PG&E has been ordered by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to pay more than $43 million back to its customers.
According to CPUC documents, PG&E, not its ratepayers, must absorb the $43 million cost of a forced outage at Diablo Canyon Power Plant, which the commission says was caused by PG&Es mismanagement in addressing the unit 2 generator properly.
Thats a surprise,” said Darin Rapko, Avila Beach resident. “But you know what, I’m glad they are being held accountable.”
In a statement to KSBY, a PG&E spokesperson says:
We are disappointed by the CPUCs decision. We are confident we have taken the right steps to ensure safe and reliable operation of Diablo Canyon to support overall grid reliability.
Adding that the $43.2 million will be repaid to ratepayers using shareholder funds and will be implemented through the January 1 rate change.
Thats a large sum of money, and how they distribute that will be interesting to see. If we get money back, that will be a plus, but I’m not expecting it, Rapko said.
Darin Rapko says he pays around $130 a month on utilities and that hes used to the years of rate increases.
Thats just the way it goes,” Rapko said. “Are we happy about it? No. But they go to do what they got to do to maintain infrastructure, so we count on them using the money wisely to keep the system reliable.”
PG&E says customer refunds will differ depending on each customers specific electricity usage.
Andy Soloman says he switched to solar to save money.
“Where we live, anybody that I know that’s on PG&E,” said Andy Soloman, El Dorado Hills resident. “Its a no-brainer. PG&E is so incredibly expensive that unless you have solar, you literally almost cant afford it.”
The power plant, which provides nearly 10 percent of the states energy portfolio, has been in commission since 1985. The two generators at the site produce a total of 18,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity every year, which PG&E says is enough energy to meet the needs of more than 3 million central and northern Californians.
Soloman says hes happy to see the money returned. As much as they charge customers, if they are doing something that makes the customers pay more, then they should give it back, Soloman said.