jaxon van derbeken, nbc bay area news. janelle: up next, the race for cleaner and cheaper energy. these powerful lasers are creating temperatures hotter than the sun. how it could change how we power our world, we investigate. my late father-in-law lit up a room, but his vision dimmed with age. he had amd. i didn't know it then, but it can progress to ga, an advanced form of the disease. his struggle with vision loss from amd made me want to help you see warning signs of ga, like: hazy or blurred vision, so it's hard to see fine details, colors that appear dull or washed out, or trouble with low light that makes driving at night a real challenge. if you think you have ga, don't wait. treatments are available. ask a retina specialist about fda-approved treatments for ga and go to gawontwait.com janelle: it is no secret that burning oil, coal, and gas are polluting the earth and changing our climate. so, tech companies are now in a race to harness what's believed to be a cleaner and even cheaper form of energy. it could one day power everything--from high rises and homes to cars and

is now a sophisticate of reporter jaxon van derbeken. you have been following this since the beginning. this seems like one increase after another. >> reporter: it started just this year. we had a fairly sizable, about $34 per average, customer add-in . it hit people hard in january. and into february with temperatures. people started to get their bill. this new bill increase is a catch-up. there was a hearing and proceeding from last year. they just got permission today to raise bills about five dollars per average customer. >> when we see that in our bill ? weeks or months? >> >> reporter: pg&e hoped it would be november of last year. they will put it on as soon as they can possibly next month. no doubt, no later than may. >> you got us up to's deed on the recent rate increases. is there another one in the works and how much would it be? to. there is another one. again it stems from things that happened that pg&e says were essentially out of his control. namely, storm damage across their system. they made an emergency cry for relief an

jaxon van derbeken, appreciate your time tonight. thank you. >>> let's move on now. either it's some real bad luck for united airlines, or there's some real problems with its fleet and staff. today another emergency, this time on a united flight from australia here to sfo. this is at least the fifth emergency landing involving united airlines in about a week. here's what we know about today. this is the takeoff from the sydney airport there in australia. just ten seconds into the flight, you can see some fluid spewing from the plane. it appears to be coming from the right rear landing gear. the boeing 77-300 jet continued over the ocean for a while before turning around. video from a passenger shows the crew dumping fuel before landing. the plane did land safely back in sydney. then there was last thursday. a wheel fell off the united 777-200 jet from sfo to japan. there it is. the wheel just falling off. it smashed down into the parking lot into two cars at an employee parking lot there at sfo. and then last friday, a united airbus 320 heading from sfo to mexico cit

jaxon van derbeken, nbc bay area news. >> jaxon has been exposing the various problems at the tower for years. we've posted all the stories on our website, nbcbayarea.com. >>> will the big wheel keep on turning in san francisco? mayor breed is asking the lease to be extended. the ferris wheel moved last year ahead of the apec convention. nearby business owners say it's become a popular tourist attraction and a boost for local shops, but the lease is to expire in april. the mayor introduced legislation to extend the lease another 18 months. the board will make the final decision. >>> opportunity knocking, applications now being accepted for nbc universal's local impact grant that will award more than a quarter million dollars to eligible organizations this year. nbc is looking for bay area nonprofit organizations looking to make a positive impact in the community like oakland- based mandela partners which received a grant in 2022. the organization works to bring healthy food to the community and lends kitchen space to food entrepreneurs like diana who runs yo-yo treats. >> it's where you

jaxon van derbeken, nbc bay area news. >> jaxon has been exposing the various problems at the tower fored all the stories on our website, nbcbayarea.com. >>> will the big wheel keep on turning in san francisco? mayor breed is asking the lease to be extended. the ferris wheel moved last year ahead of the apec convention. nearby business owners say it's become a popular tourist attraction and a boost for local shops, but the lease is to expire in april. the mayor introduced legislation to extend the lease another 18 months. the board will make the final decision. >>> opportunity knocking, applications now being accepted for nbc universal's local impact grant that will award more than a quarter million dollars to eligible organizations this year. nbc is looking for bay area nonprofit organizations looking to make a positive impact in the community like oakland- based mandela partners which received a grant in 2022. the organization works to bring healthy food to the community and lends kitchen space to food entrepreneurs like diana who runs yo-yo treats. >> it's where you'll start your bus

here's investigative reporter jaxon van derbeken. >> so we feel really great about our turnaround. >>hat's patti poppe during a recent investor briefing announcing pg&e's more than $2 billion in earnings last year. >> we're serving our planet, and we're leading with love at pg&e, and i couldn't be more proud to stand alongside with the men and women of pg&e to do just that. >> reporter: but not long after poppe talked about love and favorable earnings, pg&e filed this petition with state regulators. the utility cites financial challenges while asking for permission to delay two-thirds of a required billion dollar payment into a wildfire bailout fund. >> we're talking about a company who in 2023, $2.5 billion to shareholders. pg&e has the money. >> reporter: rate payer advocate mark toney says it's rate payers in a financial bind, not pg&e. >> you have no reason to cry poor when we have given you rate increase after rate increase after rate increase. >> reporter: pg&e blames the financial challenges on delayed cpuc approval of a financing plan it was banking on to generate the money. b

here's investigative reporter jaxon van derbeken. >> so we feel really great about our turnaround. >>orter: that's patti poppe during a recent investor briefing announcing pg&e's more than $2 billion in earnings last year. >> we're serving our planet, and we're leading with love at pg&e, and i couldn't be more proud to stand alongside with the men and women of pg&e to do just that. >> reporter: but not long after poppe talked about love and favorable earnings, pg&e filed this petition with state regulators. the utility cites financial challenges while asking for permission to delay two-thirds of a required billion dollar payment into a wildfire bailout fund. >> we're talking about a company who in 2023, $2.5 billion to shareholders. pg&e has the money. >> reporter: rate payer advocate mark toney says it's rate payers in a financial bind, not pg&e. >> you have no reason to cry poor when we have given you rate increase after rate increase after rate increase. >> reporter: pg&e blames the financial challenges on delayed cpuc approval of a financing plan it was banking on to generate the

. >> so joining us now is investigative reporter jaxon van derbeken. jaxon, so why does pg&e say it's short on cash right now? >> reporter: well, it's a complicated question. basically they spent an extraordinary amount on wildfire reduction measures, including $2 billion, they largely expended their entire earnings for last year on wildfire efforts. so they basically say that they had counted on a regulatory approval for a way they had planned to raise money. that didn't come through quite the way they hoped, and so now they're stuck in what they consider a financial challenge. >> okay. so pg&e has its reasons, but jaxon, a lot of people who are paying for their pg&e bills are saying, you know, i'm paying more. so will this delay impact our bills at all? >> reporter: well, right now the fund, which is a running fund. it started with a billion dollars. it's running about $250 million or less, and so depending on how many users there are and how much electricity is being used, the fund is depleted by, you know, to the tune of $30 million or more a month

. >> joining us now is jaxon van derbeken who has been exposing the problems at the millennium tower for years. jaxon, let's bring you in here. what's the problem here? to be clear, we're talking about these windows. what's the millennium tower done about this? >> reporter: they've instituted a number of fixes in the sense of they have ordered new window support arms. they are also making sure that tenants know that they need to keep their windows closed. and they basically say they're doing the best they can, but it's really up to the owners to honor their request that they close their windows. >> and what's the response from the management at millennium? is that it, that it's up to the owners here, and they're kind of walking away from this? >> reporter: well, they've been in talks with the city. they've ordered a bunch of new stay arms. they've arrived back in september, and they started to install them. but the progress is very slow. the city wants to know when they're going to be done, and right now the millennium tower folks have no estimate as to when that might happen. >> the

are jaxon van derbeken is here to talk with us. >>> the news at 5:30 starts right now. >> we continue to follow the breaking news of united airlines airplane losing a tire shortly after takeoff from san francisco. look at the video. united flight 85 taking off and then losing one of its tires right there. it just falls off the airplane. this was around 11 135 this morning. united tells us there were 235 passengers on board, along with 14 crewmembers. it was heading to japan

jaxon van derbeken, nbc bay area news. >>> up next, the race for cleaner and cheaper energy. these powerful lasers are creating temperatures hotter than the sun. how it could change how we power our world. we investigate. [alarm rings] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [alarm rings] ♪♪ ♪♪ get exclusive offers on select new volvo models. contact your volvo retailer to learn more. there it is... that feeling you get when you can... du more with less asthma. it starts with dupixent. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma. and can help improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. dupixent helps prevent asthma attacks... and can even reduce or eliminate oral steroids. can you picture it? dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines, including steroid