PG&E Utility Data Coverage: What You Can Access with UtilityAPI

PG&E Coverage Overview

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is one of the largest utilities in the United States, serving customers across northern and central California. UtilityAPI supports access to PG&E customer data via multiple data access methods, and provides coverage for both residential and commercial accounts.

This article provides a high-level overview of our PG&E coverage — including what data is available, how customers authorize access, and important notes about multi-factor authentication.

🔍 What customer types are supported?

UtilityAPI supports both residential and commercial utility account and meters in PG&E's service territory.

Account and Meter Type	Available?
Residential	✅ Yes
Commercial	✅ Yes

🧾 What data can be collected?

Once a PG&E customer successfully authorizes access, UtilityAPI can return the following types of data from PG&E accounts:

Data Type	Available?	Notes
Meter Data	✅ Yes	Includes SAID, meter number, service type, customer tariff
Bill Data	✅ Yes	Includes monthly usage, monthly, costs, and line items
Interval Data	✅ Yes	15-min or hourly resolution, depending on meter type
Accounting Data	✅ Yes	Billing statement dates, Electric Charge Breakdown,
Bill PDFs	⚠️ Often	Usually available, but not guaranteed for all accounts or bill types.Downloadable copies of PG&E bill statements

💽 Where does UtilityAPI get PG&E data from?

UtilityAPI collects PG&E customer data by running a set of automated jobs — called tasks — that retrieve different types of information from the customer’s utility account. Depending on which data access method was used, these jobs access several PG&E systems.

Here are the most common data sources we use:

Billing data is collected from the customer's account portal or PG&E's Share My Data platform.
Interval data is collected from the customer's account portal or PG&E's Share My Data platform.
Bill PDFs are downloaded when available from the customer’s PG&E online account.

If any expected data is missing, it may be due to meter type, account settings, or availability on PG&E’s systems.

🔐 How does UtilityAPI access PG&E data?

UtilityAPI supports three data access methods for collecting PG&E customer data:

1. Web Portal Adapter (Primary Method)

Mimics the actions a customer takes when logging into their PG&E online account;
The authorization form requires the customer to enter their PG&E login credentials;
Soon the authorization process will also require multi-factor authentication (MFA)

Learn more: Web Portal Adapter Data Access Method →

2. Green Button Proxy

Uses PG&E’s Share My Data platform to grant access to customer data via UtilityAPI's registration.
The authorization process starts on UtilityAPI's standard authorization form, but then requires the utility account holder to log into their account and complete a form.
Recommended if you only need interval data.

Learn more: Getting PG&E Data via Green Button Proxy →

3. Green Button Hosting

Green Button Hosting is a special setup that allows you to register as a third party for PG&E's Share My Data platform and access customer data via UtilityAPI without having to build or maintain your own servers.
Shared data — including bills and interval usage — flows directly into your UtilityAPI dashboard and API.

Learn more: Green Button Hosting Data Access Method →

⚠️ Known limitations and things to watch for

MFA required: PG&E customers must have a phone number and email on file to complete MFA. If a customer hasn't confirmed their contact info, authorization will fail.
PG&E web outages: Sometimes PG&E’s portal goes down or experiences latency, which can delay data retrieval via our web portal adapter method.

🛠 Need help?

If you’re having unexpected issues with PG&E authorizations or data collections or contact our support team.