LOS ANGELES, Feb. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California
Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today offered energy savings tips and tools
to help customers save money on their utility bills. During cold
weather, like we've experienced over the last several weeks, it is
possible to use three to seven times more natural gas than in
summer months as your home heater responds to your thermostat
settings and your water heater works harder to keep water hot.
SoCalGas works to secure the best prices for the natural gas it
supplies to customers. The cost customers pay for natural gas is
what the utility pays. The utility also offers customer assistance
programs that help people with bill discounts and provide free home
improvements that help conserve energy and save money.
"As the weather changes, so does our consumption of natural
gas. In order to keep our homes warm, our heating systems are
running more frequently resulting in an increased usage of natural
gas. A few simple changes can help reduce energy bills," said
Brian Prusnek, SoCalGas' director of
customer programs and assistance. "This is also the time to make
sure all customers who are eligible for bill assistance and no-cost
energy savings programs are aware of these resources which can
further reduce natural gas bills."
Customers can take these steps to reduce their natural gas use
and manage energy costs:
- Lowering your thermostat three to five degrees can save up to
10 percent on heating costs.
- Install proper caulking and weather-stripping; this can save
roughly 10 to 15 percent on heating and cooling costs.
- Wash clothes in cold water to save up to 10 percent on water
heating costs.
- Clean or replace your furnace filters according to manufacturer
recommendations.
- Have your air ducts tested for leaks. Leaky ducts can increase
heating costs by 10 to 30 percent.
- Turn down the temperature on your water heater.
- Take shorter showers to reduce your natural gas use.
- Fix leaky faucets and pipes. Hot water leaks cause increased
demand on the water heater, which increases natural gas use. One
drop of water per second can waste 500 gallons of hot water per
year.
To learn more about SoCalGas' energy-saving programs and
services or for more information on how to more efficiently manage
natural gas usage and possibly reduce monthly natural gas bills,
click here. Customers with questions about their winter bill can go
to "My Account" at socalgas.com or call 800-427-2200.
SoCalGas also encourages customers who are having trouble paying
for their monthly natural gas bill to apply for one of their
customer assistances programs. The utility's customer assistance
programs include:
- California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program, offers
eligible customers a 20 percent discount on their monthly natural
gas bill. The discount is applied to the monthly natural gas bill
following the date that the application is approved by
SoCalGas.
- Energy Savings Assistance (ESA) provides eligible customers
with home improvements, at no cost to the renter or homeowner, that
help conserve energy, reduce natural gas use and enhance the
safety, health, and comfort of the renter or homeowner. SoCalGas
provides this service to approximately 100,000 customers each year.
Over 1.5 million homes have received upgrades through the ESA
program.
To learn more about SoCalGas' customer assistance programs,
please visit socalgas.com/assistance.
As part of its COVID-19 response, SoCalGas suspended service
disconnections for residential and small business
customers. That means customers will not have their natural
gas service turned off if they are unable to pay.
For more information on SoCalGas's response to the COVID-19
pandemic, please visit www.socalgas.com/coronavirus.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is
the largest gas distribution utility in the
United States. SoCalGas delivers
affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable gas service
to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of
Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of
residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying
clothes or other uses. Gas delivered through the company's
pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to
Californians— about 45 percent of electric power
generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants.
SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most
innovative energy company in America, delivering affordable and
increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In support of that
mission, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20 percent of its
traditional natural gas supply with renewable natural gas (RNG) by
2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by
dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is
also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure
while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2015 through
2019, the company invested nearly $7 billion to upgrade
and modernize its pipeline system to enhance safety and
reliability. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra
Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based
in San Diego. For more information
visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas
on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas)
and Facebook.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company