SoCalGas Tells Council Committee Pasadena Customers Will See Lower March Bills

During the meeting of Pasadena’s Legislative Policy Committee Tuesday, a Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) representative announced that the average residential and commercial bills will decrease this March as the wholesale market prices for natural gas have dropped.

“The market prices for natural gas have come down. In January, they are 80 percent higher than they are now in March,” Helen Romero Shaw, public affairs manager with SoCalGas and liaison to the City of Pasadena said. “Your constituents, our customers, should see the drop in the gas bills this month, depending on their billing cycle.”

Shaw also reported that recently the California Public Utilities Commission approved the acceleration of the California Climate Credit for SoCalGas customers in response to the unprecedented natural gas prices impacting the Western United States.

Because of the move, SoCalGas’ residential customers will receive a credit of $50.77 in their February or March bill.

According to Shaw, another positive step SoCalGas is taking amid the historically high natural gas prices is delaying any collection activities on overdue residential accounts.

“We will not disconnect overdue residential customers until further notice. We have paused all non residential collection field activities effective February 1st,” said Shaw.

Despite the drop in the prices for natural gas, which will lower bills, Shaw advised Pasadenans about the simple steps they could take to reduce their energy bills.

“They can lower their thermostat 3-5 degrees, wash clothes in cold water, reduce the temperature on the water heater to a setting of 120 degrees,” Shaw said. “A lot of customers overlook this and there are some savings.”

She also advised customers to limit the use of non-essential natural gas appliances such as pool heaters and fireplaces.

Shaw stressed that SoCalGas is not profiting from the gas increase.

“SoCalGas did not set the price for natural gas, instead natural gas prices are determined by national and regional markets,” she explained.

“SoCalGas buys natural gas in those markets on behalf of our residential and small business customers and the cost of buying that gas is built with no markup meaning SoCalGas did not profit from the movement of the gas commodity prices.”

Shaw also said just like their customers, SoCalGas was also surprised with the high increase in gas prices.

“We were also surprised that it’s going to be so cold. We received information from the National Oceanic [and Atmospheric Administration] that they were actually predicting a warm winter but as we can see the reverse occurred on the west coast.”

“It was so cold in the states of Washington and Oregon and even in California, it got very cold.”

She said SoCalGas advised its customers as early as November to expect high bills in the coming months because of the cold weather and usage of natural gas.

Up to this day, Shaw said SoCalGas continues to inform and offer several ways to help income qualified customers pay their bills through various programs.

For more information about these programs, visit https://www.socalgas.com/save-money-and-energy/assistance-programs.