Calif. power company seeks higher rates for energy efficient customers

Think it's keen to be green? Not if you're California's Pacific Gas & Electric, according to a recent report.

Utility provider PG&E, in documents filed with the state, is seeking a five percent rate increase for its most energy-efficient customers. The increase is reportedly so the company can give it's highest-volume customers a price break.

"[The] company, with profits up 4.6 percent in the third quarter of this year, said they’re just trying to be fair," California blog Mission Local noted.

“It’s necessary to avoid the continued shifting of costs associated with utility services to a limited set of residential customers,” PG&E spokesperson told blogger Heather Duthie.

That "limited set of residential customers" the company refers to are those who use between 131 and 300 percent of average customers, Mission Local added. Under the proposal, they can expect future savings between 2.5 and 5.7 percent on their electric rates.

Meanwhile, the company is promoting energy efficiency through its residential Web portal, even launching a flash-based renewable energy promotion on the domain wecandothis.com.

If approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, the rate increases for energy efficient users would take effect on Jan. 10, 2010.

The Utility Reform Network, otherwise known to Californians as TURN, filed a protest on Thursday with the utilities commission, objecting to the rate increases.

When PG&E went bankrupt in 2001, the company was carrying over $9 billion in debt and had listed assets of up to $36 billion.