PG&E Us Stock Price, News & Analysis

PG&E (NYSE: PCG) has announced its fourth-quarter 2024 dividend payments. The company will distribute a regular cash dividend of $0.025 per share on its common stock, payable on January 15, 2025, to shareholders of record as of December 31, 2024.

Additionally, its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, declared regular preferred stock dividends for the period ending January 31, 2025, to be paid on February 15, 2025. The preferred stock dividends range from $0.27250 to $0.37500 per share across eight different series, including both redeemable and non-redeemable stocks. The redeemable preferred stocks carry rates from 4.36% to 5.00%, while non-redeemable preferred stocks range from 5.00% to 6.00%.

PG&E has provided over $50 million in financial assistance to nearly 58,000 customers through the REACH program in 2024. The program increased maximum customer bill credits from $500 to $2,000 and introduced a 3-to-1 match on customer bill payments. Fresno County received the highest distribution with $9.8 million across 13,743 approved applications. The company is now promoting additional support through CARE and FERA programs, which provided nearly $1 billion in customer bill reductions in 2023. CARE offers 20%+ monthly discounts on gas and electricity, while FERA provides 18% monthly electricity discounts for larger households.

PG&E is accepting applications for its Resilience Hubs Grant program, offering a total of $400,000 in funding for climate resilience projects. The program will award four $25,000 grants and three $100,000 grants to eligible governmental organizations, educational institutions, or 501(c)3 nonprofits. The grants aim to create physical spaces or resources supporting community resilience during climate-driven disruptions.

The deadline is January 31, 2025, marking the final year of the program. Priority will be given to projects serving disadvantaged communities. The grants are funded by PG&E shareholders as part of wildfire resiliency investments mandated by the California Public Utilities Commission.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has released energy-efficient tips to help customers manage their energy costs during the holiday season. The company highlights that 10% of typical household energy use comes from lighting and 31% from kitchen appliances. PG&E offers various cost-saving solutions including thermostat management, efficient cooking practices, and LED lighting recommendations. The company also promotes several assistance programs such as the CARE program offering 20% monthly discounts and the FERA program providing 18% electricity bill discounts for eligible households.

Divert Inc. and PG&E have announced a groundbreaking interconnection in California to address food waste. Divert's Turlock facility is now converting unsold food products into carbon-negative renewable energy, which is being injected into PG&E's natural gas transmission line. The facility will process 100,000 tons of unsold food annually, delivering 225,000 MMBtu of Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) and mitigating 23,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions yearly. This initiative aims to tackle California's six million tons of annual food waste while supporting the state's net-zero carbon pollution goals. The facility is scheduled to be fully operational in Q4 2024.

PG&E is raising awareness about utility scams on Utility Scam Awareness Day (November 20, 2024), as scammers intensify their efforts during the holiday season. In 2024, PG&E customers have reported nearly 15,000 scam attempts, resulting in losses exceeding $334,000, with an average loss of $628 per incident.

Scammers typically threaten immediate service disconnection, demand instant payment, request prepaid cards, or offer fake refunds. Over 500 reports targeted small and medium-sized businesses. PG&E emphasizes that they never demand immediate payment via specific methods like prepaid cards, Zelle, or Venmo, and always provide advance disconnection notifications through mail.

PG&E is preparing for the first significant atmospheric river storm of the season by mobilizing crews and resources across key regions. The company has opened its Emergency Operations Center in Vacaville to coordinate storm response efforts. The weather event is expected to bring prolonged heavy rain and winds to North Bay, Sacramento Valley, Sierra, and Bay Area regions through Friday.

The utility is utilizing machine learning outage models to forecast concentrated outage areas and pre-position crews for power restoration. PG&E is prestaging equipment including power poles, powerlines, and transformers throughout its service area to ensure quick restoration of power in affected areas.

PG&E has reached a significant milestone by completing over 800 miles of underground powerlines since 2021, including more than 360 miles in 2023 alone. The undergrounding effort now serves customers in 27 counties, reducing wildfire risk by 98% in those locations while improving reliability. The company has already completed 187 miles toward its 2024 target of 250 miles, with plans to complete 330 miles in 2025 and 440 miles in 2026. PG&E aims to reach more than 1,600 total miles across 30 counties by end of 2026. The company uses machine-learning-based risk modeling to determine highest-risk lines for undergrounding, with priority given to highest-risk circuits.

PG&E and Itron are collaborating on an innovative EV Connect program to make electric vehicle charging more accessible and affordable. The pilot program uses distributed intelligence edge computing on customers' electric meters to enable Level 2 EV charging without costly panel upgrades. This solution particularly benefits the approximately 50% of PG&E homes with 100-amp service, avoiding thousands in upgrade costs and months of waiting. The initial pilot will support up to 1,000 residential customers and is set to launch in early 2025, with broader availability planned for the second half of 2025.