Last week, I posted on some SDG&E customers receiving a refund check due to a baseline allowance error. The mere thought broke my pun generator, which still hasn't recovered. However, we have uncovered more information about this refund and exactly why SDG&E is forking out its hard earned (ok, maybe not so hard earned) moolah. The culprit? An incorrect climate zone. 

As you may recall, climate zone is one of the six factors that SDG&E can use to calculate your baseline allowance. Depending on the needs of your climate zone, you may have a higher or lower baseline allowance. SDG&E's rationale is that the farther inland you live, the more electricity you need to use because of the weather extremes. Since it is hotter inland than on the coast in the summer, inland residents probably will need to run their air conditioners and fans more than coastal folks. In the winter, the opposite is true: colder inland weather equals more energy for heat. Check out this climate zone map to figure our your zone.

Certain SDG&E customers are getting rebates because SDG&E used the wrong climate zone to calculate their baseline allowance.

The scary thing? The climate zone error reached back all the way to 1998. 1998! That's over a decade of incorrect billing! Typically, the climate zone error affected those along the border of two different climate zones. For our affected Ramona customers, it appears that they are along the border of the Mountain Zone and the Desert Zone. 

The even scarier thing? The climate zone error (I'm hesitating to call this "climate zone gate," because every scandal gets the gate suffix) affected less than .4% of SDG&E's customers. That's less than one half of one percent. It sounds like a small number, but percentages are often deceiving.

Let's break it down to actual numbers. SDG&E services 1.3 million business and residential customers. Using my trusty calculator, .4% of 1.3 million is 5,200. 5,200 customers. To be fair, the climate zone error affected less than 5,200, but we don't know by how much. Suddenly, this small error doesn't seem so small anymore.

With all this talk of climate zones, doesn't it make you feel like you are in the Twilight Zone?

According to SDG&E, all affected customers have been found and notified. But, we still want to hear from you. Have you received an unexpected check, accompanied by a vague letter, from SDG&E? Let us know by calling the Fraud Squad at (619) 696-6966 or fill out our online complaint form.