PG&E (dunno about the others) is not a public utility, it is a private company that has been granted a monopoly by the local government. They made 2.2 billion d

PG&E (dunno about the others) is not a public utility, it is a private company that has been granted a monopoly by the local government. They made 2.2 billion dollars profit in 2023, after going bankrupt in 2019. There is no incentive to reduce prices since there aren't really any competitors. Every fee increase has to be granted by a regulatory agency (CPUC) which clearly hasn't been doing much regulation, and gives us odd pricing strategies like this one. One small city (Alameda) in the Bay Area, surrounded by PG&E customers, has its own municipal utility and they pay a third of the cost.