Intervenors Zero In on SoCalGas's Gas-Transition Bet in 2028 Rate Case

SoCalGas/SDG&E's Test Year 2028 rate cases drew 11 protests and six responses on July 20, hitting SoCalGas on two levels:

• Whether its year-to-year spending and recovery mechanisms are justified; and
• How much long-lived gas infrastructure customers should finance as gas use declines.

SoCalGas seeks $5.1 billion for 2028, up $485 million, or 10.5%, from what it expects to collect in 2027, with further increases through 2031. SDG&E seeks $3.8 billion, up 8.1%.

Those single-digit figures rest on a friendly baseline. Measured against 2024 (the last rates the Commission actually set) SoCalGas's request runs about 34% higher and SDG&E's about 41%. The Indicated Shippers reach the same point another way: against the $4.232 billion first authorized for 2027, SoCalGas's ask is up 20.5%.

By CRI's math, the four-year jump from 2024 comes to approximately $1.3 billion for SoCalGas. Its percentage trails SDG&E's, but it asks for more dollars, and it is gas-only, with no electric business to gain load as customers electrify.

Cal Advocates wants to make the case bigger. It asks the Commission to fold three separate proceedings into the General Rate Case:

• SoCalGas's $3.76 billion advanced-metering project;
• SDG&E's $825 million Smart Meter 2.0 proposal; and
• The utilities' $348.1 million SAP software migration.

Metering, billing and core software are basic utility functions, it argues, so those items belong in the budget review, and one combined case would show customers the full bill instead of splitting it across four dockets.