Highlight: Engaging stakeholders
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At PG&E, we strive to improve the experience of the customers we are privileged to serve.
Our approach
Led by Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer, we are working to deliver the best experience for each and every customer. This includes using data-informed insights to improve the customer experience, localizing our presence and strategies in the communities we serve, and empowering customers with greater choice and control over how they manage their energy use. We also continuously integrate customer feedback to develop, enhance, and improve our products and services.
Serving customers locally
Our Regional Service Model improves the relationships and trust between PG&E and our customers by increasing local accountability and placing our operational leaders within the communities they support. Our regional teams live and work in their communities and lead cross-functional efforts within each PG&E region to address local issues and prioritize the needs and concerns of customers in operating decisions and planning processes.
Integrating feedback
PG&E regularly uses customer surveys, focus groups, online customer panels, and other forms of research to obtain feedback and insights that help drive our decision-making and improve how we serve customers. We also host customer collaboration sessions to hear from and collaborate with customers on improving service solutions.
We engage with a number of stakeholder groups on a regular basis, including:
- Customer Advisory Group, which provides a forum to strengthen our strategic engagement with large customers to better serve them and meet their needs.
- Sustainability Advisory Council, which provides independent expertise to help ensure that PG&E’s business strategy, operations, and future energy network incorporate sustainability best practices.
- Local stakeholder advisory groups, which discuss significant projects and topics relevant to the local area.
We also convene various advisory groups for specific areas, including:
- Customer Advisory Panel, which provides guidance on outreach strategies to effectively communicate rate options and affordability to underserved and historically marginalized communities.
- People with Disabilities and Aging Advisory Council, an externally focused advisory council comprised of recognized leaders from community-based organizations (CBOs) who support our most vulnerable customer populations.
- Transportation Electrification Program Advisory Council, which provides feedback and guidance on PG&E’s electric vehicle programs.
- Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Engagement Panel, which, since 2018, has provided diverse community viewpoints to help inform PG&E’s site-specific decommissioning plan on future land use and repurposing recommendations.
Customer engagement on wildfire programs
We continue to engage with customers and educate them on our Community Wildfire Safety Program as we respond to California’s continued wildfire risk. To reduce the impacts of our wildfire-safety programs, we are listening to customers and responding to feedback by providing more information and better resources.
PG&E maintains the Safety Action Center, an online resource featuring information about wildfire risks and what customers can do to keep their homes, families, and businesses safe, including tips on how to create an emergency plan, emergency preparedness guides, as well as videos and links to the statewide Power of Being Prepared campaign and other resources.
While PG&E did not experience any major wildfires in 2024, the company de-energized customers for six Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events out of an abundance of caution for the safety of our customers and communities. Additionally, we continued enablement of Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) in high fire threat areas during times of high fire risk. We continue to work on enhancements to our programs, including mitigation support and customer communications, such as:
- Reaching more customers potentially impacted by wildfire safety outages:
- Delivered 4,300+ portable batteries
- Provided 3,500+ rebates for generators and batteries
- Installed 3,320 backup power transfer meters
- Conducting pre- and in-season outreach to help Medical Baseline customers prepare to stay safe before a PSPS event.
- Deploying Community Resource Centers to help customers during PSPS events by providing a safe place to access electricity, get updates, and find resources.
- Providing emergency information in 16 languages, partnering with CBOs to conduct multilingual outreach, and developing additional American Sign Language notifications.
- Supporting meal replacement options from local food banks to cover every county likely to be impacted by PSPS events.
- Improving customer notifications when outages occurred on EPSS-enabled lines and conducting additional outreach to those impacted by outages on EPSS-enabled circuits.
PG&E also reserved approximately 40 megawatts of temporary generation in 2023 to be deployed to mitigate the impacts of wildfire safety outages.
Highlight
PG&E actively works to strengthen our engagement with Tribal governments to better serve their communities. This includes training for coworkers on Tribal cultural awareness, governmental structure, and expectations of PG&E.
Photos show (left) PG&E leaders consulting with representatives from Peru on engaging with Tribes on wildfire safety and preparedness and (right) discussing wildfire safety, resilience, and vegetation management with Tribal leaders at the California Rural Indian Health Board.
Highlights from 2024 included:
- Engaging with Tribal governments and communities to understand the impacts of wildfire safety outages and other service disruptions through:
- In-person or virtual meetings with Tribal governments
- Regional working groups with other public safety partners and stakeholders
- Tribal-specific Regional Working Group with our Regional Vice Presidents
- Wildfire safety working sessions with Tribes and counties
- Support during all-hazard events and emergencies
- Convening PG&E senior leaders with Tribal governments, including between our CEO and Tribal leadership on a Tribal reservation.
- Distributing a quarterly Tribal newsletter covering our income-based programs.
- Deploying a Tribal Mini Grant to help with enrollment in our financial assistance programs, prioritizing the Access and Functional Needs community.
- Strategically placing temporary generation ahead of potential wind or storm events affecting Tribal lands to mitigate potential outages.
- Coordinating with Tribes to deploy PG&E’s self-generation and community microgrid programs on Tribal lands.
- Coordinating with the Department of Energy to assist in Tribal consultation on 40101(d) grants.
- Cohosting the Tribal Energy Summit with California’s investor-owned utilities and the DOE, CEC, and CPUC.
- Working with Tribal food distribution programs to provide support for food security on Tribal lands and engaging with Tribal housing programs to provide financial support for all-hazard events.
- Collaborating to provide training for Tribal emergency operations staff, as requested.
Beyond these efforts, we continue to work with Tribal governments to develop memoranda of understanding to further clarify the expectations for our work together.
Making it easy
PG&E’s website (www.pge.com) offers customers an easy and convenient way to manage their account online. Customers can view and download their hourly usage and cost data, in addition to comparing their usage to that of similar homes in their neighborhood. The website also features an updated outage map and information on support before, during, and after outages.
Our Home Energy Checkup and Business Energy Savings tools allow residential and small and medium business customers to find energy savings ideas. Our energy statements provide easy-to-understand information, and a growing number of customers have chosen to enroll in our paperless billing option.
Customers can start, transfer, or stop service via our website; they can also schedule appointments to relight their gas pilot lights online. The website allows customers to sign up for numerous service-related alerts, including outage, billing and payment, and appointment notifications. Energy Alerts will notify customers when their energy usage is on the rise and allow them to use My Rate Analysis to make sure they are on the right rate plan.
In addition to digital offerings, PG&E continues to offer self-service capabilities over the phone, such as reconnection service. Many of our communications are available in multiple languages and formats, including, but not limited to, English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Braille, and large print.
The pge.com team reviews customer satisfaction scores with the website each day and, while the scores improved 5% year-over-year, we continually make adjustments based on feedback. In 2025, we’re improving My Account to further address customer feedback.
Measuring progress
We are committed to improving satisfaction for both residential and business customers. We closely monitor our Customer Satisfaction Score and act on customer feedback. In recent years, customer satisfaction with PG&E has declined due to dissatisfaction with pricing and reliability impacts due to weather conditions. We are working to mitigate the impact of these challenges and improve the overall customer experience. We also measure customers’ overall satisfaction of recent transactional experiences with PG&E.
- This score measures customers’ overall satisfaction with the products and services offered by PG&E, as measured through a customer survey (indexed to a score from 10 to 100).
- This score measures customers’ overall satisfaction of recent transactional experiences with PG&E, as measured through post-transaction surveys (using a 1 to 10 scale).