San Diego Gas & Electric filed a request with state regulators late Friday afternoon, asking for an 11 percent rate increase in 2019 and running through 2022.
The utility estimates a typical residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity each month would see an increase of $6.13 and a typical customer using 25 therms of natural gas would spend $7.57 more on a monthly bill.
If granted in full, the proposal represents a $218 million increase over 2018 rates.
The request — called a general rate case — occurs every three years by the three investor-owned utilities governed by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and triggers a review that will include public hearings, legal filings, submissions of thousands of documents and scrutiny from consumer watchdogs.
“We intend to go through every penny SDG&E is asking for with a fine-toothed comb,” said Mindy Spatt, communications director at The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a consumer group based in San Francisco.
Ultimately, the CPUC’s five commissioners will determine how much SDG&E will be able to collect during that three-year period. The CPUC is scheduled to reach a decision by the end of 2018 but sometimes the commission takes longer.
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