OAKLAND — PG&E profits hopped higher in the first three months of 2024, a first-quarter financial picture that was brightened by a state regulatory decision last fall to approve higher monthly bills.
The utility titan also raised its earnings forecast for 2024, a prediction that suggests investors and Wall Street can look forward to even better profits than initially anticipated.
For the January-through-March first quarter of 2024, PG&E captured $732 million in profits, up 28.6% from $569 million in earnings for the same quarter last year, the utility reported Thursday.
The jump in profits arrives at a time when skyrocketing monthly bills for PG&E customers have become a key topic for numerous residents in the Bay Area.
PG&E Chief Executive Officer Patricia Poppe took note of the rising customer bills in comments during a conference call to discuss the financial results.
“We appreciate that near-term bill pressure due to consolidated years of GRC (general rate case) recovery and catch-up recovery of wildfire mitigation expense is difficult for some of our customers,” Poppe said during the conference call with Wall Street analysts.
The general rate case is a comprehensive proposal for PG&E revenue over multiple years. The most recent approval occurred last November when the state Public Utilities Commission authorized a 13% increase in customer monthly bills to finance an array of tasks, including efforts to mitigate wildfire risks.
After an Earth Day event in Richmond on April 22, Poppe, in response to a question posed by this news organization, said she foresaw a day when PG&E monthly bills would start to come down.
“We see a future where customers’ bills can start to come down,” Poppe said after the Richmond event.
That would be a welcome counterpoint to current trends. In January 2024, the average monthly bill of $294.50 for residential customers who received combined electricity and gas services from PG&E was 22.3% higher than in January 2023.
“I look forward to the day when we can announce that customers’ prices are coming down,” Poppe told the analysts during the earnings call Thursday. “At the same time, we stand by the need for the near-term increase as this (general rate case) is funding critical work, which is making our customers and communities safer than ever before.”
The company began sketch a timeline for when customer bills might finally start to head lower — although it’s unclear what heights might be reached before the descent began.
“Near term, we expect prices to come down in 2025 and again in 2026,” PG&E spokesperson Ari Vanrenen stated in comments emailed to this news organization. “Longer term, we believe decarbonizing our economy through greater electrification will reduce overall household energy spending.”
PG&E reported Thursday that its first-quarter revenue slowed. Overall operating revenue totaled $5.86 billion in the first quarter of 2024, down 5.6% from the same quarter in 2023.
Electricity revenue totaled $4.05 billion during the first three months of 2024, down 1.6% from the first quarter of last year.
Natural gas revenue was $5.86 billion in the first quarter of this year. That was a decrease of 13.4% from the year-ago first quarter.
Excluding an array of unusual items that don’t directly relate to PG&E’s typical operations and business, the utility’s profits also zoomed higher.
The adjusted profits totaled $800 million in the first quarter of 2024, a hefty jump of 30% from the same period the year before.
“We’re reinvesting the vast majority of our profits back into the business to continue making improvements for our customers,” the PG&E spokesperson stated in the email comments.