PG&E Corporation
Utilities
37
out of 100. Number 338 of 512, counting from the worst.
Where PG&E Corporation does well
- Arbitration 0 of 20. Nothing found.
- Renewals 0 of 20. Nothing found.
- No forced arbitration or class-action waiver appears in any PG&E customer-facing terms — a genuine rarity among large consumer companies, where binding arbitration is the norm.
- No auto-renew or cancellation traps: there is no subscription model, Budget Billing explicitly says 'You may leave the program at any time,' and paperless-billing unenrollment is a simple toggle.
- Price changes are not unilateral — electric and gas rates are set through the California Public Utilities Commission tariff process, not by PG&E's marketing department.
- Privacy posture is better than average: PG&E states it does not 'share' personal information as CCPA defines it, honors HTTP opt-out preference signals (Global Privacy Control), does not discriminate against customers who exercise privacy rights, and lets you decline to provide your Social Security number when establishing service.
- The privacy policy prominently documents full California consumer rights (access, deletion, correction, opt-out) with a dedicated request channel and phone number.
PG&E can change the terms whenever it wants, changes take effect the instant they are posted with no notice to you, and merely continuing to use the site counts as agreeing.
The fine print
7 clauses and findings from the draft archive, dated 1 October 2026. The plain English comes first; the small print is the company's own words. None of these has been checked yet.
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PG&E can change the terms whenever it wants, changes take effect the instant they are posted with no notice to you, and merely continuing to use the site counts as agreeing. The duty to monitor is entirely on the customer.
Please check these Terms of Use frequently, as we may from time to time unilaterally amend the Terms of Use by posting revised language on the Website. The most up-to-date version of these Terms of Use will always be available for your review on the Website. Amendments will become effective at the time they are posted on the Website. Your continued use of the Website after amendments are posted will constitute your acceptance of such amendments.
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PG&E reserves the right to alter or shut down any part of the site at any time and to cut off your account access; if cut off, you are contractually obligated to destroy copies of materials you already downloaded.
We may at any time modify or discontinue any aspect or component of the Website. If you breach any of these Terms of Use, we can terminate your right to use the Website. Upon termination, you agree to immediately delete or destroy any downloaded or printed material obtained from the Website.
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Even if PG&E's website harms you or your data, the most you can ever recover from them is $500 — a fixed cap no matter how serious the damage.
In no event will the liability of PG&E, its affiliates or subsidiaries, or their officers, directors, employees, agents, successors or assigns, under any theory of liability (whether in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise) exceed $500, regardless of whether such parties have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
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If anything goes wrong, you must pay PG&E's legal bills — not just theirs, the prevailing side's too — and you can only sue them in their hometown courts in Oakland, California, no matter where you live.
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless PG&E... from any and all claims, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' and experts' fees) arising in any way from your use of the Website... Use of the Website will be deemed to take place solely in California. You agree the courts located in Oakland, California, will have exclusive jurisdiction over any and all disputes... The prevailing party in any dispute will be entitled to its reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, in addition to all other available recovery and relief.
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PG&E admits it technically 'sells' your data: advertising cookies share your browsing activity and location with third parties, and Google Analytics data is used to target ads at you. You have to actively opt out via a footer link to stop it.
PG&E has not sold consumers' personal information in the preceding 12 months for any monetary value. However, our use of certain website cookies may be considered a 'sale' of information under California law. In the past 12 months, we may have disclosed your internet activity or geolocation with third parties whose cookies are on our websites. These cookies are used to... Provide you with relevant PG&E advertising and products... Our website uses Google Analytics to help us analyze how users use the website and target users with appropriate advertisements.
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Beyond service providers and regulators, your data can flow to analytics firms, credit agencies, and would-be corporate buyers — plus a catch-all clause covering 'any other business or lawful purpose' PG&E considers reasonable, with no fixed limit on what qualifies.
We may also disclose or transfer your personal information to... Third-party analytics companies... Potential business partners in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition... Financial services entities, including financial institutions, credit agencies... For any other business or lawful purpose reasonably anticipated within the context of PG&E's relationship with you.
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PG&E keeps your customer data for 5 full years after you leave (11 for business contacts), and can keep it even longer whenever it cites 'legal or business needs' — an open-ended extension with no stated maximum.
Customer data is typically retained for the duration of the relationship with PG&E and for an additional 5 years from end of customer relationship. Or, subject to legal or business needs, for a longer retention period. Business contact data is typically retained for the duration of the contract/agreement with PG&E and for an additional 11 years from the contract termination.
How these were found
Documents read directly from pge.com via browser_open on Oct 1, 2026: Terms of Use (Disclosure page: https://www.pge.com/en/privacy-center/disclosure.html) and Privacy Policy (https://www.pge.com/en/privacy-center/privacy-policy.html). Neither page surfaced a 'Last Updated' date in the fetched text, so exact version dates could not be confirmed. Supplemental facts were drawn from search-result snippets of the same official pge.com pages (help.pge.com unenroll instructions, budget billing page). No third-party mirrors were needed. Search for PG&E consumer arbitration turned up binding-arbitration language only in non-consumer documents (a business rebate catalog PDF via web archive and an Electronic Commerce Systems exhibit on Law Insider), not in any customer-facing terms.
These notes come from the original draft and are not independent verification.