Cutting Electrical Costs from PGE

This is information I recently came across, useful more to people running at least 2 1000W lights I'd say.

PG&E - Time Of Use - TOU Rate Program. Between the hours of 12pm and 6pm you will be charged significantly more than the standard rate.

But outside those hours you will be saving money of the regular rate. A 450 dollar bill would turn into a 380 dollar bill in my area.

There is also the CARE program, if you are making a certain income, you get a discount.

Now for True Medical Marijuana Users who do nothing outside the law, i.e. too many... plants, smoke-able weed, sharing, selling, etc. You may qualify for a discount program that allows an increased baseline usage for medical equipment. I haven't looked into this specifically so I really have no idea if 215 counts but worth a look.

Other useful information, A 1000W light uses about 410KWh per light every billing cycle running 12/12, 616KWh each running 18/6.

Take all this into consideration and you will save hundreds a month!!!

i really liked hearing the info on madical discounts i will be looking in to this very soon also i have 2 1000 watts lights so this may actually help me looks like you are in the same area that i am from

billdubz785 said:

Other useful information, A 1000W light uses about 410KWh per light every billing cycle running 12/12, 616KWh each running 18/6.

Take all this into consideration and you will save hundreds a month!!!

Click to expand...

I've been on the PG&E CARE Program for many years, throughout college, and it has been great. However, I'm have a big problem now. I got a good paying job that disqualified me from continuing the discount. I have been continuing on with the program regardless. They never requested a pay stub or anything, so I figured I would be safe. The big problem is that I received a phone call today from PG&E and they requested to have an inspection done. Apparently, they want to check insulation, refrigerator, stove, air conditioning, etc. I was told that if anything needs updated or installed to save energy, they will have it replaced free of charge for their CARE Program customers. Obviously I can't have this inspection done!

As soon as I got home I began researching blogs and such to see if anybody out there has had a similar experience, and I found nothing. Then, I immediately got onto the PG&E website and cancelled the CARE Program online. I'm hoping that I will be able to call up PG&E and cancel the inspection as I would no longer be receiving the discount. I plan on explaining to them that I just recently got a raise and forgot to claim that I no longer qualified.

Even if all that works, I'm also hoping that they do not request to see old pay stubs to verify my eligibility in the past. I looked over the guidelines on the PG&E website and it is noted that they can ask for proof of income to qualify you. Though they've never asked in the 6 years I've received the discount, they may now since I cancelled service immediately after they contacted me about an inspection. I'm hoping that I can just say I do not wish to disclose that information to them for privacy reasons. Or at the most, show them a pay stub that was from a really slow week at work when I didn't get paid that much (which would just barely qualify me after taxes).

I am VERY concerned about this and will be calling PG&E tomorrow to cancel the inspection. In the meantime, I was hoping to get some input from other out there.
My biggest questions are:

Do you think I can cancel the inspection without a problem now that I've cancelled enrollment online?
Do you think they will ask for old pay stubs to see if I qualified in the past?
Do you think they can report this to law enforcement?

Please chime in with your thoughts!

or you could just put your meter upside down for two weeks and it will run backwards

DecimateForce said:

.
My biggest questions are:

Do you think I can cancel the inspection without a problem now that I've cancelled enrollment online?
Do you think they will ask for old pay stubs to see if I qualified in the past?
Do you think they can report this to law enforcement?

Please chime in with your thoughts!

Click to expand...

I spent a few solid hours researching this topic for unrelated reasons, and I'll share with you what I am 100% certain to be true. I am sorry I did not bookmark all the threads and PG&E pages I read to source this information, but know that I am a very thorough individual.

I am enrolled in CARE and received the same phone call you did last month. The person calling was clearly a "telemarketer" level call center employee reading off a script. I very politely explained I was a "do-it-yourselfer" and needed no assistance. She said "OK, so you are sure you are as energy efficient as you can be?" and giggled, as if the entire thing was kind of a joke anyways. But clearly she was not concerned, and just reading a script. I thanked her for her time, and she hung up.

I think perhaps you overreacted to what is a standard phone call designed as an "outreach" program to the "low income" people on the "financial assistance program." *cough cough*

As for PG&E asking for historical proof of eligibility, that will not occur. On their website it states they never ask for proof as a condition of eligibility. However, for quality assurance, a small random sample is selected each year to verify their income.

I am curious though, as to how it all worked out for you?

Other things I learned:

PG&E does not really seem to care at all what you use their power for, or how much you use, or why. As long as you pay the bill. They also don't seem to care how much power is consumed even when on the CARE program.

I found a large number of news stories about excessive power outages, and even grow houses burning down (all California references obviously) with no charges ever filed or considered due to being medically certified. It's all been really quite surprising, and I've yet to find a single example of PG&E screwing over anyone, ever, without it first being initiated by law enforcement, or an investigation into stealing power.

So, this research really helped put my mind at ease. This forum has saved my ass many times, so hopefully this post helps set some other minds to rest.

Sincerely,
ocean

that good to know. i just applied for care a week or so ago do you get a notice or does your bill just have a discount on it the next time?

bump.......

Good info Ocean59! Puts the mind at ease. I've pretty much came to the same conclusion as you. Now that I think about it, it was probably a 3rd party vendor PG&E uses to upgrade households using the CARE program. The do-it-yourself excuse was genius. I was more in a state of shock and panic when I got the phone call, and didn't know what to say. It has been 4 months now and everything worked out, except not receiving the discount anymore. It sucks actually having to pay the standard rate on energy though. My bill has more than doubled, going from an average of $500 to $1200. I would like to get back on the program somehow.

My thoughts are to end my service and say I'm moving out of state, then have my housemate start up a new account under her name, and also enrolling in the CARE program. It would look like I moved out and somebody new came into the house. And, since I'm saying I'm moving out of state, they wouldn't expect me to transfer service to another address. The only thing that would stay the same is the amount of electrical consumption. Actually, this is the only thing I'm worried about. Usage will not go down then back up as it more than likely does when tenants move in and out. Cutting usage to near 0 for a couple days would be very hard to do in my situation.

Does this sound like a good plan?

DecimateForce said:

I've been on the PG&E CARE Program for many years, throughout college, and it has been great. However, I'm have a big problem now. I got a good paying job that disqualified me from continuing the discount. I have been continuing on with the program regardless. They never requested a pay stub or anything, so I figured I would be safe. The big problem is that I received a phone call today from PG&E and they requested to have an inspection done. Apparently, they want to check insulation, refrigerator, stove, air conditioning, etc. I was told that if anything needs updated or installed to save energy, they will have it replaced free of charge for their CARE Program customers. Obviously I can't have this inspection done!

As soon as I got home I began researching blogs and such to see if anybody out there has had a similar experience, and I found nothing. Then, I immediately got onto the PG&E website and cancelled the CARE Program online. I'm hoping that I will be able to call up PG&E and cancel the inspection as I would no longer be receiving the discount. I plan on explaining to them that I just recently got a raise and forgot to claim that I no longer qualified.

Even if all that works, I'm also hoping that they do not request to see old pay stubs to verify my eligibility in the past. I looked over the guidelines on the PG&E website and it is noted that they can ask for proof of income to qualify you. Though they've never asked in the 6 years I've received the discount, they may now since I cancelled service immediately after they contacted me about an inspection. I'm hoping that I can just say I do not wish to disclose that information to them for privacy reasons. Or at the most, show them a pay stub that was from a really slow week at work when I didn't get paid that much (which would just barely qualify me after taxes).

I am VERY concerned about this and will be calling PG&E tomorrow to cancel the inspection. In the meantime, I was hoping to get some input from other out there.
My biggest questions are:

Do you think I can cancel the inspection without a problem now that I've cancelled enrollment online?
Do you think they will ask for old pay stubs to see if I qualified in the past?
Do you think they can report this to law enforcement?

Please chime in with your thoughts!

Click to expand...

Lol, I had the same thing. I tore up my garden. Two tents and bagged my plants. I was all set for the big day. HA! They never even came in past the front door!

One team inspects the cracks on the front door for weather stripping. Another team inspects your airconditioner and refrigerator. One team does your shower head. That is it. They do not walk the house. Well they will want to use a tool buy your heater and stove and water heater probably if you got one for leaks. The air lady I convined I had the flew and she just neleived me when I told her I had an old model air and fridge.

I got a new air conditioner and refrigeraor. They weather stripped my door and put a low flow thing on my shower. They only looked ast my stove and heater. Said I was fine. The inspection was done by dudes who looked like they smoked and were in some rehab program. The girl was the same. Kids, looking to reform from something. They had a boss who looked the same but came out to watch the weatherstripping.

So my plants were never in danger as they are in the bedroom.

I was not on the care program. They just came and asked my income. I thot I was doing alright. lol. I guess not. I got a lot of free shit tho.

My plants made it ok. I used ozone to clean to. Next time I will just keep my bedroom door closed.

Well. You can also turn off lights in rooms you are not in. Turn your PC and Monitor off when you dont use it. Close the fridge door while drinking milk out of the carton. Turn you water heater down to 130 degrees and take lower pressure showers (water not on full blast). Close doors that you are not occupying to keep the temperature stable. Use low wattage CFLs in all lights. Dont turn on room lights to grab something that you know where it is or to just walk thru it. Open curtians during the day to use natural light. Unplug electronic devices that dont get used very often. Use the microwave rather than the stove to heat something that has already been cooked.

Common sense can save you common dollars.

DecimateForce said:

Good info Ocean59! Puts the mind at ease. I've pretty much came to the same conclusion as you. Now that I think about it, it was probably a 3rd party vendor PG&E uses to upgrade households using the CARE program. The do-it-yourself excuse was genius. I was more in a state of shock and panic when I got the phone call, and didn't know what to say. It has been 4 months now and everything worked out, except not receiving the discount anymore. It sucks actually having to pay the standard rate on energy though. My bill has more than doubled, going from an average of $500 to $1200. I would like to get back on the program somehow.

My thoughts are to end my service and say I'm moving out of state, then have my housemate start up a new account under her name, and also enrolling in the CARE program. It would look like I moved out and somebody new came into the house. And, since I'm saying I'm moving out of state, they wouldn't expect me to transfer service to another address. The only thing that would stay the same is the amount of electrical consumption. Actually, this is the only thing I'm worried about. Usage will not go down then back up as it more than likely does when tenants move in and out. Cutting usage to near 0 for a couple days would be very hard to do in my situation.

Does this sound like a good plan?

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SWIM would like to say sorry for forgetting to subscribe to the thread lol.

Look, it really doesn't matter - you can call them tomorrow, explain that you lost your job, your girlfriend, your ass gambling, whatever really - you don't even need a reason at all, it's none of their business! And explain that your income changed (3 people moved in and now you qualify for the 4-person rate) and that you now qualify again for CARE.

You see, just because you cancelled CARE, does not mean you are ineligible to reapply. And when reapplying, the rules are the same - they do not ask for proof as a condition of acceptance, only as a random QA measure.

Also, unless you have a smart meter (just say no), they cannot track your usage other than monthly - that is the whole point of the smart meter installations - they send your usage hourly to a cell phone tower. With the old meter - they read it once a month and that's it. And again, they DO NOT CARE how much power you use lol. SWIM has heard of up to 10,000KWh/month without problem. Your bigger problem IMO is upset neighbors when it comes to excessive power consumption (power outages, fire risk from older tranformers, etc.).

SWIM did read a comment on another forum, totally unverified, that the DEA has been known to search CARE records to identify growers abusing the system without being registered medical users. But I don't know if SWIM believes that - either way, probably a good idea to only do CARE if your paperwork is in order, and you are not hiding anything anyways. Again, it was just an anonymous comment on an news article on a different site.

To the question about when the discount will appear, I am not PG&E customer service lol, but I'll answer (you already know by now tho lol): The discount won't show up on the first bill, even though that bill qualifies for the discount. On the next bill, you receive the discounted rate, plus credit for the discounted rate from the last bill. Kinda confusing I know, SWIM called them and had it explained it detail lol. Also, you can logon to pge.com and view the current status of discounts being applied to the bill - so long as it says you are enrolled in CARE on that page, you are good to go.

Also for what it's worth, it is too easy to switch the name of the pge bill in cali. SWIMs last roommate "moved out" almost $2000 in the hole, ready for disconnect, everything. SWIM calls up "Hi I just moved in and need service." And guess what? Due to all the freakin privacy laws here in Cali, they aren't even allowed to mention or hint at the fact that someone else lived there, owes them money, any of it. Just "I'll be happy to help you, what's your name, address, etc, great, thanks, it's done, have a great day!!" Totally serious. That's it. So simple it'll make your nose bleed from the lack of stress, all of it. SWIM was nervous too, but know that privacy laws actually seem to be on one's side in this state, in these matters.

Anyhoo, subscribed now, sorry for the late responses.

J

PG+E or any utility company has no right to enter your home unless you invite them. They can, and will access the meter outside - but they have no legal basis or privilege to enter your home for any reason unless you (or your landlord) ask them to come in and inspect your heater or something that may be dangerous. Stay smart people.

aficionado said:

PG+E or any utility company has no right to enter your home unless you invite them. They can, and will access the meter outside - but they have no legal basis or privilege to enter your home for any reason unless you (or your landlord) ask them to come in and inspect your heater or something that may be dangerous. Stay smart people.

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I had a hot spell in my area during early march so I opened the window for a day. After I came home I realized the electric meter is right next to the window. I'm sure nobody saw, but a little lapse like that can cause big trouble.