SDG&E; to Request Cutback in Gas Rates

For the fifth time in almost two years, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. is planning to seek a reduction in natural gas rates for San Diego customers, company officials said Monday.

The utility plans to ask for a reduction of at least $25 million, and if it is approved by the state Public Utilities Commission, customers could pay 2% less for natural gas beginning in May, company spokeswoman Elizabeth Abbott said Monday.

The typical residential customer pays about $18.69 for about 40 therms of natural gas each month, she said. The reduction would mean the customer would pay about 37 cents less for the same amount of gas.

Abbott credits the rate reduction to a continual decline in wholesale gas prices, a price decline that was triggered by the total deregulation of the natural gas industry at the end of 1984. She said the Southern California Gas Co., which sells natural gas to SDG&E;, expects to reduce its gas charges next year by at least $24.8 million.

“This is great because we want to pass the savings on to the customer,” she said.

Last year the typical residential customer paid about $25.48 a month for 40 therms of natural gas, she said.

SDG&E; could save even more money under a new state policy that gives the company a reduced rate for natural gas burned in its own boilers to make electricity, Abbott said. The state action was taken to encourage utilities to continue to burn natural gas.