Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) reported that it has paid property taxes and franchise fees of more than $293 million to the 49 counties and 243 cities in which it operates.

PG&E pays franchise fees to cities and counties for the right to use public streets for its gas and electric facilities.

Payments to counties were completed by March 31 and payments to most cities will be made on April 15.

PG&E’s 2012 franchise fee payments totaled more than $136 million – nearly $37 million for natural gas and more than $99 million for electric service. This sum is about $2 million less than the previous year’s payments, due to lower natural gas prices, which also helped reduce gas bills for customers.

PG&E’s property tax payments of $157 million cover the period from January 1 to June 30, 2013 and were made on April 10. Lake County received $592,082.

Total payments for the tax year of July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013, were $314 million. Lake County received a total of $1,184,164.
    
Total fiscal year property tax payments to Lake’s neighboring counties included Colusa, $8,752,604.20; Glenn, $1,134,088.98; Mendocino, $2,176,125.98; Napa, $3,074,518.20; Sonoma, $8,724,314.86; and Yolo, $3,326,942.02.

Santa Clara County received the largest amount statewide, $32,696,944.96; the smallest amount went to Lassen County, $58,359.52.

The company’s property tax payments to counties for tax year 2012-13 increased by $18 million over the previous year’s payments as a result of an increase in tax rates and an increase in assessments reflecting PG&E’s infrastructure investments.