California’s current gas rules offer a variety of subsidies to a customer, builder or developer who wants to connect to the gas utility system – while the total cost of the gas line extension is initially paid by the applicant, a portion of those costs are then offset, with ratepayer funding, including through allowances – fixed amounts that are awarded by appliance per residential unit – as well as refunds over ten years, or a one-time, 50% discount.
According to the CPUC, in 2021, three of California’s four large gas utilities spent more than $104 million on allowances; four large gas utilities spent roughly $2.9 million on refunds; and three of them spent around $23.4 million on discounts.
