San Diego

Cost of Aliso Canyon Gas Leak May Be Passed On to Ratepayers: Atty.

 An enormous environmental disaster in Aliso Canyon, north of Los Angeles, may be happening more than 100 miles away, but a San Diego attorney is warning the costs might be passed onto the consumers through a rate hike.

The utility company responsible for the massive leak might be allowed to fold some of the costs into the rates residents pay on their gas and electric bills, warns Attorney Maria Severson with Aguirre and Severson.

“The ripple effect of this is tremendous,” said Severson. “What will be interesting to see is if the utility company is going to come back and try to get that from the ratepayers and will the commission let them? Just like San Diego Gas and Electric tried to do when it came to the cost of the wildfires. So, who’s really going to pay for this? The ratepayers.” 

The gas leak has been spewing methane into the air since late October, at a rate of more than 110,000 pounds per hour. The leaking natural gas has displaced thousands in the upscale San Fernando Valley community, Porter Ranch.

"The California Public Utility Commission, the concern used to be about rates, whether the commission is protecting our rates, and now there's a real concern about whether thy are protecting our safety," Severson said. 

A Southern California Gas Company spokeswoman says there are no official cost estimates yet, but emails obtained through the California Public Records Act show costs estimates of at least $400,000 a day just to relocate the thousands of residents in the enormous methane plume’s path.

There’s no shortage of history of California utility companies passing the costs of unforeseen events onto the ratepayer.

After the 2007 wildfires, SDG&E asked the Public Utilities Commission to allow them to hike rates to cover the $380 million in settlement fees.

In 2010, after the San Bruno pipeline explosion took the lives of eight residents, the PUC decided most of the long term costs of pipeline inspections and safety upgrades would be covered by electricity ratepayers.

Severson said when it comes to Aliso Creek, history may repeat itself. 

"There's clearly health problems and safety problems, too," Severson said. "We pay for it with out health, we pay for it with our dollar. Would you say it's probably a pretty sure bet that they're going to try to pass it on to the ratepayers based on what they've done in the past? Yes, based on what they've done in the past, I would bet they pass it on to the ratepayers."

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