Gas, Electric Rates Go Up In New Year

Pacific Gas and Electric customers will see some rate increases in the new year.

Average rates for residential gas customers will go up 1.8 percent compared to December 2011, although they are still 0.3 percent lower than January 2011, according to PG&E officials.

Average residential electric rates will increase 2.9 percent over January 2011, or 2.4 percent over December 2011.

"These revenues help us serve customers by reducing the frequency of electrical outages, improving the responsiveness of our call centers, providing more convenient services and, above all, continuing to upgrade the safety of our system," said Tom Botorff, senior vice president of regulatory relations for PG&E.

PG&E officials said the rate increases were lower than the trend for U.S. consumer prices, which increased 3.4 percent from November 2010 to November 2011.

—By Bay City News Service