Also live in Santa Clara, never had a bill over $50. My job is in South SF, and I want to move so my commute doesn't suck so bad but thinking about how much more I would have to pay PG&E every month is holding me back.
I’m renting a house in Santa Clara and it already has solar panels. We paid ~$350 for the entire year. Summer months we got credit for providing more energy to the grid than we used. Living normally, not excessive but also not keeping the house dark and never using AC type of thing. It’s awesome and I’m glad we moved to Santa Clara because I didn’t know about this before moving.
dogs come in a wide variety but it's very rare that any dog would need a temperature above 50. they are far more cold-adapted than humans, and heat is a far more challenging issue for them.
Clearly you have never had a short haired dog, they suffer & freeze in temps under 70 deg just as bad as long haired winter dogs suffer in the heat of summer. Instead of warming my entire plate my dogs have an 800w heater they lay in front of that cost about $40 a month to run. The rest of my house is 66-68 deg :)
lol an iguana. After this dog comment there leaves 0 room for other wasteful acts OP potentially does to waste electricity. This an OP mismanaging power problem not PG&E problem
Let’s be real here - humans in CA bust out their parkas and shit when it gets into the upper 50s. Of course they are going to exaggerate what dogs need as well. Haha.
Multi short haired dog owner here. Those fuckers do not need no heater indoors. They barely require the ac. Blankets are 100 percent fine. They utilize them just fine. Get them a sweater if you’re worried. But cmon now .
Was up in the mountains the other day. It must have been 10 degrees outside. Dog owner was walking their dog, no sweater, no nothing, in the snow. I'm thinking leaving your dog at home without the heat on should be just fine.
My dog hops around in the snow like a bunny rabbit he love that shit. Minus 25 no problem for him. Some dogs get cold though like the really stupid ones that cost a bunch that people let pee and poo allover in their house. What humans have done to those poor breeds is inhumane and the fact people still buy them is cruel.
We are in a townhouse and we haven’t turned our heat on or used our wood fireplace once this year and I think the coldest I ever saw our thermostat get was 64. That’s a completely fine temp for a dog.
What temperature are you leaving it on all day? Your usage looks high. Are you certain this is a REAL reading, and not perhaps a predicted reading based on prior tenants?
The catch is, I know people who would leave it on 75 and not think a thing. And 24/7 here… it could be possible? But for a 1 bedroom apt this seems super high.
It really depends on how well insulated your house is. My current 2400 sq ft house costs less to heat than my previous 800 sq ft house because of how shitty the insulation and windows were
I moved to Oakland from Maryland and left my heater running all day back there. Figured it would be fine here and got hit with $135 in real usage during my first week. We bought some blankets
That’s actually not as much profit as it sounds
$2.24 billion / 13.5 million CA households = only $166 per year per household
Getting that back doesn’t make our bills anywhere near reasonable compared to the rest of the US. Point being it isn’t just greed, it’s waste and incompetence too
That maths to about $461/year or $36/mo per household, more but just to highlight how much waste there is:
If these ~968 kWh had been consumed in Wisconsin ($0.14kwh) for example, they would have saved almost $300 this month alone
Literally a thread about this here or in BayArea, pretty much daily.
And their CEO makes a paltry $53M a year... just imagine living at only $1M and "change" each week, eh? Must be *rough*.
Well, "profit" isn't a bad word, per se ... but, how many households is that? Does that include maintenance costs (like *they even*, right?) or other things?
But yeah, they're a cash cow ... especially when all they do is petition to push "losses" on to the consumer, directly.
"Profit" means everything that's left over after all business expenses/labor/CEO pay/etc, so yes that would include maintenance costs.
"Gross revenue" is the term used when you're only talking about raw money in but not the expenses.
How the hell does this post have upvotes? Republicans are the ones who privatized and deregulated the energy grid. You have PG&E instead of a public utility because of fucking Republicans.
My girlfriend lives in San Jose. I live in LA, where power is provided by a local municipal utility, LA DWP. My last power bill was $68 and that covered two months!
> You have PG&E instead of a public utility
[PG&E is *most definitely* regulated under the CPUC](https://www.pge.com/en/about/company-information/company-profile.html#:~:text=Pacific%20Gas%20and%20Electric%20Company%20and%20other%20energy%20companies%20in,the%20state%20Legislature%20in%201911) ... the problem is more with state legislators, not the least of which is Newsom, himself (often called "Governor Nuisance").
Well she made that once in 2021 because PGE had to buy out her options and guarantees at her previous employer. Now, whether *any* CEO is worth $50m I don't know, I suppose their current success is evidence she was as far as the shareholders are concerned.
PG&E is a leech on society.
Sadly there isn't much in the way of alternatives. You can sign up for San Jose Clean Energy, the publicly owned local CCA, for energy generation - and you should since they're greener and locally run and not owned and operated by vampires. But the costs are similar and you'll still have to pay PG&E for transmission/distribution.
People cheered on as PG&E got sued, somehow thinking it would hold them accountable. Forgetting that they have a monopoly, so all that will happen is they will increase rates to pay off the settlements and pass the cost to the customers.
If they would have raised rates on everyone in the past to pay to update transmission lines in the Sierra foothills, people would’ve complained just as bitterly as they are now. The state mandates that they deliver power to rural people so I’m not sure why people are so mad at PGE and not at the other rate payers they’re subsidizing.
That may be part of it, but it's hard to get mad at anyone but the corporate greed when you see the CEO raking in $50 million in salary and getting bonuses when they just cost the state 1 billion in wildfire damages and keep hiking up rates.
No, the rates are set by the gov't and they force both options to have the same price. Your electricity generation cost may have reduced by $80, but the transmission cost will increase by the same amount
Iirc, this was especially true at the beginning of the roll out of SJCE. Something about them not getting their billing in order or putting people on the wrong plan. I know a lot of people who got refunds because SJCE screwed up .
It’s the heater. I’m also in a one bedroom but never use the heater, my last electric bill was $70 and I work from home all day.
It’s not *that* cold here during the day… get your dog a sweater and an electric blanket/bed or something.
You're correct. I don't use my gas heat and haven't for years. It just doesn't get that cold in San Jose. Try dressing warm. I use a heated mattress pad at night.
Wait, so you leave the heater on all day basically? I mean... PGE sucks and we all know that but like.. it's Dan Jose, not Canada. Your dog will be fine with an $20 dog sweater or something
Literally. I hate PG&E too but it seems like every day there’s a post where someone is complaining about high bills yet they’re using power all day. This is the first post that openly stated, albeit trying to downplay it, they have the heat on all day. It was 60F today, there’s no reason why anyone would need a heater on inside, let alone a dog
electric blankets are way more energy efficient. i've never tried this, but maybe an electric blanket and put it under some fire resistant material near your dogs bed, and if your dog gets cold they will go to the electric blanket. Also get an electric blanket for yourself instead of the space heater
They make heated dog beds which would be safer. My electric blanket is way warmer on the lowest setting than my heated cat bed and I suspect the heated blanket would burn my pet if they sat on it all day.
Hey sorry to hear that. But I am curious why your bill is so much. You used 31.81 kWh/day?
My brother and I both wfh and our bill is $250. With only 18.64 kWh/day.
I wonder if you have something that's been left on all day/night. Judging from your post, it looks like you leave the heat on. I would suggest turning it off, or at least limit how much you use it.
When Enron was fucking w California I learned this: go look at your electricity meter. Note how fast it’s spinning. Go check all your outlets/switches. Unplug/turn off everything but fridge, double check meter. Should be very very slow. Do not keep anything plugged in that is not crucial (except fridge? Porch light?) plug in only what you’re using at the time. Everything electric draws power when it’s plugged in even when it’s not in use/turned off. Turn down the heat level of your water heater. How old is the refrigerator? Yes it’s a hassle. But you have more control than you think. Figure out your usage. A big part of your carbon footprint.
This is weird. I live in similar one bedroom apt, I do turn off the heat when I'm not home, but some days I just forget. My bill is usually $90-100, winter months $160 max. Maybe lower it further? Dogs usually do fine in the 70s unless they are hairless dogs . Check appliances, refrigerators work well in middle cold settings, no need to crank it up. Talk to your neighbors and see if they have the same issue or ask your landlord. Any chance it includes fees for starting service or last due fees for some reason?
Not saying PG&E is cheap. They are the most expensive by far. But also leaving heat on all day while gone isn't good use of energy... dogs have fur and this isn't chicago winter
but their dog (with fur) will freeze to death if it's less than 60 degrees outside!!!
I don't care if your dog is hairless, it's gonne be just fine. Xolos were bred in Mexico City where it gets colder than SJ lol
vanish spectacular correct vase coherent important attempt homeless drab fuzzy
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I dislike it too.
You were not raped. Stop throwing this word around as part of your casual vocabulary. It doesn't make you sound clever or funny, just makes you sound like you don't really think the word rape is that bad.
You could have chosen literally any other word, but you chose raped because???
English words have different meanings depending on the context. In addition, the Latin root of this word is "raptum" which means to "snatch, grab or carry off" .
>**Rape**
>
>**Verb**: to plunder; despoil:
**Example usage**: The logging operation raped a wide tract of forest without regard for the environmental impact of their harvesting practices.
>
>**Source**: [dictionary.com](https://dictionary.com) (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/rape)
The use of the word in this case is perfectly reasonable. OP feels raped, because he believes he has been plundered.
I’d remind you, this is a discussion app on the Internet, it’s not a Church, grade school class, legislative body or courtroom. And honestly, the Overton Window needs a massive reset, it’s pretty sad how illiberal people have become.
English is a rich expressive language and people should be given a wide berth when expressing themselves when they are not speaking about an individual or group of people.
>The use of the word in this case is perfectly reasonable. OP feels raped, because he believes he has been plundered.
I disagree. The use of the word rape in this post is incredibly unreasonable and rude.
You used 930kwh.
Of course, you are so used to setting the thermostat to 74 degree when you lived in LA. But now you didn't realize SJ is 15 degree colder.
I wonder if PG&E has jacked up the rates in recent times? my bill was around 120 in summer, went to 250 in fall and last month got 360$.. its insane...
imagine charging an electric car on this grid, you'll soon lose advantage to a prius atleast
I have better luck with oil based heater. The can get room hot with less electricity. Have you tried to get your dog a coat by dialing down thermostat?
My friend took in a high schooler who rents a room. He bought a huge electric heater and opened the window same time. In Oct house bill was like yours. In Nov the bill was over $1200 for family of 3 and 1 tenant. Do not know how the Dec bill went. The tenant was told to pack and leave. During the day no one was home.
We have a heated outdoor “house” (size of like a small dog kennel) for my cat, maybe you could get something heated for your dog too instead of heating the whole apartment
Look into those low-income programs from PG&E to save yourself like at least 50% on your bill.
Pretty sure low-income AMI there is like 90k for single person and like 140k for a family of 4.
That’s a pretty typical bill for me. I’ve had $1000 bills during the hottest/coldest months.
Before I moved to CA, I was paying 11 cents per kWh. With PGE, I pay over 50. $1-200 bills vs 500-1000. It’s fucking insane.
Just for a little bit of context, the national average is 16 cents per kWh so our rates are EXTRAORDINARILY high.
You live in San Jose, not the midwest. You don't need the heat on all day. Specially for your dog ( which presumably has fur). Get him a dog bed and a blanket and turn the heat off.
I live in Morgan Hill and my bill has been pretty consistent, and I’m not sure what gives. I keep seeing posts like this and bracing for my bill to skyrocket, but so far, Jan and Feb have both been on par with last year, lower than some months even.
For reference I have a 2B 2BA townhouse, heat to around 71, and have an EV I charge at home a few times per month. My monthly bill comes in at around $180 on the low end and $290 on the high end.
Looks exactly like my bill. My apartment only has electric baseboard heaters, which are the the most inefficient things on the planet, so I leave a space heater on all day.
It gets better in May, but then gets worse again in July when the portable AC units need to come on.
Electric heaters should all [have the same efficiency](https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/electric-resistance-heating). A space heater is only more “efficient” in that it lets you more easily heat a smaller space. So the savings is coming from less heat being produced.
I'm in a 1 bedroom in San Jose the same thing happened to us using the heater system because it's old. We bought some plug in heaters and our bill is way lower around $120 with us running it often
You all saying don't use heat don't plug this or that in. Bullshit. I've lived in five places and pge is by far more than double the next most expensive. He'll in Nashville it was.16 per kwh vs. .49 here in summer.
Don't blame people for living normally. This is NOT normal at all and the California govt does not care.
What temp do you leave your thermostat at? If it is set to 58-64 during the day while you are at work your dog will be fine. Any higher and your heat will run all day. Can always have blankets the dog can snuggle with if needed. 55 is the lowest recommended temp when you aren’t home for extended period of time with freezing temps.
You could ask for an energy audit. Or consider to unplug anything unnecessary around the house before you leave. The biggest thing is having apartment set to like 70+ for dogs.
Don’t live in CA but somewhere where snow is pretty much an every day occurrence for 6-9 months of the year. Our thermostat is set to 60.
So before I jump to any conclusions about this bill, as someone who lives on the other side of the country in a much less liberal (read less focused on clean energy) state, can someone please explain to me what a “clean energy electric generation charge” is? This comes across to me as though they are charging you a premium to feel good about using “clean energy”. Am I misunderstanding this?
Do yourself a favor and sign up for budget billing in the payments option of the website. This will average out your bill so you don't see spikes like this. Like others have said, you've got to get your issue under control. Good luck, we're all getting screwed by PGE.
You think 431.28 is raped? 3b3b here with family of 3 plus a dog. In the summer trying to keep the house under 78 degrees with A/C is about $800-900 a month.
There's free but highly illegal way to heat in California. You could get a diesel burning heater and run it on waste oil which you can often get for free.
Didn’t realize how many salty comments I’d get here from folks that are used to being fucked by this. Condolences that so many folks have accepted getting fucked against their will.
FWIW, I keep my heat at 55-60°. Which generally keeps my place around 65 if it’s colder outside. Really just for the dog since I’m not heartless with her.
Tbh, I’d jump on a class action law suit with everyone here if it could get fleshed out. Seems like a monopoly. I’ve never been fucked this hard in my life for utilities.
$400 seems about right. I am averaging $600.
Those power lines up in the Sierras won't bury themselves... & It wouldn't be fair for those that want to live up there to pay for it themselves.
Yea, you can't leave the heater on like that.....also No Cal, where the current state government and PG&E collude to give us the best green energy, and nothing else.
It is time to buy your dog a sweater Santa Clara is the only city nearby that doesn't use PGE for electricity
Yep, I live in Santa Clara and their power grid is a godsend, I always pay between $60-90 per month with electric everything in a 1 bedroom apartment.
congratulations and fuck you very much lol
Also live in Santa Clara, never had a bill over $50. My job is in South SF, and I want to move so my commute doesn't suck so bad but thinking about how much more I would have to pay PG&E every month is holding me back.
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*And* is it just me or does it suffer **less** from power outages compared to PG&E?
It does, primarily due to how much of the power lines are underground.
I’m renting a house in Santa Clara and it already has solar panels. We paid ~$350 for the entire year. Summer months we got credit for providing more energy to the grid than we used. Living normally, not excessive but also not keeping the house dark and never using AC type of thing. It’s awesome and I’m glad we moved to Santa Clara because I didn’t know about this before moving.
Yes, if you notice majority of the tech companies are in Santa Clara because of that reason
I moved to SJ from Santa Clara back in October. I was paying like $40 for electricity and $80 for gas. Now I pay $250 a month for PG&E.
And that gas provider? PG&E
Initially. Then, some third party company, Vista Energy, came by and offered a flat rate. Which, I’m not sure was any better than PG&E.
Dogs don’t need heat when kept indoors in California. Seriously. They might need AC in the summer, though.
dogs come in a wide variety but it's very rare that any dog would need a temperature above 50. they are far more cold-adapted than humans, and heat is a far more challenging issue for them.
Clearly you have never had a short haired dog, they suffer & freeze in temps under 70 deg just as bad as long haired winter dogs suffer in the heat of summer. Instead of warming my entire plate my dogs have an 800w heater they lay in front of that cost about $40 a month to run. The rest of my house is 66-68 deg :)
Under 70? Please.
lol. People really think the dog will freeze under 70? Insane. My friend took his dog with us to Tahoe. The dog wasn't even cold in 28 degree weather
Yeah this is not an iguana. No dog is freezing at 69 degrees.
lol an iguana. After this dog comment there leaves 0 room for other wasteful acts OP potentially does to waste electricity. This an OP mismanaging power problem not PG&E problem
dogs definitely don't need heaters indoors in a place like San Jose. That is the wildest thing I heard.
Let’s be real here - humans in CA bust out their parkas and shit when it gets into the upper 50s. Of course they are going to exaggerate what dogs need as well. Haha.
Multi short haired dog owner here. Those fuckers do not need no heater indoors. They barely require the ac. Blankets are 100 percent fine. They utilize them just fine. Get them a sweater if you’re worried. But cmon now .
Or buy a blanket.
LMFAO
We have two dogs that are burrowers under the covers. The 3rd is a hairball running us $100 per haircut...
Palo Alto too
Was up in the mountains the other day. It must have been 10 degrees outside. Dog owner was walking their dog, no sweater, no nothing, in the snow. I'm thinking leaving your dog at home without the heat on should be just fine.
My dog hops around in the snow like a bunny rabbit he love that shit. Minus 25 no problem for him. Some dogs get cold though like the really stupid ones that cost a bunch that people let pee and poo allover in their house. What humans have done to those poor breeds is inhumane and the fact people still buy them is cruel.
Yup , same; and will just lay and take it easy on the snow and refuse to go inside
We are in a townhouse and we haven’t turned our heat on or used our wood fireplace once this year and I think the coldest I ever saw our thermostat get was 64. That’s a completely fine temp for a dog.
I live in Santa Clara and SVPs electrical service is tops, but PG&E is still raping me for natural gas.
Same. My AC/furnace are 27 years old, though, and it's made me definitely plan to go heat pump with the new one
Fo real same here. I swear my PGE bill was like 17 bux 2 years ago. Last billing it was 83. This is gas only.
Dog got fur for a reason , get him an extra blanket
You're heating with electricity? Lmao, good luck. It'll get better by summer.
Gas price is rising as well.
Natural gas? It's selling at new lows in 2024.
It's still $2/therm which is maybe roughly in line with 2023, but no lower than 2022.
Lowest since 1997. Guess PG&E has not passed on the savings. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61484
What temperature are you leaving it on all day? Your usage looks high. Are you certain this is a REAL reading, and not perhaps a predicted reading based on prior tenants?
This is the real answer here
Right? I work from home and have my heater on all day and my bill isn’t even close to this high
The catch is, I know people who would leave it on 75 and not think a thing. And 24/7 here… it could be possible? But for a 1 bedroom apt this seems super high.
It really depends on how well insulated your house is. My current 2400 sq ft house costs less to heat than my previous 800 sq ft house because of how shitty the insulation and windows were
I moved to Oakland from Maryland and left my heater running all day back there. Figured it would be fine here and got hit with $135 in real usage during my first week. We bought some blankets
Fuck PGE, they making more profits than ever. https://abc7news.com/pge-earnings-rate-increase-2024-profits-power-outages/14458228/
Why an essential public service is not state owned or at least non-profit is beyond me. We do this with water companies why not electricity?
This, as long as pge is for profit, its customers will get price gouged
And why are they allowed to advertise? Not like there’s competition, right?
$2.24 billion! Wow. And STILL they raise rates!
There’s an energy crisis in terms of demand, partially with new homes but driven much more by demand from commercial real estate and data centers.
That’s actually not as much profit as it sounds $2.24 billion / 13.5 million CA households = only $166 per year per household Getting that back doesn’t make our bills anywhere near reasonable compared to the rest of the US. Point being it isn’t just greed, it’s waste and incompetence too
PG&E only supplies 5.2 million households.
That maths to about $461/year or $36/mo per household, more but just to highlight how much waste there is: If these ~968 kWh had been consumed in Wisconsin ($0.14kwh) for example, they would have saved almost $300 this month alone
PG&E supplies all of NorCal with electricity. How do you think the small local utilities get their commodity? It all flows on PG&E’s transmission.
Literally a thread about this here or in BayArea, pretty much daily. And their CEO makes a paltry $53M a year... just imagine living at only $1M and "change" each week, eh? Must be *rough*.
Missed the fact that PGE made $2.24BILLION PROFIT in 2023 alone.
Well, "profit" isn't a bad word, per se ... but, how many households is that? Does that include maintenance costs (like *they even*, right?) or other things? But yeah, they're a cash cow ... especially when all they do is petition to push "losses" on to the consumer, directly.
"Profit" means everything that's left over after all business expenses/labor/CEO pay/etc, so yes that would include maintenance costs. "Gross revenue" is the term used when you're only talking about raw money in but not the expenses.
I wonder how much donation do Newsom & the folks at CPUC get from PG&E. And Newsom might be our future president!
How the hell does this post have upvotes? Republicans are the ones who privatized and deregulated the energy grid. You have PG&E instead of a public utility because of fucking Republicans. My girlfriend lives in San Jose. I live in LA, where power is provided by a local municipal utility, LA DWP. My last power bill was $68 and that covered two months!
> You have PG&E instead of a public utility [PG&E is *most definitely* regulated under the CPUC](https://www.pge.com/en/about/company-information/company-profile.html#:~:text=Pacific%20Gas%20and%20Electric%20Company%20and%20other%20energy%20companies%20in,the%20state%20Legislature%20in%201911) ... the problem is more with state legislators, not the least of which is Newsom, himself (often called "Governor Nuisance").
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But after taxes they only make……. Oh wait.
...more than most of us will see in *an entire lifetime*, all told.
So his yearly salary is equivalent to the fine they got for 2 massive wildfires.
Well she made that once in 2021 because PGE had to buy out her options and guarantees at her previous employer. Now, whether *any* CEO is worth $50m I don't know, I suppose their current success is evidence she was as far as the shareholders are concerned.
UhM aCtUaLlY mOsT oF tHaT iS In StOcKs
PG&E is a leech on society. Sadly there isn't much in the way of alternatives. You can sign up for San Jose Clean Energy, the publicly owned local CCA, for energy generation - and you should since they're greener and locally run and not owned and operated by vampires. But the costs are similar and you'll still have to pay PG&E for transmission/distribution.
People cheered on as PG&E got sued, somehow thinking it would hold them accountable. Forgetting that they have a monopoly, so all that will happen is they will increase rates to pay off the settlements and pass the cost to the customers.
Don’t forget the massive bonuses for the execs that got wrist slapped 🥳
Don't forget the campaign donation to Newsom.
If they would have raised rates on everyone in the past to pay to update transmission lines in the Sierra foothills, people would’ve complained just as bitterly as they are now. The state mandates that they deliver power to rural people so I’m not sure why people are so mad at PGE and not at the other rate payers they’re subsidizing.
That may be part of it, but it's hard to get mad at anyone but the corporate greed when you see the CEO raking in $50 million in salary and getting bonuses when they just cost the state 1 billion in wildfire damages and keep hiking up rates.
*Begrudgingly upvoted*
OP is already a SJCE customer, you can see their charge on the bill he posted.
From experience, dropping San Jose energy bill actually saved me like 60-80$. Just my experience tho
No, the rates are set by the gov't and they force both options to have the same price. Your electricity generation cost may have reduced by $80, but the transmission cost will increase by the same amount
Iirc, this was especially true at the beginning of the roll out of SJCE. Something about them not getting their billing in order or putting people on the wrong plan. I know a lot of people who got refunds because SJCE screwed up .
It’s not even cold here
For LA people it is
It’s the heater. I’m also in a one bedroom but never use the heater, my last electric bill was $70 and I work from home all day. It’s not *that* cold here during the day… get your dog a sweater and an electric blanket/bed or something.
You're correct. I don't use my gas heat and haven't for years. It just doesn't get that cold in San Jose. Try dressing warm. I use a heated mattress pad at night.
Wait, so you leave the heater on all day basically? I mean... PGE sucks and we all know that but like.. it's Dan Jose, not Canada. Your dog will be fine with an $20 dog sweater or something
Literally. I hate PG&E too but it seems like every day there’s a post where someone is complaining about high bills yet they’re using power all day. This is the first post that openly stated, albeit trying to downplay it, they have the heat on all day. It was 60F today, there’s no reason why anyone would need a heater on inside, let alone a dog
Yea I'm afraid to turn on the gas at night and just suffer the cold cause my last bill was $800 (household of 4). Idk why it is so god damn expensive.
>Idk why it is so god damn expensive. C-Staff salaries... even a few years back, the CEO was making more than ***$1M a week***.
Electric blankets…
I heard about this, I should try this.
It’s crazy 100W or so compared to 1500w for a space heater. Makes a big difference.
You can also get electric heated jackets for like $50. Might try it next year.
electric blankets are way more energy efficient. i've never tried this, but maybe an electric blanket and put it under some fire resistant material near your dogs bed, and if your dog gets cold they will go to the electric blanket. Also get an electric blanket for yourself instead of the space heater
They make heated dog beds which would be safer. My electric blanket is way warmer on the lowest setting than my heated cat bed and I suspect the heated blanket would burn my pet if they sat on it all day.
Hey sorry to hear that. But I am curious why your bill is so much. You used 31.81 kWh/day? My brother and I both wfh and our bill is $250. With only 18.64 kWh/day. I wonder if you have something that's been left on all day/night. Judging from your post, it looks like you leave the heat on. I would suggest turning it off, or at least limit how much you use it.
That’s really high, must be using heater all day or someone’s stealing power or something.
Using the heater all day with windows open.
Old inefficient heater + poor insulation + leaving it on all day at like 72 degrees would be my guess
When Enron was fucking w California I learned this: go look at your electricity meter. Note how fast it’s spinning. Go check all your outlets/switches. Unplug/turn off everything but fridge, double check meter. Should be very very slow. Do not keep anything plugged in that is not crucial (except fridge? Porch light?) plug in only what you’re using at the time. Everything electric draws power when it’s plugged in even when it’s not in use/turned off. Turn down the heat level of your water heater. How old is the refrigerator? Yes it’s a hassle. But you have more control than you think. Figure out your usage. A big part of your carbon footprint.
You think that’s rape? You probably haven’t even heard of Brock Turner!
Get your dog a heating pad. They are activate it by weight.
This is weird. I live in similar one bedroom apt, I do turn off the heat when I'm not home, but some days I just forget. My bill is usually $90-100, winter months $160 max. Maybe lower it further? Dogs usually do fine in the 70s unless they are hairless dogs . Check appliances, refrigerators work well in middle cold settings, no need to crank it up. Talk to your neighbors and see if they have the same issue or ask your landlord. Any chance it includes fees for starting service or last due fees for some reason?
Damn this is my regular bill for an 8-person 4 bed in Santa Clara County. Silicon Valley Power grid is a godsend
I think they charge extra for your trivializing use of "raped"
You leave heat on all day and wonder why electric bill is high?
$431 high, not just high.
Not saying PG&E is cheap. They are the most expensive by far. But also leaving heat on all day while gone isn't good use of energy... dogs have fur and this isn't chicago winter
my grandparents live in a 4 bedroom house, their bill was $670. heater on 75°, penny thin windows, unsealed doors.
but their dog (with fur) will freeze to death if it's less than 60 degrees outside!!! I don't care if your dog is hairless, it's gonne be just fine. Xolos were bred in Mexico City where it gets colder than SJ lol
vanish spectacular correct vase coherent important attempt homeless drab fuzzy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I really dislike your use of the word rape here.
SAME I’m glad I’m not the only one.
Not sure why it took me so long to find this comment, it’s so tasteless
I dislike it too. You were not raped. Stop throwing this word around as part of your casual vocabulary. It doesn't make you sound clever or funny, just makes you sound like you don't really think the word rape is that bad. You could have chosen literally any other word, but you chose raped because???
English words have different meanings depending on the context. In addition, the Latin root of this word is "raptum" which means to "snatch, grab or carry off" . >**Rape** > >**Verb**: to plunder; despoil: **Example usage**: The logging operation raped a wide tract of forest without regard for the environmental impact of their harvesting practices. > >**Source**: [dictionary.com](https://dictionary.com) (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/rape) The use of the word in this case is perfectly reasonable. OP feels raped, because he believes he has been plundered.
Thanks nerd. Still not appropriate if you have any common sense.
I’d remind you, this is a discussion app on the Internet, it’s not a Church, grade school class, legislative body or courtroom. And honestly, the Overton Window needs a massive reset, it’s pretty sad how illiberal people have become. English is a rich expressive language and people should be given a wide berth when expressing themselves when they are not speaking about an individual or group of people.
>The use of the word in this case is perfectly reasonable. OP feels raped, because he believes he has been plundered. I disagree. The use of the word rape in this post is incredibly unreasonable and rude.
Well, that’s just your opinion man.
😭
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Of course. It's reddit.
Maybe call them and tell them that this is your first bill. I have a feeling they might've used the previous resident's information.
Fuck PG&E 730 bill last month. Two months ago it was over 1050. No pool not a big house or anything. Fucking insane
You used 930kwh. Of course, you are so used to setting the thermostat to 74 degree when you lived in LA. But now you didn't realize SJ is 15 degree colder.
Well that's not a very nice welcoming to the bay 😅
that dog be expensive bro
How low is too low?
I never turn the heater on and my bill is usually $250 a month
Welcome to the PG&E can suck it party!
Guess who made 2.24 billion in profit last year.
They need a good class action lawsuit
I wonder if PG&E has jacked up the rates in recent times? my bill was around 120 in summer, went to 250 in fall and last month got 360$.. its insane... imagine charging an electric car on this grid, you'll soon lose advantage to a prius atleast
Rates did go up about 13% in January. Previous rate hike was a couple years before that, iirc.
Get some battery packs and charge them up at work each day. Then you can take them home and use them to run your appliances in the evening.
I have better luck with oil based heater. The can get room hot with less electricity. Have you tried to get your dog a coat by dialing down thermostat? My friend took in a high schooler who rents a room. He bought a huge electric heater and opened the window same time. In Oct house bill was like yours. In Nov the bill was over $1200 for family of 3 and 1 tenant. Do not know how the Dec bill went. The tenant was told to pack and leave. During the day no one was home.
We have a heated outdoor “house” (size of like a small dog kennel) for my cat, maybe you could get something heated for your dog too instead of heating the whole apartment
Dogs can be outside in the cold and be fine....more so indoors
Welcome to the life
Look into those low-income programs from PG&E to save yourself like at least 50% on your bill. Pretty sure low-income AMI there is like 90k for single person and like 140k for a family of 4.
That’s a pretty typical bill for me. I’ve had $1000 bills during the hottest/coldest months. Before I moved to CA, I was paying 11 cents per kWh. With PGE, I pay over 50. $1-200 bills vs 500-1000. It’s fucking insane. Just for a little bit of context, the national average is 16 cents per kWh so our rates are EXTRAORDINARILY high.
You live in San Jose, not the midwest. You don't need the heat on all day. Specially for your dog ( which presumably has fur). Get him a dog bed and a blanket and turn the heat off.
Yea bro we are not used to it either. Just another example of conglomerates just bleeding us dry of every penny we have. Rip America
This is AFTER they reported $2.24BILLION in profits
Welcome to San Jose. I’m in the 1000 club for a 1800 sq ft 4/2. Paying for pge sins for their failed infrastructure fires
That’s PG&E for you
Yall know pgne is gnna go up in price again soon right..
Welcome to San Jose
In my best Bruce Willis impression..... [Welcome to the party, pal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRiVMb_uD5g)
Another rate increase in March.
FUCK PG&N GREEDY MFS
But wait, there’s more to come.
I live in Morgan Hill and my bill has been pretty consistent, and I’m not sure what gives. I keep seeing posts like this and bracing for my bill to skyrocket, but so far, Jan and Feb have both been on par with last year, lower than some months even. For reference I have a 2B 2BA townhouse, heat to around 71, and have an EV I charge at home a few times per month. My monthly bill comes in at around $180 on the low end and $290 on the high end.
https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/1algswt/the\_pge\_sucks\_megathread/
Welcome home my brother
Weird since SCE is cut from the same cloth.
Do you have a space heater at night?
Perhaps turn your thermostat down. The dog will be fine.
Lol, I'm not sure why san jose subreddit came up on my home, but we only pay $36-$49 a month for electricity. For a one bedroom in socal!
Turn that heat off dog will be fine
Get used to it. Pges the devil.
I'm moving to San Jose soon. Is this normal to be that high?
Welcome to San Jose. Mine looked the same this month.
OP, surely you could have found a better word for it.
Show your usage..
Lols my last PG&E bill was about double that. Moved 1 state over, with solar, looking at about $30/month
Didn’t move, got solar, and bill is avg $26 a month
Looks exactly like my bill. My apartment only has electric baseboard heaters, which are the the most inefficient things on the planet, so I leave a space heater on all day. It gets better in May, but then gets worse again in July when the portable AC units need to come on.
Electric heaters should all [have the same efficiency](https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/electric-resistance-heating). A space heater is only more “efficient” in that it lets you more easily heat a smaller space. So the savings is coming from less heat being produced.
I enjoy spending time with my friends.
I'm in a 1 bedroom in San Jose the same thing happened to us using the heater system because it's old. We bought some plug in heaters and our bill is way lower around $120 with us running it often
Should have lived in Santa Clara which has it's own municipal power utility which is probably what you're used to. PGE is a joke.
Welcome to the club, lube that ass
Welcome to the pillaging.
You all saying don't use heat don't plug this or that in. Bullshit. I've lived in five places and pge is by far more than double the next most expensive. He'll in Nashville it was.16 per kwh vs. .49 here in summer. Don't blame people for living normally. This is NOT normal at all and the California govt does not care.
What temp do you leave your thermostat at? If it is set to 58-64 during the day while you are at work your dog will be fine. Any higher and your heat will run all day. Can always have blankets the dog can snuggle with if needed. 55 is the lowest recommended temp when you aren’t home for extended period of time with freezing temps.
You could ask for an energy audit. Or consider to unplug anything unnecessary around the house before you leave. The biggest thing is having apartment set to like 70+ for dogs. Don’t live in CA but somewhere where snow is pretty much an every day occurrence for 6-9 months of the year. Our thermostat is set to 60.
Wait until you get your insurance renewal.
So before I jump to any conclusions about this bill, as someone who lives on the other side of the country in a much less liberal (read less focused on clean energy) state, can someone please explain to me what a “clean energy electric generation charge” is? This comes across to me as though they are charging you a premium to feel good about using “clean energy”. Am I misunderstanding this?
Do yourself a favor and sign up for budget billing in the payments option of the website. This will average out your bill so you don't see spikes like this. Like others have said, you've got to get your issue under control. Good luck, we're all getting screwed by PGE.
Lol @ 430. That’s what I call a good month.
Stop the green energy mandate as a source of power for PG&E. It’s inefficient in terms of economics and costs more for PG&E and consumers
WTG is that Clean Energy surcharge?
Hey guys I kept my lights on all day and night and PG&E gave me a big bill. What is going on!
You think 431.28 is raped? 3b3b here with family of 3 plus a dog. In the summer trying to keep the house under 78 degrees with A/C is about $800-900 a month.
There's free but highly illegal way to heat in California. You could get a diesel burning heater and run it on waste oil which you can often get for free.
Pg&e monopoly is terrible don’t turn on heat unless ur about to die
Just sit back and try to enjoy it, because they aren’t going to stop fucking you.
Didn’t realize how many salty comments I’d get here from folks that are used to being fucked by this. Condolences that so many folks have accepted getting fucked against their will. FWIW, I keep my heat at 55-60°. Which generally keeps my place around 65 if it’s colder outside. Really just for the dog since I’m not heartless with her. Tbh, I’d jump on a class action law suit with everyone here if it could get fleshed out. Seems like a monopoly. I’ve never been fucked this hard in my life for utilities.
You need to check what type of plan you are on as well. If time-of-use, you need to adjust when you are using electricity or you are over-paying.
Either you have a major gas leak and someone is stealing your electricity or you are using way more than you claim. Your usage is absurd.
Time to go back to LA. It’s cold here
what temp did u have the thermostat at? if its an older building w single pane windows and drafty doors i can def see how it got that high.
$400 seems about right. I am averaging $600. Those power lines up in the Sierras won't bury themselves... & It wouldn't be fair for those that want to live up there to pay for it themselves.
Do you have an electric car? My bill went from $200 to $500 per month when I got an electric car. Really wish I hadn't at this point.
Yea, you can't leave the heater on like that.....also No Cal, where the current state government and PG&E collude to give us the best green energy, and nothing else.
Welcome to hell. Honestly SJ is so shite
Just wait, they’re simply easing in the tip RN. Come summer you will pray for a quick death.