Some of California’s aggressive pursuit of green living is beginning to pay off.

Pacific Gas and Electric CEO Peter Darbee made some interesting comments at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s Energy Summit last Friday.

He said the state’s aggressive approach to slashing greenhouse-gas emissions will help shield it from significant utility price hikes that will soon grip the country.

“Rates in California will be going up much less than the rates across the entire United States,” said Darbee. “What we have learned from our discussions from other utility companies across the country is that they may be looking at between 20 and 30 per cent increases in energy bills in the future,” he said. Darbee believes California will only suffer rate hikes in the single digits.

PG&E attributes this bittersweet news for Californians partly to the company’s more diverse portfolio of plants across the state, including nuclear power, hydro power, solar and wind.