Month After Reporting Record Profits, SDG&E Hikes up Rates in March

Source: KPBS San Diego  |  By Erik Anderson

San Diego Gas & Electric is going up in March, just a month after the utility reported record profits for 2023. The rate hike eliminates some savings from an unexpected 11% cut in delivery charges in January. The delivery charges jump 8.7% in the March billing cycle and the average customer bill will increase about $8 a month. The move comes after the investor-owned utility posted record profits during the last calendar year. Company profits in 2023 hit a new record of $936 million, $21 million more than the previous year.

“A lot of people are questioning why is it, that SDG&E needs more money,” said Mark Toney, the executive director of The Utility Reform Network (TURN). “Their shareholders seem to be just fine. It’s the customers that are hurting. It’s the customers that are feeling the pain. But it’s the shareholders that are reaping the gains.” TURN said regulators should not have approved the increase, asking the CPUC to disallow more than one rate hike a year. “We can’t simply have unlimited amounts of money spent on wildfire safety,” Toney said. “We want the most cost-effective measures to be spent on wildfire safety because these bills are going sky high.”