SoCal Gas Customers to Receive Refunds

The California Public Utilities Commission approved one-time refunds for Southern California Gas customers who receive their gas directly from the utility. For a typical residential customer, the refund will be about $16 and will appear as a credit on the January bill. The refunds are being issued because the Los Angeles-based utility collected $100 million more revenue than authorized from these “core” customers when the colder-than-normal winters of 1998 and 1999 generated unusually high natural gas sales. Non-core customers, who buy their gas from other companies and transport it via Southern California Gas facilities, will not receive refunds. The refund amounts to 2.8 cents per therm and will be based on usage from Oct. 1, 1998, to Sept. 30, 1999.