LOS ANGELES, Feb. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern
California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced it has reached an
agreement with the Los Angeles
City Attorney to provide residents who temporarily relocated as a
result of the Aliso Canyon natural gas leak more time to transition
back to their homes.
SoCalGas will now offer residents who had chosen to relocate to
short-term temporary housing (such as hotels) up to eight
days/seven nights in their temporary housing after the state's
Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) confirms that
the leak has stopped. This provides relocated
residents with more flexibility than under the temporary relocation
plan adopted last December, approved by the City Attorney and the
Los Angeles Superior Court, which allowed for 48 hours to
transition back home.
SoCalGas will continue to honor the terms of leases for those
who opted for longer-term housing and for all residents relocated
to apartments or single family homes, SoCalGas will reimburse
moving expenses up to $500.00.
Relocated residents who have special circumstances, specifically
disabilities or functional needs that may require additional
arrangements, and residents relocated with similar extraordinary
circumstances, will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Lastly, SoCalGas will reimburse reasonable mileage expenses through
the rest of the school year for residents who reenrolled their
children in schools outside the Porter
Ranch area.
"After listening to the community, SoCalGas and the City
Attorney's office have come to an agreement that we both believe is
reasonable and will now provide residents with eight days to return
to their homes. The start of the transition period will begin
after DOGGR confirms that the leak has stopped," said Gillian Wright, vice president of customer
services for SoCalGas. "We are glad to offer additional time to
help make relocated residents' transitions back home
smoother."
SoCalGas expects to stop the leak by the end of February, if not
sooner. In the meantime, residents impacted by the leak can
find information about services available to them at:
- www.AlisoUpdates.com
- 1-818-435-7707
- SoCalGas Community Resource Center, located at 19731 Rinaldi
Street, Northridge 91326
About SoCalGas: Southern California Gas Co.
has been delivering clean, safe and reliable natural gas to its
customers for more than 145 years. It is the nation's largest
natural gas distribution utility, providing service to 21.6 million
consumers connected through 5.9 million meters in more than 500
communities. The company's service territory encompasses
approximately 20,000 square miles throughout central and
Southern California, from
Visalia to the Mexican border.
SoCalGas is a regulated subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a
Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San
Diego.
This press release contains statements that are not
historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These statements can be identified by words like "believes,"
"expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects,"
"forecasts," "contemplates," "intends," "depends," "should,"
"could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "potential,"
"possible," "proposed," "target," "pursue," "goals," "outlook,"
"maintain" or similar expressions, or discussions of guidance,
strategies, plans, goals, opportunities, projections, initiatives,
objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and
assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those
expressed in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are necessarily based upon various assumptions involving
judgments with respect to the future and other risks, including,
among others: local, regional, national and international economic,
competitive, political, legislative and regulatory conditions and
developments; actions and the timing of actions, including
issuances of permits to construct and licenses for operation, by
the California Public Utilities Commission, California State
Legislature, U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, California Energy Commission, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, California Air Resources Board, and other
regulatory, governmental and environmental bodies in the United States; the timing and success of
business development efforts and construction, maintenance and
capital projects, including risks in obtaining, maintaining or
extending permits, licenses, certificates and other authorizations
on a timely basis and risks in obtaining adequate and competitive
financing for such projects; energy markets, including the timing
and extent of changes and volatility in commodity prices, and the
impact of any protracted reduction in oil and natural gas prices
from historical averages; the impact on the value of our natural
gas storage assets from low natural gas prices, low volatility of
natural gas prices and the inability to procure favorable long-term
contracts for natural gas storage services; delays in the timing of
costs incurred and the timing of the regulatory agency
authorization to recover such costs in rates from customers;
deviations from regulatory precedent or practice that result in a
reallocation of benefits or burdens among shareholders and
ratepayers; capital markets conditions, including the availability
of credit and the liquidity of our investments; inflation and
interest rates; the availability of electric power and natural gas,
and natural gas pipeline and storage capacity, including
disruptions caused by failures in the North American transmission
grid, pipeline explosions and equipment failures; cybersecurity
threats to the energy grid, natural gas storage and pipeline
infrastructure, the information and systems used to operate our
businesses and the confidentiality of our proprietary information
and the personal information of our customers, terrorist attacks
that threaten system operations and critical infrastructure, and
wars; weather conditions, conservation efforts, natural disasters,
catastrophic accidents, and other events that may disrupt our
operations, damage our facilities and systems, and subject us to
third-party liability for property damage or personal injuries some
of which may or may not be covered by insurance; risks that our
partners or counterparties will be unable or unwilling to fulfill
their contractual commitments; business, regulatory, environmental
and legal decisions and requirements; the inability or
determination not to enter into long-term supply and sales
agreements or long-term firm capacity agreements due to
insufficient market interest, unattractive pricing or other
factors; the resolution of litigation; and other uncertainties, all
of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our
control. These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the
reports that the company has filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. These reports are available through the EDGAR system
free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. Investors should
not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and
the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these
forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Co.