Winter Chill Burns Homeowners as Many Gas Bills Soar

Four million residential customers of Southern California Gas Co. are being mailed record-high December gas bills--some of them five times the usual cost--because of the combined effects of a recent cold snap and a state law that heavily punishes households for using gas above a so-called “baseline” level, officials said Tuesday.

“We have people receiving their biggest home heating bill ever, and I can tell you customers don’t like it,” said Rich Puz, a spokesman for the gas company, which serves all of Southern California except for San Diego County.

“People just getting their bills now will see a very high bill, including those last cold weeks in December and one pretty cold week of January.”

The huge costs resulted because many people kept their thermostats turned up for several extra hours each day during the cold spell, catapulting them into a special “second tier” of gas pricing that costs almost three times as much as the normal rate, utility officials said.

Puz said customers in December used nearly 50% more gas than in the same period last year. Although gas rates went up slightly in January of 1987, he said that rate increase was responsible for only a fraction of the dramatic jump in December’s bills.

Jim Taylor, a gas company spokesman, said customers using 72 therms or less per month are charged 35 cents per therm. But when a household uses more than the baseline of 72 therms, the extra therms cost 95 cents each--nearly three times the usual cost.

“The more gas you use above the baseline, the higher and higher your costs get, and it just really expands,” Taylor said.

Gas officials said they are being swamped with calls from puzzled and irate customers who were unaware of the special higher rate because they rarely use their heating systems as much as they have in the past weeks.

High Bill for December

One customer, Janice Bay of South Pasadena, said she received a gas bill of $395 for December, compared to her bill of $42 in November, even though she was gone nearly two weeks for a Christmas vacation.

“I don’t understand how our bills can be as much as the bills my parents get back East where it’s zero degrees,” she said. “We have just a regular four-bedroom house, and while we were gone the heat was completely shut off.”

Phillip Elliott, a resident of Pacific Palisades, said his bill rose from $8.09 in November to $64 in December.

“It happens that my wife and I can afford this, but that doesn’t make it fair,” he said. “I don’t think we should have to pay for this.”

In fact, utility officials said, they don’t think it’s fair either.

Puz said the gas company “would like to see this bizarre system changed.”

He said the two-tier system was adopted by the state Legislature in 1982 after a nationwide increase in energy costs, and was meant to discourage Californians from using excessive amounts of gas and electricity by heavily charging them for excess usage. The Public Utilities Commission has some latitude in determining how the law is applied.

Under the current system, Puz said, households that manage to stay below the 72-therm baseline--thus paying just 35 cents per therm--are being heavily subsidized by households who go above the baseline.

“Anybody under 72 therms is paying less than the cost of providing the service and is getting a really good deal, and the ones who go way past 72 therms are paying far more than actual cost,” said Puz.

Carole Kretzer, a spokeswoman for the PUC, said “the object of the game was to encourage everyone to conserve energy and at the same time ensure you of a certain minimum amount of energy at a low cost.”

She said the 72 therms was based upon “the minimum that a family living in a small, well insulated home would need.”

Kretzer said the two-tier system has worked well in Northern California, where cold winters have trained customers to change their habits to avoid huge gas bills.

But in Southern California, she said, “I don’t think we’re quite as aware of it . . . but it only has to happen once for people to be aware of it next time.”

“We get flooded with calls because people can’t believe that they used that much,” she said. “People see that their usage has doubled over last year and think their bill should only double, but that’s not how it works.”

Currently, she said, the commission is preparing a plan to make major changes in the rate structure to bring the charges in line with the actual costs to customers.

Kretzer said the commission can work within the existing state law. One plan is to lower the second-tier price of 95 cents per therm, and then charge all customers a fixed monthly fee that more accurately reflects ongoing costs of maintenance and overhead.

Kretzer said the PUC is particularly concerned that the two-tier system will drive away large industrial users, “and if they leave, other customers would have to pick up the costs.”

Inquiries Welcome

Meanwhile, the utility officials said, customers who are convinced that their bills are incorrect should contact the gas company.

Taylor said customers like Janice Bay who feel the gas company made an error should contact them, and gas company employees will inspect a household’s gas system for leaks or other problems.

“If you don’t think the second tier rate is responsible, we would want to have those people call the gas company,” he said.

Bay, who received a $395 gas bill, has already had her home inspected for leaks and now intends to have her furnace ducts inspected “to make sure nothing is loose.”

If no cause for her high bill can be found, Bay said she “would be very skeptical that I owe that much,” and will have the gas company meter calibrated to test its accuracy.

“We will do that for extreme cases where the bill just doesn’t reflect reality,” said Taylor. “But so far that’s been pretty rare.”

Times Staff Writer Mark Arax contributed to this story.

WHY GAS BILLS ARE HIGHER

Doubling gas usage can triple a gas bill for a typical Los Angeles household. November: In 30 days, a household uses 82 therms of gas. The first 72 therms are charged at the state-mandated “baseline” fee of 35 cents per therm, for a cost of $25.20. The additional 10 therms above baseline are charged at 95 cents per therm, for a cost of $9.50.

COST: $34.70.

December: In 30 days, a household uses 182 therms of gas due to extreme cold. The first 72 therms, charged at 35 cents each, cost $25.20. The additional 110 therms, at 95 cents per therm, cost $104.50.

COST: $129.70. Source: Southern California Gas Co.