How does sdge determine baseline allowance

Get notified when there is an outage in your area. Sign into sdge. You may qualify for a bill discount or home improvements. Find out if you qualify at sdge. Visit sdge. Energy Savings Assistance ESA Program: You may qualify to receive no-cost, energy-saving improvements for your home, such as new appliances, furnace repair, lighting, insulation and more. Find details at sdge. Online applications are easy, fast and convenient. Usted puede calificar para un descuento en su factura o mejoras en el hogar.

Visite sdge. Encuentre los detalles en sdge. Are you on the right pricing plan for your lifestyle? Being on the best pricing plan can add up to real savings on your energy bill, especially if you can shift your energy use to before 4 p.

It may have impacted your bill already or will soon. The good news is you can choose which billing structure works best for your family. Tiered rate billing, in simple terms, increases the cost of electricity as you use more. Electricity costs start out each month at their lowest while the household is under its Baseline Allowance. The baseline is the approximated minimal amount of energy your house would need for basic needs — not much beyond just lighting and keeping a refrigerator running.

For households that can be flexible enough to essentially avoid using electric energy during these peak energy hours on the selected days, there are good savings to be had. And as Electric Vehicles become more popular, the TOU-EV-5 is a good choice, provided you use that electric car enough to overcome a monthly fee of sixteen dollars on the plan. The best defense against high energy costs, regardless of changing billing structures, is to become your own energy producer.

Southern California is host to two factors that make a home solar panels one of the best financial investments a homeowner can make: high energy costs in a region with a lot of sunny days. A solar energy system allows families to produce their own renewable energy for use during the day.

Excess energy clean energy is sold back to the utility. This is a federal program that was created to encourage home solar use back when energy rates were lower and residential solar systems, and the entire solar industry, were in their early stages of development.

Aglet concludes that the Commission can, even after the effective date of the legislation, change numerical baseline quantities, as long as it maintains the current inter-tier boundaries.

The determination that "existing baseline quantities" refers to those quantities in place on February 1, , is only the beginning of our analysis. We still need to determine the impact of the legislation on this phase of this proceeding. To focus our analysis, it helps to remove the timing language both effective date and expiration date 7 from the statute, which results in the statement: "In no case shall the commission increase the electricity charges.

The question we need to consider here is whether the changes we implement today are inconsistent with these statutory requirements. One change we are considering is to raise the baseline allowances of certain customers. Raising the baseline allowance while leaving rates unchanged, as we are doing in this phase of this proceeding, results in the outcome that no customer will pay more for his or her baseline quantity of electricity than he or she paid on February 1, A higher baseline amount at the same price clearly complies with the requirement of the statute.

We are not changing any rates in this decision, and if we avoid making this sort of rate change in later decisions, we can readily remain in compliance with the statutory requirements. For those customers who do receive an increased baseline allowance, we must determine the effect of that increased baseline.

To the extent that electric baseline quantities are increased, and the rate tiers are based upon the new baseline allowance, this has the effect of protecting more usage from rate increases than would be protected if the rate tiers are based upon the previous baseline allowance. If we increase that customer's baseline allowance to units, they would be protected from rate increases on their usage up to units. The more difficult scenario is one in which we would decrease the electricity baseline allowance for a particular customer or group of customers.

It is possible, however, to harmonize the two statutes. Section only prohibits increases in charges for existing baseline quantities or usage up to percent of existing baseline quantities. It is silent as to what happens above percent of existing baseline quantities. Given the continued existence of Pub. This argument ignores the plain language of the statute, which does not bar increases to charges for customers with usage under percent of existing baseline which would be all customers , but rather merely bars increased charges for usage under percent.

Accordingly, the above discussion does not apply to gas baseline quantities. For all gas utilities, we will calculate the changes resulting from applying updated data and moving the percentage to the top of the statutory range in order to implement that result whether it is an increase or a decrease in the gas baseline allowance.

In applying the conclusion that the Commission may increase baseline allowances for electricity, but may not reduce them, we need to consider the combined effect of our resolution of the two issues of updating data and setting target percentages.

By itself, updating the data used to calculate baseline allowances results in most customers receiving an increased baseline allowance, but some would see a decreased baseline allowance. Setting the target percentage at the top of the statutory range for all utilities results in many customers receiving an increased baseline allowance, while the remainder would see no change. As discussed above, we must ensure that no customer receives a decreased baseline allowance.

Accordingly, if the combined effect of these changes would result in a decreased baseline allowance for any customer or group of customers, that decrease will not be implemented. Instead, that customer's or group of customers' baseline allowance will remain the same as it is now, which is the same as it was on February 1, We will only implement changes in electric baseline quantities if the net result is an increase in the baseline allowance.

However, the factual basis for this argument is weak at best, for while it has been the general practice for the Commission to address baseline quantities in GRCs, the Commission does not require changes to baseline quantities to be made in a GRC.

Moreover, the baseline statute is silent on the appropriate timing of such changes. Parties have suggested a range of implementation dates for any changes ordered by this decision, with some parties suggesting January 1, , and others suggesting dates in the spring of In general, the utilities suggest the later dates.

Several countervailing issues are presented here, which we need to balance. Administrative burdens would be eased on the utilities by having a later implementation date, particularly if that date corresponds to the switch from the winter to the summer baseline season.

Parties have also argued that implementing the changes ordered here along with the normal change of season baseline amounts could reduce the potential for customer confusion caused by multiple changes in the baseline quantity.

Other Parties suggest an implementation date of April 1, , to correspond to the statutory ending date of the AB rate freeze. Last, but far from least, if we implement changes earlier, they can be in place for at least a significant portion of the winter heating season, and provide earlier relief to utility customers. We will order that all changes required to be made in the baseline quantities as a result of this decision be in place by April 1, While providing prompt relief to utility customers is our primary consideration, we must temper that goal with the acknowledgement that we are requiring the utilities to implement further changes in already complex and difficult times.

An implementation date of April 1, provides relief before the start of next summer, allows the utilities additional time to implement today's decision, and corresponds to the end of the rate freeze. We must also consider the potential rate impact on those customers who would be required to bear the cost of an increase in baseline allowances.

Please refer to answer in Question 4. All rates charged by utilities in California are reviewed and approved by the California Public Utilities Commission to ensure the charges are just and reasonable. Search Search. Q1: Why are bills higher than normal? Q3: What is the High Usage Charge? Q4: What can customers do to lower their bill? Using a portable or ceiling fan to circulate air in one room can cost about 4 cents per hour. For example: No High Usage Charge — Time of use plans do not have high usage charges so if a customer anticipates continuing to use high amounts of energy, they may save each month on one of these plans.

Simple shifts can equal savings — shifting simple chores like laundry and running your dishwasher to before 4 p.