KPBS recently found that San Diego Gas & Electric had raised the rates for some electric car owners with no warning. Now the utility is offering credits to those customers.
As part of an SDG&E study, 430 drivers were given special rates for charging their plug-in electric vehicles, or PEVs. The study ended in 2013. But customers in the study received a letter in October 2013 from SDG&E telling them their rates would be extended through Dec. 31, 2014.
Poway resident David Kern was one of those customers. He was surprised when he opened his June bill and saw it had doubled. While he had previously paid about $45 a month for charging his electric car — a price calculated from three different rates depending on when he charged his car — he was now billed $91. He quickly saw that the reason was each of his three rates had almost doubled.
Kern complained to the utility and was told his lower rate schedule had ended, and there was nothing he could do.
After the KPBS story aired, SDG&E changed course. It sent letters to 350 affected customers apologizing for the unannounced rate boost and offering to keep customers on their old rate plan. The letters also say the utility will credit customers for whatever extra they've paid since April.
The credit is only going to 350 customers, not the 430 who were part of the study because 80 customers had already changed their rate plan before rates increased on May 1, said SDG&E spokeswoman Erin Coller. She said all electric vehicle customers saw a rate increase on May 1, but rates increased more dramatically for some customers who were part of the utility's study.
"It never was our intention to imply these customers had any kind of price guarantee," Coller wrote in an email. She said the utility doesn't agree with Kern's interpretation that he was promised lower rates through the end of 2014, "but we understand the potential for misunderstanding and the concern of some customers who had volunteered for this pilot program."
"In acknowledgement that some customers expected their rates would not change, we will provide a bill credit to the study participants for the remainder of this year," she wrote.
