Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
SDG&E informs Escondido of rate hike effective September
Top-tier users foot the bill, city council miffed (except for Mayor Abed)
At the Escondido City Council meeting on July 24, Juanita Hayes, one of SDG&E’s public affairs managers, gave a presentation describing her company’s latest rate hike scheduled to be effective September 1.
“If you have a bill where electricity costs you about $100 a month, it will increase $15 [15 percent],” Hayes said. “If your bill is $250 a month, you should expect a $75 increase [30 percent].”
Hayes stated that rates are divided into four tiers based on usage: Tiers 1 and 2, which comprise about 75 percent of their customers, will see no change. If you live inland around Escondido and your electricity bill is normally under $100, your rates will not change.
Residential Tiers 3 and 4 and businesses will bear 100 percent of the cost increase. Currently, that is about 300,000 residential customers and 80,000 businesses. The Tier 3 and 4 residential customers will experience a 15 to 30 percent overall increase, while business customers can look forward to an increase of 11 to 18 percent. Hayes cited numerous reasons for the spike in rates:
● Environmental costs. New state and federal environmental requirements, such as the state mandate to generate 33 percent of electricity via renewable resources by 2020. SDG&E is currently at about 21 percent. In 2002, they were at 1 percent. Stricter laws to restrict greenhouse gas emissions are also coming into play.
● System upgrades. Steel poles replacing wood; adding 150 weather stations to monitor winds and temperatures in high-risk areas; modernization of infrastructure.
● Regulatory proceedings. A 2012 rate case was not resolved until May 2013; increases for two years will be allowed to be incorporated in 2013. SDG&E has been allowed to catch up 18 months of prior rate increases, starting September 1, in addition to 2013’s increase.
At the conclusion of the presentation, councilman Mike Morasco said, “What it boils down to is overregulation, environmental regulations, and mismanagement. What has been done to reduce costs, via either staff, benefits, retirement packages, etcetera? How is it that the burden is passed on to consumers without having a realistic reduction in the way dollars are spent at SDG&E as a whole?”
Hayes replied, “We’ve taken our fleet and converted to hybrids; we set our office thermostats to 78 or 79 degrees. We’re also having a consulting firm to come in to see what we can do without, how we can streamline positions.”
Councilman Ed Gallo asked, “Are the stockholders also sharing in the pain?”
Hayes said, “No, it’s the rate payers.”
Mayor Sam Abed ended the conversation with, “The problem is that they are the only power provider in the state with the PUC’s oversight. We understand it’s a complicated issue, but I don’t think consumers are that upset about an additional $15 on a $100 bill….”
For more information about the rate-hike issue, go to SDG&E’s website.
Here's something you might be interested in.
SDG&E informs Escondido of rate hike effective September
Top-tier users foot the bill, city council miffed (except for Mayor Abed)
SDG&E informs Escondido of rate hike effective September
Top-tier users foot the bill, city council miffed (except for Mayor Abed)
At the Escondido City Council meeting on July 24, Juanita Hayes, one of SDG&E’s public affairs managers, gave a presentation describing her company’s latest rate hike scheduled to be effective September 1.
“If you have a bill where electricity costs you about $100 a month, it will increase $15 [15 percent],” Hayes said. “If your bill is $250 a month, you should expect a $75 increase [30 percent].”
Hayes stated that rates are divided into four tiers based on usage: Tiers 1 and 2, which comprise about 75 percent of their customers, will see no change. If you live inland around Escondido and your electricity bill is normally under $100, your rates will not change.
Residential Tiers 3 and 4 and businesses will bear 100 percent of the cost increase. Currently, that is about 300,000 residential customers and 80,000 businesses. The Tier 3 and 4 residential customers will experience a 15 to 30 percent overall increase, while business customers can look forward to an increase of 11 to 18 percent. Hayes cited numerous reasons for the spike in rates:
● Environmental costs. New state and federal environmental requirements, such as the state mandate to generate 33 percent of electricity via renewable resources by 2020. SDG&E is currently at about 21 percent. In 2002, they were at 1 percent. Stricter laws to restrict greenhouse gas emissions are also coming into play.
● System upgrades. Steel poles replacing wood; adding 150 weather stations to monitor winds and temperatures in high-risk areas; modernization of infrastructure.
● Regulatory proceedings. A 2012 rate case was not resolved until May 2013; increases for two years will be allowed to be incorporated in 2013. SDG&E has been allowed to catch up 18 months of prior rate increases, starting September 1, in addition to 2013’s increase.
At the conclusion of the presentation, councilman Mike Morasco said, “What it boils down to is overregulation, environmental regulations, and mismanagement. What has been done to reduce costs, via either staff, benefits, retirement packages, etcetera? How is it that the burden is passed on to consumers without having a realistic reduction in the way dollars are spent at SDG&E as a whole?”
Hayes replied, “We’ve taken our fleet and converted to hybrids; we set our office thermostats to 78 or 79 degrees. We’re also having a consulting firm to come in to see what we can do without, how we can streamline positions.”
Councilman Ed Gallo asked, “Are the stockholders also sharing in the pain?”
Hayes said, “No, it’s the rate payers.”
Mayor Sam Abed ended the conversation with, “The problem is that they are the only power provider in the state with the PUC’s oversight. We understand it’s a complicated issue, but I don’t think consumers are that upset about an additional $15 on a $100 bill….”
For more information about the rate-hike issue, go to SDG&E’s website.
Comments