SoCalGas: I normally pay less than $50 per month for my house natural gas bill. This of course depends on the season of the year. Through a service provided by the USPS, I get a daily...

rcarol

I normally pay less than $50 per month for my house natural gas bill. This of course depends on the season of the year. Through a service provided by the USPS, I get a daily notification of the mail that I will receive later in the day. Today, I got a notification that SoCalGas is going to send me a notification informing me on ways that I can save money on my gas usage. I find this ironic in that several months ago I received a bill from them that was in excess of $500 for the month because they had failed to anticipate their future gas needs and had failed to purchase gas to cover their reserves. And they want to help me? So, they ended up paying a huge premium from an inflated marketplace to cover their customer's needs. This premium was passed onto the consumer with little or no fanfare. What happened to the "approved" rates? How were they able to get away with this? I'm still looking for answers. Their response, "Sorry." If any of you Hoggers have any insight into what happened, I would appreciate hearing from you.

mindzye Loc: WV

In some cases taking the complaint to your local Public Utilities Commission will activate an 'inquiry'. If others are involved they might be motivated to further check into it and make resolution with the offending utility company.
It could be as simple as an errant billing. ?? The PUC's are generally proactive towards the customer.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Wow.

rcarol

I looked at the PUC website and they said I had to lodge a formal complaint with SoCalGas before I could lodge a complaint with them. The funny thing is that I can’t find anyplace on SoCalGas’s website to lodge a complaint. I believe that it is there but I believe that it is “buried in the rubble” and I just can’t find it. I was not the only customer with a grossly inflated bill. There were many others. SoCalGas sent out a CYA letter explaining why our bills were so high. It boiled down to shortsightedness on their part for which they took no responsibility.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

rcarol wrote:

I looked at the PUC website and they said I had to... (show quote)

They can't loose money for their investors!

SalvageDiver Loc: Huntington Beach CA

rcarol wrote:

I normally pay less than $50 per month for my hous... (show quote)

I'm a SoCalGas customer also. You might want to try inquire with SoCalGas about a possible mistake. I just checked my SoCalGas bills and haven't seen an increase. My bills are normally around $20-30/mo, but this month we've been using the heater more than usual and the bill went up to $52.

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

rcarol wrote:

I looked at the PUC website and they said I had to... (show quote)

https://www.socalgas.com/about-us/contact-us

No online ability to contact them - all I could find was phone numbers - so have a recorder available...

rcarol

SalvageDiver wrote:

I'm a SoCalGas customer also. You might want to try inquire with SoCalGas about a possible mistake. I just checked my SoCalGas bills and haven't seen an increase. My bills are normally around $20-30/mo, but this month we've been using the heater more than usual and the bill went up to $52.

This occurred about 6 months ago, perhaps more. There is no need to inquire as they sent a letter out as an explanation.

marine73 Loc: Modesto California

I would send a registered letter of complaint to the PO Box listed in shellbacks answer to socalgas and a copy to the PUC and keep a copy of all correspondence and the name of any person that calls.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

mindzye wrote:

In some cases taking the complaint to your local Public Utilities Commission will activate an 'inquiry'. If others are involved they might be motivated to further check into it and make resolution with the offending utility company.
It could be as simple as an errant billing. ?? The PUC's are generally proactive towards the customer.

Don't forget that he is writing about Southern California, the Left coast of Fruits and Nuts.

tcthome Loc: NJ

rcarol wrote:

I normally pay less than $50 per month for my hous... (show quote)

I'm on the budget. Was $43 a month & jumped to $60 a month. Seems gasoline dropped about 25% around my area for now at least. Maybe they will adjust as needed.

JBRIII

rcarol wrote:

I normally pay less than $50 per month for my hous... (show quote)

Remember Texas a few winter's ago!!! Companies buy power, gas on the open market, as long as supplies are in excess or thet guess right, you save, but the opposite is also true. SW airlines many years ago got a market advantage because they had a contract for a year for fuel went prices went up big. Free markets don't quarantine the consumer always wins or that companies always eat their mistakes. At the other end, tyrants often demand the impossible, low prices, but high wages as in Venzuvalia, companies simply when broke.

big sky montana Loc: Great Falls Montana

Duh, Maybe try an old style approach. Sent a certified return receipt letter. Thus you have a hard record of your complaint and a record of them receiving it. P.S. Make a copy of your letter

twowindsbear

rcarol wrote:

I normally pay less than $50 per month for my hous... (show quote)

STOP using that expen$ive gas!!

Wear more & warmer clothes

Pile more blankets on the bed at night

Rip out all those expensive gas sucking appliances & replace them with modern efficient electric appliances. This alone will teach those a-holes at SoCalGas to NOT overcharge you.

Install solar heating - yet another lesson for SoCalGas

Just don't pay it at all - soon, you'll not have a recurring bill from them at all.

JBuckley

Bingo!
The utilities company are not a non-profit service!

The Biard of directors stay on the board and [in power] only the stock holders are counting their @green backs” at the end of the year.
In So-Cal (San Diego), we are at the beck and call of SDG&E for gas and electric services.
In two years I’ve seen my gas bill go from $15 a month, to $77 for November billing.
Yes, it’s been colder and we use a gas dryer,
But, fortunately, we have solar panels, so we bought an electric heater, to help warm the living room.

Now, if I could only dig a well in the back yard to help supplement my $300 water bills in the summer!!!! (Which would cost $1,000 to drill.)
Wishes are like whispering a wish in the forest….no one hears us?