Gas Assistance Fund has distributed over $2 million dollars, helping over 10,000 families. Approximately $3 million dollars remain to support eligible residential customers pay for their natural gas.
LOS ANGELES, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today SoCalGas announced that approximately $3 million dollars of the committed $6 million is still available in the company's Gas Assistance Fund to support eligible customers in paying their natural gas bill. This year, over 10,000 SoCalGas customers have already benefitted from the Gas Assistance Fund, which helps income-qualified customers pay their natural gas bill with a one-time grant of up to $500. The company's contribution to the Gas Assistance Fund in the 2022-2023 grant cycle was the largest in the fund's 40-year history.
The Gas Assistance Fund is a joint effort between SoCalGas and United Way of Greater Los Angeles. Working with non-profit organizations throughout SoCalGas's service territory, United Way of Greater Los Angeles helps income-qualified customers pay their natural gas bill with a one-time grant of up to $400 per household, up from $100 last year. If the eligible applicant or a household member is age 55 or older, an additional $100 is available - for a maximum grant of up to $500. Since the fund's expansion, the average grant per household has been approximately $300. Full guidelines for qualification can be found at socalgas.com/GAF.
"Through a record $6 million donation to SoCalGas's Gas Assistance Fund, over 10,000 families have applied and benefited from grants of up to $500 to help pay their gas bills. However, funds remain. To reach more customers who might need assistance with paying their bills, we expanded the eligibility requirements and encourage customers to visit our website to see if they now qualify," said Gillian Wright, Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer. "We also offer useful resources on energy conservation, assistance programs to manage energy consumption, and make energy-efficient home improvements to help lower customer bills."
"Since 1983, the Gas Assistance Fund has helped over 240,000 Californians facing financial hardship afford basic necessities," said Elise Buik, President & CEO at United Way of Greater Los Angeles. "With SoCalGas's large contribution this year, United Way has dramatically expanded our reach to help thousands of individuals, older adults, and families across our region."
"The expanded grants have been able to make a meaningful impact in the families we serve," said Amy Zhao, Program Manager at Chinatown Service Center, a non-profit organization that assists customers with participation in the program. "Gas Assistance Fund grants play a crucial role in sparing our community from the agonizing decision of prioritizing between feeding their families or covering essential utility expenses."
"Thanks to the partnership between SoCalGas and United Way of Greater Los Angeles, families have an opportunity to receive funds that ensure access to an essential utility," said Senator Steven Bradford. "Six million dollars is a huge commitment to the community, and it's great to see these two organizations come together and make a difference in the lives of some of our most vulnerable neighbors."
In addition to the Gas Assistance Fund, SoCalGas offers other programs that can help qualified customers save money on their monthly gas bills. The Medical Baseline Allowance provides qualified customers additional natural gas at the baseline rate and the California Alternative Rates for Energy (CARE) program can help eligible customers save 20% on their monthly gas bills. The free Ways to Save tool may also help customers find ways to save on natural gas bills, with a personalized savings plan that offers a household energy analysis, customized energy-efficiency recommendations, bill comparisons, and energy usage comparisons. Customers can also sign up for Bill Tracker Alerts to monitor gas consumption and take steps to reduce usage to avoid surprises on their bills. To see more programs that can help customers save money and energy, visit https://www.socalgas.com/save-money-and-energy.
For more information about the Gas Assistance Fund, visit socalgas.com/GAF.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas service to over 21 million consumers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines will continue to play a key role in California's clean energy transition—providing electric grid reliability and supporting wind and solar energy deployment.
SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most innovative energy infrastructure company in America. In support of that mission, SoCalGas aspires to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply to core customers with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for customers. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), an energy infrastructure company based in San Diego.
For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.
This press release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions with respect to the future, involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees. Future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
In this press release, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "contemplates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "in process," "construct," "develop," "opportunity," "initiative," "target," "outlook," "optimistic," "poised," "maintain," "continue," "progress," "advance," "goal," "aim," "commit," or similar expressions, or when we discuss our guidance, priorities, strategy, goals, vision, mission, opportunities, projections, intentions or expectations.
Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement include risks and uncertainties relating to: decisions, investigations, inquiries, regulations, issuances or revocations of permits, consents, approvals or other authorizations, renewals of franchises, and other actions by (i) the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, and other governmental and regulatory bodies and (ii) the U.S. and states, counties, cities and other jurisdictions therein in which we do business; the success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks in (i) completing construction projects or other transactions on schedule and budget, (ii) realizing anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if completed, and (iii) obtaining the consent or approval of third parties; litigation, arbitrations and other proceedings, and changes to laws and regulations; cybersecurity threats, including by state and state-sponsored actors, of ransomware or other attacks on our systems or the systems of third-parties with which we conduct business, including the energy grid or other energy infrastructure, all of which have become more pronounced due to recent geopolitical events; our ability to borrow money on favorable terms and meet our obligations, including due to (i) actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or place those ratings on negative outlook or (ii) rising interest rates and inflation; failure of our counterparties to honor their contracts and commitments; the impact on affordability of our customer rates and our cost of capital and on our ability to pass through higher costs to customers due to (i) volatility in inflation, interest rates and commodity prices, and (ii) the cost of the clean energy transition in California; the impact of climate and sustainability policies, laws, rules, regulations, disclosures and trends, including actions to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas, increased uncertainty in the political or regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies, the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets, and our ability to incorporate new technologies; weather, natural disasters, pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorism, information system outages or other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities or systems, cause the release of harmful materials or fires or subject us to liability for damages, fines and penalties, some of which may not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or insurance or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; the availability of natural gas and natural gas storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the pipeline system or limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage facilities; changes in tax and trade policies, laws and regulations, including tariffs, revisions to international trade agreements and sanctions, such as those imposed in connection with the war in Ukraine, any of which may increase our costs, reduce our competitiveness, impact our ability to do business with certain counterparties, or impair our ability to resolve trade disputes; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to predict and beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that the company has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on Sempra's website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements.
Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company or Southern California Gas Company, and Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the CPUC.
SOURCE Southern California Gas Company