PG&E has increased rates for all customers to support their poles and wires (T&D). This affects Pioneer and non-Pioneer customers equally – everyone’s rates will go up the exact same dollar amount.
Don’t be misled. We guarantee that Pioneer’s savings over PG&E have not changed. Calculate your savings in El Dorado and Placer County.

Understanding Your Residential Rates
El Dorado County

Save Money with Pioneer

Use Our Rates Calculator

The number one priority for Pioneer Community Energy in El Dorado County is offering competitive and stable electricity generation rates for your home, and we are delivering. Most El Dorado County residential customers will experience savings of more than 19 percent on their bills in 2023.

Pioneer has developed a tool to assist most of our customers in understanding their monthly and annual savings by choosing Pioneer. All of our residential customers on an E1 rate will find that this calculator can quickly show their energy savings. This calculator reflects only E1 rates, so please reach out if you can’t find your rate plan or are on a different rate plan.

This calculator is for the vintage year 2021. Customers with a 2021 Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA), also called an “Exit Fee,” can quickly see the difference in savings between PG&E and Pioneer Community Energy rates. To verify your vintage year, please look at your bill. If your vintage year is different or you can’t find your vintage year, please contact Pioneer for an individualized rate analysis.

Simply enter your monthly kWh usage (from your bill) into our rate calculator below and compare PG&E generation costs versus the Pioneer generation rate PLUS the appropriate PCIA. The savings you’ll achieve by choosing Pioneer will be obvious. You can also calculate savings yourself using the manual rate calculator.

If you have a more nuanced rate structure, call or email Pioneer for assistance instead of using the calculator.

What Might My Pioneer Energy Bill Look Like?

Enter your information in our Rates Comparison Calculator to see how much you could save with Pioneer Community Energy. 

Need Assistance? If you are confused by the PG&E imposed PCIA fee or want clarification on what a vintage year is, please visit our Understanding the PCIA fee page. If you need help understanding where to find any of this data on your bill, please visit the Understanding Your Bill page.
This calculator represents generation costs only – as of January 10, 2023. PG&Es rates can change, so please check back frequently.

PG&E Rate Increases

Pioneer strives for transparency by publishing increases to PG&E’s fees and rates.
  • Read about PG&E’s 2023 rate adjustments
  • PG&E has increased rates for all customers to support their poles and wires (T&D). This increase affects Pioneer and non-Pioneer customers equally – everyone’s rates will go up by the exact same dollar amount. Don’t be misled by PG&E’s creative math and clever marketing spin.
  • In January 2022, Transmission & Distribution rates for residential (E1) customers were increased 12.6 percent.
  • Over the first few months of 2022, natural gas prices nearly doubled when compared with earlier prices. PG&E passes these costs on to customers in the form of monthly rate adjustments/increases.
  • These changes affect both Pioneer customers and those who have opted out.
  • In February 2022, PG&E submitted an additional rate increase request to the California Public Utilities Commission to be implemented later in 2022.

Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA)– A PG&E-Imposed Exit Fee

The chart below reviews PG&E’s increase in PCIA fees year over year. To learn more about how the PCIA fee works, please visit Understanding Your Residential PCIA Fee.

Rate 2021 2022 2023
E1/TOUC
$(0.00397)
$0.01309
$0.01309

The rate table above was updated on January 3, 2023. 

*For customers at a different rate tariff, please go to PG&E’s Rate Tariff Webpage.

  • In January 2023, Pioneer customers saw a reduction to their applicable PCIA.
  • All rate analyses are performed using the appropriate PCIA plus Pioneer’s applicable generation rate.
  • To determine your applicable PCIA, please look at your PG&E bill. If you need assistance, do not hesitate to call the Pioneer offices at (916) 758-8969.

Pioneer Residential Rate Adjustments

Please take into consideration all the data when evaluating your energy options and the pending financial impacts of your energy choices.

  • In March 2022, Pioneer customers experienced an adjustment to their applicable Generation rate.
  • Pioneer’s Board of Directors approved a rate-setting schedule to ensure most customers will save over 15 percent on the generation portion of their bill.


For more information, please review Pioneer’s
residential rate sheets.

For information on other rate-related topics, visit:

Choose Pioneer

Should you have questions regarding power generation rates, PCIA fees or your electric utility bill, please contact your Pioneer customer service team by email at info@pioneercommunityenergy.org or call our offices at (916) 758-8969. We’ll be happy to help with your power and your choice.

Solar Customers Receive Annual True-Up

Pioneer issued checks to solar customers with a cumulative net surplus of energy (known as Net Surplus Generators) during May for the March/April billing period if their credit balance (calculated at the Net Surplus Compensation Rate) for the past 12 months exceeded $25.00. Credit balances of less than $25.00 were rolled forward and applied to the next bill.

A few of our clients have contacted us to confirm the check’s authenticity. Rest assured, it is indeed real! If you receive a Blue or Orange check from Bill.com with a reference to Pioneer, it is safe to deposit. 

We take pride in helping our solar customers save; Pioneer pays $.005 (1/2 cent) per kWh more than PG&E for any over-production sold back to the grid (Net Surplus Compensation Rate or NSC).Â