EDISON USERS FACING A SHOCK ON LATEST BILLS BLAME HEAT WAVE, NATURAL GAS HIKES.Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer Many residents of the Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, and Antelope valleys This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley may be getting an electric shock, but not the kind that comes from an electric charge. Electricity bills are increasing for many customers, the result of factors as varied as the summer heat wave to increased natural gas costs. In July, temperatures were on average 7 degrees warmer than normal for the counties served by Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. , with a 31 percent spike A burst of extra voltage in a power line that lasts only a few nanoseconds. See power surge, power swell, sag and surge suppression. (jargon) spike - To defeat a selection mechanism by introducing a (sometimes temporary) device that forces a specific result. in electricity usage from the previous year, said Gil Alexander, a spokesman for the utility. Customers broke records for single-day usage of electricity last month. But another factor leading to their higher bills are spikes spikes see peplomer. in natural gas costs. Edison, which generates most of its power with natural gas, raised rates a total of 15 percent in January and February. But because of low electricity usage in the winter months, customers may only be noticing the increase now, Alexander said. ``Had there been no heat wave, our customers would have seen higher rates this summer because of the natural gas costs,'' he said. Adding to the troubles of some electricity customers is a tiered billing system, adopted at year goes on, using more electricity puts the 45 percent of users at the high-end of electricity consumption into more expensive pricing tiers. ``If you have a small home, maybe one or two people, and you're very conscientious con·sci·en·tious adj. 1. Guided by or in accordance with the dictates of conscience; principled: a conscientious decision to speak out about injustice. 2. , you haven't seen any rate increases because we can't put any costs in those (first) tiers,'' Alexander said. ``On the other hand, if you're a mid- to higher-use residential customer, you have a larger home, a larger family, you have greater needs for electricity,'' he said. ``Then you are seeing all of our increased costs this year in the higher tiers that you have to use.'' Electricity rates for Edison customers will increase another 2 percent in the fall, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the utility. Edison says it needs the money to replace and expand its aging infrastructure. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion