February 10, 2023
The state auditors have already been investigating San Diego Gas and Electric for shockingly high energy rates since the legislature asked it to back in May. Now the governor wants the feds to step in.
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January’s monumental increase in natural gas prices and subsequent drop again in February triggered a response from Gov. Gavin Newsom Monday for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to investigate whether market manipulation or anticompetitive behavior among utilities was at play. SDG&E has the highest per-kilowatt hour electric rate in the continental U.S.
Protestors including advocates for a public takeover of the city’s energy grid called on the San Diego City Council to hold its own hearings to probe why SDG&E’s gas prices tripled.
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SDG&E spokesman said at the time that the utility understands customers are upset and angry.
“We validate every emotion they are feeling and know that we are in this together. For the customers who are struggling, reach out to us. You don’t have to feel alone. We can help you with a tailored solution to get through this together,” SDG&E spokesman Anthony Wagner told the Union-Tribune.
SDG&E has pointed to a slew of factors that affected the natural gas prices recently including volatility in the global gas market, a spike in demand from a winter cold snap, a pipeline capacity problem in West Texas and low stockpiles of the fossil fuel.
The state investigation into SDG&E’s rates, requested in part by San Diego Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, who sits on the Joint Committee on Legislative Audit, is slated to wrap-up in March. Newly-elected Assemblyman David Alvarez now chairs that committee.
“As a San Diegan, I am all too aware that we are paying too much for natural gas to heat our homes. We need answers, be it in this audit or the investigation called for by Governor Newsom,” Alvarez said. “As chair of the committee, I will review the report and determine what additional steps and committee hearings would be prudent and bring answers to us in Southern California who are paying exorbitant rates for natural gas.”
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