensive than PG&E,” Killigrew said.
Our bills depend on how much money PG&E will be on the hook for, how much they can cover, and what they decide to do with those expenses. While a price hike isn’t guaranteed, PG&E is looking at a potentially astronomical cost.
“The monies we’re talking about are extreme. I’m sure that’s why they went into it (Chapter 11), because even the layperson can see if they are responsible for this, they would have to pay for the full fire,” Vogelpohl said.
The bankruptcy filing is expected on January 29th.
