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Aren't PG&E gas rates substantially higher than their electric rates?



Their price per joule of electricity is higher than per joule of gas by more than the coefficient of performance of a heat pump. You are better off getting thermal energy by burning gas if your energy provider is PG&E.

The story only gets worse once you start carefully accounting for baseline allowances.


There are a couple ways to interpret what you're saying: that PG&E charges a higher rate relative to the national average for gas vs. electricity, which is what I think you mean, and that PG&E charges more for a joule of gas than a joule of electricity.

Presuming you meant it the first way, it's still possible that heating with gas is cheaper, since the national average for a joule's worth of natural gas is quite a bit cheaper than the same for electricity.


Natural gas is ~$0.08/kwh & electricity $0.52/kwh for me on PGE




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