Higher Electric Bills in Effect for SDG&E Customers

5/6/2008 - North County Times
By Zach Fox - Staff Writer

The next electric bills North Countians receive will probably be more expensive.

New electric rates for customers of San Diego Gas & Electric Co. went into effect May 1. According to the company, the typical residential customer who uses 500 kilowatt-hours a month will see an increase of $1.49, or 2.1 percent, in the next monthly electric bill.

Heavy users will see a larger jump in their bills, with some experiencing an 8.2 percent increase in their monthly payments.

For example, an inland region consumer who uses 500 kilowatt-hours a month will see the typical monthly bill rise from $69.06 to $70.55. But a consumer in the same area who uses 1,200 kilowatt-hours a month will experience a jump of about $17, or 8.2 percent, in monthly electric bills, from $212 to $229.

Slightly more than 8 percent of SDG&E's customers used more than 1,200 kilowatt-hours in August of last month, a company spokeswoman said.

SDG&E said the higher rates are needed because of increased costs in its energy generation and buying.

"There's no profit. It's a straight pass-through of our costs," said Denise King, a spokeswoman for the utility.

The higher rates and some new programs were approved by the California Public Utilities Commission in February. One program is a time-of-use rate option for residential customers with solar panels, meaning they pay higher rates in the middle of the day than at night. The program is designed to cut down on peak demand, typically in the afternoon.

Another new program aimed at easing peak demand is one that allows commercial users to opt into a dynamic pricing schedule where the price of electricity spikes during peak hours but is lower during non-peak hours.

Also approved was a change in the utility's rate tier structure, which charges heavy users a higher rate than those who use very little electricity. The rates are structured by how much consumers use in comparison to a "baseline" usage rate of about 360 kilowatt-hours per typical summer month for inland consumers. SDG&E now breaks down rates into four tiers, instead of five. The baseline is lower for coastal consumers, meaning more energy will be charged at second- or third-tier rates.

That is one major factor in the higher rates for heavier users because it combined the highest and second-highest tiers from the previous structure. Before, the energy used from 200 percent to 300 percent of the baseline usage were charged a slightly lower rate than the energy after passing 300 percent of the baseline.

Under the four-tier rate structure, all customers who use 200 percent or more of the baseline are charged the highest rate.

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