Can i pay pge with credit card

Currently, any customer, bundled or direct access, can enroll in Format IBP. Edison states that Edison cannot offer Format - IBP services to direct access customers who choose a billing agent's Consolidated Billing. In addition, in response to an Energy Division inquiry, Edison explained that it would continue to transmit the necessary information to sustain IBP service through customer transfers from Bundled service to Direct Access, from billing agent to billing agent, or from Direct Access back to Bundled service.

Edison cannot guarantee continuity of its electronic billing service under all the circumstances suggested by Utility. Public Utilities Code section g 1 provides that this resolution must be served on all parties and subject to at least 30 days public review and comment prior to a vote of the Commission. Section g 2 provides that this day period may be reduced or waived upon the stipulation of all parties in the proceeding. The day comment period for the draft of this resolution was neither waived nor reduced.

Accordingly, this draft resolution was mailed to parties for comments, and will be placed on the Commission's agenda no earlier than 30 days from today. The proposed resolution of the Energy Division in this matter was mailed to the parties in accordance with PU Code g.

With AL , SWG requests authorization of payment options by electronic means for all customers and by credit card for residential customers only. Approval of electronic billing should be subject to a set of enforceable, workable consumer protection rules.

It is reasonable to order all energy utilities under Commission jurisdiction to be subject to the interim rules of Appendix A. Those interim rules should also be largely applicable to electronic billing by energy companies. The utilities' request to provide electronic billing should conform to the full disclosure requirements enumerated in the text of this resolution. Credit identity theft, the use of a customer's personal identification and credit information and the unauthorized use of this information to obtain money, credit, goods, services, and other things of value in the victim's name, is a growing consumer problem in California.

Requiring a customer's informed consent to the release of confidential customer information by energy companies will help to deter identity theft and other violations of customer's privacy rights. Effective safeguards are needed to ensure that only charges authorized by energy customers are included in energy bills. To the extent billing energy companies impose finance charges in connection with charges unrelated to energy service, the underlying transactions and the billing for those transactions will be subject to the federal Truth in Lending Act, 15 U.

The Truth in Lending Act requires that state regulations governing the types of transactions regulated by the Truth in Lending be consistent with federal law.

Civil Code paragraph California has a substantial state interest in ensuring that confidential information that energy customers reveal to energy companies in order to obtain services be kept confidential and not be released to third parties without a customer's written consent. Edison should specify in its tariff all of the different payment options it allows. Utilities should specify in their tariff that additional fees may be assessed for certain billing or payment options.

A utility's offer of electronic billing should meet the disclosure requirements set forth in the text of this resolution.

I certify that the foregoing resolution was duly introduced, passed and adopted at a conference of the Public Utilities Commission of the State of California held on April 17, ; the following Commissioners voting favorably thereon:. The purpose of these rules is to protect energy consumers from unauthorized charges on their energy service bills, including charges for non-energy-related products and services.

These rules are intended to provide consumers control over charges on their bills; to provide for prompt and effective recourse if they find unauthorized charges or other billing errors on their energy bills; and to protect the confidentiality of information they provide to energy utilities.

Business entities in both categories must comply with the applicable rules in this Part. These rules are intended to be consistent with other consumer protection laws that are or may be applicable to billing for products and services unrelated to energy service. These laws include state and federal laws governing debt collection activity and consumer credit. The Commission's rules governing non-energy-related charges on energy bills are not intended to deprive consumers of other remedies available under such laws.

While our objective in drafting these rules is to make them consistent with the Truth in Lending Act, in particular, to the extent these rules provide any greater protections than those provided by the Act, we believe they are consistent with and therefore not preempted by the Act. Our discussion of rules applying to telecommunications companies reflects our intent to hold energy companies to the same consumer protection standard as telecommunications companies.

Any person, company, or entity, other than a billing energy company:. A statement is clear and conspicuous if it is readily understandable and presented in a size, color, contrast, location, and audibility, compared to the other material with which it is presented, that make it readily noticed and understood. If a statement modifies, explains, or clarifies other information with which it is presented, it must be presented in close proximity to the information it modifies and in a manner that makes it as readily noticed and understood as the information it modifies, explains, or clarifies.

Energy-related charges include, but are not limited to, charges for: services tariffed by energy utilities; including home insulation and weatherization, energy audits, and charges for adjustment of, or installation of meters, equipment and facilities. Any charge that is not energy-related, with the exception of taxes and mandatory charges for public purpose programs, is a non-energy charge.

The Commission recognizes that energy-related products and services vary from time to time; therefore, this list is generalized. Complaint to a billing energy company from a customer. A communication, whether written or verbal, from a customer to the customer's billing energy company disputing a charge on that customer's energy bill.

A question about a charge is not necessarily a complaint; however, if the bill provides insufficient information to enable the customer to verify the charge, fails to identify clearly the source of the charge, includes incorrect information about the charge or the source of the charge, or in any way falls within the definition of a billing error, the question should be deemed a complaint. An authorization written, verbal, or electronic is fraudulent if it is inauthentic not given by the customer or was obtained from the customer based on false or misleading information.

Legal name of a business entity that is not an energy company. Name of company as registered with the California Secretary of State. An offer, tentative or otherwise, by an energy company or agent of an energy company, or a vendor, to a consumer or consumers, or to the public generally, to provide a product or service for compensation. Proposed sales agreements and contracts are solicitations.

Sales pitches of all types are solicitations, and energy companies' interactions with existing or prospective customers to set up new services generally include multiple solicitations. Product- or service-specific advertising and other promotional materials fall within the definition of solicitation, whereas brand-name or image advertising generally would not.

Any individual or business that hooks up to any energy service subject to Commission jurisdiction. For purposes of these rules, "customer" also includes individuals who use the customer's energy service with the permission of the customer of record.

A billing energy company is an energy company that also provides billing services to any third party, including its own affiliate, or that bills for non-energy-related products and services on its own behalf.

In the context of billing for non-energy-related products or services on a customer's energy bill, an unauthorized charge is a non-energy-related charge included on a customer's bill when the customer 1 has not authorized the billing energy company, directly, to include non-energy-related charges on that customer's bill; or 2 has not authorized that particular charge. A charge placed on the customer's bill by a person who does not have actual, implied, or apparent authority to place such a charge, and which confers no benefit upon the customer, is an unauthorized charge.

Any person, company or entity that offers or provides non-energy-related products or services billed on a customer's energy bill. Vendors are responsible for their agents' compliance with these rules. In the Commission's view, "entity responsible for generating a charge" as that term is used for telephone companies in Section , i. Some telephone companies have argued, however, that the "entity responsible for generating a charge" could include billing agents.

To eliminate this ambiguity, we will use the term "vendor" to refer to entities that set in motion the process of placing a charge on a customer's bill, not to billing agents acting as an intermediary between vendor and billing energy company.

In the event that a billing entity is responsible for setting the process in motion, i. Note that if a billing telephone company sells non-communications-related products and services directly to subscribers, it is a vendor as well.

Similarly we will use the term "vendor" to refer to energy providers that set in motion the process of placing a charge on a customer's bill, not to billing agents acting as an intermediary between vendor and billing energy company.

For purposes of these rules, however, whenever anything is required to be done in writing, the requirement must be satisfied in the form of hardcopy unless the customer agrees to having the required information disclosure, notice, confirmation etc. Effective July 1, , non-communications-related charges may be included in a subscriber's telephone bill, provided both of the following conditions pertaining to authorization have been satisfied: 1 the subscriber has affirmatively "opted in", i.

We will apply these requirements to energy companies as is described in more detail below. The billing energy company must use a PIN number or other equally reliable security procedure designed to prevent anyone other than the customer and individuals authorized by the customer from placing charges on the customer's account. Opt-in authorization information or confirmation, including any assigned or confirmed PIN, must be sent to the customer's billing address even if the authorization lists a different address for delivery of products or services.

Customers of energy providers may be exposed to a similar risk, if they employ an energy provider. The Legislature has acknowledged that additional safeguards are necessary to protect consumers from the risk of being "crammed" with charges that are unrelated to telephone service or other communications services.

See Stats , ch AB Consumers should not be exposed to this risk unknowingly. We propose to extend similar additional safeguards to energy companies. As with telephone companies, these interim rules require billing energy companies to obtain express permission from a customer to include non-energy-related charges before any non-energy-related charges may be included on that customer's bill.

Material terms and conditions include any applicable fees and charges, including late payment penalties and interest; whether payment prior to the due date is required to avoid late payment penalties; any available options for limiting authorization for example, to a dollar amount per month ; how a customer may dispute a charge; the fact that the billing energy company may not terminate service, file an adverse credit report, or charge interest or finance charges on disputed amounts; how a customer may revoke authorization; and how a customer's confidential information is protected.

They must disclose all material terms and conditions, and must not mislead customers in an effort to convince them to authorize the use of their energy bill for non-energy-related charges.

See Id. Companies that do so will be subject to sanctions by the Commission for violating these rules. Authorization must be provided by use of a PIN number or other equally reliable security procedure. As commenters pointed out in response to the first draft of the rules for telephone providers in R. Accordingly, these rules allow flexibility in the means used to ensure authorization. Whatever the security procedure used, it should be at least as reliable as a PIN number, however.

In the event a customer claims that a charge was unauthorized, the billing energy company may not require the customer to pay the charge until the billing energy company has obtained proof of proper authorization from the vendor or from the billing agent that submitted the charge for billing. Customers must make a reasonable, good-faith effort to notify the billing energy company promptly when the customer becomes aware of a probability of unauthorized use of the customer's account.

If the billing energy company is unable to verify authorization, a charge is deemed unauthorized. They may do so by notifying their billing energy company, by telephone, in writing, or via the Internet, that they no longer wish to allow non-energy charges on their energy bill.

The billing energy company must confirm the revocation in writing within 10 business days. This written confirmation shall indicate the date and time the customer notified the billing energy company that authorization was revoked. Billing energy companies must allow customers to revoke authorization by telephone 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. The right to revoke authorization to allow charges includes charges from standing authorizations previously made by the customer, such as charges for monthly dues or enrollment service.

This right is in addition to any other right that the customer may have to cancel the transaction that gave rise to the billing charge. As customers cannot be held liable for unauthorized charges, this provision protects the billing energy company as well. The billing energy company shall give prompt notice to the customer of such action.

In all other cases, a billing energy company must provide reasonable notice before suspending or revoking the customer's authorization. Billing energy companies must inform customers of their revocation policies when soliciting customers' authorization and when responding to customers' requests for information about the billing service.

Billing energy companies must provide this information to the Commission and the California Attorney General upon request. Billing energy companies may impose fees on these vendors and billing agents for the cost of investigating and resolving customer complaints.

A billing energy company may resume billing for a vendor or billing agent after investigating the alleged billing errors, if it has determined that the problem s underlying the errors have been resolved. C, F. Billing energy companies will make this complaint information available to Commission staff or the California Attorney General upon request.

The purpose of such provisions is to make cramming unprofitable for vendors and billing agents, thereby eliminating the incentive to engage in the practice and reducing the harm to consumers, as well as the number of complaints addressed to billing energy companies and the Commission. For example, you can request a due date three days after you receive your paycheck. When you switch to Choose Your Due Date, your first bill will cover either a longer or shorter time period to allow for the schedule adjustment, and therefore may be a little higher or lower than your typical bill.

Your due date will not take effect until next month's bill. You must be current on your account zero balance. Customers with time-payment arrangements or medical certificates who are current on their accounts are also eligible.

Options to manage payments when you have multiple PGE business accounts. If you have a number of properties or facilities, you can streamline transactions for multiple accounts. Just enroll or sign in to:. Create Account Groups: Organize accounts for easy viewing and analysis.

Each person can create unique groups without impacting accounts. Download billing costs and usage for any group. Make One-check payments : Use just one check to pay up to 1, account bills. This works best if all your bills are due around the same time of the month. Your account data is transmitted and processed in minutes — with no human intervention. Get Started with EDI. Life is busy, and we want to make it easier for you to do business with us.

The PGE app for Android and iPhone is the simplest way to pay a bill, report an outage, and customize alerts. PGE employees will never ask you for payment information over the phone.

To sign in to your PGE web account, your browser must be set to accept cookies and JavaScript must be enabled. A cookie is a small text file stored on your computer by a website to give you a unique numeric ID. PGE also works with third parties that use cookies on our site to conduct visitor surveys and to enable other features.

Sign in Register. Pay Bill. Ways to pay. Pay with the PGE app The PGE app for Android and iPhone is the simplest way to access your account, pay a bill, report an outage or get updates and track your energy use.

Download for iPhone Download for Android. Pay in person - no fee Pay for free with cash or debit card at Western Union or CheckFreePay located in many major retailers near you. Pay by phone or mail Use our automated phone system to pay by card or checking account. Need help paying your bill? Your bill, your way. Please purchase by mail. Balance your monthly energy payments. Ways to Pay.

Neighborhood payment centers may be open. Learn more. Choose how to make your payment You can pay your energy statement using any of the following convenient methods. Choose View. Automatic payments Pay online Pay by phone Pay by mail or pay in person Gift payment. Set up recurring payments and never worry about missing a payment again.

Payments from a checking or savings account do not require any service fees. Sign in now Have questions? Registered users have the following payment options: Pay from a bank account, which is free of any service fees. Visit One Time Access.