Refueling at Home

Learn about your options for refueling your natural gas vehicle at home.

Home refueling is a convenient way for NGV owners to fill up their vehicles. By installing a  home refueling appliance * in your home, you can use the existing natural gas and existing electrical supply to refuel your NGV overnight.

We offer a special residential NGV billing rate (pdf) for customers who choose a home refueling option, which may result in lower refueling cost than using a public station.

Home Refueling Options

Once you decide to install a home refueling appliance, you have three options:

  1. 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 second tier. Here is complete tariff information on the GR rate.
  2. 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 natural gas commodity rate is lower than the GR baseline rate and it remains constant regardless of the number of therms used. There is no second-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 house line, making for a simple installation. This option is only available to residential customers.
    • Here is complete tariff information on the G-NGVR rate. (PDF)
    • 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 cost with no markup. 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. (PDF)

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. Please check with the manufacturer or installer for any additional requirements or regulations regarding your home refueling appliance. City permits are typically required.

Incentives, Tax Credits and Grants

For more information about current incentives for home refueling appliances, please visit our Natural Gas Vehicles incentives page or NGVAmerica - Incentives.*

98 Percent Satisfaction Rate1

In 2008, SoCalGas conducted a study of customers who owned a home refueling appliance. The study revealed that 98 percent of the participants believed that they made the right decision to install the home refueling appliance.

1 Source: Southern California Gas Company NGV Customer Research, October 2008