By George Avalos, MERCURY NEWS
OAKLAND PG&E reported on Thursday that it had a profit of just under $2.48 billion in 2024, an increase from the $2.24 billion the company earned in 2023.
Looking ahead to 2025’s results, the investor-owned utility predicted it was poised to outpace 2024, a new report shows.
Despite total profit rising for the year, during the October-through-December fourth quarter PG&E earned $647 million, which was down 29.6% from the company’s profit of $919 million for the same quarter in 2023. Calculating only items and operations that are PG&E’s core business, the utility posted a fourth-quarter profit of $658 million, down from the $1.01 billion during the same quarter the year prior.
“In 2024, we continued to progress in ways that matter to both customers and investors,” said PG&E CEO Patricia Poppe. “We delivered energy safely. Our system has never been safer.”
For the second consecutive year, no major wildfires occurred that were caused by PG&E’s equipment, the company stated.
However, a different streak was on the minds of some consumer advocates, who criticized what they see as an ever-lengthening stretch of PG&E profits.
“This is the second year in a row of record-breaking profits for PG&E,” said Mark Toney, executive director of consumer group The Utility Reform Network. “The shareholders are getting a lot of love. But while PG&E investors are feeling the love, the customers are only feeling the pain.”
PG&E and the state Public Utilities Commission have been under fire from critics because of the company’s steadily rising profits and bills. According to state law, the commission is tasked with regulating PG&E.
“If the PUC doesn’t address the outrageous profits for PG&E coming from outrageously high utility bills, then the state legislature must do it,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Action. “Ratepayers at California’s investor-owned utilities deserve more affordable electricity.”
State lawmakers are pondering multiple measures aimed at tackling rising profits at PG&E and other utilities in California.
“When you keep adding to the rate base with higher bills, you keep adding to earnings,” Toney said. “The record-setting profits will give the legislature the incentive to pass bills to control shareholder profits and protect customers.”
PG&E investors are poised to enjoy another good year, as indicated by the utility’s guidance for earnings.
The Oakland-based company posted a profit of $1.15 a share in 2024. For 2025, PG&E predicts that its profits will range from $1.30 to $1.36 a share. The midpoint of that estimate would point to a 16% increase in per-share profits.
PG&E noted multiple benchmarks in its earnings report and in additional information sent to this news organization.
The utility completed 366 miles of system hardening, consisting of 258 miles of underground power lines and 108 miles of stronger poles and overhead components.
PG&E connected nearly 14,000 new customers to the electric system, approximately 30% more than the company had expected.
The utility believes additional connections will help lighten the average load for ratepayers by spreading the system’s costs among more customers. The January bill cycle produced a respite.
A typical PG&E residential customer who receives both electricity and natural gas services paid an average of $295 a month starting last month. This was $1 higher than the $294 a month that typical residential customers were paying for combined services in January 2024.
It was also a turnaround from the increases ratepayers had experienced in recent years.
“We stabilized combined gas and electric bills for residential customers,” Poppe said. “And we connected more new customers to our grid than we have in decades.”