PG&E first-quarter profits jump as company’s utility revenue surges

OAKLAND — PG&E’s profits jumped during the first three months of 2023, the utility reported Thursday, a rise that coincided with big increases in monthly bills that numerous PG&E customers had to endure.

During the January-through-March first quarter of 2023, PG&E earned $623 million, an 18.2% jump in profits from the $527 million in company profits during the same quarter in 2022, PG&E stated in a quarterly report it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Operating revenue for both electricity and gas totaled slightly less than $6.21 billion during the first quarter of 2023, which was an increase of 7.1% from the January-through-March quarter of 2022, PG&E reported.

Total revenue from electricity operations was $4.12 billion in the first quarter of 2023, which was a 0.9% decrease from the year-before quarter.

Natural gas total operating revenue was $2.09 billion in this year’s first quarter, a jump of 27.4% from the same quarter the prior year.

Numerous customers of PG&E complained during the early months of 2023 that they were jolted by huge increases in their monthly utility bills, an increase that was being driven primarily by the natural gas component of the charges.

Oakland-based PG&E predicted that customers would experience a significant reduction in the gas component of their monthly bills during March, which was part of the first quarter.

“After three months of higher-than-normal natural gas market prices driving up energy costs, PG&E customers will see, on average, a 76% decrease in their March natural gas bill,” Lynsey Paulo, a spokesperson for PG&E, said in February in an interview for a story about the soaring customer bills at that time.

Declining market prices and a one-time climate credit were two key factors behind the decrease, according to the utility.

PG&E also notes that it doesn’t mark up the market prices for natural gas. External market forces spurred the surge in gas prices that consumers ultimately had to pay, according to the utility.

The company said that its total cost of natural gas, which includes expenditures for “procurement, storage and transportation” of the energy source, soared during the first quarter.

PG&E’s cost of natural gas was $919 million for the first quarter, which was a jump of 63.3% from the same quarter the year before.

“From November through January, our natural gas market prices were extremely high, in some cases, six times higher than the U.S. benchmark,” Paulo said in February.