Home refueling is a very convenient way for NGV owners to fill up their vehicles. A home refueling appliance * installed at your home uses the existing natural gas and existing electrical supply to refuel your NGV overnight. Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) offers a special residential NGV billing rate (pdf) for customers who choose this option. Refueling your NGV at home on this rate may yield a lower refueling cost compared with using a public station.
Although installation of a home refueling appliance is straightforward, professional installation is required. More information is available from manufacturers of these products and from some car dealers who sell NGVs.
98% satisfaction rate! 1
In 2008, SoCalGas conducted a study of customers who owned a home refueling appliance. The study revealed that 98% of the participants believed that they made the right decision to install the home refueling appliance.
Home refueling options
Once you decide to install a home refueling appliance, you have three options:
- Elect to stay on your existing "GR" residential billing rate. This rate may be a good choice for customers who don’t plan to refuel at home very much. The monthly “meter charge” is approximately $5 per month. However, if you exceed the “baseline” amount of natural gas usage, the rate will jump into a higher cost 2nd tier. Here is complete tariff information on the GR rate.
- Change to the residential NGV billing rate(G-NGVR) The “meter charge” for this rate is approximately $10 per month rather than $5 on the GR rate. However the gas commodity rate is lower than the GR baseline rate and it remains constant regardless of the number of therms used. There is no 2nd tier pricing. The entire usage for the residence will be billed at the G-NGVR rate. A Home Refueling Appliance (HRA) can then be connected to the existing houseline, making for a simple installation. This option is only available to residential customers.
- Here is complete tariff information on the G-NGVR rate.
- To switch to this rate, download the Authorization to Change Residential Rate form. (PDF) Please complete the form and return it to SoCalGas.
- Add a second meter at the commercial NGV billing rate (G-NGV) by calling our Customer Contact Center at 1-800-427-4400. With this rate, there is a monthly “meter charge” of $13 per month in addition to the $5 per month charge for the GR rate from your original house meter. The benefit of the G-NGV rate is that the gas commodity is billed at our lowest cost per therm. A second meter is usually installed on a branch next to the existing meter. The cost of installing the second meter must be paid by the customer up front. Here is complete tariff information on the G-NGV rate.
Please check with the manufacturer or installer for any additional requirements or regulations regarding your home refueling appliance. City permits are typically required.
Contact us
For more information, please contact us at 1-800-GAS-2000 or ngvinfo@semprautilities.com.
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1 Source: Southern California Gas Company NGV Customer Research, October 2008
Updated 1/2012