Bay Area consumers may see higher utility bills soon. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said that its electricity rates could increase roughly 4.4 percent on average in October, and heating bills are also expected to soar. High prices for the natural gas that fuels PG&E's power plants throughout California is to blame.

The utility expects that an electric bill for a household using 550 kilowatt hours of electricity would rise $3.22, hitting $75.34 in January. Different rates of electricity usage cost different amounts of money. Residential heating bills will average around $145.44 in January, the utility predicted.

Earnings

Los Gatos-based Netflix Inc.'s second-quarter profit crept up 4 percent, beating analyst expectations as the online DVD rental leader signed up 168,000 new customers while spending less money to attract them to the service. The company said Friday that it earned $26.6 million, or 42 cents per share, from April through June, up from $25.6 million, or 37 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. The average earnings estimate among analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial was 40 cents per share. Revenue climbed 11 percent to $337.6 million to match analyst estimates.

Jamba Inc. reported unaudited financial results for its second quarter of 2008. The Emeryville-based Jamba Juice retailer said unaudited revenues totaled $98.6 million, up 10 percent from the

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year-ago second quarter.

Union City-based Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc. earned $8.8 million, or 12 cents a share, on sales of $24.9 million, for its second quarter of 2008. The profit reversed a prior-year quarterly loss of $1.7 million. Revenues soared six-fold compared with the year before.

Online

Microsoft Corp.'s chances of buying Sunnyvale-based Yahoo Inc. are "negligible" because Yahoo's value has fallen too much, said Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell. Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo earlier this year, bidding as much as $47.5 billion.

Compiled from staff and wire reports. Got Bay Area business news? Reach Drew Voros at 925-943-8099 or dvoros@bayareanewsgroup.com.