SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is paying property taxes and franchise fees of more than $318 million this spring to the 50 counties and 243 cities where the utility owns and operates gas and electric infrastructure that serves 16 million Californians.

“Property tax and franchise fee payments are one of the important ways PG&E helps drive local economies and supports essential public services like education and public safety. This year’s higher payments reflect the substantial local investments we are making in our gas and electric infrastructure to create one of the safest and most reliable utility systems in the country,” said Jason Wells, senior vice president and chief financial officer for PG&E.

PG&E pays franchise fees to cities and counties for the use of public streets for its gas and electric facilities. The utility submitted the fees to counties by March 31 and to cities by April 15.

PG&E’s franchise fee payments totaled over $125 million – almost $28 million for natural gas and more than $98 million for electric service. This sum is almost $5 million more than the previous year’s total. In addition, PG&E also collected and remitted over $30 million in franchise fee surcharges that are imposed by some jurisdictions in PG&E’s service area.

PG&E also increased its payment of property taxes sharply this year as the utility continued to make significant investments in its gas and electric system to improve safety and reliability.

On April 10, PG&E paid property taxes of nearly $193 million to the 50 counties in which it owns property. The payment covers the period from January 1 to June 30, 2016. Total payments for the tax year of July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016 are more than $385 million—an increase of $41.6 million over, or 12 percent more than, the prior fiscal year.

PG&E invested more than $5.5 billion last year and expects to invest $5.6 billion this year to enhance and upgrade its gas and electrical infrastructure across Northern and Central California. One such investment is the recently completed $36 million state-of-the-art electric control center in Rocklin. PG&E opened a $40 million control center in Concord last year and in 2014 opened a $28.5 million control center in Fresno. Together, these three centers provide coverage to all of PG&E’s electric distribution system. PG&E is also constructing a $75 million gas operations technical training center in Winters.

PG&E supports the communities it serves in a variety of ways. Last year PG&E provided more than $25 million in community grants and investments to enrich local educational opportunities, preserve the environment, and support economic vitality and emergency preparedness. PG&E employees provide thousands of hours of volunteer service in their local communities. The company also offers a broad spectrum of economic development services to help local businesses grow.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.

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Source: Pacific Gas and Electric Company