On March 25, 2021, the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission) approved an all-party settlement agreement in Southwest Gas' general rate case application (A.19-08-015). The authorized rate adjustments will be effective April 1, 2021.
The Commission authorized an overall increase in California revenues of $6.4 million. Please reference the chart below for the proposed versus authorized adjustment in your jurisdiction.
| Jurisdiction | Proposed Adjustment | Authorized Adjustment |
| Southern California | $6.8 million | $3 million |
| Northern California | $1.5 million | $0 |
| South Lake Tahoe | $4.5 million | $3.4 million |
The Commission approved the following Southwest Gas proposals to minimize customer bill impact and bill volatility:
- Three new Conservation & Energy Efficiency (CEE) programs to help customers conserve energy and save on their energy bills.
- Residential Equipment Direct-Install (RED) and New Home Rebates (Due to a lower authorized CEE program budget than requested, Southwest Gas plans to implement these programs in 2023/2024.)
- Solar Thermal Rebates
- Increase the basic service charge to better reflect customer-related costs and to assist in decreasing peak winter monthly bills.
- Increasing the number of residential baseline seasons from two to three, by adding a Winter Off-Peak residential baseline season. This additional third season will be displayed on customer bills as Spring/Fall.
Southwest Gas is also authorized to make annual revenue adjustments of 2.75% for years 2022 through 2025 in each rate jurisdiction.
Additional Resources
Application
Application 19-08-015
A.19-08-015 – Volume II-A Southern California
A.19-08-015 – Volume II-B Northern California
A.19-08-015 – Volume II-C South Lake Tahoe
A.19-08-015 – Volume III Testimony
A.19-08-015 – Volume II-A Southern California
A.19-08-015 – Volume II-B Northern California
A.19-08-015 – Volume II-C South Lake Tahoe
A.19-08-015 – Volume III Testimony
Bill Notice - Application Filing
Bill Notice - Approved Margin Rates
The typical average monthly bills for residential customers based on authorized revenues will be (for a copy of current and historical Statement of Rates,
click here
):
Southern California Residential Customers
| Season | Number of Therms | $Increase/($Decrease) | Typical Monthly Bill* |
|
Summer
(see months listed below)
|
16 | $2.33 | $28.19 to $30.52 |
|
Spring/Fall
(see months listed below)
|
39 | $3.57 | $60.69 to $64.26 |
|
Winter
(see months listed below)
|
72 | $4.63 | $110.90 to $115.52 |
*Actual bills may be higher or lower than this amount, depending on your usage and other rate adjustments.
For customers in Barstow, Needles, and Victorville: Summer (May-October), Spring/Fall (March, April and November), Winter (December-February)
For customers in Big Bear: Summer (June-October), Spring/Fall (April, May and November), Winter (December-March)
For customers in Big Bear: Summer (June-October), Spring/Fall (April, May and November), Winter (December-March)
Northern California Residential Customers
| Season | Number of Therms | $Increase/($Decrease) | Typical Monthly Bill* |
| Summer (June-October) |
24 | ($1.43) | $37.07 to $35.64 |
| Spring/Fall (April, May and November) |
66 | ($4.76) | $92.02 to $87.26 |
| Winter (December-March) |
124 | ($12.11) | $173.00 to $160.89 |
*Actual bills may be higher or lower than this amount, depending on your usage and other rate adjustments.
South Lake Tahoe Residential Customers
| Season | Number of Therms | $Increase/($Decrease) | Typical Monthly Bill* |
| Summer (June-October) |
26 | $6.03 | $30.25 to $36.28 |
| Spring/Fall (April, May and November) |
70 | $16.07 | $71.57 to $87.64 |
| Winter (December-March) |
115 | $24.25 | $116.90 to $141.15 |
*Actual bills may be higher or lower than this amount, depending on your usage and other rate adjustments.
Southwest Gas included a risk-informed decision-making process in A.19-08-015, a process that evaluated and identified several risks, and resulted in three proposed risk-based infrastructure programs to mitigate the risks. The Commission authorized the following risk-based infrastructure programs, that will be implemented in years 2021 through 2025:
Meter Protection Program
Southwest Gas aims to enhance the protection of existing meters in areas that receive heavy snow, and do not currently have an adequate form of meter protection against snow load. The Meter Protection Program includes:
- Retrofitting meter sheds for current customers without such protection
- Upgrading certain meter sets acquired by Southwest Gas with more robust piping
- Evaluating and installing an Excess Flow Valve on certain service lines; and
- Upgrading the meter encoder receiver transmitter (ERT) device to allow for daily meter usage monitoring
School Customer-Owned Yard Line (COYL) Replacement Program
A COYL is the primary customer-owned and maintained gas piping that exists between the gas meter and the customer’s house/building. Southwest Gas will replace all known School COYLs in its California jurisdictions by offering customers the option to relocate their meters and replace the School COYL with facilities that are owned and maintained by Southwest Gas.
Targeted Pipe Replacement Program (Southern California only)
Southwest Gas will replace three primary classifications of vintage pipelines:
- Pre-1961 vintage distribution steel pipelines
- Pre-1961 vintage distribution high-pressure steel pipelines; and
- Driscopipe™ 7000 distribution plastic pipelines
The revenue requirement associated with the three risk-based programs will be recovered through the Infrastructure Reliability and Replacement Adjustment Mechanism (IRRAM) surcharge beginning January 1, 2022, as applicable.
