EDITORS: Please do not use "Pacific Gas and Electric" or "PG&E" when referring to PG&E Corporation or its National Energy Group. The PG&E National Energy Group is not the same company as Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the utility, and is not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission. Customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Company do not have to buy products or services from the National Energy Group in order to continue to receive quality regulated services from Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY FILES WITH CPUC TO ALLOW AVERAGE ELECTRIC RATE REDUCTION OF NEARLY FOUR PERCENT

SAN FRANCISCO - Pacific Gas and Electric Company has submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) a filing to allow a reduction in average electric rates of one-half cent per-kilowatt-hour, or an average of 3.7 percent across all customer classes. If accepted by the CPUC, the reduction would take effect on June 1, 2002.

The filing reflects the expiration of a temporary, half-cent/kWh electric rate surcharge the Commission put in place effective June 1, 2001. This temporary surcharge came in addition to the one-cent surcharge the CPUC imposed in January 2001, and the three-cent surcharge it approved in March 2001. It was put in place by the CPUC to make up for the revenue shortfall that resulted from the delay between the date the Commission approved the three-cent surcharge on March 27, 2001, and the date that the surcharge went into effect, June 1, 2001.

If approved, Pacific Gas and Electric Company customers would receive the following rate reductions, effective June 1, 2002: