Power up: PG&E says electricity plan can boost Silicon Valley innovation and economy

Both projects should begin construction in early 2026 and go into service in 2028.

The proposals are being touted at a time when PG&E is under fire for skyrocketing monthly utility bills that have soared far faster than the overall inflation rate in the Bay Area as measured by the costly region’s consumer price index.

Over the one-year period that ended in January 2024, combined bills for a typical residential customer who receives both electricity and gas services from PG&E averaged roughly $294.50 a month.

That was a 22.3% increase over the average monthly bill in January 2023. In sharp contrast, the Bay Area inflation rate rose 2.6% during 2023.

PG&E also remains under scrutiny in the wake of a decade of PG&E-sparked disasters that included a fatal gas explosion that destroyed a San Bruno neighborhood as well as a string of infernos that torched huge swaths of land in the North Bay wine country and other sections of Northern California.

“We all know about the disastrous wildfires caused by PG&E equipment torching vegetation that is very dry,” Alvarado said during the event.

PG&E officials during the event, however, stated that in 2023 the utility reduced its wildfire risk by 96%.

The efforts by PG&E to support major energy projects in the region might be an instance of the utility scrambling to ensure that it’s poised to deliver reliable power into Silicon Valley, in the view of Kelly Snider, a professor in San Jose State University’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning who was in attendance at the Hoge Fenton event.

“PG&E is acting defensively to protect their future profits,” Snider said in an interview with this news organization. “PG&E wants to control the power supply as a monopoly. PG&E is putting itself in position to profit and capitalize on the growth that is going to happen anyway. But there are alternatives such as microgrids.”

Others who attended, however, suggested that it makes sense for PG&E to ensure it’s prepared for Silicon Valley’s future needs. That was the view of Sean Cottle, a Hoge Fenton attorney and real estate expert with the law firm.

“PG&E is trying to get out in front of what is the demand,” Cottle said in an interview with this news organization after the event. “They are asking business people to tell PG&E what they need.”