How do I stop those 8-page tree-killers from PG&E?

[Rat]

When I went on the E9A TOU rate I began receiving paper reports of my electric usage. They're needlessly long and detailed, but they were useful at first, at least until I understood how the billing system worked. Now, however, I don't look at them, since the bottom line is I pay about $20 a month for my EV charging. That's all I really need to know. Anyway, it is a waste to keep killing trees for these. I can see how to go to e-billing but my wife wants the regular (short) bills in paper form for her own filing system, so I don't want to use that. I tried to log into my account, but the site said my password was expired. The FAQ's didn't address the question, so I'll try here. Does anyone know how to stop those reports? If you are on ebilling, do you know whether it is possible to stop paper copies of that bill without stopping the regular bill? BTW, the first page of the bill says "QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS BILL CAN BE DIRECTED TO: UNASSIGNED." Very helpful. That makes it easy to call. I posted in the environmental thread because I see it as an environmental issue, but I'm cross-posting in the Utilities thread, too.

[smkettner]

Go with ebill and print the first page only for DW. Or skip the paper file and save the full pdf on your computer.

[ebill3]

Remember years ago when the "paperless office" was just around the corner?

Well, HP and Brothers and others sure do sell a lot of printers.

[cwerdna]

If you are on ebilling, do you know whether it is possible to stop paper copies of that bill without stopping the regular bill?

I don't think so. It seems like in order to view your bills online, you have to ax mailed paper bills. If you want paper bills, it seems you can't view old bills. I ran into that before, I think.

My parents have paper bills, so I can't view their old bills online. At least, that's what I observed when I recently signed them up for an online PG&E account.

If nobody here has the answer, I'd try calling PG&E.

Remember years ago when the "paperless office" was just around the corner?

Well, HP and Brothers and others sure do sell a lot of printers.

Yep. I remember that. Instead, it created even more paper (at least, before e-billing) as it became so easy to print/create more copies.

Yeah, as for the other suggestions, saving the PDF is an option. Also, try seeing if your printer preferences/properties lets you print 2 pages on 1 (ends up being landscape w/2 portrait pages reduced by 50% in size). I've been able do that on my laser printers on Windows machines for a long time. I now FINALLY have a laser printer that can duplex so I can use both sides and thus get 4 pages onto 1.

[Rat]

I guess I'll try calling the EV line. They should know. now if Ican just find that number.

[cwerdna]

I wouldn't bother digging for an "EV line". http://www.pge.com/myhome/customerservice/contact/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; lists a customer service #.

[DaveinOlyWA]

my utility gives me the option to download and save a copy of the bill which I used to do but don't any longer. most companies only allow access to previous statements for a limited time period like a year or something.

Verizon used to allow us to save copies of their detailed bills but I noticed that they stopped doing that about 2 years ago or so. I had been saving the bills as a matter of habit and had an occasion to look at an old one and found I could not open it. I tried saving a current bill and reopening it and that did not work either...so obviously a policy shift on Verizon's part .

[Rat]

I call last month to stop it and was assured it would be stopped. I got another one today so I called the dedicated PEV line for PG&E (1-877-743-7782) and got a recorded message identifying it as a building and contractors' department, not "dedicated PEV". When they called me back the woman didn't know that customers on the E9A TOU rate got these detailed bills. She looked up my record and saw that I had requested that they be stopped, and then took about 10 minutes of horrible loud hold music to consult with her supervisor. Eventually she explained that it was because I had called in the middle of a billing cycle. I had called on the 25th of May and the cycle started on the 21st of May. She assured me that I will not get that printout for the July bill. This makes no sense since the June bill wasn't printed until two or three days ago. That's 4 weeks lead time. I'm sure they weren't printing up the envelopes with addresses for June before I called. Someone should be to check (or uncheck) a box and stop it within a one day cycle at most. She was also amazed to hear that there was a forum online for EV owners, although she claimed to be a PEV specialist, (which she called "Power electric vehicles.") My bet is that I get it again in July.

She was fairly knowledgeable about the new EVA/EVB rates. She said that will go into effect for new EV rate applications on August 1 of this year. Existing E9 customers can either request expediting to the new rate or do nothing and will eventually be transitioned over by 12/31/14. The tariff isn't publicly available, she said, until August 1, but she explained that the new rate won't be tiered, will have slightly different hours than E9 for the TOU periods and the cost per kwh will be slightly higher than current baseline, but without the tiers, should be cheaper overall for most people. Time will tell on that.

[Rat]

My bet is that I get it again in July.

I got it again. I have filed a complaint with the PUC.

[derkraut]

My bet is that I get it again in July.

I got it again. I have filed a complaint with the PUC.

Y'know Rat---I think you'll just have to get ahold of that "unassigned" person, and chew some ass!