The Southern California Gas Co. on Friday, Jan. 6, announced a $1 million contribution to the Gas Assistance Fund, a program that helps income-qualified customers pay their natural gas bills.
Customers will be facing bills that could be double or higher compared to last year’s winter bills. The high bills are a result of historically high natural gas prices in the western United States, according to the utility.
“We know that these higher prices have a real impact on our customers,” Gillian Wright, SoCal Gas senior vice president and chief customer officer, said in a statement. “But we want them to know that there is help. We have valuable information on how to conserve energy, programs to assist with managing your energy usage and an unprecedented contribution to our Gas Assistance Fund, which will help our most vulnerable customers pay their bills.”
SoCalGas doesn’t set the price for natural gas. Instead, natural gas prices are determined by national and regional markets. SoCalGas buys natural gas in 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 SoCalGas does not profit from gas commodity prices going up, the company said.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a number of factors are contributing to higher natural gas commodity prices. They include widespread, below-normal temperatures on much of the West Coast; high natural gas demand for heating by customers in areas with below normal temperatures; reduced natural gas supplies to the West Coast; reduced interstate pipeline capacity to the West Coast; and low natural gas storage levels on the West Coast.
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Larry says
Didn’t think so. No vote for u smart guy.
Crossroads says
Ohh I forgot this is the comments section hahaha
Crossroads says
I think we should elect Tim Scott to replace the existing Vice President!!!
Tim Scott says
Not interested. Too much work. Thanks though.
Roger that says
Roger that.
Impossible to survive as an honest man in that ecosphere.
Laguna Larry says
That’s what I like about living in Laguna. It never gets too hot or too cold. I can sleep in the nude all year long. There’s nothing quite look looking out over the ocean and letting nothing get between you and that big blue ocean. Of course I can’t do that when Bobby is crashing here.
Magnetlady says
The Policies of the current President are the main reason prices are going higher daily. We have our own Natural Resources under our feet to use, but because of their rush to ”All Electric”, we’re not able to use our own gas, fuels or other resources, so ”WE THE TAXPAYER” will be forced to pay!! We’re buying oil from countries that ”hate us” & paying higher prices. Be careful how you VOTE in 2024. IF you like the higher prices & it doesn’t affect You, that’s not OK. ”Seniors” are having a hard time making ends meet. Everyone is struggling to keep their utilities down, but as I see ”Gasoline Prices” are GOING UP AGAIN!! Put a ”seatbelt on” for the next 2 yrs. It’s going to get WORSE!! VOTE YOUR ”WALLET” NOT PARTY IN 2024!!
Tim Scott says
LOL…people who want to “vote their wallet” are hopefully smart enough to not pay any attention to your wildly partisan and ignorant claims about how the economy works.
Dave says
Nothing personal but I fail to see one intelligent statement in Magnetlady’s post. Perhaps she could explain, in detail, the current energy policies, especially the ones that are “hurting” us. Educate us, don’t throw out a word salad that offers nothing.
Tim Scott says
As a long time follower of the comments section I can tell you that there has never been one intelligent statement in all of her posts put together. She is the salad bar operator of commenters.
Larry says
Riiiiight. Because the price of gas isn’t high all over the world, just in the God old USA. Oh wait, that’s not true is it. Guess this administration is at fault for that too. How about try living in Europe right now and see how you think then.
Laaaaaary says
The point is to not end up like Europe…
Duhhhh
Larry says
Well sir please elaborate. Tell me any way that could happen. How can we get everything cheaper than the rest of the world?? I would really like to know. BTW….if you have the answer, u have my vote. How can we become immune to anything and everything that every other country is also facing?
Warmonger Mike says
You can do military operations, or declare war, and just take what you want, or destroy whatever you want and can’t have.
A Time Tested Solution.
I have the morals of a Gila Monster
Tim Scott says
Actually, for decades we accomplished it without having to use our own military at all. Create an arms race between Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Sell arms to all three, demanding payment in dollars only. All three are forced to deliver oil at below market value to get the dollars. Millions of people live in a state of perpetual warfare and misery, but they are on the other side of the planet and gas for the SUV is affordable so…WINNERS!!!
I’m sure that appeals to your gila monster morality. I mean, that’s what MAGA is all about, yeah? Getting back to those ‘good times’?
It Gets Better says
Oh, and don’t forget: Habits, once established, are hard to break.
That is, think of this behavior in light of Republican destructivism, obstructivism, and their habit of preferring chaos over order when their power is insufficient to get what they want.
Like colicky babies.
With every action, every rant, they are doing the exact same thing to our country, their party, other people….perhaps never realizing that their habit is destroying themselves in the process.
If there’s any hope for them, it is in recovering from many decades of bad habits, like any junkie, by going through the pain of withdrawals and rehab. renovating the culture, and returning to normal.
America First energy policies says
Simple, produce our own energy. Not count on other countries to do so.
It’s called energy independence.
America first.
Tim Scott says
“produce our own energy”
Okay, great. Here’s a fact: jobs in energy production are dirty, dangerous, and require very minimal skills. In other words, they are the kind of jobs you can fill in a third world country by paying wages that will buy a couple cups of rice and a tent. To fill those jobs in the US requires either creating so much unemployment that there are miserable people you can take advantage of, or paying a living wage for life in the US.
So, I’m fine with paying enough in my utility bill to source energy supplies in the US as long as we aren’t pursuing the massive unemployment route. All for it. But if we keep a strong domestic economy then US produced energy will ALWAYS be the most expensive option that you can get, so your proposed ‘solution’ is actually not an appropriate answer to the current “problem” of high energy bills.