CALIFORNIA — Expect some good news to come along with April’s gas and electric bills in the form of more than $200 in credits, thanks to California’s climate credit program.
And even more good news: Another round of rebates will be sent later this year.
The pair of rebates are the largest round of credits passed down to ratepayers since California implemented the system in 2014 as part of a cap-and-trade program designed to reduce state emissions.
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The credits are meant to help offset any potential cost increases that utilities pass along to consumers in order to comply with the mandates, according to the California Public Utilities Commission.
The exact amount of the rebates varies among utility companies.
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For electric, Southern California Edison customers will receive an $86 credit in April and a second, identical rebate in October.
San Diego Gas and Electric Customers will receive two $78.22 credits, one in April and another in October.
Bear Valley will issue two $32.24 credits.
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And here’s the natural gas credits, which will be issued once, in April:
Notably absent from the list are publicly owned utilities such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Only investor-owned utilities and community choice aggregators are included in the program.
The credits are issued as part of the state’s first-in-the-nation cap-and-trade program, which started with AB 32 in 2006. The bill set targets for California to implement greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, which the state met four years early.
The next goal was to cut emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2023 and to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
The “cap” in cap-and-trade refers to a decreasing limit on the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted each year. The “trade” part refers to the exchange of pollution allowances by utilities and other greenhouse-gas emitters. The number of allowances go down each year, giving utilities an incentive to cut emissions.
Utilities are granted a certain number of allowances by the state each year, which they can sell at auction — with the proceeds going toward a further reduction of greenhouse gas emissions or back to customers in the form of the April and October climate credits, according to the CPUC.
Read more about climate credits and the cap-and-trade program at the California Public Utility Commission’s website.
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