Between December 2023 and March 2024, customers who sign up will receive a text message when there is a 20% or more increase in the monthly natural gas commodity cost, which impacts a portion of their bills

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California GasCo. (SoCalGas) today introduced an optional customer text message called the Natural Gas Price Notice. Customers who sign up will receive a text message from SoCalGas when there is a 20 percent or more increase in the monthly natural gas commodity cost – which impacts a portion of their bills. The 20 percent or more increase is based on the average of the last three winter (November to March) seasons' monthly natural gas commodity prices. Starting Nov. 14, customers can complete the sign-up form to receive the Natural Gas Price Notices from December 2023 through March 2024, as applicable.

"We're excited to be rolling out this new resource for our customers to help them make informed decisions about their energy usage this winter," said Gillian Wright, Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer. "While the U.S. Energy Information Administration is predicting a milder winter ahead of us, we continue to encourage customers to take advantage of the tools and options provided by SoCalGas to manage energy consumption and make energy-efficient home improvements to help lower bills."

Customers can learn more and sign up for the Natural Gas Price Notice at socalgas.com/NotifyMe or through My Account and will receive a confirmation text message once their sign-up form is submitted.

SoCalGas does not set the price for natural gas. Rather, natural gas prices fluctuate based on national and regional markets. SoCalGas purchases 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 earn additional profits from the sale of natural gas or higher supply prices.  

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a combination of out-of-state natural gas supply constraints, combined with early and persistent cold weather conditions across the West and low storage inventories in the western region, drove up commodity prices last winter. This October, the EIA reported that temperatures were expected to be warmer than last winter, which was unusually cold.

In addition to approving  SoCalGas' new text message notification,  the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted in August to increase the maximum storage level allowed at the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility from 41.16 billion cubic feet (bcf) to 68.6 bcf, "to enhance energy resiliency and protect ratepayers in Southern California from potential volatile wholesale natural gas prices this upcoming winter." It also voted to lift limits on when Aliso Canyon could be used to meet customer demand.

The CPUC also continues to consider a request from SoCalGas to give customers earlier access to state climate credits to assist with winter bills, by accelerating delivery of those credits from April to February.

SoCalGas has a suite of programs and services that can help customers manage their natural gas usage to help save energy and money.

Eligible customers may sign up for a Level Pay Plan (LPP), for example, which averages their annual natural gas use and costs over 12 months. There are also assistance programs for eligible customers who are experiencing hardships.

SoCalGas's Ways to Save tool may also help customers with energy savings options through a personalized savings plan that offers a household energy analysis, customized energy-efficiency recommendations, bill comparisons, and energy usage comparisons that could help save on natural gas bills. Customers can also sign up for weekly Bill Tracker Alerts to monitor natural gas consumption, take steps to reduce usage, avoid bill surprises, and more.

For more information about SoCalGas' new Natural Gas Price Notice, visit socalgas.com/NotifyMe.

About SoCalGas Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas service to over 21 million consumers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines will continue to play a key role in California's clean energy transition—providing electric grid reliability and supporting wind and solar energy deployment. 

SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most innovative energy infrastructure company in America. In support of that mission, SoCalGas aspires to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply to core customers with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for customers. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), an energy infrastructure company based in San Diego. 

For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.  

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions about the future, involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees. Future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. 

In this press release, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "contemplate," "plan," "estimate," "project," "forecast," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "in process," "construct," "develop," "opportunity," "initiative," "target," "outlook," "optimistic," "poised," "maintain," "continue," "progress," "advance," "goal," "aim," "commit," or similar expressions, or when we discuss our guidance, priorities, strategy, goals, vision, mission, opportunities, projections, intentions or expectations. 

Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement include: decisions, investigations, inquiries, regulations, denials or revocations of permits, consents, approvals or other authorizations, renewals of franchises, and other actions by the (i) California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Internal Revenue Service and other governmental and regulatory bodies and (ii) U.S. and states, counties, cities and other jurisdictions therein where we do business; the success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks in (i) completing construction projects or other transactions on schedule and budget, (ii) realizing anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if completed, and (iii) obtaining third-party consents and approvals; macroeconomic trends or other factors that could change our capital expenditure plans and their potential impact on rate base or other growth; litigation, arbitrations and other proceedings, and changes to laws and regulations, including those related to tax and trade policy; cybersecurity threats, including by state and state-sponsored actors, of ransomware or other attacks on our systems or the systems of third parties with which we conduct business, including the energy grid or other energy infrastructure, all of which continue to become more pronounced; the availability, uses, sufficiency, and cost of capital resources and our ability to borrow money on favorable terms and meet our obligations, including due to (i) actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or place those ratings on negative outlook, (ii) instability in the capital markets, or (iii) rising interest rates and inflation; failure of our counterparties to honor their contracts and commitments; the impact on affordability of our customer rates and our cost of capital and on our ability to pass through higher costs to customers due to (i) volatility in inflation, interest rates and commodity prices and (ii) the cost of the clean energy transition in California; the impact of climate and sustainability policies, laws, rules, regulations, disclosures and trends, including actions to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas, increased uncertainty in the political or regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies, the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets, and our ability to incorporate new technologies; weather, natural disasters, pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorism, information system outages or other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities or systems, cause the release of harmful materials or fires or subject us to liability for damages, fines and penalties, some of which may not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or insurance or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; the availability of natural gas and natural gas storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the pipeline system or limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage facilities; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to predict and beyond our control. 

These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that the company has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on Sempra's website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. 

Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company or Southern California Gas Company, and Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the CPUC. 

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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company