San Diego Gas & Electric announced Wednesday that residential customers will receive a break on their utility bills in the coming months, thanks to the state’s efforts to fight climate change.
Due to the California Climate Credit program, natural gas customers will see their bill reduced by $17.86 in April. This summer, SDG&E electricity customers will also see their bills offset by $34.60 in climate credits in both August and September — a total of $69.20 — when energy use typically goes up due to hot weather, according to the utility.
The California Climate Credit is a state program requiring power plants, natural gas providers and other large industries that emit greenhouse gases to buy carbon pollution permits. The credit on customers’ bills is their share of the payments from the state program.
All residential natural gas customers will automatically receive the credit from SDG&E on their April bill. All electricity customers, including community choice aggregation customers, will automatically receive the credit on their August and September billing cycles.
Earlier this month, SDG&E successfully petitioned the California Public Utilities Commission to eliminate the state-mandated High Usage Charge, which applies to those on standard tiered pricing plans.
Over the past year, SDG&E also won CPUC approval to lower summer pricing by moderating the seasonal pricing differential for customers on both Time-of-Use and standard tiered pricing plans.
SDG&E is a San Diego-based energy company and a subsidiary of Sempra Energy.