A New Low Blows In : Rain, Hail, Snow Reported; Higher Bills Plague Gas Consumers

Rain, hail and more cold air swept through Orange County Monday as a low-pressure system blew in from the Pacific Ocean.

Hail was reported in Dana Point and Laguna Niguel, and a dusting of snow fell in Live Oak Canyon during the storm, which lasted until about 2 p.m., said Bill Reiter, manager of the Orange County Storm Operations Center.

BB-sized hailstones fell for about 10 minutes sometime after 11 a.m., said Sid Puente, owner of the Laguna Niguel Dry Cleaners on Crown Valley Parkway. “It lasted (on the ground) for about 45 minutes.”

El Toro and San Juan Capistrano received .35 inches of rain during the storm, according to Emmett Franklin, hydrographer for the Orange County Environmental Management Agency.

Things are starting to look better, however. The National Weather Service is predicting mostly clear, slightly warmer days today and Wednesday, with lows of 32 to 40.

Expected highs of 58 to 64 degrees on Tuesday and 60 to 66 on Wednesday should be good news for the Southern California Gas Co.’s telephone operators.

The cold weather was the main culprit for higher heating bills that prompted 14,538 Orange County residents to complain in January, said Bob Hird, the company’s community affairs manager.

“This is the coldest winter we’ve had since 1978,” said Hird. “The telephone calls were from people wanting us to investigate the bill because it was so high.”

The company received approximately 9,000 fewer customer calls in January, 1984, he said. “The average caller is saying, ‘I never had a gas bill this high.’ ”

The National Weather Service said the average temperature at the Los Angeles Civic Center for the month of January was 57.5 degrees--slightly above the 30-year average of 57.2. As cold as it feels, no records for cold have been broken so far this winter, the weather service says.

The gas company bases its estimates of the cold on “degree days,” the number of degrees that the mean temperature is below 65 degrees in a day.

On any day that the mean daily temperature drops a degree below 65, the gas company has a “degree day.” So if the mean daily temperature for today is 60, that is five “degree days” right there.

“When the temperature drops below 65 people start using their heat,” said Hird.

This January accumulated 562 degree days, as compared to 409 for January, 1983, he said.

Tina Bertagna, a customer service representative for the gas company, said heating bills were 20% to 30% higher in January than a year ago.

She said she handles approximately 100 calls a day from customers with complaints and questions about their bills. “It’s just non-stop. Most of them say it’s such a shock. They want to know why.”

Southern California Gas has a two-tiered system of rates--the lifeline rate of 45.5 cents a therm, and a higher rate of 74.14 cents, Hird said.

As a conservation incentive, the lower rate is charged to customers using a limited amount of gas, Hird said.

Dreary Days Raise Bills

Because of the cold weather, people are using more gas and paying more for it, he said. “A typical customer could use 50% more gas a month . . . and his bill would increase 69%.”

Wet, dreary weather also affects gas bills, Hird said. “On a rainy, cloudy day, people can use up to seven times more heat than on a sunny day.”

People are burning more gas logs “because it’s cold and it looks good,” he said, “but the gas goes right up the chimney.”

Record-breaking or not, the last month or so of cold temperatures is expected to cost consumers plenty.

But a gas company spokesman said consumers should take some solace in the fact that what the company and the Public Utilities Commission take away, they ultimately give back in the form of lower rates.

“We don’t make bigger profits because the weather is cold and people are using more gas,” the spokesman said.