SAN DIEGO - The less you use, the more you pay. San Diego Gas and Electric wants to change the way it calculates electricity rates.
Deborah Gonzales, an electricity customer said, "How are we going to afford this? I have like five people in my house."
Kyle Dalton, an electricty customer said, "It doesn't sound very fair. If you are not using something. Why should you get charged for it?"
SDG&E officials say it is fair. They claim back in 2001 the energy rates were very volatile and a state law froze rates that year for those who don't use very much electricty.
Jennifer Ramp with SDG&E said, "Essentially those customers on the lower tiers are still paying 2001 energy prices."
The utility says customers on the top tiers, the ones who use the most energy, continued to pay much higher rates. SDG&E is hoping to even the scale by charging 5-percent more to those on the bottom tiers, and 5-percent less to those on the top tiers.
"It's not a rate increase for the average customer," Ramp argues. "SDG&E is simply asking to restructure how the rates are applied. We want to make it a more even allocation among rate players."
Here's an example of the rate change:
An inland customer using 500 kilowatt hours would see their monthly bill go up by $2.66. While a neighbor using twice as much energy would see a decrease of $4.07.
Dalton said, "I don't buy gas, and not go anywhere. I pay for the gas that I use. I pay for the electricity I use."
SDG&E says this is not about revenue. It's about fair pricing.
"The customers on the higher tier are essentially subsidizing those customers that are on the lower tiers," said Ramp.
The Public Utilities Commission still needs to approve this rate change, and if the plan gets the okay the changes would go in effect in January.
