Bill Minor: Changing ‘peak rate’ hours just a ploy to boost PG&E profits

Re “Electricity price rules get rewrite” (Page A8, July 4): The proposed electricity rates in the article appear to raise the profits of PG&E while downsizing ratepayers’ comforts, also raising electricity costs for the poor (who use less). The former “time of use” stipulations tripled power costs from noon to 6 p.m. in order to protect the power grid from overuse. Some of us still have the time-of-use program and use solar power to allow us to avoid paying triple rates during peak hours and still having air conditioning. The PUC seems to be intentionally avoiding this by upping the designation of “peak rate” hours from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. While this will raise PG&E profits, how will this help me?

This story was originally published July 13, 2015 at 4:41 PM with the headline "Bill Minor: Changing ‘peak rate’ hours just a ploy to boost PG&E profits."