Industry Officials, California Public Utilities Commission discuss winter gas prices
Source: KPBS | By Erik Anderson & Bennett Lacy
Utility regulators are already looking ahead to California’s winter in an effort to determine if natural gas prices will spike into record territory like last year.
The California Public Utilities Commission gathered with industry officials on Thursday for a briefing on the regional natural gas market.
The Utility Reform Network (TURN) is calling on California’s utilities to do a better job of preparing customers for higher bills if they see a price spike coming. TURN argues San Diego’s fortune 500 energy company could have done much better. “Sempra — the parent company of SDG&E that buys all this gas — did a very poor job,” said Mark Toney, executive director of TURN. “They failed last year to do proper management to keep the prices down. Winter comes every year, and every year there needs to be good management of buying ahead of time, storing the right amount of gas.” Toney gave Pacific Gas and Electric higher marks for minimizing the cost to consumers by buying natural gas in the summer, when prices were cheaper, and by having more of the fuel in storage in the winter.
