Today the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will be holding a public forum to hear from ratepayers on the gas rate increase request from SoCalGas. If approved, this rate increase would take effect in January 2024 and impact monthly ratepayer bills by an estimated 13.2% per month.

Activists and community members are urging the CPUC to deny SoCalGas’s request for a rate hike and to instead transition California away from fossil fuels.

Regarding the public forum, Food & Water Watch’s California Director Chirag Bhakta issued the following statement:

“SoCalGas’s audacity in requesting a rate increase after constant price-gouging in recent months is unconscionable. Its standard practice of polluting our communities and passing the costs to working families must be stopped.

“A 13 percent rate increase would further burden communities that have been hit hard in this economy. SoCalGas’s claim that the money will go towards clean energy technology should be dismissed out of hand, based on its recent $10 million fine for using ratepayer money to lobby elected officials. This company, responsible for the worst gas blowout in American history at Aliso Canyon, does not act in good faith. The CPUC must firmly deny any request for a rate increase from SoCalGas.”