Utility regulator approves double-digit rate hikes for SoCal

By Wes Venteicher | 10/22/2024 06:24 AM EDT

California’s Public Utilities Commission approved increases for San Diego Gas and Electric and Southern California Gas.

Electrical power lines are pictured with a sunset in Nashville.

The California Public Utilities Commission issued a proposal Friday that would approve double-digit rate hikes for two Sempra-owned utilities. John Amis/AP

SACRAMENTO, California — The California Public Utilities Commission issued a preliminary decision Friday authorizing double-digit rate hikes for customers of San Diego Gas and Electric and Southern California Gas, which are both owned by Sempra.

The increases, which are likely to cause sticker shock particularly because they’re retroactive to the start of the year, are sure to inflame an affordability crisis that is making California’s climate transition a tougher sell.

The CPUC’s proposal would approve a 10.5 percent increase for SDG&E for 2024 and a 14.5 percent hike for the year for SoCalGas. It authorizes additional hikes of just under 4 percent per year through 2027. It could still be changed by the five-member commission ahead of a vote scheduled Dec. 5.

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The proposal outlines how much the utilities may collect from ratepayers through 2027 for everything from upgrading electrical wires, poles and pipelines — which earn a return of about 10 percent for shareholders — to daily operations and maintenance costs that are passed through without a return.

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