How to Read Your PG&E bill

Understanding your PG&E bill can be truly helpful understanding the advantages of solar power and why installing a PV system on your home makes sense. This process helps create an awareness of how much energy you use each month during the year, and will also stimulate your effort to conserve. An energy-efficient home can save hundreds of dollars a year on your energy consumption.

The part of the bill that we really need to understand is the breakdown of kilowatt-hours under daily usage, which is usually on page 2 of your utility bill. Look for the section that says "Charges". Under that you will see a series of line items. These are called "Tiers" and the most expensive tiers will bring real "tears" to your eyes once you realize how much those kilowatt-hours are costing you.

Baseline Usage

This is an allocation of electricity (in kilowatt-hours) that is billed at the lowest rate for residential customers. The baseline amount is determined by the CPUC based on the number of days in the billing period, season, climate, region and whether your primary heating source is gas or electricity. Currently the cost is $0.11559 per kWh (kilowatt-hour). All electricity usage above baseline is charged at higher tiered rates.

Tier One
Costs $0.11 per kWh.

Tier Two
100-130% or 30% above your baseline allocation.
Costs $0.13 per kWh.
Not much of a jump from the lowest baseline rate.

Tier Three
131-200% or 70% above your baseline allocation.
Cost $0.26 per kWh.
Now we have a jump of $0.11 per kwh. Double the baseline rate. It´s getting expensive.

Tier Four
201-300% or 100% above your baseline allocation.
Cost $0.38 per kWh.
Three times the baseline rate. Definitely expensive!

Tier Five
Over 300% above your baseline allocation.
These kWh are going to cost a whopping $0.44 per kWh.

The more you use, the more expensive your PG&E bill gets exponentially.

SolaraloS can provide an energy efficiency study of your home and suggest ways to lower the total usage of kilowatt-hours. For every dollar spent on conservation, you´ll save $3 to $5 off the cost of your PV system. So spending $800 on a new energy-efficient refrigerator could save you between $2,400 to $4,000 on the cost of your PV system.

At SolaraloS, our goal is to design your system to get you out of the top three tiers. We don´t necessarily have to eliminate your cheap baseline electricity with the more expense photovoltaic power; we just want to make sure you are not paying for the expensive PG&E kilowatt-hours of the top three tiers.