One SF resident — a work-from-home apartment dweller on the west side who treats low energy usage like a competitive sport — recently broke down the numbers on their own bill. The findings? Despite maintaining a rock-steady 3.5 kWh per day in a 650-square-foot apartment with no dishwasher, no laundry, and no water heater, their non-discounted costs have jumped approximately 44% since the new charge kicked in.

Read that again. Usage flat. Bill up 44%.

The Base Services Charge is essentially a fixed fee tacked onto your bill regardless of consumption. PG&E frames it as covering the cost of maintaining your electrical connection — the poles, wires, and infrastructure that exist whether you're running a Bitcoin mining rig or a single lamp. And look, there's a kernel of logic there. As one local noted, "there's an argument that it's fairer considering there are fixed costs to providing an electrical connection." But as that same person acknowledged, "these fees are somewhat arbitrary and probably designed to capture more revenue." Bingo.

This is the problem with monopoly utilities operating under a regulatory framework that's supposed to protect consumers but increasingly just protects the monopoly. The California Public Utilities Commission approved this rate structure, and the people it hammers most are exactly the ones California claims to champion: low-income renters, small-apartment dwellers, and anyone who actually took the state's conservation messaging seriously.

Another Bay Area resident put it more bluntly: "I am also very low usage and this change has doubled my bill. It's so infuriating."

The perverse incentive here should bother everyone, regardless of political persuasion. If you use less, you now pay a higher effective rate per kilowatt-hour. That's not a pricing model — it's a participation fee for the privilege of being a PG&E customer in a market where you have zero alternatives.

Meanwhile, renters in SF are left wondering whether landlords can pass these increases through under rent control — a legal gray area that's already generating confusion and, inevitably, some opportunistic behavior from property owners looking for angles.

The state spent years telling Californians to conserve energy. Turns out the reward for listening is a bigger bill. Only in California could doing what you're told cost you more.