San Diego Gas & Electric customers with natural gas hookups in their homes will receive a $32.58 reduction on their upcoming utility bill through the California Climate Credit program.
And customers will see reductions applied to their electric bills later this year, as the California Public Utilities Commission revamps the program.
The California Climate Credit is funded through money generated from the state’s Cap-and-Invest Program that requires power plants, natural gas providers and large industries that emit greenhouse gases to buy permits on the carbon pollution they produce.
It’s distributed across the state to all customers of investor-owned utilities, including SDG&E. The dollar amounts of the climate credit fluctuate each year, depending on how much money the Cap-and-Invest Program generates.
A one-time reduction on residential natural gas customers is applied annually. For 2026, SDG&E customers will receive a $32.58 reduction to their upcoming monthly statement.
In the past, the California Climate Credit was also applied on customers’ electric bills in the spring and in the fall.
But this year, the public utilities commission is poised to change when those electricity credits are distributed.
In the interests of affordability, the commission has proposed applying the electricity discounts in August and September — the two months where electricity bills typically run high because so many customers crank up their air conditioners to get relief from hot weather.
“Regardless of which month you receive the credit, households will receive the same share (i.e., amount) of the benefits of California’s Cap-and-Invest Program,” according to the CPUC website.
For now, the site says SDG&E customers can expect to receive a $49.36 reduction in August and another $49.36 discount in their September bills.
The commission will vote on the proposed change on April 30.
“We recognize the pressure energy costs can place on household budgets and remain focused on helping customers access available support and assistance,” SDG&E’s chief customer officer Dana Golan said in a statement.
There is no need to apply to receive the climate credits; they appear automatically on bills.
Customers enrolled in the two community choice energy programs in the San Diego area — San Diego Community Power and the Clean Energy Alliance — will also receive the credits.
The disbursements come as California energy bills keep rising.
According to the Electricity Price Hub, a public data platform by Heatmap News and MIT, the average SDG&E monthly bill came to $147.07 in March. That’s an increase of 49.9%, compared to five years ago.
At least 25 energy-related bills aimed at trying to reduce the financial burden of customers have been introduced in the current session of the California Legislature.