Thread: California utility customers get 'climate credit'

California utility customers get 'climate credit'

The Associated PressMarch 30, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO — Customers of California's major utilities will get "climate credit" payments on their electric bills from money earned by the state's cap and trade system.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/1h8O0kq ) that the payments will appear as a line item on utility bills in April and October.
Cap and trade forces power plants and other polluters to buy permits to emit greenhouse gases, and places a cap on the amount of emissions allowed.

The payments will vary in size among utilities based on the number of customers and other factors.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. residential customers will get $29.81 in April; Southern California Edison's will get $40.

The payments are meant to help offset expected increases in electricity and gas prices due to cap and trade.

http://www.modbee.com/2014/03/30/326...omers-get.html

SDG&E CUSTOMERS TO GET ‘CLIMATE CREDIT’

By Morgan Lee12:01 A.M.MARCH 31, 2014

Come April, San Diego home electricity customers will receive a $36.24 “climate credit” on utility bills that comes from California’s new cap-and-trade system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The credit will show up as a line-item reduction in electricity bills twice a year, in April and October, and is expected to continue through at least 2020.

“You don’t get a check, but it’s money that doesn’t leave your pocket,” said Dave Clegern, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board.

About 1.2 million San Diego Gas & Electric residences will receive the $36.24 reduction. Small businesses also will receive a credit on a monthly basis starting in May, with dollar figures tied to individual energy use.

California has rolled out the nation’s first statewide approach for controlling pollution by capping total greenhouse gas emissions and issuing pollution permits that can be bought or sold by companies.

Revenue from the sale of those permits is being returned directly to utility customers for the first time in April.

When utilities buy electricity from power plants that emit greenhouse gases under the cap-and-trade system, the pollution costs are reflected in higher electricity rates. The climate credit is intended to help offset those costs for households and some small businesses that have no choice but to buy power from those utilities.

State officials are seizing on the credit’s rollout to encourage consumers to put those savings toward home improvements and devices that can further conserve energy and lower utility bills.

The initiative, funded by utility customers, will stuff utility bill envelopes with price and energy savings information about programmable thermostats, remote control sockets, LED light bulbs, water heater blankets and advanced power strips that reduce “vampire loads” from idling electronics.

“The Climate Credit is designed to help you join with California in its efforts to fight climate change and clean the air,” says a letter to consumers from the state. “You can use the savings on your electricity bills however you choose, but you can save even more money by investing the bill savings ... in efficient lights and appliances.”

If the April climate credit exceeds the utility customer’s total monthly bill, a credit rolls over to the next month. Customers may also ask for a refund check instead of having the balance applied to the next month’s bill.

The state’s cap-and-trade program is a crucial component of California’s 2006 global warming law that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

A dwindling market for emission permits results in power plants facing an increased cost when they produce electricity from fuels that put heat-trapping gasses into the atmosphere.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/...limate-credit/

I just got my April SDG&E bill and it has a $36.24 CA. Climate Credit on it.

California has rolled out the nation’s first statewide approach for controlling pollution by capping total greenhouse gas emissions and issuing pollution permits that can be bought or sold by companies.

Revenue from the sale of those permits is being returned directly to utility customers for the first time in April.

Oh, yeah, California is leading the way in innovation. It is so progressive that businesses are leaving by the boatload.

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