SAN DIEGO, Calif. — San Diego Gas & Electric is proposing a change in the way it bills customers in response to a state law passed last year that forces utility companies to come up with income-based pricing.
The company wants to charge customers a flat monthly fee ranging from $24-$128 dollars a month in addition to an estimated 27 cents per kilowatt hour of power used.
Households with an income of $28,000 or less would pay $24 a month while those with household incomes of $180,000 or more would pay the highest rate of $128.
Proposed monthly flat SDG&E fee:
- $24 (Household income $28K)
- $34 (Household income $69K)
- $73 (Household income $69-180K)
- $128 (Household income $180K-above)
“What it will end up doing is having a slightly higher monthly bill for high-income rate payers,” said Utility Reform Network executive director Mark Toney, who has been pushing for an income-based rate.
Toney said the proposal, which is in response to a state law passed last year, is just part of a solution to high bills that have left so many San Diegans struggling.
“The problem is the sky is the limit when it comes to how much the utilities can request and the sky is the limit to how much the public utilities commission can grant utilities.”
For Escondido senior John Grantham, any decrease to the amount he pays is welcome.
Grantham said he was caught off guard in January when he got a $300 gas bill. He normally pays less than $20 a month thanks to solar panels he’s installed.
“The first thing I did was purchase an electric blanket,” he said following that high bill.
SDG&E said the new structure would save the lowest-income San Diegans up to $300 a year.
“We have listened to and heard from our customers that fundamental change is needed to provide bill relief,” SDG&E CEO Caroline Winn said in a prepared statement.
“When we were putting together the reform proposal, front and center in our mind were customers who live paycheck to paycheck, who struggle to pay for essentials such as, energy, housing, and food.”
SDG&E said the California Public Utilities Commission will make a ruling on this proposal next year.
The utility says if approved, the new structure would probably go on customers' bills sometime in 2025.
