SoCalGas is telling West Hollywood residents to expect their bills to be “double or higher” compared to January of last year.
Mike Harrell, the company’s interim region area manager for public affairs, warned of the sharp increases during public comment at Monday night’s City Council meeting.
Customers whose peak residential bill was around $65 last winter can expect to see bills closer to $160 this year. Similarly, if it was around $130 last winter, customers can expect to see bills around $315 this year.
“I’m worried that a number of our low-income residents, especially our seniors are going to be hard hit by utility bills,” said Councilmember John Heilman, who charged city staff with finding programs that can offer financial help to those in need. “We’re all going to be hard hit by utility bills this month. But for those who are especially vulnerable in the community, we want to make sure that we have provided them with all of the resources that are available.”
The company’s procurement shot up dramatically over last month, increasing from 105.329 ¢/therm to 344.892 ¢/therm. Compared to a year ago, the procurement rate is about 312.7% higher (83.569 ¢/therm) than what it was effective January 2022.
SoCal Edison attributes the price increase to below normal temperatures and low storage capacity on the West Coast, higher demand on the East Coast and Midwest and maintenance on pipelines in West Texas.
“SoCal buys natural gas from those markets on behalf of residential and small business customers, and the cost of buying that gas is billed to those customers with no markup, meaning SoCal does not profit from gas commodity prices going up,” Harrell said.
I use an electric blanket and if I need heat on cooler evenings, I use a space heater in the room where I am. With only running my gas stove and gas clothes dryer, my monthly bill jumped from $22 to $58. If this continues, I am going to stop using the dryer.
Mine will be equal to the National debt since it is an on off switch and doesn’t heat very much. Whoosh it’s on; then one of us shuts it off until the chill sets in. For former NYC apt dwellers…cherish those days when the furnace in the basement was fed and the radiators radiated and the wall in pre-war buildings were 1 foot thick. If you have nothing else to complain about, this rate hike will be a new and simple kvetch. Otherwise when exactly have rates gone down?
I don’t live in WeHo, but we are serviced by SoCalGas in Menifee, California. When I saw our recent bill online I thought, “Uh-oh, we might have a gas leak.” Definitely the highest natural gas bill ever ($430). Then I saw the disclaimer on the bill about higher prices, blah blah blah. Our usage for the recent billing compared to 2022 is only 15 therms more usage, so that was clearly not the issue. Highway robbery and we are all hostages!
In December of last year my gas bill (gas only to heat 2500 sq ft condo) was 88. This December it was 161. My January bill is 365.00 and they predict February will be higher. Sempra is the Enron of today. The gas SoCal Gas buys is from Texas and I read several articles that indicate there is plenty of gas and the state AG is looking to investigate,
Amazing. Natural gas has been an integral part of the American home for heating and cooking. This is just another Greta Thunberg and Al Gore garbage to control the population. Natural gas is the cleanest of energy that is reliable. Newsom/California/Environmentalists have determined that we should suffer. California is sooo energy rich, and safely so.
Thanks WEF. BS
Yep. I got my bill last week and it was $80 – twice last month’s bill of $40. I’m hoping it won’t be as cold in February.
Thanks Newsom for turning off nat gas production. Vote for him to f up the entire country. Spoiled frat boy.
Three times higher.
Why is Southern California Edison (SoCal Edison) mentioned at the beginning of the second to last paragraph? This is Southern California Gas. As far as I know, they are two separate companies with one supplying gas and the other electricity. Am I missing something here?
They are Edison is not affiliated with SoCal Gas which is owned by Sempra. Sempra used to be in the ARCO building with gold plated handrails on the stairs on the former executive level.
The whole idea behind getting rid of the gas is to put EVERYTHING on electricity. Once that happens, it is much easier to “control” the population and monitor how much that you use and put limits on your consumption. Welcome to Commie-California! It is happening here in light speed and slower in other states but the Fed Govn’t has every intention to control every aspect of our consumption including the now extremely expensive eggs that we eat!
Over the target! For this reason alone everyone should call Edison and request to have the smart meter removed from their property, they will do it for renters and owners alike. The EMF is terrible too
Thanks to Biden refiners have been depleting our storage by selling LPG to Europe and thanks to Newsom gas prices in California are way higher than rest of US.
So the climate wackos are saying natural gas stoves emit harmful pollutants into a home’s atmosphere, no wonder the Counciltwits are all f’ed up!
It doesn’t take an expert to figure out that inhaling gas fumes of any kind can kill you. We’ve known that for decades. Who’s the wacko?
If they want to take stoves out of homes why not natural gas furnaces also? The fumes from furnaces are safer than a stove?