I won't get into a discussion with the experts. I will say, however, that PG&E territory covers a vast swath of California with unequal and uneven electricity usage.
You are in Los Altos, and from my personal experience hanging around the Peninsula, that winters are mild enough. Summers might have some temperatures in the 90s by late July for about four-five weeks. Nights cool off quite nicely. Many smaller homes can use window units to cool during that stretch of summer.
Monterey does not get many hot days, or for that matter, Morro Bay. They have lots of fog, so will have more heating needs than cooling needs.
Then we get the wonderful interior valleys of California. Winters need heating early in the mornings. Generally with enough fenestration the sun will provide enough warmth to maintain comfort without artificial heating by noon. Summers are another story. As I type this, the temperature is 92 at 1:00. By 5:00 it will be 105, cooling down to 72 tomorrow morning. Zero wind. At least the dread inversion layer has not settled over the Valley, but it is coming soon.
We cannot forget all the mixed weather in the foothill areas or along the North Coast either.
I guess my point is that the utilities want to have one rate system for widely different usages and needs. TOU sucks big time here in the San Joaquin Valley, but probably is the greatest idea since sliced bread along the Coast because there is no real need for electricity beyond lights and small appliances once the peak rates kick in during the afternoon.
The time for "one size fits all" utility rate assessments is past. Time for another look at how utilities figure their tariffs and implement them so that the fewest number of people get hosed. You cannot throw the coastal crowd together with the valley crowd, the foothill crowd, and the North Coast crowd any longer. And the basic tiered rates with the baselines based upon geography is long in the tooth too. Those baselines are not even close to approximating adequate needs for the tiniest of homes. They are illusory these days.