PG&E Corp

The Utility operates under a “cost-of-service” ratemaking model, which means that rates for electric and natural gas utility services are generally set at levels that are intended to allow the Utility to recover its costs of providing service and to earn a return on invested capital (“cost-of-service ratemaking”). To set rates, the CPUC and the FERC conduct proceedings to determine the amount that the Utility will be authorized to collect from its customers (“revenue requirements”). In the GRC proceedings, the CPUC also generally approves the level of spending on a forecasted basis. Revenue authorized by the CPUC through GRC proceedings is intended to provide the Utility a reasonable opportunity to recover its costs and earn a return on its investments in generation and distribution assets and general plant (also referred to as “rate base”). The Utility’s revenue requirements consist primarily of a base amount set to enable the Utility to recover its reasonable operating expenses (e.g., maintenance, administration, and general expenses) and capital costs (e.g., depreciation, and financing expenses).

The Utility’s costs of equity and long-term debt are generally approved in the CPUC’s cost of capital proceedings.

As a result, the Utility’s CPUC-jurisdictional revenue requirement is the sum of the following:

•expenses;

•depreciation;

•taxes; and

•the product of the Utility’s rate of return (i.e., the cost of capital for long-term debt and equity) and its rate base.

In addition to the Utility’s revenue requirement, the CPUC authorizes the Utility to collect revenues to recover costs that the Utility is allowed to “pass through” to customers, including its costs to procure electricity and natural gas for customers and to administer public purpose and customer programs.

FERC revenue requirements are set through a FERC-approved formula rate. The Utility’s rate of return on electric transmission assets is determined in the FERC TO proceedings.

Customer rates are determined by dividing the revenues that the Utility is authorized to collect from customers by the amount of power that the Utility is forecasted to sell. Increases in load spread the Utility’s revenue requirement over a larger usage base, which reduces customer rates, but also increases fuel costs, which are passed through to customers.

Other than certain gas transmission and storage revenues, the Utility’s base revenues are “decoupled” from its sales volume through certain regulatory balancing accounts, or revenue adjustment mechanisms, that are designed to allow the Utility to collect its authorized base revenue requirements regardless of sales volume. As a result, the Utility’s base revenues are not impacted by fluctuations in sales resulting from, for example, weather or economic conditions. The Utility’s earnings primarily depend on its ability to manage its base operating and capital costs within its authorized base revenue requirements.

Due to the seasonal nature of the Utility’s business and rate design, customer electric bills are generally higher during summer months (May to October) because of higher demand, driven by air conditioning loads. Customer bills related to gas service are generally higher during winter months (November to March) because of higher demand due to heating.

From time to time, the CPUC may use incentive ratemaking mechanisms that provide the Utility an opportunity to earn additional revenues. For example, the Utility has earned incentives for the successful implementation of energy efficiency programs.

See “Regulatory Matters” in Item 7. MD&A for more information on specific CPUC proceedings.

Base Revenues

General Rate Cases

The GRC is the primary proceeding in which the CPUC determines the amount of base revenue requirements that the Utility is authorized to collect from customers to recover the Utility’s anticipated costs related to its electric distribution, natural gas distribution, and Utility-owned electric generation operations and return on rate base. In the past, the CPUC has generally conducted a GRC every three years. Starting with the 2023 GRC, the CPUC now conducts a GRC every four years that includes the Utility’s costs of its gas transmission and storage facilities. The CPUC approves the annual revenue requirements for the first year (or “test year”) of the GRC period and typically authorizes the Utility to receive annual increases in revenue requirements for the subsequent years of the GRC period (known as “attrition years”). Attrition year rate adjustments are generally authorized for cost increases related to invested capital and inflation. Parties to the Utility’s GRC include the Public Advocates Office of the CPUC (formerly known as Office of Ratepayer Advocates or ORA) and TURN, which generally represent the interests of residential customers, as well as numerous intervenors that represent other business, community, customer, environmental, and union interests. For more information about the Utility’s GRC, see “Regulatory Matters - 2023 General Rate Case” in Item 7. MD&A.

Cost of Capital Proceedings

The CPUC periodically conducts a cost of capital proceeding to authorize the Utility’s capital structure and rates of return for its electric generation, electric and natural gas distribution, and natural gas transmission and storage rate base. The rate of return, or cost of capital, is the weighted average cost of debt, preferred equity, and common stock a utility has issued to finance its utility capital investments. The CPUC’s cost of capital proceedings generally take place in a consolidated proceeding with California’s other large investor-owned electric and gas utilities. For more information about the cost of capital proceedings, see “Regulatory Matters - Cost of Capital Proceedings” in Item 7. MD&A.

Electricity Transmission Owner Rate Cases

The FERC determines the amount of authorized revenue requirements, including the rate of return on electric transmission assets, that the Utility may collect through rates in the TO rate case. In its TO rate cases, the Utility uses a formula rate methodology, which includes an authorized revenue requirement and rate base for a given year but also provides for an annual update of the previous year’s revenue requirement and rates in accordance with the terms of the FERC-approved formula. Under the formula rate mechanism, transmission revenue requirements are updated to the actual cost of service annually as part of the true-up process. Differences between amounts collected and determined under the formula rate are either collected from or refunded to customers. These FERC-approved rates are included by the CPUC in the Utility’s retail electric rates and by the CAISO in its transmission access charges to wholesale customers. For more information, see “Regulatory Matters - Transmission Owner Rate Cases” in Item 7. MD&A. The Utility also recovers a portion of its revenue requirements for its wholesale electric transmission costs through charges collected under specific contracts with wholesale transmission customers that the Utility entered into before the CAISO began its operations. These wholesale customers are charged individualized rates based on the terms of their contracts.

Program-Specific Memorandum Account and Balancing Account Costs

Periodically, costs arise outside of the CPUC’s GRC proceedings or that have been deliberately excluded therefrom. These costs may result from catastrophic events, changes in regulation, new programs, or extraordinary changes in operating practices. The Utility may seek authority to track incremental costs in a memorandum account, and the CPUC may authorize recovery of costs tracked in memorandum accounts if the costs are deemed reasonable. For instance, these accounts allow the Utility to track the costs associated with work related to disaster and wildfire response, and other wildfire prevention-related costs. Recovery of the costs tracked in these memorandum accounts through rates requires CPUC authorization in separate proceedings, the outcome of which the Utility may be unable to predict. Alternatively, the Utility may seek authority to track incremental costs related to these non-GRC programs in balancing accounts. The CPUC may authorize recovery of costs tracked in the balancing accounts on either a “one-way” basis, which typically only allows actual costs to be recovered up to a pre-established cap, or a “two-way” basis, which typically allows actual costs to be recovered, and in some cases subject to further CPUC review. For more information, see “Regulatory Matters - Cost Recovery Proceedings” in Item 7. MD&A and Note 3 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8.

Diablo Canyon Extended Operations

During the period of extended operations and in lieu of the traditional rate-based return on investment, SB 846 provides for a fixed payment of $50 million, in 2022 dollars, for each of Diablo Canyon’s Unit 1 and Unit 2 for each year of extended operations to be recovered from customers of all CPUC-jurisdictional LSEs, which is potentially subject to adjustment downward in the event of extended unplanned outages. In addition, SB 846 authorizes a volumetric payment totaling $13 (in 2022 dollars) for each MWh generated by Diablo Canyon during the period of extended operations, with the first half recovered from all CPUC-jurisdictional LSEs and the second half from customers in the Utility’s service area. The amount of the fixed and volumetric payments will be adjusted annually by the CPUC using CPUC-approved escalation methodologies and adjustment factors. The volumetric payment cannot be realized as shareholder profits or paid out as dividends, to the extent it is not needed for Diablo Canyon. The legislation includes language that limits use of the volumetric payment to investments in the system and for customers that address critical state priorities.

Revenues to Recover Energy Procurement and Other Pass-Through Costs

Electricity Procurement Costs

California IOUs are responsible for procuring electrical capacity required to meet bundled customer demand, plus applicable reserve margins. The utilities are responsible for scheduling and bidding electric generation resources, including certain electricity procured from third parties, into the wholesale market to meet customer demand according to which resources are the least expensive (i.e., using the principles of “least-cost dispatch”). In addition, the utilities are required to obtain CPUC approval of their BPPs based on long-term demand forecasts. In October 2015, the CPUC approved the Utility’s most recent comprehensive BPP. It has been revised since its initial approval, and the revised version will remain in effect, subject to any further revisions, until superseded by a subsequent CPUC-approved plan.

California law allows electric utilities to recover the costs incurred in compliance with their CPUC-approved BPPs without further after-the-fact reasonableness review by the CPUC. The CPUC may disallow costs associated with electricity purchases if the costs were not incurred in compliance with the CPUC-approved plan or if the CPUC determines that the utility failed to follow the principles of least-cost dispatch. Additionally, the CPUC may disallow the value of lost generation due to unplanned outages at utility-owned generation facilities.

The Utility recovers its electric procurement costs annually primarily through balancing accounts. See Note 3 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8. Each year, the CPUC reviews the Utility’s forecasted procurement costs related to power purchase agreements, derivative instruments, GHG emissions costs, and generation fuel expense, and approves a forecasted revenue requirement. The CPUC may adjust the Utility’s retail electric rates more frequently if the forecasted aggregate over-collections or under-collections in the Energy Resource Recovery Account, net of bundled service customer Portfolio Allocation Balancing Account balances, exceed five percent of its prior year electric procurement and Utility-owned generation revenues. The CPUC performs an annual compliance review of the procurement transactions recovered in various balancing accounts, including the Energy Resource Recovery Account and the Portfolio Allocation Balancing Account.

The CPUC has approved various power purchase agreements into which the Utility has entered with third parties in accordance with the Utility’s CPUC-approved BPP, to meet mandatory renewable energy targets, and to comply with RA requirements. For more information, see “Electric Utility Operations - Electricity Resources” below as well as Note 15 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8.

The Utility is also responsible, as the central procurement entity (“CPE”) for its distribution service area, for seeking to procure the entire amount of required local RA on behalf of all CPUC-jurisdictional LSEs in its distribution service area. CPUC decisions grant the Utility, acting as CPE, discretion to defer procurement of local resources to the CAISO’s backstop mechanisms if bid costs are deemed unreasonably high. The Utility, as the CPE, will not be assessed fines or penalties for failing to procure resources to meet the local RA requirements and deferring local procurement to the CAISO backstop mechanism, so long as the CPE exercised reasonable efforts to secure capacity and certain specified requirements are met. In addition, the Utility, as the CPE, has been ordered or authorized to seek to procure specific local capacity products pursuant to CPUC decisions. In connection with its CPE function, the Utility is responsible for making compliance demonstrations to the CPUC and the CAISO. The Utility recovers its administrative and procurement costs associated with its CPE function through a balancing account. Each year, the CPUC reviews the Utility’s forecasted administrative costs related to the CPE function and approves a forecasted revenue requirement associated with the administrative costs. The CPUC performs an annual compliance review of the CPE function, including procurement transactions with terms of five years or less (for which costs incurred in compliance with certain prescribed criteria are deemed reasonable and pre-approved without further after-the-fact reasonableness review). Procurement transactions with terms exceeding five years are reviewed separately. The CPUC may disallow costs associated with the CPE function that were not incurred in compliance with the CPUC’s decisions and guidance.

The CPUC has also approved the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (“PCIA”). The PCIA is a cost recovery mechanism to ensure that customers who switch from the Utility’s bundled service to a non-Utility provider, such as a DA or CCA provider, pay their share of the above-market costs associated with long-term power purchase commitments and Utility-owned generation made on their behalf.

Natural Gas Procurement, Storage, and Transportation Costs

The Utility recovers the cost of gas used in generation facilities as a cost of electricity that is recovered annually through retail electric rates.

The Utility sets the natural gas procurement rate for small commercial and residential customers (referred to as “core” customers) monthly, based on the forecasted costs of natural gas, core pipeline capacity and storage costs. The Utility recovers the cost of gas purchased on behalf of core customers as well as the cost of derivative instruments for its core gas portfolio, through its retail gas rates, subject to limits as set forth in its CPIM described below. The Utility reflects the difference between actual natural gas purchase costs and forecasted natural gas purchase costs in several natural gas balancing accounts, with adjustments for under-collections and over-collections made in subsequent monthly rate changes.

The CPIM protects the Utility against after-the-fact reasonableness reviews of its gas procurement costs for its core gas portfolio. Under the CPIM, the Utility’s natural gas purchase costs for a fixed 12-month period are compared to an aggregate market-based benchmark based on a weighted average of published monthly and daily natural gas price indices at the points where the Utility typically purchases natural gas. Costs that fall within a tolerance band, which is 99% to 102% of the commodity benchmark, are considered reasonable and are fully recovered through rates. One-half of the costs above 102% of the benchmark are recoverable through rates, and the Utility’s customers receive in their rates 80% of any savings resulting from the Utility’s cost of natural gas that is less than 99% of the benchmark. The Utility retains the remaining amount of these savings as incentive revenues, subject to a cap equal to 1.5% of total natural gas commodity costs. While this mechanism remains in place, changes in the price of natural gas, consistent with the market-based benchmark, are not expected to materially impact net income.

The Utility incurs transportation costs under various agreements with interstate and Canadian third-party transportation service providers. These providers transport natural gas from the points at which the Utility takes delivery of natural gas (typically in Canada, the U.S. Rocky Mountains, and the southwestern United States) to the points at which the Utility’s natural gas transportation system begins. These agreements are governed by FERC-approved tariffs that detail rates, rules, and terms of service for the provision of natural gas transportation services to the Utility on interstate and Canadian pipelines. The FERC approves the United States tariffs governing payments by shippers (including the Utility) for pipeline service, and the Canada Energy Regulator, the Canadian regulatory agency, approves the applicable Canadian tariffs. The transportation costs the Utility incurs under these agreements are recovered through CPUC-approved rates as core natural gas procurement costs or as a cost of electricity.

Costs Associated with Public Purpose and Customer Programs

The CPUC authorizes the Utility to recover the costs of various public purpose and other customer programs through the collection of rates from most Utility customers. These programs relate to energy efficiency, demand response, distributed generation, energy research and development, and other matters. Additionally, the CPUC has authorized the Utility to provide discounted rates for specified types of customers, such as for low-income customers under the CARE program, which is paid for by the Utility’s other customers.

Nuclear Decommissioning Costs

The Utility’s nuclear power facilities consist of two units at Diablo Canyon and the retired facility at Humboldt Bay. Nuclear decommissioning requires the safe removal of nuclear facilities from service and the reduction of residual radioactivity to a level that permits termination of the NRC license and release of the property for unrestricted use. Nuclear decommissioning costs are generally collected in advance through rates and are held in nuclear decommissioning trusts to be used for the eventual decommissioning of each nuclear unit. The Utility files an application with the CPUC every three years requesting approval of the Utility’s updated estimated decommissioning costs and any rate change necessary to fully fund the nuclear decommissioning trusts to the levels needed to decommission the Utility’s nuclear plants. If the nuclear decommissioning trusts are overfunded, the amount of such overfunding will be returned to customers. Pursuant to Public Utilities Code Section 8325, to the extent the monies available for decommissioning are insufficient to pay for all reasonable and prudent decommissioning costs, the CPUC must authorize the electric utility to collect these charges from its customers.

For costs related to AROs, see “Asset Retirement Obligations” in Note 2 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8.