San Diego Gas & Electric residential customers will see their electricity bills reduced by $32.28 in both August and September thanks to a climate credit program.
Designed to fight climate change, the California Climate Credit will come from a state program that requires 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's program.
"This bill credit provides some financial relief at a critical time when many people need it due to the COVID-19 economic crisis and summer weather driving up energy use," said Scott Crider, SDG&E's vice president of customer services.
Originally, the credit was scheduled to appear on customer bills in April and October. To help reduce bill spikes in the summer, when energy usage typically goes up along with the temperature, SDG&E successfully petitioned the California Public Utilities Commission to change the timing of the credit to August and September — the months when air conditioning use typically peaks.
There is no action required to receive the credit. All residential customers, including community choice aggregation customers, will automatically receive this credit from SDG&E on their August and September billing cycles.
Residential customers with natural gas service received the natural gas portion of the California Climate Credit — $21.11 — in April. In 2021, the electric and gas credit will follow the same schedule as this year.
