High-Use Gas Rate Will Be Cut by 12%

High-use residential customers socked with record gas bills last winter will receive a 12% reduction this winter, Southern California Gas Co. officials said Thursday.

However, bills for low-use residential customers will increase by 2% to make up the difference, utility officials said.

Under the gas company’s new rate structure, to be incorporated in bills received this month, households using 50 therms of gas a month will pay $21.04, an increase of 34 cents. In contrast, households using 200 therms will pay $132.02, a decrease of $17.79 a month.

High-use households will continue to subsidize low-use households, but at a lower rate. The cost of gas for low-use households this winter is 36 cents per therm; it jumps to 77 cents per therm for households with high usage.

The utility’s multitiered rate structure was altered after a public outcry last winter, when customers who used gas above a so-called “baseline” level during cold spells received hefty increases on their heating bills.

Rate Changes Approved

Acting on orders from the Legislature, the state Public Utilities Commission recently approved rate changes that also reduce residential bills for medium-usage--about 120 therms a month--by 5%.

Gas company spokesman Rich Puz said Thursday that the rate change will mean slightly higher bills for many low-income customers. “But there are (also) a significant number of low-income people who have high gas usage . . . in older homes with less efficient gas appliances and possibly less insulation,” Puz said.

“Conservation continues to make good sense and reducing usage remains the best way customers have to control the size of their gas bills,” said Billy Ware, manager of customer services for the gas company.