The California Climate Credit comes from the state’s greenhouse gas cap and trade program. “This is a program where companies that generate significant amounts of greenhouse gases have to participate in this program," said SCE spokesperson Ron Gales.
Gales says utility companies must buy climate credits to offset the greenhouse gases they admit. “They're been given a lot of credits that they need to buy, and any that they don't purchase, they need to sell into the open market," Gales said. It’s then the profits that SCE receives from those sold credits that are then redistributed to their customers.
Gales also wanted to make sure that customers were aware of the company’s assistance programs for those struggling to pay their bills.“If customers qualify for certain low-income assistance programs, they can get up to 30% off their monthly bill; there's also programs where a customer can ask for a 30-day extension to pay their bill," Gales said. Gales listed several other opportunities, all of which he says are heavily underutilized.