CHULA VISTA (KGTV) — People in Chula Vista pushed back Thursday against the proposed rate hike of 8.6% by SDG&E.
Outside Chula Vista City Hall, South Bay residents expressed frustration and anger.
Diane Swartz is a retired senior citizen who lost her husband eight years ago. She's living on a fixed income.
"I'm trying to do it on a single salary, the taxes, the property taxes," said Swartz.
Chula Vista Mayor John McCann stood with seniors like Swartz.
McCann said any increase needs to be reasonable and financially responsible.
"I want to emphasize that our seniors, residents with disabilities, low income households, working families, and small business owners deserve to have their concerns heard and considered this throughout the process," said McCann during the press conference on Thursday.
SDG&E is requesting an increase that would be a combined bill impact of about 8.6% or about a $22 total monthly increase for electric and gas.
Earlier this week, ABC 10News was there as customers from across the county voiced frustration with SDG&E's proposal at Santee City Hall.
Over a series of hours they vented to the California Public Utilities Commission members, the board that will ultimately decide to approve or deny the rates.
SDG&E said the rate increase focuses on targeted investments like reducing wildfire and outage risk, maintaining and improving system reliability along with modernizing infrastructure.
In a statement, SDG&E told ABC 10News that, "we're focused on controlling out costs, operating more efficiently and finding ways to help keep customer bills as manageable as possible, while continuing to provide safe, reliable energy."
As for Swartz, she has a lot of things to pay for and hopes she doesn't have to add this increase to her bills, too.
"Trying to be careful with my bills and make it through every year," said Swartz.
